kenbeebe wrote:HDMI is audio and video, if you cannot get audio to work over hdmi, go to sounds in the control panel and set digtal output to default. Then restart the application, works every time.

briefcandle wrote:Bought this in the last woot...generally very very pleased.

There is no digital audio out...HDMI audio must be split out through a toslink converter...costs about $40

This seems a little bit confusing to me. This laptop indicates that it would be newer than mine, evidenced by the blu-ray drive in it, and yet mine has HDMI sound out, that I can activate by going into playback devices and setting HDMI as the default.

I would enjoy confirmation of this fact, as my computer is an older version of this one that has HDMI sound working well in windows 7.

kenbeebe wrote:HDMI is audio and video, if you cannot get audio to work over hdmi, go to sounds in the control panel and set digtal output to default. Then restart the application, works every time.

HDMI can carry audio and video - that doesn't mean it always does especially on cheap/older video cards or chipsets.

Read the Wikipedia section on HDMI in PCs.

This was a big issue when I was thinking of building an HTPC a few years ago.

briefcandle wrote:
There is no digital audio out...HDMI audio must be split out through a toslink converter...costs about $40

I have a Dell mini with HDMI output and I could not get the audio output to work at first. I eventually found that I had to switch the default audio device to be the HDMI out when using it that way. (instead of the "HD Audio" or whatever the default was) I wonder if you could do something similar...

It is really not that complicated: hook hdmi from laptop to Tv then red and white audio cables from aux tv to aux receiver

kro8888r wrote:It is really not that complicated: hook hdmi from laptop to Tv then red and white audio cables from aux tv to aux receiver

Then you're watching Bluray in stereo...

LeeMejean wrote:I bought this same model at Best Buy on black friday last year. I paid $750 plus $300 for a total 3 year warranty. It was originally marked at something like $950. I use it for school and have never had any complaints. Battery life can run somewhat short but i found a quick fix in turning down the brightness of the screen, in which case it will last through 3 hours of continuous use on one charge. All in all a great laptop and an even better price.

$300 for 3 year warranty?! On a $750 investment?!
Ummm, yeah. No comment.

eberin wrote:The ATI card is a good thing..... :-)

Is that an integrated card? If it was dedicated I will be ordering 3 but not with an integrated videocard.

carbonium wrote:* AMD Turion II CPU?
Core i7 please.
*17.3” (1600×900) Odd resolution?
Really needs to be 1600x1200.
* Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN, 802.11b/g WLAN, and 56k modem
Needs Gigabit LAN and b/g/N to be current.

Core i7, 1600x1200 17.3" in a $600 laptop? Find me that deal, I'd be in for three. I'm sure it'll be available 2014 or so.

DO NOT BUY THIS. I bought a VERY similar model about 6 months ago. It was a dv7-1279. These models have a flawwed design. the cpu and gpu on the motherboard are right in the middle of the computer. It is right in the center and has a half a$$ed heat sink leading to the back left corner where there is a vent. This poor designing leads to overheating. I know personally because I after I bought mine, it fried a mere 10 days after the 90 day warranty. I opened it up and could not tell what was wrong with it, but it was either the gpu or the mobo because the hdd is fine, and so is the ram and the processor. It ran super cool, but it still fried. My opinion is that it only felt cool on the outside, but was actually really hot inside, it was just well insulated by the rest of the body. DO NOT BUY THIS. I WASTED $650 of my hard fu(king earned money. It was the biggest purchase of my life so far, and now its a $650 paperweight.

DevinePote wrote:I've been told this computer is lacking in the video Card department. If this really can play ME2 then I'm sold, I was told to see if it comes with a port so i can upgrade the Video Card.

Can I?

Since most replies involved MW2 and not ME2...

Even if this laptop is unable to play these games on "Max" settings AND since you didn't even ask that, this should run ME2 just fine.

