Very few models in the thousand-dollar price range come close to meeting those demands, but the HP Pavilion m7570n is an exception. It is built for Media Center performance and might make you rethink what's expected of an inexpensive PC, especially if you like features such as recording live television and storing up to 185 hours of digital video on the 320-GB hard drive.

Look and Feel

The design of this Pavilion PC is classic HP. Two optical drives rest near the top front end of the tower with two vertical doors concealing an array of ports and media controls in the center.

The multipurpose card reader straddles the space in the upper portion of the front panel. This arrangement places most of the access to accessories in easy reach, while assigning the more-permanent connectors to the rear panel of the tower.

The case measures 15.2 x 16.5 x 7.6 inches and weighs 27 pounds.

Features

This model has two features not readily found on similarly priced units. The first is a drive bay built into the front panel that fits an optional HP Personal Media Drive (PMD). The drive can be purchased separately to store up to 300 GB of additional data that you can carry away with you.

This optional additional storage insures the security of sensitive data because you do not leave it in the computer. An additional benefit comes from not having to synchronize your office computer's files if you have another m7570n at home.

The second notable feature is the built-in camera bay, which is designed to accept the docking stations on select HP cameras. If you have a compatible camera, the PC provides easy access to it, as well as an integrated look and a reduction in desk clutter.

The 9-in-1 media reader accepts Smart Media, xD, multimedia Card, SD, Compact Flash I/II, Micro Drive, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick PRO memory cards.

We were pleased with the configuration of optical drives. The primary drive is a combination DVD/CD with support for multiple DVD and CD writing formats along with LightScribe, the technology that lets you burn images and text directly on discs. The secondary drive is a combination CD/DVD read-only drive. Having two optical drives brings added functionality and convenience for viewing and recording digital photographs and videos. (continued...)

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