HP ProLiant N40L MicroServer Server System AMD Turion II Neo N40L 1.5GHz 2-Core 2GB (1 x 2GB) 1 x 250GB LFF SATA 658553-001

Pros: -ESXI .51 support with HP
-Worked for me with 16GB ram
-Runs many VM's very well

Cons: NONE...

HP did very well this time.

Pros: This is addition to the previous comment I wrote, I forgot to mention this.

There is a PCI express card slot, which allow user to upgrade the video card.

Cons: However, the PCI express slot is a position bad or the case designed a little "mis-calculated". Basically, it is on the "2nd" slot on the board, if we count from the left. It is very close to the case, so that type of video is actually very limited, because of the high-sink or fan.

Any decent card, has a high sink, and/or fan. Only if the case has 1 more inch. Or the PCI express slot is on the right side (1st slot). It shouldn't be that big of problem.

I am talking about the Nvidia GT 410, GT420, GT610, GT620, or ATI cards ... most of them don't fit.
You have better chance with GT210 or ATI 6450..

Other Thoughts: Not reliable motherboard... and VGA output.

System update, such as BIOS and driver is very slow and limited.

Pros: 1.) Relatively small, and efficient design, good quality case.
2.) 4 bays easy pull out design
3.) Intel Processor and expandable memory slot
4.) 6 USB ports and Ethernet
5.) front opening for easy drives pull out
6.) Decent BIOS
7.) Include "most" of the screws you need

Cons: 1.) Video (VGA) output dead after 5 months
2.) Drive pull out rack is too plastic and soft, they are "band-able"
3.) Newegg is not HP authorized Dealer, therefore the warrant DOES NOT start from the date you purchase. It starts from the date NewEgg purchase from other

Other Thoughts: Although I purchased it on early 2012, I didn't use it until 10 months later. It was kept in box all the time. After 5 months of use, the VGA output is dead.

I couldn't do remote connection, and needed to connect locally. It just have no output on monitor. I do hard reset on the system, and still doesn't work. Cannot even see the boot or BIOS screen.

So, I called HP. The warranty was expired 2 months ago. I explained to them, that not the date I purchased, I should have 2 more months. That's when they explained that the Newegg is not authorized dealer, and the warranty date DOES NOT start from end user purchase date.

Pros: Great sale price
Streaming via WHS 2011 is very fluid
still has room for 2 half height I/O cards
4 drives + DVD if you want
Gbit ethernet
eSATA to expand further if needed

Cons: Not a con - be sure to use only LFF drives and not the "fat" 3.5" drives; they won't fit in the caddie

Other Thoughts: This is an upgrade to my 4 yr old HP EX485 (which still works great). I installed WHS 2011 & Drive Pool for DE functionality (BTW with Drive Pool there is no 2TB drive limit - using 2 Seagate 3TB drives just fine). Very convenient to have a full server board with video out. May add an HDMI video card in the future. My old WHIIST photo albums have been upgraded to Gallery Server Pro and the response time is great. I've ordered a 2GB stick of ECC to bring it to 4GB. WHS 2011 is running fine & backing up all computers without a hitch.

Pros: - Compact design
- Just add HD and OS is simple.
- Quiet

Cons: - would love some server freebies like monitoring or stats SW but thats just greedy.

Other Thoughts: I have been running WHS 2011 on this non-stop for over a year now. This is a nice compact platform with space for 4 drives. Power consumption is well managed. It certainly gets a workout as WHS is busy most of each night backing up the various computers. It also working serving up all recorded TV to media devices.

Pros: It's very easy to upgrade/install hardware. Hard drives are accessible from the front and the Mobo slides out on a tray. Supports 4 hard drives--5 if no dvd rom drive installed. Very quiet. Runs MS Server 2008 R2 well. It was $289.00 when I bought it.

Cons: Weak processor, but adequate from home/small business.

Other Thoughts: I use this machine primarily as a file server and media server.

Pros: Upgraded to 16Gb RAM with no issues (KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G), installed Western Digital Red 3Tb hard drives, and running wicked cool FreeNAS 8.3.1 on internal USB.

Cons: None yet.

Pros: Small. Can fit 4 drives and came with the caddies to do so. e-SATA support. ECC support.

Cons: 2TB limit on internal drives. 8GB RAM limit.

Other Thoughts: Why buy a NAS or a SAN when you can make your own. I liked the one I bought so much I bought another. Have had zero issues with it. I installed Windows Server 2012 and everything was recognized out of the box. Combined with storage spaces, drive pooling, ReFS and the ECC RAM and it makes an awesome NAS. The only things disappointing is the 8GB RAM limit and the 2TB limit on the internal drive sizes.

Pros: I have had the server for a while. No prob with features and usage. I added a HDMI video card and use it as home theater server using XBMC.

Last week, the fan started to make a very high pitched noise. I tried shutting it down then restarting, took out the case fan (very easy) to grease it with silicon spray, still high pitch. Called HP service on the weekend, got to a live person quickly who handles call routing, then got to the real support guy, all pretty quickly. The guy asked me to check the bios, checked warranty status, asked a few questions, and told me I will get a replacement fan on Monday! outstanding response!

Cons: I first tried hp.com's chat help, but microserver is not supported by chat. tried email help, but also not support by email. tried to submit a case myself, but got error "The service or information you requested is not available at this time." The whole hp website was sluggish and annoying to navigate.

Other Thoughts: Later the support guy on the phone told me a server is down, so he couldn't enter my case either. But he will make sure to enter my info in a few hours when the system is up.

HP, listen, really, you can't keep your server up and you want to sell your expertise to other? At least your human backup is good.

Pros: This little machine works as a great fileserver. Installed FreeBSD 8, setup both NFS and SMB, no problems. 4 Disks installed, 2 mirrors using gmirror. nice to have front access to drives in case of failure. gig ethernet a plus. For the cost, this is a great machine for a fileserver.

Cons: none