I run both games on a 6 year old Desktop with a Pentium 4 3.0ghz processor. This laptop has similar graphics to my desktop, more RAM and a better processor. However, I do keep my PC extremely clean and avoid any unnecessary bloat. As mentioned earlier all the gristle that is pre-installed onto this laptop WILL hinder gaming performance.

[edit] Now I know why the word "gristle" is used so much here...

pootietang wrote:yep i see the junkieness... plus if u really want this its cheaper at tigerdirec after BCB for $570.

Not sure what "BCB" means, but I see the TigerDirec price as $669 for this same refurb. How do you get $570?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5675337&sku=M975-170051

Woot's deal is better than elsewhere, as usual.

This is a sweet rig - I got the Intel version with the 8600GT mobile graphics chipset a few months ago here and the notebook ROCKS any high-end game I've played on it, on the highest settings (Fallout 3, Enemy Territory Quake Wars, and several other high-end FPS's).

Goes without saying - it will fit to "a tee" (or an HP) your business and entertainment needs (sure wish mine came with Blu-Ray too).

I have owned a couple of new HP's and never had an issue. I was somewhay nervous about a refurb (more so the rough shipping handling) and I see they are offering the same Square Trade additional year warranty (NOT starting on date of purchase, like a new one) for those who need a little piece of mind. Like me. I still have about 6 months left, but it appears to have been a waste of $80 at this point. (that's a good and a bad thing) =o)

ESQuireTech wrote:Not sure what "BCB" means, but I see the TigerDirec price as $669 for this same refurb. How do you get $570?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5675337&sku=M975-170051

Woot's deal is better than elsewhere, as usual.

Yes, but if what Mattj7 says is true and it overheats, well then don't waste yer $.

Can i play world of warcraft on this?

great computer at a great price! In for 3!

Does this support XP Virtual Mode / VT tech? If it can't virtualize you lose some functionality with win7 vs. XP.

mattj7 wrote:read my previous post. thats WHY it only has a 90 day warranty, because its has a very high chance of breaking really soon.

I don't agree. I bought an HP refurb 25.5" monitor in August. From what I can tell, it's not a refurb and it's working beautifully today.

They want you to buy the extra plan perhaps but it's not a 90 day warranty because it has a very high chance of breaking really soon as you say. That's just plain silly.

rockytrh wrote:AMD was great. The core 2 architecture blew them out of the water though. I doubt they will ever catch up again. The mobile core 2 was way better than the Turion (I own a turion).

I have mostly AMD's new and a few years old. Never had a problem with the chip EVER. Graphics cards went, HD's went but never a chip or a problem with an AMD chip.

mattj7 wrote:DO NOT BUY THIS. I bought a VERY similar model about 6 months ago. It was a dv7-1279. These models have a flawwed design. the cpu and gpu on the motherboard are right in the middle of the computer. It is right in the center and has a half a$$ed heat sink leading to the back left corner where there is a vent. This poor designing leads to overheating. I know personally because I after I bought mine, it fried a mere 10 days after the 90 day warranty. I opened it up and could not tell what was wrong with it, but it was either the gpu or the mobo because the hdd is fine, and so is the ram and the processor. It ran super cool, but it still fried. My opinion is that it only felt cool on the outside, but was actually really hot inside, it was just well insulated by the rest of the body. DO NOT BUY THIS. I WASTED $650 of my hard fu(king earned money. It was the biggest purchase of my life so far, and now its a $650 paperweight. AND read my previous post. thats WHY it only has a 90 day warranty, because its has a very high chance of breaking really soon.

No, it has a 90 day warranty because it's refurbished, like all companies do. If that was the biggest purchase of your life, and you've only owned one, you're probably not real well qualified to act like an expert with HP's. I work in Tier 2 PC support for a MAJOR PC manufacturer, not HP, and have owned 3 HP's and NEVER had an issue. It's been my experience notebooks rarely "just burn up" all by themselves, if ever.

Thanks for your opinion, though...

redbluedevil wrote:2 questions:

1. does this have those glossy feel keys? i don't really like those.

