Test Bench: HP Pavilion 9720 Turnkey Editing Computer

Hewlett-Packard
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185
(888) 999-4747
www.hp.com

The term turnkey editing computer is quickly becoming redundant. Many consumer-oriented computers are fully loaded editing systems. Microsoft's simple editing program MovieMaker now ships with all Windows Me operating systems and both USB and FireWire ports are becoming a standard feature on computers. We predict that it won't be long before all computers will ship with the necessary hardware and software to import, edit and export finished video back to tape, the Internet or disk.

Although this trend is gaining momentum, we were impressed when we received Hewlett-Packard's latest multimedia editing in our editorial office. It comes with a 1.5GHz, Pentium IV processor, 80 gigs of hard drive space, 256MB RAM, a 19-inch monitor, a DVD-player, a CD-ROM burner, surround sound and Pinnacle's Studio DV simple video editing software.

The 9720 is aimed at the power-hungry video-editing neophyte. However, with a few tweaks and possibly an upgrade in editing software, intermediate and advanced users can have a comprehensive editing system.

It's a Monster
No, it's not Godzilla, but with its formitable specs, this beast has some brawn. The HP9720 features Intel's latest Pentium IV 1.5GHz processor that's designed to optimize multimedia and Web performance. Its 80GB hard drive can store about six hours of full-screen, full-motion video. And once you've captured all of that footage, HP loaded a whopping 256MB of RAM to make sure you can load your project onto the timeline.

The 9720 is a paragon of multimedia versatility. We're hard pressed to think of something you can't do with this computer. It's got a CD-RW burner for output of both audio and video productions and HP included a DVD player as well. This is a great feature since the DVD player can also play CD-ROMs, which makes for easy CD copying. And when you're ready to capture music or sound effects for your projects, HP's MusicMatch Jukebox makes copying CD content to your hard drive quick and painless. And the Polk Audio sound system complete with four speakers and woofer make for an awesome sound.

As far as capturing video goes, Hewlett Packard had the good sense to include both FireWire and USB ports for easy video/image acquisition. Not only that, but HP puts ports on the front as well as back of the tower. This convenient touch adds to its comfort and user-friendly design.

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