I've been using this computer for about 3 weeks now, and am quite happy with its performance and battery life. It has switchable graphics and automatically (unless disabled) switches between built-in graphics when battery powered and dedicated graphics (ATI HD6550) when wall cube powered. I don't use this computer for gaming, but the HD6550 is a fairly respectable card. Battery life is listed at 7.75 hours. I was originally seeing around 6 hours in my typical usage scenario (see note re change below). I am also pleased with its thermal management. When working hard it gets warm but not hot. Air exhaust is on the left, toward the back of the case, which is an acceptable location. Since it is billed as an "entertainment" laptop, there is a goodly amount of HP software installed for managing audio, video, photos, etc. I thought I would remove most of this, but found it to be relatively inoffensive and even useful at times. The hard drive is a generous 750 GB, so I wasn't too concerned about needing to free up space. I did disable the built-in backup management software in favor of adding a second 750 GB hard drive (this required purchasing an HP4000 series drive caddy and cable). I made the new drive (7200 RPM) the primary drive and relegated the slower 5400 RPM drive that came with the 4280 to backup. Having two hard drives did, of course, reduce battery life somewhat, but I still get around 5.5 hours not bad at all. I can now do backups in-situ via partition imaging, plus daily backups to an external USB drive. Regarding that the HP4280 has a powered eSATA port (combo USB and eSATA), which I use with a Seagate GoFlex Pro 750 GB drive with eSATA interface and it is fast (GoFlex pro uses 7200 RPM drive which matches the one I swapped in and made my boot drive).There is also a fingerprint scanner which can be used to log in (password entry is still available as alternative). You have to spend a few minutes registering your fingerprint (plus one alternative print) but after that, you can log in by just swiping your finger over the scanner. It took some getting used to, but I now log in this way almost exclusively. One little trick I found place your finger over the scanner, then hesitate for just a bit (about 1/4 to 1/2 second) before swiping and it will read much more reliably. At least that's the case for me maybe I "trained" it that way. ;-)
My only real complaint is that the touch pad implementation is well, just awful. As has been noted by others, it's almost impossible to position the cursor and click to select without moving the cursor off target, and if you touch the case near the touch pad that moves the cursor. Really annoying. I added a Logitech M705 mouse which uses their tiny unifying receiver (I leave it plugged in all the time), and it works quite well, even with the receiver on the opposite side of the computer (that location works best for my carry case).
One last note this beasty has a blue ray player and Beats audio very nice combo for watching HD movies.
Overall, I am very happy with this computer. It lost one star for the schizoid touch pad and the slow hard drive.
Update 2011-05-10. Recently updated Synaptic Pointing Device drivers, and there were definite improvements in touch pad operation.
Pros
Blazing fast, high end processor
High end graphics with excellent LED screen
Blu-ray player
17"
Aluminum casing
Long battery life
Price
Finger scanner
Cons
No Firewire or any type of expansion card slot to add it
The converter part on the power cord gets pretty hot
Neutral
Sound, even though it has the Dr Dre Beats Audio, it still sounds about the same as my old Toshibia (although that system also had a highly touted Harman Kardon speaker/subwoofer system). Obviously sound is limited to the small size/speakers limitation of laptops.
HP Laptop reliability reputation. There was a report out a couple years back showing HP to have the worse reliability, in the upper 20% after 3 years. It was also noted that it makes the most laptops and that the smaller laptop makers, like Toshibia, had lower failure rates. To me, that study sounds flawed in that if there are so many more HP laptops, many more are going to need repair so I am not sure about the methodology of the study or if HP quality (or anyone else's) has changed since its been out.
UPDATE: I have had the computer for 9 months. 2 problems arose and were quickly fixed by HP. First, the A/C adapter stopped working. They shipped one no charge. For some reason Fed Ex shipped the part from SC to Atlanta and instead of going to the local distribution center here in metro Atlanta, it was sent to TX. So that delayed the part, not HP's fault though. I did not have to send the bad part back.
