Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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HP 17.3" Quad-Core i7 Laptop
$599.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

ThunderThighs wrote:I'm worried about you guys. No comments? Someone always has something to say about computers.

Will it play Skyrim?

;)


(J/K, can't afford a new lappy until after my loan money becomes available.)

Moueska wrote:Will it play Skyrim?

;)


(J/K, can't afford a new lappy until after my loan money becomes available.)

does this default to a "quality posts" since it's the only one???

Nope, there are consistently multiple comments before a first Dreidel, and sometimes no Dreidel's at all.

/checking the filter


Edit:

Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel

I made it out of clay

When it's dry and ready

With Dreidel I will play

;)

ThunderThighs wrote:I'm worried about you guys. No comments? Someone always has something to say about computers.

everyone is either broke or hung over...or both;-)

it is funny that this comes up, woot CS stood me up over the holidays by not responding to my last question regarding a 17" laptop. my fiance really likes these Grinchly huge screen laptops....since woot never responded, they sold out of the toshiba i was going to buy. this looks like a nice setup for a "normal user", but price seems kinda high for it being refurbished....i would like to know the price of a new to compare.

p.s. TT, could you please throw a stapler at someone in CS and ask them to please reply to case # CAS-121741-F8X3R1...thanks!

rajuorbhikhu wrote: this looks like a nice setup for a "normal user", but price seems kinda high for it being refurbished....i would like to know the price of a new to compare.

I was thinking the price might've been higher due to the 1T hard drive.

Actually, that's the main reason why I was entertaining the thought of getting it. (Again, however, no monies. XD)

4.4 out of 5 stars on BestBuy They want $749.

Looks like a good desktop-replacement class laptop. The third gen i7-3610QM is a very capable processor, especially for a laptop, and the HD4000 is more than enough for anything up to and including light/casual gaming. That includes working with images, video, etc.

Build quality looks pretty good too. In the pictures it looks almost identical to a dv7t-7000 quad edition, other than the color.

I'd like to see a full 1080p screen on a laptop this size, but 1600x900 is adequate, and you could always hook up an external monitor if you need more.

The backlit keyboard is also a plus.

And it comes with Windows 7 so you won't have to mess around with downgrading from Windows Ate.

Get this computer...a lil big but fantastic for everything!!!

miken927 wrote:4.4 out of 5 stars on BestBuy They want $749.

thank you--if new is only $150 more, ill pass on this one, but would help if woot would post another 17"er in the near future, this price is okay, but i personally dont like to buy refurbished unless the price is significantly less than new and untouched....just my own opinion on that....thanks though--good night to all.


[MOD: Uhm, BB's is refurbished as well.]

rajuorbhikhu wrote:it is funny that this comes up, woot CS stood me up over the holidays by not responding to my last question regarding a 17" laptop. my fiance really likes these Pinkie Piely huge screen laptops....since woot never responded, they sold out of the toshiba i was going to buy. this looks like a nice setup for a "normal user", but price seems kinda high for it being refurbished....i would like to know the price of a new to compare.

p.s. TT, could you please throw a stapler at someone in CS and ask them to please reply to case # CAS-121741-F8X3R1...thanks!

I wish HP would give a one year warranty on their refurbished products. But that said, there is Square Trade. This laptop does have all the bells and whistles needed to catch my attention, a large HD, a fast processor, a good wireless card, and a good display.
Most times my fellow Wooters give great advice on whether a product is a deal or no deal.

rajuorbhikhu wrote:i personally dont like to buy refurbished unless the price is significantly less than new and untouched....just my own opinion on that....thanks though--good night to all.

I wouldn't really avoid manufacturer refurbished items for that reason. The ones I've bought have looked brand new in original packaging with no signs of prior use. I would have thought they were new if not for the refurbished label on the outside of the box. That's in stark contrast to the scratch and dent, missing accessories, mustard stained stuff (thrown into a priority mail box with assorted packing peanuts) that you often find places like cowboom and ebay.

Still, 90 days is a bit short, so unless buying an extended warranty I'd want to really give it a good run early on and make sure everything is fully functional.

This would be a speed demon if one put in an SSD. I suspect it might even be able to hold two internal drives to allow for using an SSD as the boot disk and the hard drive for larger data. If it's like the very similar dv7t quad edition then you'd need a special drive cable and mounting bracket in order to add a second disk though, which is kind of a pain, but doable.

I could have sworn that everyone who knows about this web site already owns a laptop that doesn't need replacing- Darn, apparently I am so wrong!

ThunderThighs wrote:I'm worried about you guys. No comments? Someone always has something to say about computers.

I love this laptop! I picked mine up about 2 months ago for $300 from some crackhead on Craigslist that needed money for an Interlock.

Now that I've used it, I would have gladly paid twice that. This is simply a great machine for the price. I actually gave my wife my 16 month old Dell Latitude E6420 (best laptop I have ever owned) because I was so impressed with this rig.

