HP Pavilion p7-1067cb

The HP Pavilion p7-1067cb ($999.99 list at Costco) is the PC to grab if you're completely replacing your desktop PC and old monitor. It has the whole kit and kaboodle in one box: desktop tower, huge 25-inch HD monitor, keyboard, mouse, and even external speakers. If you don't want to go the all-in-one desktop route, this system is the one you want.

Design and Features
The p7-1067c-b packs all of its power into a utilitarian-looking tower, with the usual glossy black plastic front face. It has been updated compared to last season's HP Pavilion p6727c-b ($749.99 list, 4 stars), which used HP's older Pavilion chassis. There isn't a lot of difference in design between the two systems: The p7-1067cb has the new round HP logo (the old one has the rectangular logo), and the glossy plastic front panel seems to float on top of the metal front plate. The media card reader is still on the top of the chassis, and there are a couple of USB 2.0 ports and audio ports behind a slide-down panel on the front of the desktop. In the back, there are four more USB 2.0 ports, DVI and HDMI on the AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card, audio, and Ethernet port.

Given the desktop's bundled 25-inch LCD monitor, I would like to have seen a HDMI cable packed in with the system. Granted, it would make more sense if the monitor had built in speakers so the HDMI cable could carry both video and audio signals, but HDMI is still more convenient to attach than DVI or VGA (both of those cables are included). The system comes with two tiny USB-powered speakers, which are adequate for basic system sounds.

The tower has some internal expandability. There are three free PCie x1 card slots, and you can install one additional optical drive plus one internal hard drive, The PCIe x16 slot is filled by the included AMD Radeon graphics card. One nit is that the system's two memory slots are both filled, which means you'll need to remove the existing 8GB if you want more memory. This isn't a deal-breaker, as 8GB is more than most users will need even four to six years from now. The system has a 250W internal power supply unit (PSU), so you won't be replacing the Radeon card with a high end Radeon HD 6990 one, but the PSU is certainly enough to support three more PCIe x1 cards, another hard drive, and an additional optical drive. The system's 802.11b/g/n WiFi networking card comes installed in the system's MiniPCIe slot, so you don't have to worry about one of the PCIe x1 slots being filled. The Wi-Fi card connected to our test network easily and returned a reliable connection to the Internet. Similarly equipped systems like the Asus Essentio CM1730-05 ($569.99 list, 3 stars) lack this crucial wireless connection.

The system comes with a 25-inch widescreen monitor with three inputs: VGA, DVI, and HDMI. This is useful because it allows you to use one input for the desktop (like the DVI port) and use one the other two ports with a notebook. This extends the usefulness of the monitor, since you can use it with multiple desktops or notebooks. The system also comes with HP LinkUp, which gives you software control of any Windows 7 PC that has the LinkUp software installed. That way you can take care of tasks on your work laptop in your bedroom while you simultaneously work on a neighborhood flyer on the p7-1067cb. Other useful pre-loaded software includes HP's power management software, Hulu, and a six-month subscription to Norton Internet Security. We' rather see 12-15 month subscriptions included on new PCs, but 6 months is better than the 30-day trial found on other PCs. Since it's a Costco PC, you'll benefit from the warehouse store's liberal return policy: you have up to 90 days to decide if the PC is for you. Most big box competitors limit you to fourteen days and possible restocking fees. You will of course have to carry a Costco card to get this deal without paying extra fees.

There is a downside to all the software that Costco and HP load on the p7-1067cb. The desktop and Start Menu can become cluttered with icons and shortcuts to pre-loaded programs. Though we understand that product placement on desktops can help subsidize the low purchase prices, we think that a clean desktop and Start menu should be the priority for computer manufacturers. The half dozen or more icons on the desktop that greet you on first bootup can be bewildering, and if you add the dozen or so more extra software icons in the Start menu, you'll definitely be overwhelmed. It leads to a sort of Times Square effect, where you are first pummeled by offers and ads until you learn to ignore them. Basically I'd budget at least an hour or two to uninstall all of the extra software that you don't need.

Costco also offers customers some added benefits. For example, whereas most vendors provide just a one-year warranty, Costco bumps that up to two years. It also offers Costco's Concierge Services, which a free service to Costco members who purchase electronics at the store. The service gives you access to technicians to walk you system setup, product use, and for troubleshooting. Lastly, the store accepts returns within 90 days (which takes care of buyers' remorse).

Performance
The p7-1067cb gave us good scores at our benchmark tests, showing that it has the extra performance that hobbyists and multimedia dabblers need. The desktop rocked our multimedia tests, with a time of 1:27 for our Handbrake video encode test and 3:31 for the Photoshop CS5 test. This is similar to the scores returned by the higher-end HP Pavilion Elite h8-1010 ($779.99 list, 3 stars), (1:39 in Handbrake, 3:32 in CS5). The h8-1010 has a Core i5 processor, but it's dual-core, while the p7-1067cb's CPU is a true quad-core. The Asus Essentio CM1730-05 runs a little behind the HP systems, scoring 2:03 on Handbrake and 4:47 on CS5. The HP p7-1067cb comes with an AMD HD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card, and while it isn't a gaming-class card, it will get you more 3D prowess than the Intel HD Graphics integrated GPU in the Core i5 processors. The p7-1067cb scored 29 frames per second (fps) in Crysis, which is almost playable, and 14fps for Lost Planet 2; both scores are better than anything integrated graphics could do on those games. If you played with the resolution and quality settings, you'll likely find settings where you can play both games. The system will certainly run 3D games with lower requirements, like Starcraft II and World of Warcraft.

The HP Pavilion p7-1067cb is more expensive (by $200) than its Editor's Choice winning predecessor, the HP Pavilion p6727c-b. This can be attributed to the p7-1067cb's faster Intel processor, more memory, and more hard drive space. Both desktops have HD-ready screens, but the p7-1067cb has a larger 25-inch HP widescreen monitor. The systems share the 2-year warranty, 6-months of Norton protection, and both are aimed at people who want more from their desktop PCs. Other competing units like the HP h8-1010 and Asus Essentio CM1730-05 save money by not including a monitor, but the p7-1067cb is an overall better desktop in terms of features, performance, and usability. Besides, if you're going to buy a new PC to replace the old one, wouldn't you want a large monitor to go with it? For these reasons, the p7-1067cb replaces the HP Pavilion p6727c-b as our Editors' Choice for mid-priced desktops. It's a great value, particularly for those who want a desktop PC in a box bundle.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Pavilion p7-1067cb with several other desktops side by side.

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