580 is pretty good for gaming. Congrats!

the one you choose is alright, only downside there is no ssd which will hugly impact performance in windows and gets even slower over time. performance of rx 580 is great also but after some time those 4gb vram will be not enough.

Well, for $500 maximum, you can't expect an SSD unless it's an old 120GB SATA with terrible write speeds and too small for anything but the OS. So not a huge loss for now.

Also, if he get's more used to PC, he could upgrade it later on. It's a Ryzen CPU, so the Mainboard could also take a better CPU later on. Also, he could add an SSD later down the line and reinstall the OS on that one. Just wish to know what Motherboard chip is used. I fear it's an A320, but for his needs that should be enough anyway.

Would an external SSD be sufficient? I have swapped the HDD for a PS4 before so if I need to put an SSD in, hopefully it's not too complicated. I'll probably do that further down the line.

I like the idea of gaming and, once I figure it out, I'll probably just play older generation games. And since I have Game Pass, I'll play a bunch of my 360 games. I don't need the best of the best.

well I think it can get complicated. you need to see if it is possible to open the case of the external ssd. then look if your computer case has a slot for ssds otherwise you need a 3.5 to 2.5 kit or having the ssd lying on the bottom of your computer case. then you need to reinstall windows 10, drivers etc on that ssd drive and format the 1tb hdd drive.

you can't play your old 360 games on the computer for now it's an xbox exlusive feature. hopefully that come some day to the pc.

$500 doesn't get you a lot typically, especially if it's not a custom build. If they can plug in an SSD, and either transfer Win or download and clean install it, adding the SSD later allows for better gaming in general right away. For $500 that HP rig looks decent for a pre-built. An SSD would be the next upgrade though, and they should be able to get much more storage or a much cheaper price down the road compared to a reasonable GPU, since GPU prices have remained kinda high and steady for years.

Pretty sure you can't install Win (10) to external. Each Win 10 license is locked to that specific PC, so by having the OS bootable on an external, you could take it anywhere and use it on any PC, which defeats the purpose.

Installing an SSD internally is about as easy as it gets. Some people just lay them on the bottom of the case, or tape them down using double sided tape. 2.5" types don't necessarily have to be screwed in place like an HDD does since SSD has no moving parts. Still best to screw it down if you can. An M.2 slot type SSD on the mobo isn't tough to install either. Line up the stick with the slot indent and insert on an angle, push it down toward the board gently, insert 1 screw snugly, done.

As for installing Win 10, I think quite a few SSD's come with OS imaging software to help you transfer it over directly from the HDD to the SSD. It's all explained in the software tutorials/manuals that come with them.

Agree with everything here I just want to add I looked at the spec documentation on the computer you bought.

http://cdn.cnetcontent.com/cb/d1/cbd17345-5bc9-44db-9ec5-08e33cf755c8.pdf

It shows both a open 2.5 bay and a open M.2 so you can just leave the HDD in the computer and install either a sata SSD in the 2.5 bay or a M.2 SSD in the M.2 slot then use a clone program to move the OS from hdd to the SSD.

Hp also got specification for your motherboard

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05939208

The M.2 SSD socket on diagram is where a M.2 go and installed just like EricHiggin said.

if you use a 2.5 SSD you need to connect a sata cable from one of the Sata connectors on motherboard to SSD and then a SATA power from PSU to SSD.  Most likely on PSU sata power line connecting to HDD there a second connector that will reach the free 2.5 slot.  For the data line (motherboard to SSD) you might need to buy the cable if you don't have one and the SSD don't come with one.

Great find!

Also, according to the pdf file the RAM is just a single 8GB DIMM, might want to add another one later down the road.

single vs duel channel, is like a ~25% performance drop in some games. if he is going to buy new ram, new ssd, he will be already in a higher price like e.g. my custom build and that custom build already got better cpu, gpu (rx 570 but with 8gb vram or he could get a refurbished rx 580 nitro), motherboard. he only need someone to build that thing.

Not that much more expensive though, right now he could get a 500GB SATA SSD and a 8GB DDR4-2666 DIMM together for less than 100€

And he probably will need someone to set up Windows on another SSD anyway. I doubt there's a windows on disc coming with it, so he would need help to do that anyway. And for what he needs it, what he gets there should be amply enough anyway.