HP desktops announced today, HP’s Pavilion Media Center TV m8000n PC only features a basic cosmetic redesign. Aside from the classier black coloring, the case looks largely the same as the older Pavilion Media Centers. HP also updated the configuration on this retail-only model, taking advantage of the ongoing AMD/Intel price war to deliver what we expect will be strong performance for its $950 price tag.

HP includes a 2.6GHz Athlon 64 X2 5200+ dual core processor in this Windows Vista Home Premium-based system, along with 2GB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM and an integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150SE graphics chip. It’s a very good configurantion for you to watch a movie at an high-definition and a very fast 3D Gaming. It also comes with a big, fat 500GB hard drive. The NTSC analog cable tuner, the over-the-air HD tuner, and the dual-layer DVD burner and you have what looks like a solid mainstream digital entertainment desktop.

Even if the new coloring on this chassis is only cosmetic, they think people will appreciate the upgrade to classy black over boring gray. They also compared system configurations from Dell, Gateway, and Velocity Micro, both online and at retail, and none of those vendors offers a system that’s as loaded as this one, with a 3D card or otherwise. The 2GB of system memory and the 500GB hard drive stand out in particular.