HP Pavilion dv2845se Special Edition Notebook PC (KN999UA)

I purchased this laptop about a year ago online. The laptop had decent specs and I planned on using it for (light) gaming and general browsing and school work. At first the laptop seemed good, it performed well and played games like Half-Life 2 at max resolution and medium settings. However, over time the laptop developed severe over-heating issues. At first I thought it was due to faulty video drivers so switched out my video drivers a few times and that didn't help at all. Eventually I Googled, "dv2845se heating issues", and found forums rife with complaints about their dv2845se laptops running extremely hot.

It turns out that the way the gpu's thermal foam that is applied to the gpu deteriorates over time and eventually can even heat up enough to cause the gpu unit to de-solder itself off of the motherboard causing many more problems in the process. Fortunately I was able to combat the issue somewhat by installing Windows 7 and altering the performance settings to "Power Saver" which allowed the laptop's gpu to idle at around 67c, which is still pretty hot but not hot enough to do any damage as long as I don't do anything graphics intensive (no more 3D games for me now). Recently I tried applying some thermal paste to the gpu, but that didn't help the issue at all and in fact made it run hotter then before.

The thing that really upsets me about this laptop though, is the fact that HP never extended the warranty of these laptops or issued a recall even though this is a very prevalent and well known issue with this model. I can say with certitude that I will never buy an HP laptop again.

This computer worked fine until it didn't! After buying this computer to more or less replace my desktop which took up too much space for the minimal amount of usage it received, I was very upset to find it simply wouldn't turn on after less than 2 yrs of very light usage. Although it is a laptop, it essentially stayed at my desk as I used my netbook to travel with me back and forth to work. I was even more upset to find that there are a lot of people out there with the same complaint, and HP refuses to recognize the issue and take care of it. I have personally purchased 8 laptops/netbooks over the last 10 years and advised many friends and family members on their purchases. I guess I will now be purchasing #9 to replace my HP Special Edition paper weight! I can guarantee you (which is more than HP will do!) that I will not be purchasing another HP product again... nor will any of my friends, family or workmates if I can help it.

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I've had this laptop for a little over three years and it's run pretty well with the exception of the video card frying recently. That being said, however, I ran this laptop nearly non-stop for three years before that happened, took it into the African bush, and hadn't cleaned it out in some time. It's a good one... plus it has FIREWIRE!

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I bought the HP Pavilion dv2845se about 2.5 years ago. I would NOT recommend it to anyone. After a few months the CD drive broke and after another few months the replacement drive they sent broke as well. Also, if you look up this model on several forums, it has a history of dying after about 2 years. The power button stops working and you can no longer turn on the computer. This is what happened to mine, so eventually I left it on permanently, but eventually it turned off and I haven't been able to turn it on again. HP knows about the problem with the power button and won't offer an solutions unless you want to pay to send it in to them. You might as well spend the money buying a new laptop. HP has really gone downhill in the past couple years. Most people I know who have bought HPs have had problems starting around after the 1yr warranty ends. The over-heating is also a problem mentioned by other reviewers. I'm never buying an HP again.

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Cons-

As others have said this laptop has heating issues. I had no problem with it till a couple of months ago when it straight up melted my hard drive. Luckily a good replacement only went for $60. I have found out that I can run it on high performance with a two fan cooling pad and I have no problems. It is frustrating that it has this issue, but it is avoidable.

Another issue is fingerprints. It looks great but anytime anybody touches it you can see it from far away.

Volume controls freeze the laptop temporary.

Pros-

Great specs. I bought this two years ago and was the most powerful laptop I could buy for under $1,000. I recently looked at new laptops and the specs are the same except for a slightly faster processor.

Keyboard is great. The keys are quiet and really user friendly. Everything is spaced out perfectly.

The mouse controls work well.

Three USB ports.

Built in wireless control. Great for presentations.

Its durable. I have had it for two years. In those two years I have taken it to class everyday, watch countless DVD's, hours and hours of videos, and made many presentations. Its still looks good and is solid.