superclean wrote:Does anyone know where to find a list of the bloatware on these that isn't necessary to run the machine properly? I'd like to clean it up without functional problems.

start by using the control panel and remove programs. get rid of the programs you KNOW you dont need. after that do one at a time with the questionable programs, a quick google search on what it does. by removing programs you will never 'brick' your pc. worst you will do is lose a function and that is always replaceable especially with this laptop. a reinstall of the OS will include everything that came with it including the HP crap. i noticed they even call it 'Windows 7 HP'. i appreciate that by allowing them to bundle all this stuff lowers the price because its basically selling ads with their trial products and what not, but it can be a real pain for people that don't know they can get rid of most of it and their computer can be that much faster without all this stuff running all the time.

jaamzw wrote: i noticed they even call it 'Windows 7 HP'

Uhh, couldn't "Windows 7 HP" mean "Home Premium"?

MrD3a7h wrote:Sure ya can. Some examples:
Minecraft
Star Craft 1
Descent: Free Space, Free Space 2
Any arcade game
Empire Earth
Civilization 3 (Maybe 4)
Galactic Civilizations 2
Sim City 2000
Half-Life 1
Team Fortress Classic
*light* WoW
KOTOR I and II
Killing Floor (probably)
CS 1.6

Pretty much anything pre-2005.

I play Final Fantasy 11 on a 4 year old Dell business class (that means it has a serial port, kids!) computer which isn't half the capacity of this HP.

I agree with MrD3a7h. Can't make a blanket statement like that.

"I COULDN'T care less about its size."

Since you're a college student I figured you'd be open to correction.

Dysl3xik wrote:...I carry to my college classes EVERY DAY and when its inside my backpack or carrying case I could care less about its size.

jaamzw wrote:start by using the control panel and remove programs. get rid of the programs you KNOW you dont need. after that do one at a time with the questionable programs, a quick google search on what it does. by removing programs you will never 'brick' your pc. worst you will do is lose a function and that is always replaceable especially with this laptop. a reinstall of the OS will include everything that came with it including the HP crap. i noticed they even call it 'Windows 7 HP'. i appreciate that by allowing them to bundle all this stuff lowers the price because its basically selling ads with their trial products and what not, but it can be a real pain for people that don't know they can get rid of most of it and their computer can be that much faster without all this stuff running all the time.

Ringo4422 wrote:

WOW! Deja vu!

chalion wrote:For photo/video editing, my advice is:

If you're going with a laptop, the 3GB memory won't be enough for PS Elements to work too well. It will work, but it will take much longer to process the files. I'd suggest at least 6GB, or more if you can afford it.

If you have $400 but have a choice between a laptop or a desktop, get the desktop. Desktops usually have more bang for the buck and are much easier to find parts to upgrade and are cheaper too.

The convience of having a laptop is balanced by the higher cost of the parts.

3G of memory on this machine is plenty to run PS Elements and do your photo editing and the like. I have a lesser machine and I do the same with photoshop all the time and never have any problems. Somebody doesn't know what they're talking about....

meh3884 wrote:Who honestly uses a 17 inch screen? Helloooo external. May as well buy a desktop, these things hardly qualify as portable.

I actually bought the HP dv6 with a 16" screen because it still fit in my laptop case. I notice no difference in lugging it around compared to my previous 15" laptop.

fenderbass wrote:3G of memory on this machine is plenty to run PS Elements and do your photo editing and the like. I have a lesser machine and I do the same with photoshop all the time and never have any problems. Somebody doesn't know what they're talking about....

I agree with fenderbass. I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements on an old AMD single core desktop computer with 1gb ram with Win XP and it works fine. I'm sure it will run much better on this laptop that is being offered on Woot.
BTW, I also bought a similar HP 17" laptop for my daughter for college last year and it still runs just fine. Paid a lot more than this though.

fourstringriot wrote:Would this be a good candidate for a pc to hook up to the tv and keep a low profile, or do you guys feel there are better options at better prices for that? Considering I'd rarely use the screen, and no I don't need the media center software. Just want something that I can hide in the entertainment center and stream hulu,Netflix, etc. In looking at form factors, I've found that by the time I added hdmi and wireless I'm well above the cost of this laptop. Any thoughts?

I second the Roku box recommendation, you do have to pay for Hulu plus to stream it on the Roku box though - I think it's 8 or 9 dollars a month. I have both a desktop and a Roku box hooked up to my tv and rarely use the desktop because the Roku is so much easier to use.

Copy and pasted from the last time:

Every time I see another one of these refurbed HP on here I have to stop by and mention that at my computer shop, we get more of these with dead motherboards than all other brands combined.

Just tons and tons of dead HP laptops with dead motherboards, not just the ones with Nvidia GPUs either.