2. looks like there are 3 ports where you would plug in headphones and a mic...what's the 3rd one for?

The third port is another headphone jack, just in case someone else want to watch the LOTL movie with you

JTBrandon wrote:Does this support XP Virtual Mode / VT tech? If it can't virtualize you lose some functionality with win7 vs. XP.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUDetail.aspx?id=579&f1=AMD+Turion+II+Ultra+Dual-Core+Mobile+Processors&f2=&f3=&f4=2000&f5=S1&f6=C2&f7=45nm+SOI&f8=35+W&f9=True&f10=Active

Answered my own question. Good processor.

mboverload wrote:Not on this laptop he wasn't, this video card can't handle new games, and DEFINATELY nothing like Mass Effect 2.

HP makes various versions of this model with completely different hardware. I used to own a DV7 with an Intel C2D with an Nvidia 8600GT that could handle ME2. I doubt the one on Woot could because it has an IGP.

I bought this computer this past Thanksgiving at BestBuy for ~740. I absolutely love it. I'm a web and graphic designer, and I can run firefox, itunes, photoshop and dreamweaver up with very little lag. The battery lasts a pretty long time in my opinion, close to 3 hours and that is with Photoshop work and internet.

The keys are a little slippery, but I never really had a problem with them personally. It does attract fingerprints, but it's black so what do you expect?

SirOtis wrote:I bought a similar hp from woot last year thinking i wasn't going to be using it for gaming, but a few months later i started getting into games again. The HD3200 is about good enough to run counterstrike: source on medium settings (noaa/af) at like 35-45 fps. Also, i could never get full 1080p video to play without lagging. I ended up selling it a few months ago and dropping the big money on a gaming rig.

This will be a great computer for people who don't game and will watch up to 720p video. Some people have commented on how they don't like HP because of all the bloatware that comes with it. Well guess what? You can uninstall all of it in about 20 minutes it's no big deal.

And by the way if you're thinking about getting a macbook, don't. There's no reason unless you have buckets of money to throw away and/or you want to impress all your hipster friends who don't even know what RAM stands for. If you want a decked out laptop spend like a grand on something with windows 7 and you'll have a computer with way better specs than the best macbook money can buy.

Oh, and another thing. My first hp laptop (dv8000) died of overheating after like 2-3 years, but all it took to bring it back to life was to take it apart and put a little arctic silver on the cpu. On the other hand, a friend of mine had a dv9000 that got so hot that the silver plastic above the keyboard (right above where the cpu is) warped and turned black and the motherboard just died. With that said I guess you might be taking chances with HP but I'll also say that my dv7-1245dx didn't run all that hot and I'm pretty sure i would not have had these problems with it. I'm guessing that this computer won't get as hot because it's AMD and has integrated graphics.

SirOtis you are absolutely spot on. It baffles me how people can get $1600 macbooks (completely unjustified price IMO) and be so happy that it runs better than a $700 PC!

For $1600 you can get a tricked out Windows laptop that'll blow just about any macbook out of the water.

Andrieux wrote:Can i play world of warcraft on this?

Possibly but you're better off with a dedicated video card for a gaming computer. Otherwise this is a great laptop with a great price. It's rare you'll find a laptop with a dedicated video card.

eberin wrote:For all those late-comers that will bash the Blu-Ray on a 1600x900 screen - go search the web and realize that 1080p is indistinguishable on a screen smaller than 32".

That means - this 17" screen with Blu-Ray is just as good as a 32" screen. And the HDMI port means it can pump 1080p signal just fine to a capable flat 1080p panel.

The human eye has limitations; it's not the laptop's hardware specification.

Great price for the specs.

I'll give you that for watching movies(but who buys a laptop for just watching movies? Much less BLU-RAY movies?)

But for "computer" use I would expect a 1900x1200 screen for a 17.3 inch display.. Even my 15.4 inch screen has 1900x1200 - MUCH more real estate on the screen for multiple windows..

It's a waste of the 17.3 inches IMO..

carbonium wrote:* AMD Turion II CPU?

