HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y – outdated computer

Thumbs Up:

User-friendly design.

Thumbs Down:

Not a lot of upgrade options, slow performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y is powered by AMD Athlon X2 7550 2.7 GHz processor and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE chipset of 3600 MHz data bus speed. The memory is 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, which has 800MHz memory speed. The Slimline s5120y has 500 GB Serial-ATA hard drive of 7200 rpm and LightScribe enabled SATA DVD±RW(±R DL)/DVD-RAM.

The onboard graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE (UMA) and integrated sound card is Realtek ALC888S of High Definition Audio standard that supports 5.1 channel surround sound. HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 56kbps PCI Express data/fax modem and integrated network adapter that follows standards of Ethernet/Fast Ethernet.

The pre-installed operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit. The installed software includes Trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Trial version of Norton Internet Security 2009, Microsoft Works Suite 9.0, CyberLink DVD Suite, Muvee Reveal Basic and Adobe Reader.

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 6-in-1 card reader that supports MultiMediaCardPlus, SDHC MemoryCard, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture Card, SD Memory Card, Multimedia Card and Memory Stick.

The interfaces of HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y are 1×Headphones – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1×Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1×Audio – Line-out – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1×Audio – Line-in – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1×Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX – RJ-45, 1×Display / video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 6×Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A (2 front, 4 rear), 1×Keyboard – Generic – 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) and 1×Mouse – Generic – 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style). There are two expansion bays: 1(0) ×Internal – 3.5″×1/3H and 1(0) ×Front accessible – 5.25″×1/2H. Three expansion slots are 1(0) ×PCI Express x16, 1(0) ×Processor, 1(1) ×PCI Express x1 and 2 Memory – DIMM 240-pin.

Razzle Dazzle:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has black-colored glossy front panel and smaller slim-tower case than that of Dell Inspiron 537s. The design and architecture of the Slimline s5120y are outdated.

Inside Dope:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y costs around $450, which is not worthy after considering its slow performance, limited features and some design gaffes. The Slimline model is out-dated computer like Dell Inspiron 537s. HP is the first company to bring the slim-tower concept to the market. Now, the Gateway has also adopted the same concept.

The older HP Slimline models did not have additional external drive port. Before Slimline series, the previous HP models had a Pocket Media removable hard-drive port at the bottom. HP has removed the Pocket Media Drives and it is probably due to lack of customer enthusiasm. This gives you more free space inside the cabinet for upgrades.

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 2.7GHz Athlon dual-core processor that provides good performance. It has 500GB hard-drive, which is smaller as compared to 640GB hard drive in Gateway SX2800-01. After looking at all the ports located on backside and front-side, anyone can say that HP needs to improve the design of its Slimline series, especially, of the s5120y.

Analog headphone jack, media card slot and USB 2.0 port are located on the front of HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y. VGA display port, keyboard and mouse PS/2 ports, Ethernet slot, 5.1 analog audio output ports and four USB 2.0 ports are located on the back. The s5120y is not offering any HDMI port or FireWire port. Whereas, the Gateway SX2800-01 offers all above ports with HDMI port, eSATA, mini-Firewire and double the number of USB ports as in the s5120y. We hope that HP can also revise the tower design and architecture like Dell.

It may be possible that HP has used an old motherboard to support an affordable and fast CPU processor. Due to which, the ports on the HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y are outdated. We tested the s5120y with the Gateway model, Dell Inspiron 537s and Asus CM5570-AP002. The Slimline s5120y did not perform well as compared to other models. The Slimline computer is perfect for basic tasks like video/music playback, word processing and Web browsing. However, it is much slower when compared to Gateway SX2800-01. This Gateway model will offer you latest design, more memory and ports, and fast performance in just $60 more as compared to HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y.

The users with limited budget will be attracted towards HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y. You cannot upgrade the Slimline s5120y as there is no slot for increasing internal memory and only two slots for RAM. The annual power consumption cost of the s5120y is $35.62, which is more as compared to that of both Asus CM5570-AP002 and Gateway SX2800-01. The Athlon CPU and AMD chipset motherboard consumes more power, but does not provide high clock seed and good power supply.

HP is providing one year labor-and-parts warranty on the Pavilion Slimline s5120y with 24/7 phone support at toll-free number. The chat technical support is also available at the website. You can find the necessary FAQs, drivers and utilities at the HP website. The s5120y computer comes with HP Health Care and self-help software.

Nitty Gritty:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has a slim-tower design, but does not have good performance. Even at low price, the Slimline s5120y can not beat the design, performance and connectivity options of Gateway SX2800-01, which costs only $60 more.

Popularity: 9% [?]