So why do you think there are so many refurbed ones flooding the market to the point where even w00t keeps getting more and more of them?

You can buy a brand new laptop with good specs and a minimum 1 year warranty (instead of the 90 days hp gives on these)for the same price as these from lots of places, including Dell, who can actually be convinced to honor their warranties when something does fail.

For anyone that doesn't know, the original problem with vista generation and newer HP consumer laptops, is that many of them with nvidia GPUs were overheating to the point that the solder holding the gpu in place would melt and the gpu would lose connection to the motherboard. It's not something that can be reasonable repaired, so you have to replace the motherboard, for which HP charges various rates to various callers, but the average seems to be around $450USD.

The failure rates for the most severely effected models were over 60% in the first three years. I myself have had a number of them come in days or weeks out of warranty after HP demanding ~$450 to fix a mistake they made for someone 11 days out of warranty. (Dell on the other hand has always allowed us to extend a recently expired warranty.)

In all fairness those Nvidia GPUs were prone to coming apart and caused trouble for a few other manufacturers including even Apple. But none to anywhere near the extent that it did HP. And from what I've read, most of them fix it for free.

But the reason they fail so much more and earlier in HPs is the same reason recent years HPs are so unreliable in the first place. They are insanely hot inside due to poor heat dispersal. And cooling trays and flat surfaces can only help so much.

So anyway, that's all the time I can spare to provide this warning from a guy who has been dealing with the victims of these HP laptops for the last four years. I strongly recommend you look elsewhere than HP for your laptop.

Beyond all that, HP is despicable to deal with, and all their stuff is built in the most annoying-to-work-on way possible.

hey! I know that girl. haha

How is 1600 x 900 resolution HD+ ? To me HD+ would be more than HD, not less than full HD.

As always, if you can, build your own desktop, if you need a laptop you are basically screwed no matter where you go so you might as well go with a cheap piece of crap rather than an expensive piece of crap.

I hope any buyers are 'right' with God 'cause HP sure as hell won't help you if it ever has hiccoughs.
I will never again accept any HP computer-related stuff for service and surely will never buy one.

Does this notebook have a webcam?

phacopida wrote:Does this have enough get-up-and-go for editing with Photoshop Elements?

I got this computer a couple of months ago because my old one didn't play well with Elements. I have 13000 photos and do a lot of editing and photo stitching and have been very happy with this laptop.

Bought this one for my signigicant other last time it Wooted. This thing gets used every day for, of all things, everyday use. Web surfing, email, photoshop elements, does wireless N well, handles home finances (quicken, turbotax, etc.) -- very happy with this machine. We're not using it for heavy duty gaming, but it does handle the occasional movie during a flight pretty well. Not crazy about the track pad, but a $20 Logitech wireless USB mouse fixed that!

amohammed01 wrote:Does this notebook have a webcam?

No Webcam

This wasn't that great of a deal.... I see comparable laptops brand new on sale for this price.

FenStar wrote:How is 1600 x 900 resolution HD+ ? To me HD+ would be more than HD, not less than full HD.

720 is considered HD. Soooo....more than 720, less than 1080 :-D

jaamzw wrote:start by using the control panel and remove programs. get rid of the programs you KNOW you dont need. after that do one at a time with the questionable programs, a quick google search on what it does. by removing programs you will never 'brick' your pc. worst you will do is lose a function and that is always replaceable especially with this laptop. a reinstall of the OS will include everything that came with it including the HP crap. i noticed they even call it 'Windows 7 HP'. i appreciate that by allowing them to bundle all this stuff lowers the price because its basically selling ads with their trial products and what not, but it can be a real pain for people that don't know they can get rid of most of it and their computer can be that much faster without all this stuff running all the time.

A better option than going through Control Panel is to use Revo Uninstaller, as it searches the registry and removes entries there, as well as cleaning up any unused files left behind.

Of course, the best way to make sure you get an operating system in pristine virgin condition would be to use DBaN :0D

fourstringriot wrote:Would this be a good candidate for a pc to hook up to the tv and keep a low profile, or do you guys feel there are better options at better prices for that? Considering I'd rarely use the screen, and no I don't need the media center software. Just want something that I can hide in the entertainment center and stream hulu,Netflix, etc. In looking at form factors, I've found that by the time I added hdmi and wireless I'm well above the cost of this laptop. Any thoughts?

While Im not a fan of sending you away from woot, there are several sources for an "off lease" desktop. Cheaper parts, built for longer run cycles, and better for cooling. There are sites like gearxs.com and other, or you could just wait for woot to do a cheap refurbed desktop. But I doubt it will be for less that $100.00 like some of the off lease stuff.

I am a Mac person, but I am planning to get the HP dm1z netbook. I am all confused now after reading what people here have written. From all the reviews of the dm1z that I have read online the dm1z is a great netbook. HPs really suck that much? Does anyone here have a dm1z?

