It looks like this has no ExpressCard slot. Otherwise it looks like a good deal, but if I can't add eSATA, it's no good for me.

fluidues wrote:(Spam removed)

Let's take a look at your comparison of APPLEs to oranges:

- The Mac has better screen resolution, 1920x1200 vs. 1600x900.
- The Mac has a quad core i7 chip
- The Mac has a better graphics engine
- The Mac has Mac OS instead of Win 7 (good or bad -- depends on your preference)
- The Mac still has a slow (5400 RPM) hard drive (WHY would you skimp on that at the Mac's price point???)
- The Mac costs $2500.00 -- for that price you could buy an army (well, almost 7) of these.

You could make the same argument that a Bentley is a much better car than a Toyota. And if you've got the spare change to spend on a Bentley (and a 17" Mac), you're probably not checking out refurbished laptops on Woot! either. For the rest of us, we can do quite a bit of work on a much cheaper computer. Sure there are trade offs, but at nearly 1/7th the price there ought to be.

•Inspiron 15R - N5010
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•Processor: Intel Core i3-350M Processor (2.26GHz, 3M cache)
•320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
•3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW Drive
•512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470

$459 From dell outlet. Yes only 15inch screen. Yes Scratch & Dent Yes shipping makes it a little over $100 more than this woot. However one year warranty on hardware. Built in web cam. Own graphic card. i-3 processor. DDR3 memory vs DDR2. So I just can't see how this is a great deal. Good deal yes. Great no

j4chung wrote:Anyone know if I can upgrade the processor? I never upgrade one in a laptop before.

Not very likely. Laptops are easy to upgrade RAM wise and the hard drives are not bad if you know what you're doing.

To get to the CPU would involve major surgery. Once you got there you'd very likely find that your choices of new processors are very limited -- by both the connection to the motherboard and by the BIOS.

Having said all that, the dual core of this processor is not Intel's current state-of-the-art (the i3/i5/i7 line would be those) but it's not half bad either. (It would have been very fast vs. others just a few years ago.)

This laptop is what it is. You're not getting the fastest thing out there, but a few steps back (ie: older CPU, slower 5400 RPM hard drive) in order to keep the price lower.

i24u wrote:•Inspiron 15R - N5010
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•Processor: Intel Core i3-350M Processor (2.26GHz, 3M cache)
•320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
•3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW Drive
•512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470

$459 From dell outlet. Yes only 15inch screen. Yes Scratch & Dent Yes shipping makes it a little over $100 more than this woot. However one year warranty on hardware. Built in web cam. Own graphic card. i-3 processor. DDR3 memory vs DDR2. So I just can't see how this is a great deal. Good deal yes. Great no

$100 more and your deal does not have the dual layer / RW support either. Bottom line is for $375.00 this is a great deal and you cannot go wrong. This will sell out IMO

Vult wrote:The WM in the model# designates this was the Wal-Mart model.

I reckon it was the Black Friday modem and these are the leftovers. I'd never buy a laptop with 3GB RAM. Ever.

You would NEVER buy a laptop with 3GB of RAM????? I'll try to say this in a way that you can understand. You can add RAM to a LAPTOP. Hope I didn't blow your mind.

blakesva wrote:I'm curious, What type of costs are associated with the purchase of a Product Key?

Productivity and Finance:

* Microsoft Office 2010 preloaded. Purchase of a Product Key required to activate a full Office 2010 suite.
* Microsoft Silverlight

Silverlight is free.

MS office upgrade would run about 100-120.
A functional trial version is preloaded.

I immediately went with open source offerings ie; Open Office.

HP = crap
HP doesn't stand behind their products even when there are widely known problems. Fingers in ears and "blah-blah-blah......" from their mouths. Problem what problem we're HP, we're above problems.

I bought this exact computer new on black friday for $396.
I haven't had any problems with it, I mainly use it for the internet. The mouse pad doesn't give me any problems.
The only problem I have with it is it runs a little loud.

worser75 wrote:HP = crap
HP doesn't stand behind their products even when there are widely known problems. Fingers in ears and "blah-blah-blah......" from their mouths. Problem what problem we're HP, we're above problems.

Completely agree. At work, we bought 5 of them. One has not had any problems, 3 years later. One is dead. Even after being sent to depot TWICE... and told both times there was nothing wrong with it. They strung it out, until we were out of warranty.

The one I bought at home, lasted maybe 2 years, until it died a horrible death. HP = CRAP. They have the highest failure rate of all laptops. (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/17/reliability.study.has.apple.4th.place/)

warrior420 wrote:If it doesn't have gigabit Ethernet, it aint worth my time...

I've pointed this out and asked this before... why?

