HP Pavilion DV7-3180US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Anyone unhappy with this unit is nuts or spoiled as hell. Can't really find a complaint. Fast. Been using for over a month now problem free. Took it out of the box, turned it on, set it up, and started working, and remember saying out loud "I can't beleive I own this". Most computer hardware wise for the money I could find. Solid. Only thing that disappointed was that the HP Media Bundle has issues but the Windows programs are reliable. I like to install my own media software anyway so I still give this machine 5 stars.

I have used the HP Pavilion DV7 for the 17 months now. It was purchased by my company as I would never have considered purchasing such a "cheap" laptop. I only preface with this bit of nerd snobbery so you can know this review is written by someone who hasn't touched a notebook under $2K for over a decade and has rather high PC performance standards:

In short, this is an AMAZING steal for the price. The technical specs are superior to what you'll find in the more "elite" market and the performance of this PC is really impressive. In fact, I'm leaving my company and am only on Amazon writing this review as I prepare to purchase another of these models for my personal use...

PROS:

I originally thought I'd only use it for work (aka spreadsheets, etc) but started using it for video watching, gaming, movie burning, etc because it was working so smoothly. I'm a very hard PC user. I don't like to close applications and am always multi-tasking as in: several Microsoft Excel spreadsheets; a few Word documents; at least one Project file; iTunes playing in the background; Outlook running and checking mail every 15 seconds; Google Chrome open with 7 tabs; and Mozilla Firefox open with 7 more tabs. This PC has performed expertly for a year and never even paused despite my harsh use. As in, no crashes, no hesitation to respond to a click despite aforementioned heavy (ab)use and because it's worth repeating--no crashes.

CONS:

The only thing I have to report, is after 17 months of solid use, I've worn the "E" off (key/hardware works fine) and the "R" is on her way out too!

Although I had no issue with mine, I feel compelled to report that of the 4 PCS my company purchased, one did end up with a fried motherboard. To be fair, that particular employee was prone to visiting...websites of ill-repute...and could have caught himself a virus (ironic) that turned the fans off.

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Research the documented motherboard issue on the HP Pavilions before you buy!!!! I thought for many years that HP was a trusted reliable brand. I spent $1200 on this HP just to find out 13 months in that there is a motherboard issue. This unit overheats easily (often without you being aware) and you will lose your motherboard (and your investment will be lost). The dv7 has the same overheating/motherboard problem that the other pavilion dv series exhibits. If you buy the unit anyway (or have already purchased) watch carefully for signs of problems BEFORE the 1 year warranty expires. Motherboard problems can present initially as odd issues such as power problem (powering off, turning off while booting up, etc). ALWAYS use laptops on a hard surface. In this case using a cooling surface didn't prevent the problem but often this can help you avoid issues. Good luck!

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I know that for the price your paying for this computer it isen't that bad. It only has one fluck that I have experenced and that is that the dislay drive stops responding and immediantly recovers after the screen gos black for a few seconds. It has something to do with the kernel drive 184.66 and I can't fix it because hp and nvidia haven't come up with a solution too the problem yet and yes I did a system recovery several times also uninstalling and reinstalling the driver. Other than that I really can't complain other then that little problem with the display drive. I really dont like the fact that they took out the 500GB (7200RPM) hard drive and replaced it with a 640GB (5400RPM). Overall I give this computer a 4 out of 5.

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This is a powerful laptop, it has a decent video card and a lot of memory for todays standards. Blu-ray works fine and the power of the processor is kind of equal as a Desktop Core 2 Duo @ 2.6 Ghz. Graphics runs faster, I can play some games @ 1600*900 resolution, but others that need more graphics I play them @ 1280*720, which is not an issue for me.

The only problems I have is that when you render MPEG4 video the CPU heats a lot, it goes from the 60 degrees celcius to 90 degrees celcius and that is something dangerous because the CPU can only resist 100 degrees celcius.

Other thing I want to mention is that the sound quality is bad if you let it at default, you need to install the audio drivers and try to adjust them with a lot of diferent combinations for a decent audio quality.

And the last thing about this PC is that battery doesn't help that much. If you spend your time going through the internet, etc. the battery will last about maximum 2 and half hours, and if you play games or edit video, it will only last about 1 hour.

Overall, if you want something for games and video editing this computer is fast for that but heats a lot, but if you want a computer just for navigate though the internet, this is not for you.

P.S. I recomend buying a good heat sink for this laptop.

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