I've had this laptop for 6 months now. I got this model to replace an older pavillion that broke. Honestly I prefer my old lap top. This laptop sticks and freezes much more than my old one for no reason at all.The mouse buttons are incorporated into the mouse pad. this takes a while to get used to, but I eventually got it. My most frustrating problem is that I'll point to something with the mouse, and when I click, the arrow suddenly appears somewhere else on the screen and will click on other things. I'm just hanging on to it until I finish school. I'm broke and it gets the job done.
Buy HP Pavilion dv5-2134us AMD Dual Core 2.2 4gb 500gb DVDRW Webcam WiFi Now
This thing is hot, and not in a good way. Even performing simple tasks, this thing gets burning hot. Its a laptop, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near my lap. As I write this review, I have one google chrome window open, with the CPU under a 5% load, and its hitting 160 Degrees F. And that temperature would soar after running a game, or multiple applications. And the battery life suffers terribly. I will literally only get about an hour of battery life out of it before it shuts off. I was really hoping to use this in college, but it would die on me before I get through a single class. Not too long ago, HP batteries were recalled because of these very problems, yet this one was somehow not included in that recall.As for its components, the video card is weak, so its definitely not for gamers, since you can't upgrade it either. I can run DayZ (Arma 2) on very low settings, and that's about the best it'll do. It can't render HD videos off the internet very fast either. The sound is great though, i've used music studio software on it (FL Studio) with no problems. The processor is decent, and I can run multiple applications (music software, itunes, internet explorer, anti-virus, etc) with no hiccups.
I've had it for about two years now, and its always felt solidly constructed, but this week one of the clips covering the hinge connecting the screen to the laptop decided to just fall off. That, combined with the insane overheating issue prompted me to write this review warning anyone else from getting this laptop.
Its really only good for basic to moderate tasks, and even then you'll want to keep it on a nice flat hard surface so that it doesn't get too hot. So don't expect to use it as an actual laptop much. Definitely no watching movies on the car or plane. I keep mine on my desk with a cooling fan, using an external monitor. And it still gets way too hot...I should note that its never actually shut down due to overheating, but that may just be a bug, because i've become a little too familiar with the smell of burning laptop.
Would I buy this again? No.
Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dv5-2134us AMD Dual Core 2.2 4gb 500gb DVDRW Webcam WiFi Here
