In short, no problems at all after 4 days of intense Windows updating (including Win7 SP1), loading many applications and transferring tens of gigabytes of photos, music and other files. I've had no blue screens at all, and I'm finally getting the trackpad adjusted to the way I want it. Overall, the laptop works as advertised, but I can't say that it really exceeds my expectations, so I give it 4 stars.
When my trusty old home laptop died suddenly a few days ago, I needed to quickly find a replacement, so my choices were limited to a laptop I could either buy locally or have shipped to me within a day or two at the most. My chief criteria were a graphics card tested with Photoshop CS5 and a processor that would handle Photoshop and Lightroom for a few years to come, such as an Intel i5 or i7. Also, I didn't want to spend more than $1000 for a moderately powerful, minimum frills laptop.
Pros:
Nice display, although very narrow range of view for consistent colors. That is, tilting the screen quickly makes colors lighter or darker.
Has worked flawlessly with no crashes, hangs or bluescreens in 4 days of intense updating.
It is plenty fast enough for me.
There are lots of HP apps loaded, but they are not the obnoxious trialware loaded by many manufacturers. On the other hand, the HP MediaSmart software is largely superfluous if you have iTunes.
It does have eSATA and HDMI ports as well as a fingerprint reader.
Cons:
The color is described as silver, but it is actually what is usually called "champagne", or even a little darker, almost a light copper color. Also, the cover and palmrest are engraved with a horizontal pattern which I find to be unnecessary but not objectionable.
As reviewers of other HP laptops have noted, the wide trackpad can be prone to spurious movements from contact with one's palms. However, those can be greatly reduced by various settings of the Synaptics device driver. Plus, the trackpad can be turned off and on with a double tap to one of the corners. However, it is odd that this is the first laptop of several that I've owned where the trackpad is an issue. I was worried at first, but am OK with it now.
Documentation is the worst of any PC I've ever bought. All that is included is a quick start brochure which has a reference to some documentation loaded on the laptop, but I guess that's the new normal these days.
No software disks are included, but a reinstallation DVD can be created.
Neutral:
The Altec speakers are nothing special and sound like what you would expect from speakers that have a quarter inch by half inch metallic opening. I would have greatly preferred an S/PDIF optical output, which are quite cheap these days, to these "premium" speakers.
That's it for now. I'll update this review after I have a week or two of further experience.
UPDATE: After almost 4 weeks with this laptop, there are no major revelations. It works well with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Word and Excel, and web browsing with Google Chrome. I still have not had a single bluescreen or other system hang or crash. My only reservation continues to be the trackpad which I have found to require a bit of conscious thought to avoid spurious pointer movements. As I've said, that is a first for me, and I've used laptops since 1986 (that one had two floppy drives and no hard disk--my boss was cheap). So I do not recommend this laptop for anyone who plans to do a lot of writing on it, such as a college student. For other purposes, it will probably do fine.
I had to send back the first one I got because the harddrive was having issues: it would blue screen, load things slow, random hangs, the whole nine yards. To top that one off, some of the siding/panel wasn't um... "put together" properly, so it had an overall look of "broken". I send it back, and get a new laptop within two days which astonishes me. New laptop works 100x better than the last.
Pros:
It's a beast. Whatever you want to run, it'll run it. It's more than capable of running CAD programs or video editing software. Runs modern games at some pretty modest "medium" settings too.
Screen is nice and big, with a nice look to it. The max brightness is almost BLINDING though, but I find that a good thing.
Keyboard is spacious. Some keys can be a hassle to press down sometimes, but you break it in.
USB ports on BOTH sides, with an eSATA/USB combo as well.
Slick CD drive.
Enjoyable speakers. Get a little distorted at higher volumes, but that was expected.
Looks cool. Always a pro.
Cons:
Battery life. For heavens sake, BATTERY LIFE. You'll have to downgrade ALL your performance for battery life, and even then you can get maybe an hour and a half of constant run time.
Track pad. Pick one left click or right click. You can only do one at a time. It's a HUGE track pad too. Easily avoidable with a mouse though.
"Function Keys" are annoying. I'm not sure if I can switch it or not, but I dislike the fact that I have to hold down "fn" to press F1-F12.
Gets hot. Real hot. Invest in a laptop cooler or laptop pad if you plan on doing load-intense programs or gaming. With heat brings TERRIBLE performance problems.
Weight. I'm going to have back problems the more I need to bring this to school with all my books/notebooks for the day.
Sometimes it fails to POST. Never a good thing. Not sure why it does that, but it did it with the laptop I sent back too, so I hope it's nothing as serious as that. Probably a motherboard that doesn't do too well in general, so keep an eye out for that.
For an everyday school laptop, this doesn't really do too well. As a mobile work station, this works PERFECTLY. If you're buying this for legitimate work programs and school programs or even the occasional game, go for it. If you're not into that stuff and need something for just writing and browsing, you may want to steer away.
Buy HP Pavilion dv6-3163nr Entertainment Notebook PC - Silver Now
Since day one the graphic card (ATI Radeon 5650) keeps on crashing. I can't watch an complete movie without getting a black screen that requieres restarting the system if I still want to see the movie.
Appart form that, the PC overheats to a point where it is almost impossible to touch the area around the cooler with your hand. You can buy something better for this money (uness you are looking for a new oven).
I definitely recommend not buying.
Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dv6-3163nr Entertainment Notebook PC - Silver Here
bought this for college with the xbox 360 and it looks great but i hate the keyboard i can never find the right keys im always putting my hands on the wrong spot. the touch pad is extremely hard to push. the screen has a limited viewing angle. the battery last 2 hours MAX. it will over heat very easy as expected with the i7 core and graphics card but still. all in all its reliable and it does what its supposed to do so thats why i gave it a 4 stars.
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Pros:
Great product for the price.
The finishing in aluminium is really great.
Faster than i3 and i5.
Cons:
Battery life
Recharger size
Touch pad
I just bought this laptop. Its simply amazing. lightning fast. very solid. super sexy. plays games. very very very pleased. wasnt exactly cheap but it most certainly well worth the money! BUY THIS LAPTOP NOW. Dell 17r intel i5 w/ 4g ddr3 and 1g ati gpu