The only less than positive thing I can say about the m7 is don't buy it if you are thinking portability. You'll not be too happy after a week of lugging it around. But as a desktop replacement, I have been nothing but pleased. If Christmas hadn't been so unkind to my wallet, I'd be in for another.

kmartind wrote:I wouldn't really avoid manufacturer refurbished items for that reason. The ones I've bought have looked brand new in original packaging with no signs of prior use. I would have thought they were new if not for the refurbished label on the outside of the box. That's in stark contrast to the scratch and dent, missing accessories, mustard stained stuff (thrown into a priority mail box with assorted packing peanuts) that you often find places like cowboom and ebay.

Still, 90 days is a bit short, so unless buying an extended warranty I'd want to really give it a good run early on and make sure everything is fully functional.

This would be a speed demon if one put in an SSD. I suspect it might even be able to hold two internal drives to allow for using an SSD as the boot disk and the hard drive for larger data. If it's like the very similar dv7t quad edition then you'd need a special drive cable and mounting bracket in order to add a second disk though, which is kind of a pain, but doable.

It does in fact have an open bay for a second drive. You'll need to pick up a caddy and internal SATA cable, but installing the drive couldn't be easier. I have an SSD on it's way from NewEgg to make this beast really fly.

rajuorbhikhu wrote:thank you--if new is only $150 more, ill pass on this one, but would help if woot would post another 17"er in the near future, this price is okay, but i personally dont like to buy refurbished unless the price is significantly less than new and untouched....just my own opinion on that....thanks though--good night to all.

The $749 price listed on Best Buy's site is also a refurb, so if they are selling the refurb for $749 and woot has it for $599, sounds like a deal. I think the original price was like $899 or more. If I had the $$, I'd be in for one.

The i7-3610M packs a punch. One the best processors you can buy on the market right now.

The video card is the biggest weakness. It "gets the job done" but I would advise sticking to games made until about 2010, then itll start to show the weaknesses....

for $600, good price. make sure to get a backpack with some room....

external links for people who need them.

CPU Bench

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3610QM+%40+2.30GHz

Video Card Benches

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmarked.73567.0.html

I'd buy this in a heartbeat if the deal was a little sweeter. I still love my i3 G7 HP. Same screen, same basic form factor, same battery, just a plastic body.

If you love speed and space, swap out the boot drive for a momentus xt hybrid. 750GB 7200RPM plus 8GB ssd cache. Then go on ebay and spend 20 bucks for a drive bay that lets you swap out your DVD drive for a second hard drive, and put the 1TB drive back in. Potentially 3 drive bays.

Kind of pricey for a refurbished model, even with these specs. With rebates and all that, my slightly older HP with basically the same specs was around the same price ($50-100 more) when I first bought it new.

The build is ... questionable overall (almost identical to the one I have). The front will definitely seem solid but weak parts of the side plastic are easily broken off. My headphone jack and surrounding area also got wrecked by my adapter (which my puny phone has no problem with).

Also, no indication of switchable graphics? Pretty sure all of HP's i7 laptops have that option.

We have bought two refurb laptops from woot. A Toshiba and a HP DV7 that looks like this one. Both have had nothing but issues. As soon as we received the HP it was about 2 days before the screen would black out. So off it went to HP under the 90 day warranty. About 5 weeks later after a new keyboard, battery, memory and motherboard according to the paperwork we get the unit back on day 90. Day 91 and the same problem happens again. After much searching the HP DV7 appear to run hot and overheat the video card and crash. Once the thing cools down it will boot again. The toshiba is a whole different story. After those two refurbs I will not buy another. I would consider if it was new.

The upside of the DV7 line is that you can install 2 sata drives. They usually come with one drive cage and cable so you will need to find another. They run around $65-$75 on ebay\amazon.

One of the good things about buying a Windows 7 laptop is that you can use Office Starter which is no longer included in Windows 8 systems. This gives you Excel and Word for free.

You can also upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. Just be sure to run the Office Starter installer before you upgrade to 8 or you will loose it.

pmccolley wrote:
The upside of the DV7 line is that you can install 2 sata drives. They usually come with one drive cage and cable so you will need to find another. They run around $65-$75 on ebay\amazon.

This is also great to install a solid state drive for the boot but still have a huge data drive for storage.

