HP Pavilion p6654y

HP Pavilion p6654y

Its features are mostly modest, but the HP Pavilion p6654y's ($529.99 list) performance is stellar for a budget desktop - its not so modest attribute is a spacious 750GB hard drive. And not counting a rather anemic 250-watt power supply, the p6654y, which is available at Best Buy, has decent upgrade potential to boot. For its sheer performance capabilities, the p6654y presents an very good value for a budget desktop. The p6654y is one of the rare exceptions to the typically all-black HP Pavilion desktops. It still has a black metal chassis, but adds a little contrast to the mix with a gray-colored, plastic front bezel. The color might be a tad different from the usual, but the design is the same as all other Pavilion p6500- and p6600-series "everyday computing" line of desktops, such as the HP Pavilion p6627c-b ($749.99, 3 stars). This design entails a 15-in-1 media card reader at the top of the front bezel, with two accessible 5.25-inch bays below that. In the instance of the p6654y, the top bay houses a DVD burner, while the bottom bay is unoccupied. The bottom half of the bezel slides down about an inch to reveal access to two USB 2.0 ports and mic and headphone jacks.