Would you buy this computer?

[NuGuy]

No, it's not a powerhouse, but it seems OK/middle of the road. The display entices the reader by noting that it is made for handling video, audio and photos, sort of like an entertainment model. One of the reasons I like it is that it has four (4) USB 3.0 ports (two front, two back). You don't see too many models on display that have USB 3 ports (easily identified by the Blue plastic tab that makes up part of the connector). I really don't need another monitor, and yet this system is appealing.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/produ ... ction=push

I haven't heard Beats Audio, but it sounds interesting. I've been on HP's web site and you really have to look to find models with USB 3 ports, especially on the front (the ones that do have them seem to have them located at the back and the TOP (a PIA).

[Ian]

Looks good. Decent reviews on Sam's website too. The only issue I have with it is the 1 year warranty but that's pretty much par for the course these days.

[NuGuy]

Yeah, after a while of chasing the 'best computer' around the Internet, you just get tired of the chase. I figure that max'ing out the memory from the installed 8GB to 16GB and getting one of those SSDs you've been posting here, you'd have a pretty smooth machine. In fact, with an SSD, you probably wouldn't need to upgrade the memory.... I'd expect minimal drag with SSD virtual memory.

Anyway, this computer is now on sale at this price ($699) for the second time, marked down from $799. I ran across an old Sam's Club ad on the internet that had it advertised for $599 some time in the past. So, I'm expecting this to go down to $599 fairly soon. I stop in my local Sam's nearly weekly and see the same/same number of boxes in stock; it's not "moving.". The current sale goes through June 15th. I'm hoping this weekend I can pick one up cheap.

[Ian]

Getting an SSD is probably one of the best upgrades you can do right now. If you moved your OS over to an SSD and kept the 1TB hard drive for storing other stuff, you'd be set.

[NuGuy]

Yeah, that sure does sound good. I hope that I would be able to have all my data files on the HDD and that when I saved something, like a photo, document or music file that that respective file would be saved directly to the HDD automatically, as if I had only one drive. I'll let you know when I'm ready to make the move.

[hoxlund]

automatically? no you have to point it to the 1TB everytime usually unless you use special software to make things default to the 1TB

[NuGuy]

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I never bought the computer model I talked about here. I did buy one at Sam's Club, and paid more than I anticipated, but, I guess you get what you pay for. It's an HP Pavilion HPE with 12 GB memory, 2TB HDD, Intel Core i7, USB 3.0 ports - what I really wanted. It's OK - no real problems. Opening my very large "Favorites" folder takes longer, it seems, than it used to.

I haven't bought any dedicated backup software yet. "Ask Bob" recommends Acronis. When I finally, someday, get a NAS, maybe I'll get this. But I recently bought a new backup external HDD, a Seagate 3TB that I saw (again) in Sam's Club. It comes with its own dedicated software, and its default setup is continuous backing up; I'm using this option. I guess I should save a new Word file, and then immediately see if I can find it on the external drive to confirm that it's really working.

[hoxlund]

Acronis is pretty sweet, its what I used to use for entire drive backup/restore for windows installs. But not I have 7.5TB of internal storage so I don't backup my windows installs and restore when I need to every 3-4 months. Just do a format and install. I'm actually running windows 8 pro x64 as of about a week ago and honestly its pretty good. But its only that way because I did a lot of tweaking to get it the way I like.