If memory serves me correctly, this particular model (1015) was / is a Best Buy exclusive . . . yes, a second drive bay is available and accessible (you need to buy a cable). These suffered a ton of returns to Best Buy for the space bar sticking, the wireless card performance and a competing model released with better video specs which was less expensive than this particular 1015 (released right after this one, literally days after, and many people returned the 1015 in favor of the competing model which was featured in their flyer which had much better specs). My wife had one of these for three days - she picked it up while we were traveling and hated it so much she returned it at a local store when we got home. She ended up really disliking the odd screen resolution and the space bar stuck like it was slathered with peanut butter. The BIOS is crippled (of course) and there is something to be said for avoiding the cookie cutter HP products pushed to retailers like Best Buy, but for this price compared to what I paid new, I bet she would have probably kept it (and been pissed about the screen resolution but resigned that it was a good deal). At retail, it was not a good deal . . . I know a lot of people that will pick this up and be pleased as punch - at this price, go for it, but buy the Square Trade warranty!

pmccolley wrote:After much searching the HP DV7 appear to run hot and overheat the video card and crash. Once the thing cools down it will boot again. The toshiba is a whole different story. After those two refurbs I will not buy another.

Was that an AMD/ATI-based laptop? If so, there's not much comparison since this one is all Intel. The 3rd generation Core i7 is very power efficient and cool-running for a quad-core. You still don't want to set the thing on a quilt or sofa and start stressing the CPU with games/etc (which can eventually cook any laptop since it blocks the air intake and holds in the heat), but on a hard surface I'd be really surprised if it would overheat unless it goes for months without anyone blowing the dust/lint build-up out of the fan and heat sink with a canned electronics duster.

Wow - I just bought one of these at local MicroCenter about 8 hours ago. No joke. I paid $630 (refurbished). These aren't available new, but I believe they were in the $850+ range when they were available earlier in 2012...

So far, I love it. Keyboard feels great, the backlight is awesome. The only slightly weird ergonomic thing on the keyboard is the up/down arrows are tiny. Not a big deal unless you do tons of Excel, or maybe some games use those keys alot.... Everything else great - dedicated volume keys, back light, good feel and response.
The speakers are great for laptop speakers. The screen is decent - doesn't have a great viewing angle though... you have to be in just the right spot to avoid any weird coloration.
The screen hinge feels sturdier than most laptops. Overall it seems very well built.
There is a lot of junk pre-installed - I've just spent several hours removing the crap and getting just what I need on here. Seems to be running great.

I have purchased two HP refurbs, a laptop and a desktop. The laptop is four years old and still runs well. The desktop is... well, seven, I think, and I'm considering rebuilding it into a low power NAS box. I would still be using it for writing, but I built a new machine. I trust HP refurbs.

That said, if this is a Best Buy exclusive, I don't know if I'd go for it. Just my personal unfounded bias. I honestly can't back it up with anything.

If you don't get one of these, check HP's website. It has been a while since I went there, but their small business outlet was a good place to search for refurbs and scratch and dent deals. They carried a better selection there than in the home user page, and the names of the stores seem more like sales departments than anything.

If they haven't updated their inventory system, it can be a pain to decipher the item numbers, but it can be worth it.

theguruguys wrote:One of the good things about buying a Windows 7 laptop is that you can use Office Starter which is no longer included in Windows 8 systems. This gives you Excel and Word for free.

You can also upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. Just be sure to run the Office Starter installer before you upgrade to 8 or you will loose it.

I had a problem with a computer not being able to be upgraded to Window 8 Pro. Dell would void my warranty, If I moved up to Window 8.

Info about upgrading to Window 8 from HP. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03451712&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=5273910

This is by far the best deal available for a laptop with the 3610qm. Closest thing is a refurb. dv7 with the slightly slower 3612 for $700. The intel hd 4000 card is ho hum but unless you're gaming whats it matter. This setup would murder processor intensive tasks in load bearing progs like photoshop, I'd say this suffices far beyond the needs of the 'normal' user. I would still throw in an ssd for boot and use the sata for data storage to boost speed. About it being a best buy exclusive, oh well, its still an 3610qm, still is beats audiobso who cares - unless it's maxed at 8 gb ram, does anyone know this?


[MOD: From the specs - 8GB DDR3 (expandable to 16GB)]

I'm on an ASUS core i5 bought off here in April 2010 refurb and it's still going strong. Popped an SSD (that I also bought refurb off woot!) in here and it's every bit as fast as these newer rigs, but I would love to get one of these HP deals that keep popping up on here, the graphics on this suuuuck for anything with real graphics.

Are they still having the issue with the Black screen of death that HP support just shrugs at?

impelicanfly wrote:The i7-3610M packs a punch. One the best processors you can buy on the market right now.

The video card is the biggest weakness. It "gets the job done" but I would advise sticking to games made until about 2010, then itll start to show the weaknesses....

for $600, good price. make sure to get a backpack with some room....

external links for people who need them.

CPU Bench

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3610QM+%40+2.30GHz

Video Card Benches

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmarked.73567.0.html

can the video card be upgraded? any links to video card sources?

kokodady wrote:

kokodady wrote:can the video card be upgraded? any links to video card sources?

No - its on the motherboard so its not possible.

No blue ray. No full HD. No way, not even at $600.

FYI- Mt. Rainier is the 5th highest peak in the continental U.S. Mt. Whitney in CA is #1.