Digital Trends

HP Pavilion a6130n

July 30th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features and Design

The HP Pavilion a6130n is a sleek looking desktop computer. The body is roughly 16"x7"x15" and weighs about 22lbs. The exterior is a sexy black complimented with silver trim and buttons. The black high-gloss finish on the front is reminiscent of a black iPod and matches the updated styling of HP's new w2007 and w2207 LCD monitors. The ports and connectors on the a6130n are all easily accessible and color-coded. HP seems to have considered all the possible needs of the average computer user and included corresponding ports for useful or necessary peripherals.

AMD Processor

The a6130n comes standard with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Dual Core) 5000+ processor running at 2.6GHz, supported by two 512KB L2 caches, one 512KB L2 cache per core. The Athlon 64 X2 5000+ boasts a memory-access speed of 800MHz, but in-depth tests show that the processor may only access memory at about 742MHz. Seeing how the a6130n and other similar computers come with PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM running at 667MHz, the AMD chip will not be hampering performance at all. Granted, if you were to spend some extra money and add 4GB of PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM running at 800MHz, then the CPU's reported 742MHz memory-access bottleneck could cost you a few nanoseconds here and there. 

From the Department of Obvious Statements, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ is 64-bit capable.

The a6130n is an AMD Live! system, which essentially denotes a computer system with a dual core AMD 64 processor that is meant to "stream, record, transfer, share, and organize your photos, videos, music and media to the digital devices you already have - set-top boxes, game consoles, MP3 players and mobile phones - with incredible speed, magnificent sound and rich graphics performance."

RAM

When HP released the Slimline s3020n series of computers, they must have been feeling nostalgic for the 1990's because they only included 512MB RAM standard. Thankfully, HP got the message that 512MB is barely enough for a PDA, much less a home computer. With the a6130n, HP is offering a very generous 3GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM, filling its 4 RAM slots. 3GB is more than enough RAM for most applications and for running Vista in Aero mode. Kudos to HP for the healthy base spec of 3GB memory! The a6130n can be maxed out at 4GB RAM. 

Cone of Silence

One of the a6130n's features I really appreciate is its silent operation. The AMD processor employs its "Cool'n'Quiet" technology to reduce fan speeds and noise. Cool'n'Quiet also provides on-the-fly processor throttling to match power requirements to your computing activities. If you're working on a Word doc for a few hours, the a6130n will gear itself down, conserving power, saving the environment, reducing your electric bill and keeping fan noise at a minimum - most often dead silent. When you need to get a boost of power for something like Photoshop or CAD, the AMD processor recognizes your needs and revs itself back up for some hard work. Even when running hard, the a6130n stays very quiet. As much as I cringe at the grammar of "Cool'n'Quiet", I love the technology.

The a6130n uses a 250W power supply. 

Ports & Jacks

The a6130n has a number of ports and jacks for hooking up your peripherals, drives and speaker systems. On the front of the a6130n: a 15-in-1 memory card reader (SD/MMC, CF, MS/PRO, etc.), two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, standard 1/8" audio jacks (in, out, mic) and HP's Pocket Media Drive Bay. On the back of the a6130n are the flashback-inducing PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, digital audio out, VGA out, one 6-pin FireWire 400 port, four USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100 LAN port, fax/modem, and a number of audio jacks: side, rear, center/sub, mic, output and input.

 
Back of the HP a3160n