Even if you have a very, VERY fast internet speed from your cable co, you're likely pulling data at anywhere from 3 to perhaps 10 Mbps. That's still 10X slower than what this Ethernet port is capable of. So unless you spend all day moving HUGE volumes of data back and forth to your laptop over your Ethernet port, paying more for a gigabit capable port is a waste of money. Also, if the 100 Mbps is REALLY what's hampering to you, you'll likely be very much more disappointed in the speed of this 5400 RPM hard drive (which hits perhaps 600 Mbps equivalent peak speed.)

y3lh5a wrote:I bought a refurbished HP once (not from Woot, though) and a while later the power cord melted... when I contact HP about it, they said that just because it said HP on it didn't mean they were responsible for it, since "these things are made by different companies in China". Needless to say I'm never going to buy another HP product again, and definitely not a refurbished one.

It has nothing to do with being refurbished. My wife bought a new HP 20 months ago. The original power cord gave up last month. I bought a cheap replacement on Buy.com. That quit on Sat. Just got the iGo adapter from Sellout on the 15th. Hopefully I'll have better luck with that.

Wiz4rd wrote:I am typing to you on one of these i bought new at wally. I have had mine since October 1st and have not had one single issue with it. It works and runs flawlessly, very powerful, and the screeen is a joy to look at. Mine was $640 after tax so this is a damn nice deal I think. Just my 2 cents.

Just becasuse they saw you coming a mile away doesn't make this proce a good deal.

I bought a refurbished HP off of woot 4 years ago and it has worked quite well all these years. It isn't a top of the line machine but works well as a home server and they're inexpensive. I'll probably be buying one of these.

Just an FYI - the most reliable laptop companies are- Asus, Apple, Toshiba, Sony.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/acer-makes-the-shoddiest-laptops-say-it-professionals/37747


http://www.t3.com/news/asus-and-toshiba-make-the-most-reliable-laptops?=42319

This is a little old but still holds true.

I ran across this whilst looking for a systemless laptop to run Ubuntu Linux on. And I could use a copy of Windows 7 for a virtual machine. This would be cheaper than buying both; indeed, it's cheaper than some of the systemless laptops I've seen with similar specs.

Is it possible to move the operating system off this computer and onto another computer legally?

Has anyone made a hackintosh out of the HP 17.3” Intel Dual Core Notebook?

I'm curious about the operating system, does pre-loaded just mean that it's installed once, or do I have access to reinstall windows 7 if there is a problem?

I typically reformat and reload every so often... just wondering how I do that if there isn't a disc in the box and it's just "pre-loaded".

About those complaining of the "not-centered" mousepad (and/or keyboard) (and those who don't get the concern), I can offer some perspective.

The problem is only obvious when you use the computer *truly as a laptop*--on your lap.

In that case, any laptop with a dedicated numeric keypad means that when you have the machine centered on your knees, both the mouspad (centered under the main keyboard) AND the keyboard ITSELF will feel off-center.

I'm traveling today with such a laptop, and it's annoying, no question. But sure, when I'm at home, I don't notice it.

So folks who DO want to travel with such a laptop, it's indeed something to think about.

JustPaulPez wrote:I'm a little puzzled by the comments about "odd placement" of the trackpad on this laptop. Very few laptops have a dedicated 10-key pad (something that I personally find very appealing) and you'll notice that this trackpad is positioned exactly where other laptops are, centered under the QWEWRTY keyboard. Looks perfect for a speed coder like me!

No camera; no deal.

dngrundy wrote:I'm curious about the operating system, does pre-loaded just mean that it's installed once, or do I have access to reinstall windows 7 if there is a problem?

I typically reformat and reload every so often... just wondering how I do that if there isn't a disc in the box and it's just "pre-loaded".

I bought the i3/4GB RAM/500GB HD version of this a couple weeks ago at Office Depot for $469.99. 'Pre-loaded' Windows 7 means that it's on there, but they do not give you the discs to reinstall if something goes wrong. That scared me so I bought the boot discs from OD for $29. You will still have a valid Windows product key on the bottom of the laptop either way.

'Pre-loaded' Microsoft Office 2010 means you get like 25 or so uses of the programs before they make you buy a product key.

I really like the i3 version but I am not a very demanding user. I use my laptop for web surfing, facebook, email and the occasional youtube video. I needed a new PC to make it easier to remote into my PC at work. My Macbook Pro could do it, but could never do it right or fast enough. I had to make the switch from a 3 year old 15" MBP and so far I'm fine with it. I miss the backlit keyboard but otherwise I'll live. It's a little hard getting used to all those 'updates' and 'required restarts' again though.

The trackpad is fine for me, I compared it to others in the store and liked it just fine. The mouse button freaked me out at first because I thought it was broken, but then I realized it's intentionally difficult to press in the middle. It presses pretty easily on the far left and far right so you have easy separation of your left and right click.

It feels like a giant at first but now I love the big, beautiful screen and number pad. The 'biscotti' textured look is a little different -- some hate it, I think it's a nice change from the norm.

