Quick summary First PC I got had problems. Did get another one and it seems to be fine so far. I have left the review below since it is an honest account of what I went through with the first one.I have been buying PCs since the early 1980s and this is BY FAR the WORST out of box experience I have had. The PC had 5 hours of critical updates from HP and Microsoft that did not go through correctly. 18 hours later still getting errors on the PC, from HP and Windows. I have called HP customer support three times so far, have reformatted PC with customer support on the line and still am having problems.
The HP support has been horrific. The HP support is from India and once you get to a live person the support is subpar. My main HP tech support person was down right rude and HE TOLD ME THE FOLLOWING THINGS which were horrific to hear from an IT guy (and totally false by the way):
(1) do not to make Windows critical updates since they cause problems on the HP PCs
(2) HP simple pass which is an advertised security feature did not work well
(3) I should ignore all the red ! and yellow warning triangles on my pc
He basically just wanted me off the line and to live with a problem PC! The support person also had me install some software from him that hijacked internet explore and had my computer go nuts with virus warnings and I got several viruses too!..this is when I agreed to reformat my PC...the India HP tech had limited knowledge of the PC itself and refused to answer any questions on Windows 8 even when we were sitting on the phone waiting for the computer to reboot or do updates.
After reformatting the hard drive and another 5 hours of doing HP and windows updates I am still getting errors. I had already installed my last copy of MS office on this pc and am very upset at the prospect of having to buy another copy of Office out of my pocket. Ship this PC back and go out and purchase another PC. So far I have been on the phone with HP for 14 hours. HP support is the worse... My HP support person also made me deactivate a lot of the Windows 8 features on the second installation and when I protested he told me he would not support any Windows issues and I could turn them on later. When the updates were done I asked how to turn on those Windows 8 features and he told me he didn't know and that wasn't his job.
UPDATE...escalating with HP support...now they are telling me that since this 8AM Saturday they cannot do anything till Monday and they will have someone call me back then to help me return my PC and get a new one then. This is unacceptable to me because this means 2 more days without a PC than if I was helped now.
UPDATE (2 hours later) still escalating.... Now HP is telling me to pack the PC up, drive to fed ex and once they have the PC back (I purchased this from HP directly) they will ship another one to me AND then I need to either call Microsoft and ask them if they can transfer my license to a new PC OR I need to buy another copy of Microsoft office. This means I won't have a new PC for 5 + days and then I need to start the installation procedure all over again.
UPDATE (3 hours later) packing up my PC. Fedex will pick up package Monday and I will get new PC Wed. Hope this one works!
Seriously???? That much escalation to get OK service???? Looks like it will take a week to resolve the issue and get a new PC. That is a lot of down time and a lot of non productive time for me to fix their problem.
From what I saw of the PC when it was working..
1) the sound system is nice...clear and loud enough to play music on without external speakers. I played some support videos online and had the sound on one of the lowest settings and it was plenty loud. Played a few songs and the sound quality is better than any other PC I have had.
2) The webcam was also HD and the quality was nice.
3) I think I will like Windows 8 once I get used to it. There is a learning curve on this but it has some nice features.
4) Have talked to several friends who have HP and they told me their HP assist never worked well and constantly has problems with updates.
5) This is my first HP...may be my last...their PCs may be OK but their customer support is HORRIBLE!
Update:
Got the new replacement PC Wed (yesterday). Software updates process of HP and MS software took 4+ hours but went smoothly. The installation of my other programs was pain free. Still installing my files but all seems well. Still very impressed with the sound system on the PC and know I will be enjoying that once my mp3s are installed.
HP support group called me and sent me an email Monday AM and gave me a case # and a direct number to contact them if I have any more troubles. They were very nice and made me feel that my problem was a fluke and I now had good support if it wasn't. Right now it looks like their was a glitch in the software update of my first PC which threw off everything. The second issue was that I got a bad tech from their Indian support group he needs some more training on both customer service and the PC. The final issue for me is that by the time I started escalating it was Saturday morning and the US support was closed at that time.
What I should have done was to send back my first PC the second the issues started and got a new PC and escalated with HP about the fact that I had already installed MS office on the bad PC.
