 This is an awesome machine |
| Review Date: February 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: R. Taylor, Hudson Valley, NY |
| I got this at Best Buy for $700 and this is an excellent machine for its price. You are getting an HD monitor, built in webcam and microphone, silent keyboard which is perfectly sized for an adult, a beautiful interface, a lovely touchpad to turn up your volume, mute, play, fast forward and rewind... a 64 bit system with 4 GB of RAM capable of holding 8 GB of RAM... amazing. the mouse touchpad has a scroll function on its side. this computer has state of the art audio, (the speakers of this brand are very costly), a dedicated video graphics card, and a very powerful processor. coupled with its sleek design you cannot go wrong. its versatile, and it is very easy to set up networking. I have it set up in my home network. bought it 2 days ago and its fully functional. all laptops are more delicate than desktops and not a replacement. i got a service plan through BB in the case of hardware damage such as the monitor. this is always wise. anyway, take care of it and you have a great machine with great graphics capability and i already have an HP desktop and i'd say its comparable if not better. |
Feature packed and priced well below the competition.
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| Review Date: July 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Deee Lovely, Ashburn, Virginia USA |
I will start this review by saying that my old laptop was beyond slow and well past its prime, so just about anything would have been a huge improvement. I did a fair amount of research and this laptop was by far the most feature-packed for the price. The same specs with a different brand name would have cost me $700-$900 more, easily.
The laptop is loaded with entertainment features like webcam, bluray, HDMI port, 4 USB ports, TWO headphone jacks and lightscribe! I will admit, the lightscribe was a huge plus. If you don't know, it's a way to laser etch artwork/words onto burned CDs/DVDs instead of using sticker labels or writing on them with permanent markers. I have no complaints with any of this stuff because these are all features I've not had until now and I'm just excited to have them at all. The laptop is blazingly fast compared to my old one (but that's not saying much). It has a neat touch bar above the keyboard that lets you quickly: mute/unmute, control volume, play, pause, forward, rewind, stop, and even turn off the wifi. It's a huge laptop, you may have a hard time finding a bag it will fit in (seriously), but it's not an issue for me. I love having such a large screen and I don't move the laptop around much (I would not have purchased a laptop this large for heavy travel). I also love that it has a full sized keyboard (YAY!) and a separate number keypad off to the right for super speedy number crunching! It has a cute little remote control so you can hook the laptop up to your TV and use it as a sometimes bluray/DVD player, it even stores in the side of the laptop when not in use. I also like that this machine doesn't seem to get hot at all...my old laptop you could fry eggs on that thing for how hot it ran!
The not so great stuff:
It comes with Vista and I don't like it, but it's not the laptop's fault, they all come with Vista now, don't they.
It has a lot of bloatware (a lot of preinstalled software that you probably don't need and just having it there takes up space and hogs memory/resources) and no easy way to remove it without doing a wipe/reinstall
...and it does not come with Vista CDs to do that which complicates things a bit.
I read a lot of reviews talking about the keys being almost unreadable, for everything else that came with this machine for this price...I was willing to paint them on myself if it was really that bad! I'm not sure if HP fixed the problem or if I'm not using the laptop in the same conditions as those with the complaints, but I can see/read them fine (I use the laptop indoors with ambient/indirect sun lighting for the most part). The keys and laptop are a metallic bronze color, so it has a bit of a mirror like finish that I could certainly do without...but it is not nearly as obnoxious/annoying/blinding as the laptops with that chrome/silver mirror finish. That's all with the aesthetics; not the important stuff (not to me anyway).
For the price and being chock full of features, I can't justify taking off a star for any of the very minor flaws. I've had this for almost a month now and I love it. I will update this review once I've had it longer should anything change or need mentioning.
|
HP Pavilion DV7 Is Great for Powerful On The GO Computing
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| Review Date: May 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: The Anomaly, Pittsburgh, PA |
This laptop is a huge bargain for its price. It provides for more computing power and functionality than any laptop in its class/price-range.
The most appealing feature of this laptop is its superior casing and finish. Its very glossy and stands out with a bright light of the HP logo on the top lid (back of the monitor). The illuminating MediaSmart touch-sensitive functions above the keyboard also make it a uniquely designed laptop. Its color has an eloquent yet stylish appeal.
