richellelander wrote:Agreed on all points. Just mentioned it because the other guy said the Intel i3 was better. He wasn't specific enough.

That seems to be the problem when a computer item shows up here, nobody is specific and make 'higher the number the better' assumptions. Your posts are solid!

Here are some less known differences between Windows 7 versions:

Max RAM:

Windows 7 Starter: 2 GB
Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit: 8 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit: 16 GB
Windows 7 Professional (and above) 64bit: 192 GB

;)

-GG

murphy78 wrote:i'm not thrilled with HP. i just recently had a laptop of theirs last LESS than a year and a half. the a/c power adaptor fried the D/C jack, which in turn fried my motherboard, making it completely useless and unrepairable. i was able to salvage the hard drive, but otherwise, i am out a complete pc because the warranty was only for 1 year. i will never by a HP again, after they informed me it was because i "used it on a soft surface" ie, my couch, bed...etc. i bought a samsung to replace and have been beyond happy with it so far.

Put it on ebay next time, you will be surprised how much people will pay for a used laptop even when it is properly labelled and described as completely dead for parts only. The LCD screen especially if 17" still has good value, as well as the keyboard, CD/DVD, monitor hinges, case, etc. People salvage them out and sell them for individual parts you may not even think of (monitor ribbon cable).

-GG

richellelander wrote:I don't know any company who's consumer pc/laptops are better than HP's as far as having hardware problems.

So are you saying that HP laptops are the tops for having hardware problems? I can attest to that! I have an expensive HP DV BRICK in my closet. It also fried itself. The guy at the local repair shop rolled his eyes as he pointed to the shelf with 5 or 6 HP laptops from just the past week or so which came in with fried motherboards. The owners just abandoned them in place.

HP fixed one heat related problem under warranty, only to let the computer fry itself a few months later - just out of warranty.

I've sworn off HP laptops forever.

Great battery life according to a very similar HP laptop model below for this 9-cell Lithium ION with a larger power supply with the only significant difference besides a much higher price is graphics video support increased.

Micro Center's HP DV7-4170US Laptop

Power Supply 90 Watt AC Adapter
Battery 9-Cell Lithium-Ion
Battery Life
7 Hours, 30 Minutes (Based on Mobile Mark 2007 - actual battery life may vary based on product setting, usage patterns and environmental conditions)

I'm using a very similar model that I bought in September, and I love it. The biggest flaw in the design to me is the trackpad.
1. Compared to standard buttons, clicking this trackpad takes an awful lot of force.
2. The area available to double-click in is much smaller than the trackpad would lead you to believe.
3. I'm used to having separated right and left click buttons. It's very easy to be looking at the screen, try to left click and be on the right side instead, or vice versa.

The trackpad is my only major gripe. One minor gripe is that the stylish, textured design in the aluminum is a dirt magnet. Be sure to get a damp cloth and wipe down the handrest areas regularly.

I'm a big fan of the machine.

I would be all over this if the screen was higher resolution. Why would they even make a 17" laptop with a built in Blu-ray drive but not have a screen capable of displaying it properly?

Can anyone recommend a 17" laptop with Blu-ray and a screen capable of 1080P (1920x1080 or 1920x1200) in the same price range?

oldlostsoul wrote:So are you saying that HP laptops are the tops for having hardware problems? I can attest to that! I have an expensive HP DV BRICK in my closet. It also fried itself. The guy at the local repair shop rolled his eyes as he pointed to the shelf with 5 or 6 HP laptops from just the past week or so which came in with fried motherboards. The owners just abandoned them in place.

HP fixed one heat related problem under warranty, only to let the computer fry itself a few months later - just out of warranty.

I've sworn off HP laptops forever.

Yup, I suggest to my customers that they sell their HPs for parts if they are dead, or dying. HP consumer laptops have terrible cooling solutions, with a fan that is too small and easily blocked. Also, HP laptops do not have a thermtrip enabled out of the box on the mobo(been told this is because many will, and are set up to give false readings to appear to run much cooler than they do. Put a temp gun on the back of an idle HP with an amd turion DC, and it was sitting at 85*c idle avg. Hot was 105, low was 65, but the hardware sensor said 45 in the bios), this causes them to overheat, and fry, instead of shutting down. Having dealt with HP failures many times, I suggest avoiding them like you would the plague.