If you're still looking, tigerdirect has an Acer (IMO a much better brand) Here for $30 more plus shipping. Has a webcam. 4.1 bars for reviews. Deals good while they last.

This is the exact same Laptop my friend just got two of at Office Max. Today he asked me to look at one of them. He got the no hard drive boot up message. Bummer, they are sending him a new HD shortly...

Ishmel wrote:I bought the previous model of this two years ago on Woot, Within the last month it stopped booting up properly from being shut down or going into hibernation. The drive would spin but the screen stayed blank. I called HP support, but they refused to help be diagnose the problem unless I bought a 15 day extended warrantee for $59.99. If I paid, the "tech support" guy said he could ask me three or four questions that would tell us if it was a hardware or software issue. If it was a software issue they would continue to help me, if it was a hardware issue then I was on my own. I told the "warrantee sales rep" to go pound sand, and vowed to share my experience with any and everyone that ever mentioned HP to me again.

I would NEVER buy another HP product, but not because I was displeased with the laptop itself (besides the whole motherboard frying issue) but because I don't negotiate with extortionists.

I did tech support for Toshiba, 1997-2000. We had an "Out of Warranty" line, and they put me on it one day when I was out for an appointment. I was supposed to charge $35.00 to even begin troubleshooting the machine. I refused to do it. I told my boss that charging before even knowing the problem was like taking money to install a jet engine on a bicycle - and then telling the customer that it couldn't be done, thanks for the money.

I would ask a few questions, determine if it was hardware or software - if it was hardware, no charge from me - take it to the local shop and you'll have to deal with them. Software - third party, go to the manufacturer - our software? Here's the website, here's how to find your answer - no charge. Want me to fix it for you? $35. Easy.

Had one guy call in, I could hear the drive clanking in the background. Told him right away, the hard drive was shot. "I waited 45 minutes, you're not going to blow me off like that." I asked what errors he was getting, "Drive not found." Again, told him the drive was gone and go to local. He insisted that I troubleshoot it. Got a CC #, charged it, had him reboot with a floppy, ran FDISK, and showed him the drive was shot. Never had anyone yell at me like that before - and he got worse after I pointed out that I had told him two or three times that it was shot before I charged him to tell him the same damned thing.

Glad I don't work there anymore.

Dang. Long post - nice to get it out of my system.

Where can I get my opposable thumbs on one of those chimp air fresheners?

It looks nice, BUT WILL IT PLAY MINECRAFT?!

jaamzw wrote:start by using the control panel and remove programs. get rid of the programs you KNOW you dont need. after that do one at a time with the questionable programs, a quick google search on what it does. by removing programs you will never 'brick' your pc. worst you will do is lose a function and that is always replaceable especially with this laptop. a reinstall of the OS will include everything that came with it including the HP crap. i noticed they even call it 'Windows 7 HP'. i appreciate that by allowing them to bundle all this stuff lowers the price because its basically selling ads with their trial products and what not, but it can be a real pain for people that don't know they can get rid of most of it and their computer can be that much faster without all this stuff running all the time.

You might like http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/, I set up and clean up new computers for friends all the time, and I usually slap on that program, saves a bit of headache by juggling all the uninstallers for you.

By the way, my buddy picked up one of these computers for college, the hard drive crapped out in two weeks. Completely died, he lost everything. Called HP and they cheerfully RMA'd it, he had it up and running again in two weeks. So i guess consider this a neutral vote?

hey all, does anybody know when the HP notebook will begin shipping, have not heard anthing yet, Just "all set"?

I bought the for my wife as a mothers day gift, but it looks like she will have to wait.. thanks woot for getting me in trouble on moms day! ;)

Got mine a few days ago, and the screen is already starting to go bad on me, it often flickers and looks weird, sometimes on boot up it shows just blue bars, other times the whole screen fades to white. Only trying to figure out how to return this while it working.

Have trouble with the video since unboxing it. The screen randomly goes black or grey with vertical or horizontal lines. Have contacted HP about the issue to see about getting a replacement or repair.

andyvh wrote:It looks nice, BUT WILL IT PLAY MINECRAFT?!

I was able to play minecraft on it with the settings set low. Distance was set to tiny, graphics set to fast, view bobbing set to off. Really still very playable with this setup. Maybe more memory would help.

Still no word on the shipping status of my computer. I'm still working on recovering the overdraft fee for the double billing and don't know where my item is at. Has my computer been shipped yet?

Works like a champ, twenty thumbs up!

I bought this product last year, and I didn't buy the warranty, (stupid me). It came to me defective, and of course it could not be returned to Woot. I threw 370.00 in the garbage. I will never buy another refurbished item from woot.