This laptop is not all cosmetic, however. It comes with enough processing power and memory to take on heavy duty multimedia for your audio and video needs. The sound quality is amazing with the Altec Lansing speakers providing SRS premium sound. It even has a great built in HP web cam with HP software to make taking tasteful pictures and recording professional video a cinch for even an amateur. This model does not have the built in TV Tuner or thumb print security features advertised on similar HP models. It does come with a preloaded version of Vista with SP1 and has Microsoft Office Home and Student trial version packaged for an out-of-the-box experience.
The laptop display is crystal clear with stunning graphic quality on a 17" monitor. Plenty of room with a full functioning keyboard and number pad that will make you feel as though you are using a desktop keyboard. I tried this laptop out for an entire day when I received it and it has proven well worth its price.
I was very satisfied with the Next Day shipping as the laptop arrived on time and had no noticeable defects. There was some adhesive tape stuck to the edge of the laptop, but was easily removed and with no physical damage to the device.
Incredibly this computer packs a lot of punch and is still light weight. It does not overheat even on your lap with a 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo. Beautiful LED lights flood the keyboard against the glossy chrome finish making it a perfect display for use in a dark or dim lit room.
The WiFi card is wonderful with extended range. I was able to pick up my router from the end of my drive way and even at the end of the street. The remote is included for media functionality. You can listen to your music or watch videos without having to touch the keyboard or mouse. The wireless remote fits neatly inside the dedicated slot above the SD-MS/Pro card reader. You've got 4 USB ports (2 on each side) and an place to plug in your HDMI cable to your HD TV. This is wonderful for me to give live presentations on an HD TV at work at conferences.
This is definitely a lot of bang for you buck. I had a Compaq Pressario laptop before this, which I bought on a limited budget at the time. I didn't think the battery would die on me so soon. This HP was definitely worth the extra cash.
I was originally thinking of buying a Dell before I bought the HP DV7, but considering the huge difference in price and much faster delivery this was a sweet deal. The Dell would have taken 4 days longer to ship with a higher shipping cost (on expedited shipping) and with the same specifications (at a $500 price tag difference). I bought this at around 11:40 PM on Tuesday from amazon and had it on my doorstep by 2:00 PM on Thursday.
Two thumbs up! |
A One-of-a-kind masterpiece.
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| Review Date: February 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nvard Papiryan, |
Pros: You Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (very conservative to the battery as well as very powerful)
4GB DDR2-800 Samsung RAM-2 sticks 2GB each it is maxed out
Windows Vista 64bit flies even while testing on VMware with no RAM left to host pretty much, even runs Windows 7 x64 although lacking the extra bluetooth profiles included in Vista.
nVidia GeForce 9600M GT w/ 512MB VRAM running both my Sony Bravia 52V5200 or something like it as well as the main screen. Takes both without a lag, the TV on 1920x1080 and the main one at 1440x900.
Intel 5100AGN Wifi adapter
HDMI out with sound as well which is a great thing to have
eSATA in for hard drives.
Comes with 320 GB hard drive space - 298GB formatted
BD-ROM combo drive w/ DVD-+R/RW, it plays Pineapple Express and Eagle Eye without a hitch but you should still have the charger plugged in just in case.
Very long battery life. I haven't measured during use but it idles at a good 6 hours in both Vista and 7.
Excellent color gamut and clean display
Cons: I got it during CCity liquidation, well my parents did :)
Loaded with too much junk, didn't even bother starting Windows, went directly to reformat and reinstall and it loads within 40 sec.
5400RPM hard drive, still acceptable for me.
One dead pixel in the top center but unnoticable
Bluetooth and Wifi switch both in one touch button, you cant use one or the other.
All these minor problems did not repel me away from this masterpiece. I was a little surprised though to find it has bluetooth as well. It runs Windows 7 build 7000 64bit as good as Vista, similar battery life except 7 provides a few minutes more. It did come loaded with the usual OEM junk but I had my Vista disc, entered my product key from this machine and it activated fine. Installation for both Vista and 7 took no more than 20 minutes overall for it to complete everything from beginning to end. Windows 7 got the WiFi chip and the ethernet out of the box as well. It saw the 9600GT as a regular VGA card. I ran all the driver installs with Admin rights and Vista compatibility and they all work fine except the integrated bluetooth, it is still stuck on the basic profiles. I do not use Lightscribe very much so that does not apply to me. There is a model exact to this one only it has both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Who needs HD-DVD anyways, the original movies are already out on Blu-Ray anyways.