Personally, I would recommend Asus laptops. I have only seen 1 asus laptop that failed, and it came down to user error(seen many out of warranty come in for thermal grease replacement. Asus is the only mfg that will send you the assembly/disassembly manual). Asus even offered a free replacement on it for him(after he tried to OC a gfx chip and fried it, could not find OEM replacement, called asus for help, as they are great with support for me(asus VIP member since 2006, all calls and emails answered 24/7)
They were even kind enough to send me the disassembly manual to replace the old card with the brand new one they sent for free( lappy was past warranty, but they offered to repair it for $50, or send me the replacement card. Took the card, easy as pie to put in). Asus has always been great with in and out of warranty support, at least for me.

zikzak wrote:Oh dear lord! Bees!

"Gob's not on board."

i love this.. the price is really good

theguruguys wrote:Been doing computer repair full time almost 9 years now, and that statistic is about the same for me...

-GG

I would agree with that I own 4 HP laptops and three of them ar now bricks, one I was smart and got the square trade on but is now on 4th motherboard. Oh, the other three all had at least 1 mother board replaced in the first year. All except the one still working fell under the class action, still waiting to see what I get. my most recent laptop is a sony vaio which seems much better that the HP's. DON'T even this about buying this without a 3 year square trade agreement!!!

yes I like Square Trade they are a great service to crappy hardware producers like HP.

I have this very laptop (typing on it now). I love it.

I paid $800 like a year and a half ago @ WalMart for it and I thought it was a good deal even back then. I would buy a refurb for $505

BluRay, 17" monitor, HDMI, DX11. I browse and play games off of Steam on this machine mostly and have not been disappointed yet. Battery lasts a long time too.

Only possible negative is that it's heavy, but what do you expect ... it's got a 9cell batt and a 17" monitor, it's a desktop replacement.

i24u wrote:Sorry better deals out there. Check Dell outlet. I scored at 15.6 studio 1558 with i-5 520m, 15.6 1080p screen, back light keyboard, 6gb memory, 5450 graphic card, bluetooth, for $625 with shipping and tax. Plus one year warranty.

No, NO STAY AWAY FROM DELL!. I purchase my first Dell laptop in 2008 and I currently using the 5th replacement laptop that they have to send me due to poor product. Customer service is awful. I actual had to write to the BBB before receiving my first replacent

stet wrote:I would be all over this if the screen was higher resolution. Why would they even make a 17" laptop with a built in Blu-ray drive but not have a screen capable of displaying it properly?

Can anyone recommend a 17" laptop with Blu-ray and a screen capable of 1080P (1920x1080 or 1920x1200) in the same price range?

I have this laptop and watch BluRays on it all the time; as well as display them on TV via HDMI. They look fine ... same as when I play BluRay on my PS3 ...

borntohunt wrote:Great battery life according to a very similar HP laptop model below for this 9-cell Lithium ION with a larger power supply with the only significant difference besides a much higher price is graphics video support increased.

Micro Center's HP DV7-4170US Laptop

Power Supply 90 Watt AC Adapter
Battery 9-Cell Lithium-Ion
Battery Life
7 Hours, 30 Minutes (Based on Mobile Mark 2007 - actual battery life may vary based on product setting, usage patterns and environmental conditions)

I get about 2-3 hours in high performance mode; 4-6 in battery saver mode. And that's active usage, not just sitting there.

Are we seeing more bad HPs because the numb sold are larger? WE need to know the relative percent of baddies when compared to other brands. MY wife has had one for three years, no problems except for the battery getting older.

I have this laptop, and I'm pretty happy with it. Pluses are the fingerprint scanner and that you can lock the trackpad...I usually keep the trackpad locked and use a wireless mouse instead.

I will have to agree with others, HPs are boat anchors. I have three that died within two years of purchase. My 17" I used a usb cooling fan with even when on the road and it still died from overheating. Look at reliability and HP is at the bottom of the list. Better to wait for a different brand with better reliability and design. HP is not the quality that it once was renowned.

Why would you want a Blu-Ray player if the screen resolution isn't even 1920x1080?

I believe this laptop's palmrest/topcase is made of aluminum, but it is not smooth. There's some sort of design etched into it that I find irritating and chintzy.

I wonder if it is worth it to buy the new Dv7t which starts at just 649.00 from HP?

view both reviews from PC mag here

I could not see the phrase "HP Pavillion" without making a comment. I made the mistake of buying one of these, new, 3 years ago. I'm a Silicon Valley technologist who has had PC's since 1986, when they still didn't come with hard drives. HP's Pavillion is, in my opinion, a terribly unreliable computer. I've had nothing but problems with freezing up, software incompability, and poor battery life. I researched other people's experiences on the internet, and I encourage all prospective buyers to do the same. Many people report the same problems as I have had, some of which are attributed to hardware problems associated with overheating.

