HP Pavillion

Pavilions as desktops are not bad for the average consumer but for anyone who wants to add stuff to their PC, they are not the greatest. Support for add-on video cards is iffy and the cases are very cramped and difficult to work with. But the worst part about them is the underpowered 160 watt power supplies, going with the lowest common denominator with their power supplies really limits the system. That being said for someone who needs to use the Internet, write up a document, and maybe play the odd game HP Pavilions do the job just fine (as does virtually any PC out there these days). Riptide was a bit tricky until proper drivers were found on their website.

Pavilion Notebooks, such as my HP Pavilion N5270 are actually pretty decent. About the only problem they have is with weak battery life and very poor speakers (though admittedly most laptops aren't know for THX sound quality). Overall a fairly good unit.

"HP Pavillion" is also the cutesy marketing ploy perpetrated after the HP-Compaq merger upon the fan base of the San Jose Sharks hockey team and the City of San Jose in general.

Corporate naming rights has originally named the Arena the "Compaq Center" which was bad enough.

Most fans still simply refer to it as "The Shark Tank," which is way cooler.

from: http://www.hppsj.com/hppsj/building_information/facts_figures/
HP PAVILION AT SAN JOSE FACTS & FIGURES

• Site Location: Downtown San Jose, at West Santa Clara Street and Autumn Street
• Site Area: Approximately 17 acres
• Building Dimensions: Length - 425 by 425 feet; Height -117 feet; Internal Space - 450,000 square feet
• Exterior: Concrete; space frame steel truss; ribbed stainless steel siding; 10-story glass pyramid entry.
• Concrete Used: 33,000 cubic yards
• Structural Steel Used: 1,800 tons
• Glass Used: Approximately 40,000 square feet
• Electrical Wiring Used: Approximately 1.86 million feet or 353 miles
• Fuel, Water, Cooling, Heating and Sanitation Piping: 32 to 38 miles
• Length of Construction: Approximately 540 days
• Seating Capacity: 17,496 maximum; basketball 18,500; multi-purpose 16,000-20,000; hockey 17,483
• Parking: Approximately 1,600 spaces on site and up to 6,300 spaces within 1 mile of the Pavilion - VTA provides a free shuttle service from most garages to the Pavilion.
• Executive Suites: 65
• Cost: $162.5 million ($132.5 million funded by the City of San Jose; $30 million funded by HP Pavilion Management)
• Developer: Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose
• Owner: City of San Jose
• Builder: Perini Building Company, Western Division
• Construction Manager: HuntCor Inc.
• Architect: Sink Combs Dethlefs
• Pavilion Operator: HP Pavilion Management
• Primary Tenant: San Jose Sharks

Personal Opinion: I like it. (I attend 35-45 hockey games there a year, as well as a few boxing events.) They have good food for an arena, including Sushi and {Barbecue]; probably because of the Silicon Valley money in the area.

Smoking Areas are outside, but easy to get to.

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For a full schedule of events happening at the HP Pavillion, go to http://www.hppsj.com/