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As LightScribe is an HP technology it seems only right that their Pavilion unit should be one of the first with it built in. Other manufacturers have produced their own drives but so far the only manufacturer able to supply me with media are Verbatim.

This unit has a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading. It has twin 160GB serial ATA hard drives, 1GB of memory, as well as two DVD drives the second one with LightScribe. In fact if you look at My Computer you will see drive letters allocated for 'C' to 'K'. As apart from the two hard drives there is a recovery partition, the two DVD units and four drive letters for the 9 in 4 card readers.

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There is a huge software bundle including Windows XP Home, special LightScribe writing software and Microsoft Word plus lots more a total of 22 software products.

This unit has an array of 'wireless' with a wireless keyboard and mouse, a wireless LAN or Wireless Router and a remote control that gives Media Centre like controls once you have booted into Windows.

The remote control has 41 buttons and once into Windows you - theoretically - never need touch a keyboard or mouse to control 'Entertainment', an almost identical screen can be reached from the Windows desktop and this can then be controlled by the mouse.

The system has a built in TV and Radio card and there is PVR capability. Once you select TV it will then go off and tune providing you have attached an Aerial. Rather surprisingly this is an Analogue unit. There is a cord Aerial supplied for the FM radio and in the same way select radio and it will autotune.

Also from the 'Entertainment' sector you can record and play any programs you have recorded as well as displaying your still images - this card can capture stills from TV - as well as any images you have on your hard disc. It can of course also play DVD's and has a copy of iTunes so you can play any downloaded material. You can also play any MP3, AAC or WMA tracks loaded onto your PC. This is not a Media Centre PC but it is more than a halfway house and once running I doubt the casual user would notice any substantial differences.

Should you already have a Wireless LAN then this unit can quite happily work as a client on the LAN. However it also has the capability to work as an Wireless Router. There is an attachment (Aerial) to place near or on the PC and there is even a printed multi language Quick Installation Guide. Everything else for the PC and the 'Media Centre' is on PDF files but these are easily accessible from an icon on the desktop.

You will notice I have not mentioned speakers or a monitor/panel and neither are included. Most HP panels come with speakers that take their power from the panel. I was sent a 17inch unit with Harman/Kardon speakers but that is another review. This is a very new unit with bagfuls of new technology so the £1100 price tag is to be expected.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/35123-35527-39847-39847-39847-12089846-29168511.html