[...] |
Great laptop for a desktop replacement
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| Review Date: February 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Paul A. Schwahn, Atlanta, GA |
| HP Pavilion DV7-1260US is an excellent laptop if you're looking to replace a desktop. I would not recommend it for travel due to its size and weight, but if you're looking to replace your desktop this is an outstanding choice. The thing that attracted me to HP was the great display, it stands above anything else I looked at. This is a great looking laptop with the bronze color scheme. On top of all the outstanding features of this computer I got an awesome deal at BrandSmart USA. [...]. After a week of use I've found nothing I dislike about this computer. |
Delivers as promised. :-)
|
| Review Date: June 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. DelVecchio, CT, USA |
First of all, this is a great desktop replacement laptop. It's whisper quiet, quick and efficient, and great for BluRay playback. I like the infrared remote, the MediaSmart interface, the lights that double as "buttons" (including the volume control), and I'm finding Windows Vista more tolerable than expected. I am a huge AMD and ATI fan, so I know I'm getting a quality product.
The outputs are varied and numerous, and include HDMI and eSATA. But I think I'm most excited about the long term possibilities of adding a second internal hard drive to this puppy.
All right.... cons....
No bluetooth... but that doesn't bother me too much (get a usb bluetooth port or there's a place for an internal upgrade if you're into that sort of thing). And I hate this weird shiny bronze color they chose (with a shiny chrome touchpad). A lot of bloatware, but that's to be expected no matter what laptop you buy from these big companies.
Other than the color, there's nothing wrong with it that can't be fixed. And let's face it, you don't use your laptop for the color anyways. Incidentally, I don't mind much the silver letters on the kays. In most lighting if you're looking for something you can find it (or just tilt the screen towards the keyboard a bit), but it's not for people who don't know how to type at all in the dark. |
Perfect!
|
| Review Date: April 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Katie R., Milwaukee, WI United States |
| I think this laptop is practically perfect! I read all of the reviews on amazon before purchasing it, and the only flaw I read was that the grey letters on the keys were difficult to see. I have had no problem in any light or at any angle seeing what is on the keys. I have no complaints! It's very user friendly and would recommend this laptop for anyone! |
Excellent Computer..Entertainment Powerhouse
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| Review Date: February 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Brandon C. Hurst, |
| I bought this laptop directly from HP i sold my Gateway M-6850FX Gaming computer for this laptop. and let me tell you, this thing is blazing fast. the fit and fish is superb. where my gateway felt flimsy to touch and keyboard always felt like it would break. this one doesnt. and all the extras it comes with i will never be left without a great laptop |
Disk thrashed until I got rid of Norton
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| Review Date: March 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bob Stites, Rochester, NY |
This system is a bargain, and I know I'll love it--but I nearly returned it 12 hours out of the box because it was slow as molasses in January.
It comes with a free 60 day trial of Norton anti virus (which I don't like). A screen comes up telling you to start your trial NOW, and there is no way to exit from it. I reduced it to the tray, and went on setting up the wireless. The disk light would come on and STAY ON, even for the simplest operations. Clearly something was thrashing it.
In desperation I removed Norton and installed different anti-virus software. Everything straightened out immediately. Maybe if you go ahead and start Norton, you can avoid this trouble. Vista has a reputation for being slow, but with 4M and a 2.1 Turion it's fast enough for me. |
Love It
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| Review Date: April 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Smith, |
| This laptop is working like a dream. And I can't say enough about the Amazon Prime service. I've got the free 30 day trial atm, but it is awesome. Ordered it March 31 received it April 1st and it only cost me $3.99 with the Amazon Prime. It's working great so far. I can't wait to get my video games on it and get going. Can't beat the price for the features it comes with. This is the 3rd HP laptop I've owned (if I could keep my kids away from them I'd be better off). HP makes great laptops for us budget minded folks, but their customer service reps leave alot to be desired. At any rate, the laptop is topnotch, Amazon's service has always been topnotch for me also. |
Great Machine, nothing really worth complaining about !!!
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| Review Date: July 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bassam W. Daher, Byblos, Jbeil Lebanon |
This laptop is great, very fast, does not heat up, additional numbers keyboard on the right side (very very convenient) Blu ray drive...
Some people complained about the color and the visibility of the keyboard: for me it was not an issue at all and i rather see those complaints as perfectionist whiners, i dont really understand why 1/3 of the reviews talk about this silly matter that is barely noticeable.I was worried when i read those reviews because i bought it from abroad for a friend to carry it for me in Brazil where i am, but after i received it i found out that this was not even an issue. So if you read this review and were worried about the keyboard, trust me this wont be an issue unless you live in a cave...then you wont need a laptop altogether !!!
you can also see the reviews at CNET and they rate this machine as a great one too !!! |
I LOVE THIS COMPUTER!
