TheStormyPetrel,
Some Webcams come with little visors now for that reason. Webcams are very easy to hack from the net and get them to turn on without the owners knowing!
Another solution for you would be an Extension cable for your USB:
That way you would not have to go behind your computer to unplug the webcam.
mcdhu,
The Radeon 9200 is a budget card, just like the FX 5200 Cards you are seeing in most budget systems. The Radeon 9200, like the FX 5200 will not play most games, and if you are thinking of Flight Sim 2k4, you will have to run it stripped down to the bare minimum. I do not recommend the FX 5200 to anyone. It is just tossing your money out the window. If you can still find a GeForce4 Ti4200, it is a much better card, they run as little as $70.00 in the U.S. but blow most budget cards away.
Here is an article from Anand Tech that is well worth the read. (Do not worry too much about the technical info, the graphs and the conclusion at the end will give you a good understanding about the Video Cards on the market.)
Fall 2003 Video Card Roundup, Part 4: Budget Shootout
The motherboard that HP is using is the Intel® i845GE Chipset. There are two versions of the i845 Chipset. The first i845 used the older PC-133 RAM. This version was a very bad design since PC-133 could not provide enough memory Bandwidth for the Memory Bandwidth hungry PIV. (It would be like having to download 100Mb files with a 56k Dialup. It is just slow.) The i845GE uses DDR PC-2100 and PC-2700 RAM, that feeds the needs of the PIV and helps the PIV get to full potential. (Now you are downloading 100Mb files with a Cable/DSL Connection. It runs as it was designed to do.)
The only thing I do no like about the version of the motherboard HP is using is the form factor. The motherboard is the mATX factor, which means it is a shorter, stripped down motherboard, so you have little chance of adding anything down the road to the computer. Here is an example of two motherboards:
This is the mATX Version of the Intel i845GE:
This is the ATX Version of the Intel i845GE:
I do like that the computer comes with a DVD Burner, that will really come in handy. The hard drive is a good one with 80Gb of space. (It is partitioned is there is 4Gb less on it.)
The only weak spots on that computer are the Video Card and the motherboard form. (Also, I am sure HP set the BIOS of the motherboard is you will not be able to upgrade the processor.)
Take Care,
Richard
P.S. Whirlybird, it is your money and your PC. You have to do what makes you happy. Best of luck, and if you have any problems, we will be here to help you as best we can.