I'm no computer expert, but I bought this exact same laptop last summer for son who was getting ready for college. It has lasted all year with no issues and I highly doubt he's half a careful as he should be. I did get him a cushioned sleeve for it since he was just putting it in a backpack. Otherwise it's been a great computer!

why do all laptops have massive screens these days? noway that would fit in my backpack to be able to use at school. heck this laptops screen is bigger than my desktop monitor I had for that last 5 years...

zikzak wrote:Oh dear lord! Bees!

Wow, that link just made my day.

Why does HP hate touch-typists??

Like many of HP's laptops, this one places the touchpad off-center with respect to the space between the G & H keys. This means that when touch-typing, and resting one's palms & wrists, one palm touches the touch-pad and wreaks havoc!

Why why why??

Not the bees!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GadTfGFvU&feature=BFa&list=WL57892E5734FAEF56&index=25

I'd avoid anything from HP in the DV series. They have always had heat issues and I'm sure this refurb has the same problems. I own a repair shop and like others who have said the same, I get the DV Notebooks all of the time, either dead or with the VGA Chip heating itself off of the motherboard, killing all video output to the Laptop.

Avoid like the plague.

I never was a fan of AMD. Why? I don't know. Maybe because AMD and 98se didn't get along well and it put a bad taste in my mouth. I've had Intels ever since and that included only one Celeron.

I've been searching for a new laptop, preferably a 17", but I'd have gone w/ a 15.6 w/ a keypad. My current is a 15.4 I believe but no keypad but I got it at a great price. (~800 w/ incl Bag, mouse, warranty).

I'm not a fan of the 8 lbs and several people said it needs a cooling pad. I'm NOT carrying a cooling pad everywhere I go, it totally defeats the purpose of being portable.

I'm also a big proponent of "if I wait it'll get cheaper" LOL. I don't mind buying something that is "outdated" per say, but it cheaper than the new.

Decent deal....if you want to lug around a desktop with you!

Holy Crap! 17 Inch screen isn't a laptop! It's a monster!

i24u wrote:Sorry better deals out there. Check Dell outlet. I scored at 15.6 studio 1558 with i-5 520m, 15.6 1080p screen, back light keyboard, 6gb memory, 5450 graphic card, bluetooth, for $625 with shipping and tax. Plus one year warranty.

Dell sux. This a Great deal for this computer. Wish I hadn't bought a dv6 2 years ago I'd be in for 1. Mine is still working great, if I had a need for another I would be all over this.

mboverload wrote:You may be able to play Blu-ray, but you won't be able to watch them at full resolution.* The internal screen is only 1600x900 while full HD is 1920x1080.

The aspect ratio is all wrong so you won't even be able to watch the video edge to edge without distorting the picture. =\

*(unless you hook up an external display that has that resolution)

16*9 and 1920*1080 are the same aspect ratio. Do the math.

JordanOdneal wrote:I'm currently on the HP Pavilion dv7 with a 17.3" screen, blu-ray, and i7. Love the machine, would recommend it to anyone.

The Touchpad on this laptop is horrible. Buy a mouse and keyboard for the laptop.

It's a refurbished HP. Stay away. STAY FAR FAR AWAY!

Arghhhh...'I'm covered in bees'.(Eddie Izzard)

I've had this laptop for a little over a year and love it.

I own two of these. Great notebooks. I don't like the track pad but everything else is top notch. I'm more likely to work on this machine than my desktop. I would buy this refurb. They run $900+ new.

I bought a refurb HP DV7-3065DX on Woot back in March of 2010 for $100 more. It's been working without problems and drives a 40 inch 1080p HDTV just fine.

This is an even better deal!

Can the video card be replaced/upgraded? I am a Second Life fan, and it's picky about what video cards work well.

As far as the HP problems - I have a DV5, and I'm considering biting on this one.

Heat is a problem with the DV series. Because I knew that going in, I was able to use external cooling products. I did have to get HP to replace the power brick three times because IT overheated to the point where I was worried about things melting.

I've had an HP computer in the past.

How difficult is it going to be to remove all of HP's ridiculous nonsense?

I'm guessing the bees are not included?

meowskywalker wrote:I've had an HP computer in the past.

How difficult is it going to be to remove all of HP's ridiculous nonsense?

It'll probably take a good hour of constant uninstalling. When I worked at Geeks Squad I got really good at this. HP was always the worst for junk software.