The second thing that happened, according to the H.P. Support Assistance software and third party S.M.A.R.T. software, I had some bad sectors on my hard drive, the kind that a Windows scan and fix can't help. So I contacted support, gave them the error code. They told me I needed a new hard drive and would have a supervisor call within 2 business days. The supervisor called the next day, Friday. He told me I would ship it out and I had 15 days to ship the bad one back. They take your credit card number and will charge it if they don't get the broken part back in the time allowed. It was stressed that if I sent it back after 15 days, they still won't refund the money. I got the feeling if I wasn't comfortable doing the swap, they would have me send the entire laptop in. They paid shipping of the part both ways. So, again, the distribution center is in SC and I am in Atlanta. The part arrived on Saturday, the next day. I bought an external USB drive, partitioned it so it was slightly smaller than the HD on the laptop. I followed the Windows 7 directions to make a mirror image which includes making a boot disc. It took a few hours to make the mirrors of c: and d: which was under 300GB total. d: is HP's backup partition. I swapped out the drives, and used the Windows boot disc with the external USB HD connected that had the mirror image and in a couple of hours, my computer was exactly like I had it before. HP sent discs, but I didn't need them by using Windows Backup. Once I made sure everything was right, I swapped back to the old disc and did a boot and nuke, erasing all content. One more swap and everything is great.
So, HP support has been great.
Buy HP Pavilion dv7-4280us 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC (Silver) Now
I bought this computer after researching on Consumer Reports for a laptop to replace our home computer (a Dell desktop). Once I narrowed down my choices to this computer and a Toshiba Satellite, I read the Amazon reviews for this computer and was convinced (espectially, when someone said that they bought it to replace their iMac). At first I was thinking of switching to an iMac, but after doing my research I found this computer to be the best rated for my specific needs. I have a shop on Etsy and need a computer with a lot of memory and the ability to run multiple programs at once. I have to say that I am VERY pleased with my decision! This computer is beautiful (much better looking than the pictures), fast, lightweight, and incredibly easy to set-up. I took it out of the box, plugged it in, and within 10 minutes was ready to go! No software to load, no confusing user's manual, and very user-friendly. I was able to set-up my wireless internet connection and wireless printer in minutes with no complications. Windows 7 is an absolute pleasure to work with and I love the entire set-up of the computer. Also, the screen for this computer is huge and makes you feel like you're using a desktop :)I've never purchased an HP product before, but I will definitely be a repeat customer in the future!
Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dv7-4280us 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC (Silver) Here
I read the reviews about thet touch pad and thought, "How bad could it be?" I did not realize how much I do use the touch pad until I got this computer. It's practically impossible to use. I bought a mouse and am trying to get used to that. Otherwise I really like it. I use it to play SL which is a huge test of a graphics test and it performs very well. If you buy it go ahead and get a mouse, don't try to beat the touch pad, you'll end up with sore fingers.Want HP Pavilion dv7-4280us 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC (Silver) Discount?
I've had this computer for about two months now. It was easy to set-up, had a fast processor, good graphics and screen quality, an enormous amount of memory, and a nice feel to the keyboard (although the tracking pad is useless). Unfortunately, I went to turn on this laptop recently and it failed to boot and emitted loud beeping sounds for several minutes. After three hours with an HP tech support person who had me open up the computer and reset a few hardware items and software, I ended up at the "please send your laptop to us for service." Yes, it's under warranty but I don't have my computer for 2 weeks and of course am missing deadlines. After I complained that a brand new laptop should work for longer than 2 months, the tech support person replied, "electronics are not guaranteed." Hm. Anyhow, I've been buying and using computers for 20+ years and have never encountered a new machine that has failed in two months.UPDATE, September 5, 2011: In mid-August, HP fixed the keyboard and updated the BIOS so the computer worked for a few weeks more. Sadly, when I turned on the laptop today it proceeded to beep, had problems booting, and demonstrated keyboard failure again. If you buy this machine, make sure you back up your files daily. You'll need them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment