I know very little about computers and wanted to ask if this Notebook would be good for editing HD Video?

thanks

ionman wrote:Just a bit of sage advice for any laptop...

I suggest that about once a year (or every six months if you have pets such as cats in the house) you should clean all the dust, dander, fuzz, and hair out of your fan(s) and heat sink fins.

On MOST laptops this is quite easy to do - just remove a cover with a couple of screws and use a q-tip and some compressed air.

You'd be amazed at how much fine dust, etc. settles in a laptop after a bit of time. Keeping the internals of the computer clean will help greatly with the cooling and help your laptop last much longer.

excellent suggestion: I have 3 dogs and 2 birds (one's a cockatiel, very dusty) and I should do this.
instead, I wait 3 years and buy a new one ;-)

7 hour battery life of 9 cell is absolutely incredible for a 17.3"

I bought one of this series for myself, then one for my Mother, my Wife, and now buying one for my Mother-in-Law. No issues at all, plenty of speed to run office apps, Doom 3 and Quake 4. Great machines at a great price.

I had a dv5000 HP laptop from this same series. It lasted about three years before the GPU detached from the mobo. I had the amd/ati line and it got very hot. I took to a local repair guy who proceeded to show his shelf full of about 10-15 hp dv series laptops, so no more HP for me.

I wonder if one could hackintosh this?

*ducks*

I actually own this laptop. I received it as a replacement from HP after my previous laptop failed to be repaired after 3 trips to tech support.

The laptop does overheat, so I bought a fan, which solved that problem. The mouse on the laptop itself is terrible. I have a wireless mouse that I use.

Other than those 2 issues, I've been very happy with the laptop. It runs the minimal gaming I do without any troubles. It is quick on the internet, and the screen resolution is great.

I would recommend this laptop to anyone but would not recommend HP because their tech support is a nightmare and when my power supply went after 14 months (with extended warranty), I only got a replacement after 3 failed repairs because the situation was escalated.

Looking at this as a 17.3" mobile Blu Ray player that you can take on the road and then use as sort of a netbook - not a bad price.

People who have one: does this overheat just watching movies or when doing heavier processing? I have visions of setting this up for my kids to watch movies on long car trips. Then I can use it for email, etc when I arrive at our destination.

try before you buy! I just returned an HP because the touchpad had poooonyic placement. They offset it to the right and when you are typing with your hands on the palm rest you keep hitting the touchpad and the cursor jumps around. Really annoying. Not sure how HP let that through.

Pavilions overheat and have faulty soldering with the motherboard - according to a class action lawsuit.

I got all excited seeing a laptop but then i seen it's $499.99, refurbished and an HP. Nah i'll pass.

FYI it being an HP means it's overpriced and won't work. Can't tell you how many people i know refuse to get another brand because their always having some kind of trouble with their HP computers and it's always out of warranty for some reason, especially on refurbs.

Again no thanks Woot!.

Sandy106 wrote:Seems like a bit of a ripoff, dual core and a crappy GPU. I've seen quadcore laptops for the same price as this.

Could you show me the quadcores that are the same price as this?? Haha.

But seriously. I would like to see it so I can buy it myself.....

Kungfoomf wrote:Looking at this as a 17.3" mobile Blu Ray player that you can take on the road and then use as sort of a netbook - not a bad price.

People who have one: does this overheat just watching movies or when doing heavier processing? I have visions of setting this up for my kids to watch movies on long car trips. Then I can use it for email, etc when I arrive at our destination.

It will become excessively hot just watching movies. One of those USB powered fans will alleviate that.

If you buy this laptop please keep in mind that 1) HP does not stand behind their products (warranty or no) and 2) This laptop WILL break within two years guaranteed.

Googling "hp dv4000 issues" brings up many, many pages of problems with these particular machines reminiscent of the DV2000, DV6000, and DV8000 issues from just a few years ago. If you have an additional $350 or so HP will replace the motherboard for you in these with another when this one dies.

I'm just sayin', if you want a laptop for the long-haul stick with Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, or Dell and stay far, far away from the Compaqs and HPs.

Am I just blind, or is there no mention of what OS version is installed?

I get a bit frustrated with Woot's laptop offerings and the limited way in which the technical data is presented. One of the key specs which they always seem to omit is DISPLAY RESOLUTION. This is WAY more important than the actual screen size. Cheaper laptops typically offer a larger screen for perceived value but don't have the graphics power to drive it at high resolution. Apart from the GPU's own VRAM, it should also be made clear how much actual RAM could be dynamically assigned for graphics purposes, as this will substantially reduce the memory you'll have available for the OS and apps. The Intel 4250 chipset is distinctly pedestrian for graphics intensive apps. A 17" screen should be capable of 1920X1080 (aka 1080p in HD/TV terms) for it to render those images and videos which are meant to be seen in true High Definition. Playing a BluRay movie on a 1600X900 screen is just a waste of BluRay encoding.

Anyway, Woot - I shouldn't have to go and look up each and every model number on its manufacturer's site just to see what it is I'm buying. By omitting this sort of key info, you make me suspicious of how good a deal it isn't, and I usually end up buying elsewhere.

I had this same exact model. It runs super cool and never even got a little warm. I have had no issues and have never seen another laptop as nicely built as this one. I just sold it to my brother for $500 last sunday because at 17" its a bit big to carry with me everywhere. I took that $500 and bought an acer tablet instead for work. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MODEL LAPTOP. If i had the cash, I would buy this laptop at this price. My friend just paid $1000 for the same model brand new


I highly doubt that this laptop will overheat as i have never even felt it get warmer than the air in the room after hours of use. I am a computer technician and this is the nicest laptop i have ever seen or worked with.

Do yourself a favor and DO NOT BUY HP LAPTOPS!!!!!

There are a lot of people saying that HP laptops are not good, and that's fine because it's there opinion, but in my opinion HP laptops are great! I bought this laptop off woot a few months back because my older sister has had a HP laptop very similar for years and she never had problems with it. I did do some research on this laptop before I bought it, and every negative thing said was about the overheating. True it does get hot, but really only when it’s on a soft surface, and an easy solution for this problem is to get a cooling pad, that will solve the biggest issue for this machine. A laptop with a crystal clear 17.3” display and blu-ray player, plus a bunch of battery life, for only $500 is a steal, and I am very happy with the one I bought a few months back!

AndyGA104 wrote:I know very little about computers and wanted to ask if this Notebook would be good for editing HD Video?

thanks

There are better choices out there. See my post - and others - relating to the graphics capabilities of this unit.

Mine is a paperweight as well. HP sucks.

I wouldn't touch this with a 409-foot pole.

visio wrote:Dimensions: 16.35” (W) x 10.8” (D) x 1.25” (min H)/1.46” (max H)

HP Pavilion Dual-Core 17.3” Notebook with Blu-ray

...run that by me again?

Screen size is measured diagonally. So it makes sense that the laptop wouldn't be quite as wide as the "screen size".

saldridge wrote:7 hour battery life of 9 cell is absolutely incredible for a 17.3"

7 hours on STANDBY. I have a 6 cell on a NEW laptop (3 weeks old) and it lasts about 2 hours with surfing the net 2 or 3 tabs at a time.

My old gateway , I got an hour out of it.

Battery life depends on what you're doing and what is running in the background. Mine says like 4 hours on battery. I'd NEVER get 4 hours out of it using it constantly.

Just remember: all battery life specs are ON STANDBY/Sleep/hibernation.

Personally, I really like HP notebooks, and would absolutely buy this, except....I have a MacBook Pro that blows this out of the water. However let's do some processor math shall we? I always love technical debates!

2.9GHz = 2900 MHz
2900*2 cores=5800
5800/1000=5.8GHz

So that means this computer has 5.8GHz of processing power. Not bad, not bad at all. Actually, that's great for a laptop this price. The graphics card, however, is another question entirely. According to http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-HD-4250.29664.0.html it has 40 cores running at 500MHz a piece.

500*40=20,000
20,000/1000=20GHz

Sounds good on paper right? Well, technically it is. There's just one little issue. It's an integrated graphics card with no onboard GDDR(x) RAM. It shares 512MB of the obscenely slower system RAM to store graphics data. So my conclusion is this; you won't be playing any kind of games on this laptop, because the RAM used for the graphics just doesn't cycle fast enough.

