HP HDX16-1370US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

I'm a big fan of the HP HDX series. It sits at the top of their Pavilion line and is one of the best built notebooks sold in the retail channel. It's aimed solidly at consumers looking for a high end entertainment laptop. Because the material quality is well above average it's not necessarily the best value: you can get these specs for less money, just not with the same build quality. This is a good choice for someone looking for a notebook that can handle more than just web browsing. The biggest drawback of this HDX model is a slightly under powered battery and a little more weight (though again, much of that lies with the superior frame and shell).

Let's go over the specs:

CPU: The Core 2 P7550 runs two separate cores at 2.26GHz and has 3MB of on chip cache. The Core2 line is the best notebook CPU out there today and and this model this is about in the middle of the mobile Core2 line in terms of performance. At 35W it sits in the same thermal envelope as much slower chips (such as the Mobile Pentium line). Having two cores means you can run your full internet security suite and not have your computer freeze up for events like a virus scan.

MEMORY: 4GB of DDR2 RAM is plenty and the 1066Mhz memory speed is plenty fast.

HDD: The 500GB HDD has plenty of storage, even if you like to do video encoding. The 5400RPM speed isn't the fastest but it is more reliable that 7200RPM drives.

DISPLAY: The 16in (1366×768) display looks great. Like a lot of glossy screens it's a little more susceptible to glare, but in the home it looks fantastic. There's also a HDX line with an 18inch screen.

GRAPHICS: The Nvidia GeForce GT 130M w/ 1GB of DDR2 used in this notebook is a large step up from the standard Intel 4500 graphics. It is basically a Nvidia 9600 on a newer (55nm) manufacturing process. With this notebook you can play newer 3D games at reasonable resolutions. This is still a step down from being a true "gaming notebook" but if you want to be able to do occasional 3D gaming on it you can (I should note that online 3D games like World of Warcraft run fine on this chip). If 3D gaming is important to you I would suggest looking for a notebook with something more powerful (either the Nvidia GTS and GTX line or the ATI 4800 or 4600 series). It is more than enough to handle your home entertainment needs. The only downside is it uses more power and will drain your batter faster than the standard 4500.

AUDIO: The Altec Lansing with Dolby Home Theater and Sub-Woofer is part of what sets this notebook apart. The sound is fantastic. It is rich and deep and has none of the tininess usually associated with notebook sound.

DVD/CD DRIVE: Uses the "HP Super-Multi Drive" which means it can read and write pretty much any CD or DVD format out there except for Blu Ray. The lack of Blu Ray is the main ding on the "entertainment" specs of notebook. You can get Blu Ray on other HDX-16 models or by custom ordering it from HP.

BATTERY: The 6 cell battery falls a little short. With this size screen and the upgraded graphics chip you really want a 12 cell battery (which some HDX models have). If you expect to be plugged in most of the time you probably don't care. If you expect to travel with this the 1.5-2 hour typical performance (3 max) will disappoint you.

WEIGHT: Coming in a 7.06 lbs this is slightly heavier than the next step down from HP (a DV6 comes in around 6.5 lbs) but that's mostly improved framing and heavier grade plastics. This notebook is solid.

WIRELESS: The usually Intel 5100 A/G/N supports the most common standards ("A" and "G") along with the new "N" standard. You should have no trouble connecting to wireless networks.

PORTS: This notebook has all the usual ports (USB2, Ethernet, VGA, headphones, microphones, eSATA) and a HDMI port. Thanks to the included remote you could watch DVDs on your TV (if it supports HDMI) in relative comfort. I'm not sure why you would want to foor DVDs, but if you want to use Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Video On Demand, it makes it easy to download and watch movies on your TV.

So if you want a solid notebook with good video and sound this is well worth taking a lot at, especially if you want to download movies. If you are looking for a gaming notebook keep looking. If you want Blu Ray keep looking. If you just want to surf the web you don't need a computer this powerful unless you want really good sound. If battery life is important look for a model with a 12 cell battery (or custom order one from HP).

I originally wrote an extremely in depth review about this computer, but peculiarly enough, it never got published. Rather than spending hours going through the extreme level of detail I did before, I'll just summarize it by saying I've had two of these now (first one returned for a replacement), and both had 1) dead pixels and 2) a horrible rattling/crackling/blown speaker sound in the right speaker. Sent it to HP to fix it under warranty, they fixed the pixels and SAID they replaced the speaker, but the terrible rattling is still there. More troubling, the HP representative tested several of these computers at the repair center and said that they were ALL exhibiting the same problem in the right speaker (which is placed directly over the triple bass) so this may in fact be a MANUFACTURING problem. For anyone that has this laptop, please test and comment back.

