When I purchased this laptop it was advertised as having bluetooth. That was not the case. The seller definitely did right by me by refunding the cost of the internal bluetooth kit and cable.I should note that installing a bluetooth kit yourself is not for the faint of heart as you will have to disassemble the laptop to install it. The module goes just underneath the two mouse buttons on the touchpad.
The previous laptop I had was a DV6 quad which just ran too hot and loud. I'm pleased to say that this is quieter.
The fingerprint reader is a nice addition as well, but it doesn't work with digital persona, so you'll have to do with hp simplepass 2011.
The sound out of this laptop is surprisingly good. Beats audio is basically a built in 2.1 speaker system. (there is a sub underneath the laptop, two stereo speakers at the screen's base plus two tweeters at the front corners). I never cared about sound though as I always use headphones with laptops.
There are a total of 4 USB ports, two on each side. on the left side, the two USB ports are 3.0.
Video: There is 1 HDMI and 1 VGA port.
There is a 10/100/1000 ethernet jack.
two RCA audio jacks as well as 1 microphone jack.
the webcam is "hp trueVision HD" which is basically a webcam that records up to 1024x768 resolution.
The built in microphone is a stereo mic.
The screen is bright as heck, and darkens enough. Even at its darkest level, it's too bright at night though.
Battery life is what you expect from a quad core, 2 hours average.
There is a slot for a second SATA hard drive that can be configured to support RAID 1.
Performance according to windows performance index:
The video card has two modes: high performance or long battery life with an auto switching feature whenever an A/C adapter is connected.
What happens when the mode is switched is that the drivers are swapped between ATI's drivers and Intel HD video drivers.
When on ATI's driver set, the video card performance is rated at 7.4, when on Intel's set, video is at 6.2.
I've upgraded the RAM, but if I remember correctly, the 6gb configuration rated at 7.4
The processor shows 7.0.
Hard drive is highly subject as well. Unless you upgrade to a SSD, expect to acheive a 5.9.
It does support hardware virtualization just note that USB3.0 does not virtualize so you won't have access to 2 of the USB ports in a virtual machine.
The card reader faces the front and only accepts cards half way, so an inserted card does not fit flush with the front of the laptop. A huge annoyance in my opinion as I like to leave an SD card inserted for readyboost and can no longer do so.
No real opinion on the optical drive, but it runs quietly at least.
There is no remote control as with previous hp laptops.
The connector for an HP docking station has been removed so you can't use an HP dock on this sucker. (CRAP!!!!)
There is 1 media key and it opens a web browser.
there is an air intake vent in the upper left corner that you've got to keep clear. so it's another example of a laptop that you can't keep on your lap.
I hope I've covered anything, but comment if you have any questions.
[Update] I was actually asked about installing the internal bluetooth module, so here's a bit more on the subject:
The internal bluetooth is a very small chip with a built-in antennae. It's about the size of a house key without the head. The cable itself has tips that at one end, insert into a specially shaped recepticle on the bluetooth chip and a different tip for another recepticle on the motherboard. I had to pull the keyboard and top plate off of the laptop to insert the bluetooth module. It fits in a small groove that sits underneath the mouse buttons on the touchpad. I really like its position as it gives great bluetooth reception, the best I've seen on any laptop. [/Update]
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