Kungfoomf wrote:Looking at this as a 17.3" mobile Blu Ray player that you can take on the road and then use as sort of a netbook - not a bad price.

People who have one: does this overheat just watching movies or when doing heavier processing? I have visions of setting this up for my kids to watch movies on long car trips. Then I can use it for email, etc when I arrive at our destination.

I've got an HP G70t with standard Intel graphics. There are a lot of people here talking about overheating. I haven't had that problem, but I think it's really more because of the weaker graphics card on my system (not a gaming card).

If you look around, you'll see that a lot of laptops with gaming graphics cards have overheating and GPU breakage issues. Not so much with the standard low-end graphics. This is true for more brands than just HP, too.

So if you're not planning on doing any 3d gaming, you may want to opt for a laptop without a gaming graphics card, because it will be cheaper, won't overheat, and will still do movies just fine.

citking wrote:
Googling "hp dv4000 issues" brings up many, many pages of problems with these particular machines reminiscent of the DV2000, DV6000, and DV8000 issues from just a few years ago.

Actually I have a DV4000 that is probably going on it's 5th or 6th year now, and I still use it every day. I've had no issues and have only replaced the CD drive, simply because I upgraded to a DVD-R. The original battery still holds a 3-1/4 hour charge. I could use something faster, but know that no budget laptop these days will last like this one has.

The computer honestly seems pretty nice, It's already got double the memory of my desktop, and the processor is pretty decent. Phenom is pretty good, It's no I5 or I7 but it does get the job done in a speedy manner. I say it's a buy for anyone who wants a decent laptop that's portable!

chahuahuas wrote:Could you show me the quadcores that are the same price as this?? Haha.

But seriously. I would like to see it so I can buy it myself.....

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7301627&CatId=4938

Phenom II x4, $499

Only 15" and does not have blue-ray of course, but there is your $499 quadcore. And it's new!

onthelimit wrote:I get a bit frustrated with Woot's laptop offerings and the limited way in which the technical data is presented. One of the key specs which they always seem to omit is DISPLAY RESOLUTION.

I agree that resolution is one of the most important things in a laptop, and 1600 x 900 on a 17" display just doesn't cut it. However, I really have no clue what you're whining about. If you read the post, you might have seen the following line:
Display: 17.3” diagonal High Definition+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)

So, next time, please read before you complain? Woot has ALWAYS listed display resolution with their laptops.

pjskeleton wrote:Personally, I really like HP notebooks, and would absolutely buy this, except....I have a MacBook Pro that blows this out of the water. However let's do some processor math shall we? I always love technical debates!

2.9GHz = 2900 MHz
2900*2 cores=5800
5800/1000=5.8GHz

So that means this computer has 5.8GHz of processing power. Not bad, not bad at all. Actually, that's great for a laptop this price.

1) Okay, "processor math" doesn't work like that. That's akin to saying, hey look everyone, I have a 640 GB hard drive in my laptop! Nevermind that it's 4200 rpm...
Processor frequency has been a terrible way to measure power ever since the first processor came out. Just like VRAM, processors also have dedicated memory (or rather, should), in the form of caches. These greatly affect the processor's actual speed. Moreover, one really can't compare current Intel and AMD processors on the basis of clock speed - Intel chips currently far outperform AMD ones at the same speed.

2) I'm sure that your Macbook Pro is much better than this. It also cost more than $500?

visio wrote:Dimensions: 16.35” (W) x 10.8” (D) x 1.25” (min H)/1.46” (max H)

HP Pavilion Dual-Core 17.3” Notebook with Blu-ray

...run that by me again?

The screen dimensions are measured on the diagonal, which is why the screen measurement can be more than the width of the computer as a whole.

FallenAnjel wrote:7 hours on STANDBY. I have a 6 cell on a NEW laptop (3 weeks old) and it lasts about 2 hours with surfing the net 2 or 3 tabs at a time.

My old gateway , I got an hour out of it.

Battery life depends on what you're doing and what is running in the background. Mine says like 4 hours on battery. I'd NEVER get 4 hours out of it using it constantly.

Just remember: all battery life specs are ON STANDBY/Sleep/hibernation.

