Got this factory refurbished at Best Buy for $499, (could get for about same price here, but wanted to have their 14 day "touchy feely" period to try it out at home and see if I liked it. I've been researching laptops for awhile, Amazon is always helpful for customer reviews, and I found Cnet.com and PCmagazine.com the best for expert reviews. But no matter how much research that you do, you will always find people who absolutely love each model, (or brand) or hate it. Other reviewers of this computer on other sites absolutely raved about both it and the HP brand ... many said that they only would purchase HP's because they had bad experiences when they tried another brand. But I think a lot of it comes down to individual expectation, experience, and preferences. Personally, I love this laptop. The 14" screen is a perfect size for having it on my lap while curled up on the couch, and it's thin/small size makes it easy to carry along with me. I love how light it is, (around 4.4 pounds?) some of the others I was looking at were right at 5 pounds, and you wouldn't think that would make much of a difference, but each time I pick it up I'm amazed by how light it is. It made with sturdy design no cheap plastic here. I really like the media keys up top, (volume) ... on my husband's brand new Samsung i7 laptop he has to use 2 hands to push the function key along with media key, while I can just hit media key alone. Little things, but I like it. I like the mouse pad as well, just enough sensitivity for me, (unlike my husband's Samsung, which isn't sensitive enough but that is one of those personal preferences that will be different for everyone. I am currently unemployed, so the computer is running 15 straight all day, every day, and I find that it runs very cool and quiet ... very different than my previous dell laptop which ran very hot and loud. I really wanted the WiDi technology so that I could watch the free hulu tv shows on my hdtv instead of my computer without needing cables, (this looks so awesome, by the way!) You'd be hard pressed to find another Intel i5 Core Processor for under $500. The only thing I wish it had was a backlit keyboard. But the pro's of this awesome laptop far outways the cons. I'm so happy that I bought it!!Added note on 1/23/12: I wanted to come back and add to this review now that I've had a few more months to "play" with my new laptop. I'm still thrilled with it I'd increase my review to 6 stars if I had the option. It continues to runs cool and silent, no matter how long it's been on. The sound and picture are both great. It is incredibly light and has a long battery life. I continue to love the stand alone media keys. I also like that they have a "HP support" link right on the computer, where I have the option of having an online chat with a real person at HP anytime, and if I'm having a specific technical issue with my computer, I can give my pc permission to transfer data to a HP support technician so they can help me resolve my issue. I haven't had to use this feature yet, and hope I never will, but it's nice knowing it's there. The only thing it's missing is backlit keys. Other than that, for my needs it's perfect! I absolutely love it!
My other big gripe is that the screen doesn't tilt back past 90 degrees so unless you keep you laptop at chin level, it's really uncomfortable to look at.
Sure, it's fast and light and looks great, but in this day and age, there are plenty of other models that are just as good and don't have these problems. CHOOSE A DIFFERENT LAPTOP. (HP even has some models that are comparable and better for around the same price).After 2 months of light use, the hard drive crashed on this PO$ computer. Overheats and knocks out the hard drive. This problem is apparently intrinsic to this HP model. If HP wanted to do the right thing, they would recall these from vendors and refund the money to those poor saps (like me) who relied on good reviews and purchased one.I also had a hard drive fry after 2 months..lost all data..how long will the replaced hardrive last? Stay away from HP!
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