Other than that, everything else is fine (minus the horrid amount of bloatware that comes on this thing). But I find it unacceptable for something that calls itself an ENTERTAINMENT laptop to be plagued by audio and video hardware flaws.

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I was looking for a laptop that I could use as a mobile desktop. I do work everyday on my desktop and I needed a machine that could do what my desktop can do on the go. I have owned this machine for almost two weeks now and it has been great. The high-powered processor working alongside the high amounts of ram allow me to surf the web, do my work and computer programming, and listen to my internet radio all at the same time with no slow down at all. The hard drive is huge, so I was able to install all of my large-sized programs with no problem at all. The webcam is very good and produces a clear picture when I chat with my family and friends. Aside from performance, it looks great with its shiny titanium finish and the screen is big, bright, and clear.

My suggestion to anyone who is planning on buying this laptop is to get a 12-cell battery as so that you can get a little more life out of the machine. With the standard battery included with the laptop, it lasts about 1.5 2 hours. With the 12-cell, I got 3 3.5.

One last note... all of the computers that I have owned up until now were running 32-bit versions of windows, so I was hesitant to get a 64-bit machine. However, 64-bit machines are not that different from 32-bit machines. You won't even be able to tell the difference. (Just make sure that when you install software, you pick the 64-bit version if necessary. Some installers will differentiate for you, but just be on the lookout.

Overall, this is a great machine and i would suggest it to others.

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I Made a very bad choice of buying this laptop for my business. A few days of use and in the middle of a presentation to my potential clients, the "adjust sound stop play forward" Controls started coming up automatically on my screen along with an annoying clicking sound. No Software update from HP and Microsoft would fix it. Finally, I found out from some online forums that its due to an oversensitive MEDIASMART touch panel that picks up static charges and interpreting it as human touch. A Kid suggested that I put some scotch MAGIC tape on the MEDIASMART bar and that fixed it. It even works with the tape on it.!! Next, It has a Glare friendly screen , which no matter what angle you are watching at, makes it tough to work in a room illuminated with natural daylight. You need to be in a very dimly lit room to use this screen, and then you realize that its hard to read the keys on the keyboard. Avoid this Amateur laptop for business use. Maybe a its good buy for your elementary school kid to watch ELMO or Mickey mouse movies and perhaps to write on the screen with Crayons!!

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I've had the HDX 16 for several years now and the problems I encounter keep adding up.

The first problems I encountered with the laptop were problems with the touch buttons below the screen. The touch buttons enable the user to change the volume or play/rewind/stop media and other useful things. The volume button and treble/bass buttons have a fancy bar that looks like it should indicate the current volume level but don't. The buttons are also a bit slow and unresponsive and may cause frustration with needing to hit the button twice or toggling something on and off accidentally.

The second problem I encountered was with HP software. There is a lot of HP software, but the only piece of software I liked, the webcam software disappeared. I don't know how or when but one day I went to click my desktop shortcut to the webcam software and it was gone.

The third and fourth problems introduced themselves to me as I began installing and playing games on the HDX. The third problem is that the graphics card sucks. I had problems tabbing between a full screen game back to the desktop. Additionally the graphics card fails A LOT. Even playing simple internet flash games can cause the graphics card to crash and force me to stare at a blank screen for a minute as it recovers, not to mention actual computer games. Everyday I visit NVIDIAs site checking for new updates hoping the problem will be solved, and it still hasn't.

The fourth problem is the laptop cooling system. Even the first day I used my laptop I noticed a build up of heat on the left side of the laptop. Just doing simple tasks such as typing on Microsoft word or writing a negative review on Amazon I feel an abnormal amount of heat. Now this wouldn't be a big problem if I didn't play computer games. Unfortunately this is an "entertainment laptop" and I am a teenage boy and computer games are my pride and joy. I started to play Napoleon Total War and after about 10-30 minutes BAM computer shuts off. I felt my laptop and it was scalding hot. I know you might be thinking I mistook the word laptop as a computer I can sit on my lap. However, I have a cooling pad for my laptop and it STILL overheats when I play graphic intensive video games. The only compromise I have been able to find besides tying my laptop to the ceiling and letting in dangle in mid air is to let about half the laptop hang over the edge of a desk. This is the ONLY way I have been able to prevent my HDX from overheating when I play games.

Overall I know this review has been a bit negative but it is these 4 things that of slowly driven me insane while having this laptop. I mean it really drives me insane not to be able to play my laptop anywhere without hanging it off the side of a desk. I am thinking about calling HP and asking what I can do, and maybe bringing my laptop into a techie shop and getting an upgraded fan. Bottom line is this is my experience with my laptop. I don't know if all other laptops experience this problem but if they don't I recommend you forget about the HDX and go with a laptop that doesn't have a fail graphics card and overheats on a flat surface.

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