Update one month later:
HP contacted me several times to make sure I was happy which I thought was very nice. These calls came from someone in the US and not India. Thank goodness... I may get another HP after all. The PC is working fine. Am enjoying the sound system (which is very good for a laptop sound system) and windows 8. No other issues.
So in the market was I, and after researching my target price range I had decided on the AMD A8 or AMD A-10 line, if I was lucky. After all, I have some esteem for the AMD products as I find them to function better than the sum of their parts. Plus, I could also blame Intel in large part for my prior PC woes in the chipset vicinity. The HP Envy Dv6 with AMD A8-4500M was quite compelling in my search for products, but I had my reservations not finding the A-10 version. I shopped a lot online but didn't buy.. still waiting for the right deal.
So off I went for some family time, but on my way I happened to pass a Staples and couldn't resist stopping in to see if anything called me. Well, in fact, they have some phenomenal deals and no-nonsense powerful PCs. Indeed they had the dv6 Envy A8-4500M model which I tried extensively. However their best deal was a $500 core i5 Envy at $150 cheaper.
Needless to say I was forced to buy Intel again, but I can't regret it much. The computer is blazing fast. However what I really want to emphasize in this review is the excellent build quality. The mostly aluminum case is rigid and the chicklet keys have a fantastic feel. The cooling fan pushes out nothing but cold air and the Beats Speakers are definitely a bump up in laptop speaker output. Trackpad seems like great quality also.
There is one MAJOR drawback ... the screen viewing angles are weak with dark tones, and the resolution is .. by todays standards.. quite BLAH or even BLEH. However with brighter tones (like this web page) the angles are quite good. And it is blindingly bright. Connectivity excellent w Bluetooth and USB 3,0.
Overall, the intel internals are nothing to scoff at. However, there is NO reason not to strongly consider the dv6-7210us which is quite a competent overall system which is capable of a higher windows experience index number with a few small modifications (this PC will be GPU restricted for a lower overall score). So this review is mainly to APPLAUD hp for doing what other PC manufactures haven't done basically ever: make a computer with a good CPU near the top of the line (AMD A8 also) in an excellent form factor with no major bottlenecks in quality anywhere. Ok, the screen isn't amazing, but everything has it's price and as the one factor I can see separating this from a $2200 mac pro, I could care less. I can still give a 5*.
Also, Bravo! to Staples for carrying far better PC's than any other big box retailer I've come across (best buy, walmart and friends, Costco). Almost all of their PCs were desirable and they even had the blazing fast Core i7 Toshiba for $630 all holiday season!
It took a brutal bludgeoning of market share by Mac and tablets, and a massive blow to share price, but on a price to performance AND build quality ratio this machine is something you've been waiting for.
Buy HP Envy dv6-7220us 15.6-Inch Laptop Now
I had an awful experience when I first purchased the computer. It came with corrupted files. There was an icon on it to fix the problem. I made the mistake of following the instructions and wound up buying a service contract to repair the computer. I know Amazon will take back the computer with no questions but by the time I realized that it was too late. I wasted over $250 because of my own stupidity. A couple of days later Amazon reminded me that I had 15 days to send the computer back. I did so and got a replacement. I am generally pleased with the the dv6-722us. I had the same computer with Windows 7. My wife loved it so I gave it to her and bought the new one with Windows 8. To me the Windows 8 operating system is not an improvement. It takes a little getting used to but it is not difficult to learn. Overall this has been a good purchase. If I had not had the terrible experience with the first computer it would been an excellent purchase. Word to the wise, if it doesn't look right to begin with, put it back in the box immediately and send it back.Read Best Reviews of HP Envy dv6-7220us 15.6-Inch Laptop Here
Have had 2 computers shipped and both had mechanical defects, one of which the mouse button did not work and the other a problem with garbled speakers. Trying one more time...obviously not much quality control going on at hp these days..Want HP Envy dv6-7220us 15.6-Inch Laptop Discount?
Great computer for out family!! Use it daily for social media and work. World highly recommend this computer to everyone.Save 10% Off
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