I just recently bought this laptop so my experience with it is limited but thought it would be worthwhile to share what I've learned so far.For reference, I customized mine to include:
i5-520 with 8GB RAM
512MB 5450 ATI Graphics
500GB 7200 RPM HD
Bluetooth
Oversized battery
I was able to get it for under $1000 using a $400 off coupon I found online.
Pros:
Metal Case
My last HP had a plastic deck painted to look like metal After about 2 years, the paint had worn off the trackpad buttons and was starting to wear off the trackpad itself. The metal case should avoid this problem besides looking better. I should mention that the case looks more of a gold color than silver Also, there's no annoying latch that you have to maneuver your fingers to open. Just put your thumb under the lid slightly and pull up.
LED Lighted Screen
The screen is first rate. Like LED TV's, it's noticeably crisper and sharper than CCFL lit screens and also means the lid can be thinner and lighter. Should also get better battery life and maintain its color longer.
Lightweight
The website says 4.4 lbs but more like 6 with the oversized battery pack. Still very light. Doesn't feel like a lot of weight on your lap at all.
Heat
A big improvement over the previous generation. It will get warm, especially in warm weather and near the vent on the left but I would say only about 20-25% of the heat that my previous 3 year old laptop generated. There is some fan noise but probably only 1/4 of the noise of my previous laptop.
Windows 7 64 bit
Windows 7 performance is definitely far better than Vista so it's a welcome change. The fact that it is 64 bits also means it can use a lot more than 3GB of RAM. Knowing the value of having more RAM, I opted to get the maximum 8GB up front and have found it very worth the money. The new taskbar took some getting used to. If you have 3 copies of an app running, you see only a single item on the task bar and no indication there are three copies running until you mouse over the icon. However when you do mouse over it you get thumbnails of all the open windows and mousing over the thumbnail will reveal that window on the desktop. After playing with it for a while, I've decided this is actually an improvement over Vista/XP. On the minus side, you can no longer put folders on the quick start menu. I used this to organized the applications under Vista and XP. Fortunately I found a third party tool (jumplist launcher) that will accomplish essentially the same thing. In other respects it seems similar to Vista.
Performance
This machine screams as I expected it to. Streaming video loads and plays almost instantaneously. In fact, before getting this laptop I had assumed the slow loading was due to a network issue (either on my end or the server) but I can now see that a large part was just due to the laptop. Adobe Lightroom used to take a minute to load and display the thumbnail gallery at the bottom but now takes only a few seconds. Can't say which feature is responsible for this but its presumably a combination of the new processor,64 bit OS,8GB of RAM and the graphics hardware.
Sound
The speakers are not great but they are acceptable. My only real complaint is they don't have a lot of volume but there is a workaround which is to purchase an external speaker.
Keyboard
The keyboard is fine. Key spacing is good and tactile feedback is fine. Would have liked it if they were sculpted as well but certainly quite workable as is
Features that put it over the top.
QuickWeb
Ironically this feature isn't even mentioned in the description on HP's website but it works great. Basically, the laptop includes a copy of Linux with a built in web browser so that within 10 seconds of pressing the on button, you can be surfing the web. From the looks of it, it is using Mozilla for the browser, one of the best web browsers available today. It also supports a gmail client but even if you don't have gmail, chances are your provider has a web client available and so you can use the browser to view and send mail.
You can also browse photos or listen to music but I probably wouldn't use these as you haven't logged on yet so anybody who started your laptop would be able to see them. If you don't perform some action within 15 seconds, it auto-launches Windows 7 so if you just press the on button then come back, you won't find yourself stuck with a laptop that has yet to boot. This feature is great when you just want to quickly look at something on the internet. My previous Vista powered laptop took over 5 minutes before I could do this. Window 7 itself takes about 1 minute (although it may get slower as I start to reinstall applications) which is certainly much better than Vista but no match for quickweb.
eSata port
Haven't yet got an eSata drive but will certainly do so in the near future. With HD's now pushing the 500GB+ limit, the old USB drives are getting to be too slow for me to use for backing up. An eSata drive should be at least a factor of 2 faster than a USB 2.0 drive and theoretically much more.
Fingerprint reader
I love the fingerprint reader. Works without a hitch. The placement on the deck is also an improvement over previous models where it was on the lid. With those you were mainly limited to using your thumb for the biometrics. Now you can use any finger.
USB ports on both sides
Eliminates needs for usb cables running across your lap because you want the device on a side of the laptop that doesn't have a USB port
Media Card Reader
I've always found these much easier to use for transferring photos/videos than tethering a camera or camcorder to a laptop
802.11 n and Bluetooth support
Don't yet have an 802.11n router but good to know that when I get one, this laptop will take full advantage. For the small extra price I also think the Bluetooth support is well worth it. You can use it to easily download pictures from your smart phone with no cables. You can also buy an inexpensive bluetooth monaural or stereo head set to allow private listening with no messy cables. You can also use external wireless keyboards and mice without needing to stick a transceiver in one of your USB ports.
Webcam
Works great with skype. Good quality picture, even in low light.
With all these good things, what's there not to like?
The Trackpad...
I tested this laptop in the local store before buying and had trouble with the trackpad. Because this laptop had so many other good features I decided to chance that it was just the trackpad settings in the store that were the problem. Unfortunately, that's not entirely the case. What was happening is that I would mouse to a location and suddenly the cursor would zoom to another location or I would get the "zoom" icon. After some experimenting, I figured out the problem. The live surface of the trackpad includes the buttons! As I imagine most people do, I rest my thumb on the buttons and use my index finger to mouse. When I want to click, I press the button with my thumb. To select the drag, I hold down the button with my thumb and move my index finger. Because the buttons are treated as part of the live surface of the trackpad what was happening was that I would slide the cursor somewhere with my index finger then my thumb would touch the button which is located on the opposite side of the trackpad and the cursor would zoom over to it because the buttons are part of the track surface. Similarly, if my thumb moved slightly while my index finger was sliding on the trackpad, it would assume I was using a two finger gesture and display the zoom out icon, even with the two fingered gestures disabled.
To be able to use the laptop I've had to learn to keep my thumb off the trackpad while mousing and to keep my index finger off the pad while clicking. I've checked if there's a way to limit the trackpad live area to not include the buttons but haven't found it yet. Hopefully HP will provide a driver or software update to fix this problem.
In summary, if it weren't for the trackpad issue, I would give it 4.5 stars (it would have to have no significant heat or fan noise to get 5). Instead it gets 4 stars.
I got my laptop somewhere around June 16th or 17th 2010. Within one month there was a scratch on my laptop screen. I know I didn't do it but HP forced me to pay for it.And when i was trying to convince them that it is not my fault, the case manager asked did you sometime closed your laptop very hard. The only explaination I gave him was how hard can you close your laptop. I mean everyone knows how to close the screen. But that is ok since i had no proof for it so I payed the amount.
July 29th, 2010 was the date i sent my laptop to HP for repair and today is September 11th, 2010. I have no idea when I am going to get my laptop back. For my case i was being transferred to senior case manager who said that since its taking so much time to repair your laptop so let me order a new one as a replacement.
But since then he is not replying to my mails. Whenever i try to call him, most of the time he won't come on the phone. If he comes also then he says he has already ordered the new laptop. But when i ask him to send me the confirmation of new order then he has no answer.
I spent almost 1000$ on my laptop. Right now I am so much frustrated and irritated. HP really do not care about their customers.
So guys i seriously advice you if you want peace of mind then just don't even look at HP. No matter how good specification they give in laptop but in case if ever you will needing their tech support or customer service support then you will realize that how big is a mistake in buying HP PRODUCTS.
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