HP z557 Digital Entertainment Center PC - REFURBISHED

HP z557 Digital Entertainment Center PC - REFURBISHED
Manufacturer: hp
Product Type: Personal Computer

Editorial Review:
Product Description
This product has been Factory Refurbished to perform as if it were new. A 90 Day HP (USA) Warranty is included. Also includes: wireless Keyboard w/ Integrated trackball, remote control, DVI-D cable, S-Video cable, L/R RCA Audio cable, 2 Infrared blasters, 2 RF Coaxial Video cables, 1 Coaxial Video Splitter, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 HP z557 Digital Entertainment Center - The z557 is a computer that has been specifically designed to integrate seamlessly with your TV home-theater setup - without sacrificing your computing experience! It provides the best of all worlds - a powerful computer system that's powered by an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 530j, a built-in PVR that provides TV viewing, pausing and recording, a DVD player and recorder, an FM tuner, and much more. The PC is contained in a box that stacks with your A/V components. There's a wireless keyboard and a remote control. Works great with widescreen and HDTV television screens and projectors. It has NTSC and ATSC TV tuners, and FM radio. Double Layer DVD Writer - (write) 2.4x DL DVD+R, 16x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 40x CD-R, 24x CD-RW / (read) 16x DVD-ROM & 40x CD-ROM Lightscribe Direct Disc Labeling 2 NTSC TV Tuners 1 ATSC TV HD TV Tuner receives over-the-air HDTV with optional antenna 14-Day Programming Guide NVIDIA GeForce 6600 x16 PCI Express Graphics Card with 128MB of DDR Memory Intel High Definition Audio with 7.1 Surround Sound Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Supports playback of MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, & PCM files FM Tuner External Ports Rear A/V - 1 DVI-D, 1 VGA, 1 Component (YPbPr), 1 S-Video, 1 Composite, 8 RCA Audio, 1 Toslink Optical Digital, & 1 Coaxial Digital TV Inputs - 1 RF Coaxial for Standard TV, 1 RF Coaxial for Digital TV, 2 S-Video, 1 Composite, 2 Sets of RCA Front Headphone, L/R RCA & Microphone In 6 USB 2.0 (2 front) / 2 FireWire (4-pin front / 6-pin rear) Front 9-in-1 Media

Average customer rating:

Trade your Skillet in for the z557!!!
Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!

HP z557 Digital Entertainment Center PC - REFURBISHED

Manufacturer: hp
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

All Hewlett-Packard | Hewlett-Packard | Computers Brands | Computers Features | Electronics

Intel Pentium 4 processor 530j with HT Technology
1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (expandable to 2GB)
802.11b/g Wi-Fi Adapter with removable antenna
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
300GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

ASIN: B000CRZ8O4

Product Description

This product has been Factory Refurbished to perform as if it were new. A 90 Day HP (USA) Warranty is included. Also includes: wireless Keyboard w/ Integrated trackball, remote control, DVI-D cable, S-Video cable, L/R RCA Audio cable, 2 Infrared blasters, 2 RF Coaxial Video cables, 1 Coaxial Video Splitter, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 HP z557 Digital Entertainment Center - The z557 is a computer that has been specifically designed to integrate seamlessly with your TV home-theater setup - without sacrificing your computing experience! It provides the best of all worlds - a powerful computer system that's powered by an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 530j, a built-in PVR that provides TV viewing, pausing and recording, a DVD player and recorder, an FM tuner, and much more. The PC is contained in a box that stacks with your A/V components. There's a wireless keyboard and a remote control. Works great with widescreen and HDTV television screens and projectors. It has NTSC and ATSC TV tuners, and FM radio. Double Layer DVD Writer - (write) 2.4x DL DVD+R, 16x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 40x CD-R, 24x CD-RW / (read) 16x DVD-ROM & 40x CD-ROM Lightscribe Direct Disc Labeling 2 NTSC TV Tuners 1 ATSC TV HD TV Tuner receives over-the-air HDTV with optional antenna 14-Day Programming Guide NVIDIA GeForce 6600 x16 PCI Express Graphics Card with 128MB of DDR Memory Intel High Definition Audio with 7.1 Surround Sound Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Supports playback of MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, & PCM files FM Tuner External Ports Rear A/V - 1 DVI-D, 1 VGA, 1 Component (YPbPr), 1 S-Video, 1 Composite, 8 RCA Audio, 1 Toslink Optical Digital, & 1 Coaxial Digital TV Inputs - 1 RF Coaxial for Standard TV, 1 RF Coaxial for Digital TV, 2 S-Video, 1 Composite, 2 Sets of RCA Front Headphone, L/R RCA & Microphone In 6 USB 2.0 (2 front) / 2 FireWire (4-pin front / 6-pin rear) Front 9-in-1 Media

Customer Reviews:

Trade your Skillet in for the z557!!!.......2006-01-05

I purchased the z557 with dual 300GB hard drives, one of which is removable, 1GB RAM, and a 3.0GHz Hyper-Thread Intel P4 Processor. It is a beautiful AV component to behold and is a big departure from what the other PC Manufacturers are trying to pass off in your Living or Family Room. The GUI is simple and set-up was easy. The Wireless Keyboard worked fine for me once I figured out the buttons.

I quickly integrated it into my tecStream 'whole-house' Digital Entertainment network so that I can play the AV content on any networked TV or Speakers in my home. See this incredible product at www.tecstream.com .
I followed the recommended spacing with 4" rear, 2" above, and 1" on the sides, but this unit heats up like a Skillet and I was afraid that it might catch fire. It really gets that hot! HP Service checked it out and verified what I had observed saying that it was within tolerance. Bah! Heat is the destroyer of electronics and they offered to refund 80% of my purchase price, though I had only purchased it a month before sending it in. HP is the name that I have always counted on for great support after the sale and I appreciated their offer under the circumstances. Still, when the fans turns on, the z557 is basically useless since it drowns out the sound at normal levels with jet-engine like noise levels. This is a beautiful design, but you will want to wait until they get the excessive heating issue worked out or else the lifespan of your investment will be dramatically shortened! I understand that this may be the case with the z558 after speaking with someone at HP. I guess that I should have waited, but the Refurb deal was too good to pass up, or so I thought.

Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!.......2005-12-25

Picked one of these up the other day, mostly for the slick design and for the wireless keyboard with trackball type mouse controller. But that's all it has, is looks...

After using the keyboard, it quickly became tedious to use, since not only are the keys hard to push down, they are in a tight proximity of each other and not in the usual places, and the wireless is hit and miss, possibly because it runs at only 49MHz frequency. It will miss keys here and there, so you have to type very slooow, and check your work very often, and with passwords where you can't see what you are typing, good luck! It quickly becomes a tire... There is no number pad and the trackball mouse is skippy and lacks a scroll feature...

The processor is 2 "generations" older than the current dual core intel processors and the RAM is standard DDR instead of DDR2...

Unless HP updates the components and the keyboard, this is a terrible value and a POS.

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