The 2.4GHz P4-based HP Pavilion 950 debuts with a dream configuration for power-hungry consumers. Its cutting-edge CPU, copious memory, and fast graphics card can handle gaming and DV editing as easily as homework and other mainstream applications. And its DDR SDRAM, while something of a performance hindrance, helps keep the Pavilion 950's price reasonable. We only wish HP offered more generous support options.

Anyone buying a 2.4GHz system would expect it to be the fastest thing going. The Pavilion 950 offers plenty of power for a diverse range of home uses, but it has a few limitations. HP's selection of DDR SDRAM, even in a sizable 512MB dollop, helped keep the Pavilion 950 at an affordable $2,409, but it also made the system a little slower than the RDRAM-equipped (and pricier) Dell Dimension 8200 in our Labs' tests. The Pavilion 950's big (120GB), fast (7,200rpm) hard drive with a typical 2MB buffer couldn't compete with the Dimension 8200's larger 8MB.

Despite these differences, the performance gaps are small: a little more than 7 percent in Quake III Arena, almost 6 percent in MPEG-2 encoding, and virtually nil in SysMark2002. Unless you need the Dimension 8200's RDRAM and higher-end hard drive for serious gaming and video creation, the Pavilion 950 offers nearly the same performance for a lower price.

The Pavilion 950's gaming/DV talents start with its superfast 128MB Nvidia Ti 4600 graphics card. Our system also came with both DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives; a DVD+RW drive is a $350 option. HP bundles every Pavilion 950 with a copy of Studio DV for editing and builds front-mounted USB and IEEE 1394 ports into the system for easy connectivity to your DV camera. If you need even more hookups, you have two front-accessible drive bays and three PCI slots free.

Even the peripherals get into the act. The 15-inch, 1,024x768 analog LCD, HP's own F50, works great with DVDs and graphics, and it'll be easy on your eyes during the hours you'll spend staring at the screen while editing video. The Cambridge SoundWorks SW-320 2.1 speakers with subwoofer are capable but not imposing, delivering 12 watts of good bass and 9 watts from each of the two wide-range satellites. We'd prefer the optional ($30) Polk AMR-50 system, though. The power ratings between the two are roughly equivalent, but in our experience, the Polk's audio quality is somewhat better.

The Pavilion 950's step-by-step illustrated guide makes this system extremely easy to set up. But the user-friendliness slows down when you get to service and support. The computer is priced to include HP's three-year parts and labor plan, but the company doesn't even offer an onsite service option. Technical support is available 24/7, but it's not toll-free.

The Pavilion 950 is a fast, well-configured consumer system with an affordable price. Its service and support deficiencies mar an otherwise pretty picture, but if you can get past that, you'll find this system's a good value for home users who want to do it all on one machine

• Fast performance
• LCD display
• Front and rear mounted USB and Firewire ports

• No onsite service
• Support is a toll call