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| Review Date: April 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Sharon Lambert, Windy City Area |
| I just received the computer, today. Like a previous reviewer mentioned, the delivery time is amazing, it was delivered in one day, just as I had requested, when I placed the order. I love this computer, the style, color, and ease of use, so far. The only thing I hate about it is how AOL seem to be attached to the Internet Exployer. I am not a fan of AOL. Does anyone know how I can get rid of them, without losing access to Internet Exployer? IE is one of the Browsers that I utilize, at times. I would appreciate any advice, especially, if you know your solution works. I had read some of the reviews regarding this computer, before I ordered it; and I must mention, that, I, really, don't have a problem with the keyboard, and lettering. The computer was very easy to set up; and while setting it up, I was falling more and more in love with its feature's. Also, I already have a computer with Windows Vista, and I have no problem with the program (Knock on Wood). I just hope this computer continues to be enjoyable and doesn't become a disappointment, later. I, highly, recommend this computer. |
love it
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| Review Date: July 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Christine Lendor, |
| my cousin bought this. her fingers are practically glued on it. i guess that means she's very happy with it |
Plenty of features with a great price
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| Review Date: March 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. HUGHES, Jacksonville, FL |
| I searched for this laptop locally through Office Depot due to their low price and of course it was back ordered. I found Amazon had this laptop for $70 less and no tax/free shipping. All I can say is great laptop. |
GREAT PRODUCT, BEST PRICE !!!
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| Review Date: March 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Julio C. Genao, Miami, FL United States |
| This computer is perfect to use with my LCD TV. I don't need and external Blu-Ray player for my LCD just the Laptop. |
Great laptop
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| Review Date: March 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dewayne, |
| this is a great laptop very fast i am curently in iraq and the internet over here isnt the best my old laptop couldnt even download updates but this one downloads them fast and for the key issue it is not even that bad you can see the keys fine you might have to shift your head a lil but for the price and what this laptop can do it is totaly worth it i recomend this laptop to everyone |
Excellent
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| Review Date: March 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ryan Schleiden, Colorado Springs |
Great Product!!!
Very pleased with seller! shipped on time and arrived very quickly in perfect condition with all accessories (power cables, manuals, etc.) Packed very well with air pockets all around for protection. |
Stunned...
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| Review Date: June 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John Chipper, Georgia |
Used to have an old Pavilion which I hated (several years ago) because it ran so hot. THIS model runs VERY cool and is surprisingly quiet.
It is blazing fast and the speakers are fantastic. Also...surprisingly light-weight compared to the older models. Definitely recommend it. |
Wow
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| Review Date: June 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: P. A. Hernandez, CA, USA |
Great value, incredible performance. Really!
Interestingly enough, the DVD player didn't work - but HP replaced it within a day, so it's better than ever! |
Good laptop
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| Review Date: April 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ruben Arellano, Lakeway, TX, USA |
A beautiful machine.
If you are not used to type without looking at the keyboard, be advised that the key labels are hard to read if you do not have an extra light close to your machine.
The glossy screen is a lot brighter than my older 17" laptop's. I like this one better.
HDMI port is the best interface to take advantage of the Blu-ray ROM drive. I have been enjoying movies on my TV using this laptop as player.
A good value for the price! |
What a Beautiful Loptop
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| Review Date: September 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Antonio, Los Angeles |
| First of all im amazed of what this machine can do. Well there is really nothing to say about this item. I love it. Everything you wanna do with this computer it does that. And also the keyboards and numbers are very clear. Not unless when your outside in the beach and use it there i dont think you will be able to see the keyboards the letters and numbers because of the bronze and its color. |
The notebook I always wanted!