Does this thing have an integrated web cam..I can't tell from the picture..

Could I run 2 external displays using the vga and hdmi connectors. I need to display a static image on 2 42" 1080p displays.

danielso wrote:3GB Ram is low? sheesh

For Windows 7 it is!

dngrundy wrote:I'm curious about the operating system, does pre-loaded just mean that it's installed once, or do I have access to reinstall windows 7 if there is a problem?

I typically reformat and reload every so often... just wondering how I do that if there isn't a disc in the box and it's just "pre-loaded".

You can create your own reinstall disks.

dngrundy wrote:I'm curious about the operating system, does pre-loaded just mean that it's installed once, or do I have access to reinstall windows 7 if there is a problem?

I typically reformat and reload every so often... just wondering how I do that if there isn't a disc in the box and it's just "pre-loaded".

I asked a similar question, and further research seems to indicate that there is an OEM version of 7 on this, and you cannot move it to a new machine, but you can copy a restore version, which is probably on a partition on the hard drive. You burn your own DVD and use that plus the activation code if you have to reinstall on THIS computer.

robgendreau wrote:I asked a similar question, and further research seems to indicate that there is an OEM version of 7 on this, and you cannot move it to a new machine, but you can copy a restore version, which is probably on a partition on the hard drive. You burn your own DVD and use that plus the activation code if you have to reinstall on THIS computer.

That's correct - you may transfer a retail version of Windows 7, but not an OEM one. The OEM copy is tied to the motherboard, so if you change the motherboard, you're whamboozled.

Looks like a very good notebook for a multi media center!
I have used desktop computer as a multi media center in my living room, but it just did not cut it.
Rebooting or shutting it down took too long, and I did not want the computer to run all the time, it is just too noisy!

Laptop however, makes no noise, because it runs on the battery even while plugged into a wall. And when I am done using it, I can simply put it on a sleeping mode.

zzzaap wrote:Will the laptop come in actually as clean as the pictures? Without those horrid stickers, I mean.,

I !@#$ing hate those stickers on laptops and pre-built desktops.

How !@#$ing hard is it to pull the stickers off? Just sayin

svrommelvs wrote:I am not sure what I would do with a 17" screen and a weak graphics card to run it with. Anyone who has ever owned a 17" laptop will tell you how poor they are at portability, as the accessory market to support them is small. Read: Try and find a case that carries this well, and tell me where I can afterwards. The result for many users is that 17" laptops turn into desktops, and this would be a weak one.

swiss army makes a good 17 inch carrying bag. i think my wife got it from overstock.

j4chung wrote:Anyone know if I can upgrade the processor? I never upgrade one in a laptop before.

No. It is soldered directly to the motherboard.

I was going to buy, then realized no webcam, so it's a no go for me. I video chat a lot, so I refuse to purchase a computer without a built in webcam at this point.

carignanr wrote:Does this thing have an integrated web cam..I can't tell from the picture..

Nope!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factory-Refurbished+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174;+Pentium%26%23174;+Processor+/+17.3%22+Display+/+3GB+Memory+/+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Biscotti/2034038.p?id=1218306460660&skuId=2034038

dngrundy wrote:I'm curious about the operating system, does pre-loaded just mean that it's installed once, or do I have access to reinstall windows 7 if there is a problem?

I typically reformat and reload every so often... just wondering how I do that if there isn't a disc in the box and it's just "pre-loaded".

you burn your own disc for recovery or use the recovery partition of the hdd. that will get you back to factory settings, which sucks with all the HP bloatware.

jjduranx wrote:I like intel!

I freaking hate HP - burnt by it twice. Will never buy an HP ever again.

hoshaw wrote:swiss army makes a good 17 inch carrying bag. i think my wife got it from overstock.

If you are referring to a Victorinox Swiss Army carrying bag, that could easily be more expensive than this laptop. If you mean one of the various wannabe-Victorinox bags that float around, be careful. They break trying to copy the real brand's complex designs.

The main problem with 17" carrying cases is that, rather than the foam compartments and restraint-straps you can get in 15" compartments, the 17" areas / versions are designed as little more than fabric accordion folders.

Also, they don't fit on most airline tray tables.

When I was young, my dad said I couldn't get a new box of cereal until I'd finished the cereal at home.

I'd love to order this today, but I'm STILL waiting on a long-due Woot order to actually show up.

...

Available on bestbuy.com with free shipping and $20 off Office 2010 for $399, ships in one business day.

Anyone looking to add more memory can check here

raehl311 wrote:Available on bestbuy.com with free shipping and $20 off Office 2010 for $399, ships in one business day.

1. Please provide a link next time:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factory-Refurbished+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+/+17.3%22+Display+/+3GB+Memory+/+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Biscotti/2034038.p?id=1218306460660&skuId=2034038
2. Shipping is $15 where I live.
3. No extended warranty option that I can find.