Core i7 please.

*17.3” (1600×900) Odd resolution?

Really needs to be 1600x1200.

* Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN, 802.11b/g WLAN, and 56k modem

Needs Gigabit LAN and b/g/N to be current.


Why make a design that looks like bullet holes or a bird crapped on the notebook?

82 posts and I'm the only one that sees it?

This computer was released before the mobile Nehalem procs were released. It's 1600x900 because the screen is 16:9, not 16:10 (most laptops are not 16:10 anymore). Gigabit Ethernet is likely not high on the importance list for the intended customers of this laptopl Aesthetics are subjective.

eggi541 wrote: ...3rd unit on exchange from Costco...returned it a 3rd time with 2 days left on the 1 year warranty. Now waiting for them to flick me $hit over the unit being one year old from the original purchase date of 2 units previous.

Dude I'm getting a Dell from now on.

Dude - you get a 2 year warranty when you buy that unit from Costco. FYI

ASUS best, HP worst for notebook reliability:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/17/reliability.study.has.apple.4th.place/

Does anyone know what the reason for refurbish is? I would like to find out if it was something trivial like keyboard malfunctions or something more serious like a faulty motherboard. THANKS!

likestobuy wrote:Does anyone know what the reason for refurbish is? I would like to find out if it was something trivial like keyboard malfunctions or something more serious like a faulty motherboard. THANKS!

I don't know the exact reason and a search online for this part number doesn't bring up any widespread issues so I'd guess that since this was a BestBuy sku that these are primarily buyer's remorse returns that HP refurbished. For more info on refurbs - click the link in my signature below.

I have this exact computer. Unfortunately, I didn't get it here, nor did I pay this price for it!! It's an excellent computer. Good battery life, nice screen. I love the 10key on the keyboard. Decent sound (although I do have external speakers for when I'm watching a movie or I want to crank the music up!). The slick mouse pad area took a little getting used to. However, all in all, I love this computer!

I'm looking to buy my very own laptop for the first time. How's the battery on this thing. Can I cook eggs on it? My experience (I get laptops through my company) is that the main cause of excessive heat and quite often many OS instability problems outside any normal WIN issues is the battery itself.

I find taking the battery out and running it straight off the power cord solves most overheating/instability issues. Yeah, not exactly portable, but that's the nature of laptops from my experience. Though by reading related comments, it seems by the position of the cpu and poor cooling that this model would likely explode anyway.

Relatively crappy video card for new games, meaning obsolete in just a few years, which is fine with me. Still indecisive, but all I'd need it for is to wipe W7 off, install Linux, and build my very own portable personal server. I do dig the speed/storage/screen dimensions to cost ratio. Any suggestions for alternatives that are not Dell?

Communist43965 wrote:I'm looking to buy my very own laptop for the first time. How's the battery on this thing. Can I cook eggs on it?

It's pretty cool in my opinion. I had it on my lap and it was a little warm, but nothing that could be considered hot. Melted a bag of chocolate that was on the desk next to it, but it's not hot at all...I'm pressing my hand against the side now and it's just slightly warm.

Also, it's very, very quiet!

redbluedevil wrote:2 questions:

1. does this have those glossy feel keys? i don't really like those.

2. looks like there are 3 ports where you would plug in headphones and a mic...what's the 3rd one for?

the 3rd port is for another set of headphones

samijubal wrote:Beware of TD and BCB. Read some of the comments posted here:


http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Tiger_Direct

There's more than a few people who never saw their BCB. Take that into account when using Bing and purchasing from TD.

Perhaps this applies to refurbs or this order only, becuause I have built 4 computers with Tiger Direct and trust them greatly. They are very helpful, and I really don't understand how you could be made wary by them.

Pray that you never have to contact HP customer support for anything, ever.

My eye is twitching just thinking about it.

Sorry to be blunt but...

HPs are garbage. Highest failure rates of any laptops by far. Check out HPlies.com

Buy at your own risk.

In for 1