HP Pavilion S7220N Review

The upgrade that PC-savvy shoppers will probably miss most is a graphics-card slot. The Pavilion uses Intel's 915GV chipset -- the humblest member of the 915 family, which doesn't support any alternative to its integrated, system-memory-sharing graphics controller.

Playing old games will be no problem, as the HP managed a brisk 77 frames per second with Quake III Arena at 1,024 by 768 resolution. But playing anything recent will be impossible -- the S7220N crashed when we tried Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and the Gun Metal 2 benchmark and staggered through AquaMark3 at fewer than 6 fps with a graphics score of 585. Its FutureMark 3DMark03 and 3DMark05 scores were a lowly 873 and 193, respectively.

On the other hand, its users are likely to focus on such low-octane applications as word processing and Web surfing, and the Pavilion's Celeron M 370 has more than enough pep for those. Its PCMark05 score of 1,784 (CPU 2,398; memory 2,131; hard drive 4625; graphics 667) is comparable to low- to midrange laptops', as is its BAPco SysMark 2004 rating of 122 (Internet Content Creation 137; Office Productivity 109).

And while it's unlikely to ever become a video-editing workstation, the system has a FireWire port to connect a camcorder. The rear panel also offers PS/2 mouse and keyboard and four USB 2.0 ports, as well as VGA and digital audio-out. Side, rear, and center/subwoofer speaker connectors accompany microphone and line-in and line-out jacks.

Press Any Button

Up front, as mentioned, the compact desktop has a fifth USB 2.0 port and a headphone jack, as well as memory-card slots that accommodate nine digital-camera flash formats (Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, SmartMedia, xD, Memory Stick/Pro, CompactFlash I/II, and microdrive). The optical drive is mounted vertically at the left side; its tray pops out with a press of either a front-and-center button or the "Eject 1" button -- or, for that matter, the "Eject 2" button -- on the keyboard.

The silver-finish keyboard has handy standby, volume/mute, and multimedia (play, pause, next, previous, stop) keys, as well as buttons that launch the CD/DVD burner software (Sonic's DigitalMedia Plus), Web and e-mail access, and HP's help system. Alas, not only is its typing feel on the mushy side, but the keyboard is accompanied by one of the worst mice we've ever used -- a cheap rolling-ball instead of optical number that seemed to stick or drift in otherwise normal use.

Besides Windows XP Home Edition SP2, the Pavilion comes with a hefty software bundle and even heftier set of icons and promotional-offer links. Not only do you get trial versions of Microsoft Office and Symantec's Norton Internet Security, but links to everything from Snapfish online photos and WildTangent games to WeatherBug and Blockbuster Online -- so many that a dockable Compaq Organize menu is provided to classify them all.

We've been bemoaning the persistence of the old ATX minitower case for several years, so we're glad to see HP helping to lead the way toward sensibly smaller form factors. Even after dismissing fantasy scenarios about recipe databases on the kitchen counter, it's obvious that more convenient, less imposing or focal-point-of-the-room computers are smart parts of the modern home. The low-priced Pavilion isn't powerful or expandable enough to be a family's only computer, but it makes a solid second or third PC.

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