That's absolute crap. Battery life statistics are NOT on based on standby/sleep/hibernation. Did you know that the computer doesn't use ANY power on hibernation? I'd expect the battery to get far more time than 7 hours if the computer were off. And standby (aka sleep) powers only the RAM and whatever components are needed to do this (so the motherboard saps a little, too). Regardless, one should get WAY more than 7 hours of sleep time - probably at least one or more days.

And no, you generally never do quite get the advertised battery life - or, you only would if you turned the screen off/really dim and just left it on, not doing anything. That's not a very realistic usage scenario, but often times, that's the only way to get the actual battery life. Generally, I've had luck assuming that the battery life was about 60-80% of what is advertised. I think it's a safe assumption to hope for 4-5 hours out of this thing.

As always, don't forget that playing movies and using Flash will drain your battery faster than just internet surfing or document editing.

aphexburn wrote:Do yourself a favor and DO NOT BUY HP LAPTOPS!!!!!

I use them exclusively at work. I have 125 HP laptops deployed in the field, and have hardware problems with them about 4 times a year.

The ones we buy are quite solid.

Now we are not buying the consumer grade laptops such as the one being sold here today, but as a matter of fact, HP does make good products as far as I'm concerned.

I like a lot of HP laptops (specifically the G series and the DV series) but the pavillions have always seemed flimsy to me and I've never bought one.

People who generalize by saying all HPs are poor are totally wrong. I'm typing this on a 17" HP G72. Those are great machines and if you want a 17" around this price they can often be picked up during promotions for $500 - $550 brand new with i3 processors. They won't have a Blu Ray drive and the resolution will be 1600 x 900 instead of full HD, however personally I think 1600 x 900 is the ideal resolution for using applications on a laptop this size.

Bearing all that in mind I think you'd be much better off searching around for an i3 G72 and skipping this - this deal would need to be $100 cheaper for it to make sense.

I will never buy an HP laptop again. I had a 15" that looked just like this. It would get extremely hot, so hot it almost burned your hands. HP released a bios update and that only made it worse. Within the first year the heat killed the machine with wifi failing, then the battery and the clock battery.

After HP screwed me once I will never ever be buying one of their laptops again. I ended up throwing it in the garbage when it was a little over a year old. I still have a 6 year old Dell which runs great.

freelance wrote:I have 2 HP laptops that overheated badly. They are sitting on the table waiting to see what parts can be salvaged. Both have integrated graphics and one has a rolling screen & the other a pitch black one. ONLY 2yrs old - HP never again. Just picked up 2 good ones at DELL & I am typing this on a 4 yr old Dell that never had a problem.

Took them both to repair shop & they said 2 throw them away, that is all they get in is HP laptops.

Next door neighbor bought 17 inch one last yr and it overheats like mad too. It will be toast soon.

I'm typing this on my 17" refurb HP that is 4 years old "that I got from WOOT". No problems here. I have to replace the battery every 2 years or so, but other than that I have loved it. Every company has a few bad apples HP,DELL,COMPAQ,ASER, take your pick. But from my experience HP refurbs have lasted longer than any of the rest.

AndyGA104 wrote:I know very little about computers and wanted to ask if this Notebook would be good for editing HD Video?

thanks

Yes, It would work fine for that.

it just the luck of the draw with these laptops.

rill2503456 wrote:1) Okay, "processor math" doesn't work like that. That's akin to saying, hey look everyone, I have a 640 GB hard drive in my laptop! Nevermind that it's 4200 rpm...
Processor frequency has been a terrible way to measure power ever since the first processor came out. Just like VRAM, processors also have dedicated memory (or rather, should), in the form of caches. These greatly affect the processor's actual speed. Moreover, one really can't compare current Intel and AMD processors on the basis of clock speed - Intel chips currently far outperform AMD ones at the same speed.

2) I'm sure that your Macbook Pro is much better than this. It also cost more than $500?

Agreed, your mac pro prob cost twice this, but your rational about processor speed is all out of whack. Your speed does not double every time you add another processor, it just means that while multi-tasking "running many apps at once" your processors will split the difference but will not ever exceed the 2.9MHZ in this case. Do your homework.