I was very eager to get my HP Pavilion only to find that they all have an overheating problem that leads to a shot motherboard. Unfortunately even if you replace the motherboard the heating issue will not be repaired so you can look forward to replacing another motherboard until you buy a Mac in frustration. HP will not admit this is a design flaw and they need to address this so until then Bye-bye PC, Hello Mac.
I paid over one thousand dollars for this, and having had positive experiences with HP in the past I thought this would be the perfect laptop to lug around when starting University.
Okay, I will begin by saying that I hardly ever carry this laptop around, and usually keep it sat on my desk or use it while lying in bed. The few times I have traveled with it, it has been for short extents of time and I would carry it in a highly-padded computer bag. I am positive I took better care of my laptop than many people, however, I guess that doesn't change a thing if the laptop is already poorly made. I will now list the problems I have encountered in my DV5-1000us from the day I got it up until today (1.5 yrs later):
*The easy pad (touchpad) controls stopped working many times during my first few months of use, however, now work 99% of the time. One thing that has not changed, although I believe this is simply a design flaw is that you can't skip, pause, play, or stop songs on itunes unless you have the itunes window displaying immediately infront of you. Because of this, I deem these controls useless since it's just as easy to press any of these buttons simply from the itunes window. It is also very annoying when you want to control itunes, but can't simply use the touchpad.
*The sound card: This computer has an awful sound card simply because it continually turns on and off. I have a password-login which I must use to access my computer, but if the computer falls asleep, sometimes the sound card turns off which requires me to close and reopen my computer screen, relogin and then wait a minute for my computer to allow me to actually use it while it makes a loud engine sound. It's not that bad, but quite an annoying flaw.
*The keyboard:After a few weeks of using my laptop, the keyboard buttons would easily jam and sometimes the plastic holding them to the laptop would pop up and the keys would essentially "break." They all worked, however, many became loose or stiff after this.
---And today my keyboard simply stopped working, so I am now typing on a usb keyboard (which is actually much better than my laptop keyboard and it only cost $18!) I should mention that although this laptop cost over one thousand dollars, the keyboard is not water resistant and also easily attracts dirt under the keys. It cost nearly $400 to fix my laptop keyboard (and I live in the Silicon Valley right next to HP!), and simply put: This computer itself isn't even worth $300-$400!
*The "paint job" -when you open up this laptop you will see "small, smooth metal squares." These are painted on and can easily be chipped off -my laptop is a perfect example!
*The "mouse paint job" The mouse pad on this laptop is a great size and I love that it is centered, rather than placed to the side like in some other HP DV's and Toshiba Satellites, however one day I came home after class and while studying next to it, noticed that the mousepad was scorching hot. I figured, "Hey, it's an HP!" HOWEVER, just a few minutes later I go to browse the internet and notice the metal paint job on the left-hand cursor had BURNT OFF! This was only after around six months of use, and to this day nearly the entire left-hand cursor is burnt-black.
*The graphics card: You wouldn't think it would be bad, and it's not that bad...BUT it is a very cheap, OLD graphics card and can cause computer games to skip around.
*The INTERNET: I have LOST COUNT of how many times the internet on this computer has suddenly stopped working. You will be browsing the internet and WHAM! You will close the lid to your computer and come back to it and WHAM! No matter how or when it happens, this laptop will find a way to disconnect to the internet (another reason I should mention that I simply keep it in my apartment room). It is NOT easy to reconnect the internet when this happens. Especially if you do not have access to the router, it is basically trial-and-error each time this happens -and it happens quite frequently and usually waste a few hours trying to fix it. For some reason there is no solution to this problem, because one method can fix the internet one time, and not work at all the next! ---The touchpad wifi control sometimes can mess up and stay on "disconnected/orange" even if you try and try and try to enable it and make it blue. This is NOT a portable laptop, because many times it doesn't even pick up wireless points many other laptops do!
*The safety-rubber attached to the laptop IS ATTACHED WITH FREAKING ELMER'S GLUE!!! Okay, so maybe it's not...however, a few of the pieces of rubber placed on the very bottom and screen fall off. They literally will just melt off...You will feel something sticky and realize the rubber is melting off.
*built-in microphone of poor quality. I didn't even REALIZE this laptop had a built in microphone like my mom's new mac, simply because...It doesn't pick up sound unless you have your mouth to the screen -and how many people do that?!
*CD-rom sometimes doesn't function -you will insert a CD or DVD and be all stoked to listen or watch it when nothing pops up. You go to my computer>CD/DVD-drive to notice it hasn't picked up the fact you just put a cd or dvd in. Sometimes it says, "NO DVD/CD INSERTED." and jot-fully pop out the CD/DVD door as if you really needed that lol So again, you should restart your computer...and get used to it if you buy this...
Okay, I know i doesn't sound like alot, but trust me...these cons really get to you after a while, and I haven't even mentioned (although I think this happens to most HP's), all the things which stop working and error messages which randomly pop up.
I know this is a very LONG review, but if it stops you from buying this laptop or at least lets you know what you are getting yourself into, then I'm happy.
I WANT to like this computer, and put aside all of these issues...but I just can't. If this were a $300-$400 computer (the cost to fix my keyboard haha), then I might shrug it off as annoying as it is...but what ever happened to getting what you paid for?
I do not recommend this laptop to anyone and the only reason this review is so long is because the problems-list associated with the laptop...goes on and on. :/
Buy HP Pavilion dv5-1000us Entertainment Notebook PC Now
I've had this lap top for over a year now and I am impressed to say the least. I use this machine every day for hours at a time for work, school and personal use and it still works as good as the day I bought it. I noticed a lot of people have had trouble but I assume they must of got a lemon. I def recommend this lap top. It has been great so far.Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dv5-1000us Entertainment Notebook PC Here
I purchased this computer in July of 2009 and it has never failed from day one. I use it for work and home and for heavy graphic use, AutoDesk products including 3DS Max. I purchased another HP machine (Dv6) because I could not upgrade this one any further to work with the newest software I need. I would recommend the Dv5 any time and will continue to use mine as a back up till it dies. For me HP has made an excellent product.Want HP Pavilion dv5-1000us Entertainment Notebook PC Discount?
I purchased the Pavilion dv5-1000us to replace one that had the screen die. This is awesome and fulfilling every need and expectation.Great price and great deal..
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