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| Review Date: September 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Clarissa Vanwinkel, |
| This notebook is amazing. It's worth every single cent! I work with video and photo editing and I have to deal with HD files sometimes, and this computer is always perfect for the job. I have it for 3 months now and never had ANY problems with it. It didn't even froze once! Before buying it I read some bad reviews about the keyboard, but I love that keyboard! Not sure if they changed it or if that's the old one they were talking about, but there's no problems with it at all! I still can't believe I paid this price on such an amazing item like this. It was a bargain! |
best laptop i have ever had
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| Review Date: March 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: S. Coulibaly, Bowie, MD |
i like everything about this computer
from the graphic quality, the memory, its look, webcam, the screen size, to the keyboard.... just everything !!! |
Masterpiece
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| Review Date: June 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: B. Mccartney, Caney, Kansas |
| I would have to say this is a masterpiece. This laptop is one of the best! I don't see how people can have a problem with this. I guess I learned how to type without looking at the keyboard. I really think its beautiful. When you get it you will be very impressed. It is a pretty large laptop and its heavy. It's made for a desktop replacement or a gaming laptop. The only problem I could see wrong with it for me would be that the usb ports need to be in a different place. They do get in the way of your hand if you have a external mouse. But I just bought a wireless mouse that has a very small adapter or use bluetooth. As for other devices use the touchpad. Other than that is a very powerful and great looking machine. Everyone will go WOW and just the features this thing has is totally awesome I don't see what else it could need maybe extra hard drive space? |
This is what i'm talking about
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| Review Date: June 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Larry 'D', Lake Forest, California United States |
I've owned this laptop for one week now and can say I am completely happy & satisfied with it. The other reviewers detailed their cons with this machine, but I've experienced none of them. The keys aren't that horrible, but from the looks of other reviews, you can contact HP & they'll swap them out for you. Blu-ray discs look great on either the laptop, or streamed through an HDMI cord onto your flat-screen. I'm not sure if it's listed on the features set, but this model IS bluetooth enabled. I do wish it came with the included subwoofer, or internal TV tuner that the 1270, and other higher DV7 models came with, but that's life.
After you do your research, i'm sure this will easily place 1st or second once you narrow it down to what you'll buy. |
Great Laptop
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| Review Date: June 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Justin A. Zelinsky, 94043 |
| The hp pavilion dv7-1270us is a great laptop, and does well on all current games. It has a rely nice finish, is blazing fast. This computer can handle anything you throw at it. Those who say you can't see the keys might need to invest in some contacts or glasses. Love this laptop. |
It looks great, but make sure you did a little deeper
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| Review Date: February 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ryan Rodemoyer, |
I first saw this computer at Sam's Club (eventually where I bought it too) and was completely infatuated. This laptop delivers amazing value for the price. HP has definately brought their 'A' game on this model. There are a couple things you *need* to know before you buy this laptop.
First, the model I bought advertised a 500 GB hard drive. This is true, however it is 2 x 250 GB hard drives. Not that big of a deal, but I cannot believe it is not listed as such.
Second, the laptop comes preloaded with a ton of junk and is heavily integrated with Windows Live stuff. Messenger, Live toolbar, etc. It comes with a trial of Norton Internet Security and a trial of Office 2007. My advice: Get Norton off the computer ASAP and install another anti-virus product.
Third, no operating system CD's come with the package. There is a "Recovery" partition that contains about 12 GB of stuff (not 100% sure what exactly is on there). I do know that when setting up the computer it tells you you should create recovery CD's. I went through the setup to create the discs and here's the kicker - they want 21 CD's or 3 DVD's to create the recovery discs. Talk about stupid.
As of now, I have wiped the OS partition and loaded Windows 7 Beta. The driver recognition is fantastic on Windows 7 - both my wired and wireless ethernet drivers were install out-of-the-box.
The look and feel of this model is gorgeous. The 17" HD screen is amazing and the whole laptop has this slick look and feel to it. The bronze color scheme really stands out.
All in all, you cannot beat the price of this laptop. For what it comes with, a comparable model from another vendor would cost $600-700 more than what I bought mine for ($898 + tax).
Last, this is just my opinion and should be taken as such. Please do yourself a favor and do not install XP on this. This laptop is too great to go back to XP. AERO does look nice and this laptop should be able to run anything you throw at it. Even a clean install of Vista should not give you any problems. While XP works great for most people, do not fight change and try to give Vista/7 a fair chance. Hell, even try the newest Ubuntu (I think 8.10) because that should look great on this too. |
Great all Round Laptop / Media System
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| Review Date: April 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: N. Jones, LA CA |
I have several HP laptops with 17" screens (dv9910us as well as this dv7-1270us). The screen size is great, but I could see that trying to carry these in a backpack for school use could be a load. The displays are fantastic and the NVidia graphics card is super. The speed for boot-up, network connectivity and multi-tasking of applications is also fabulous.
This has fantastic sound for music with the Altec Lansing dual speakers on top and subwoofer on the bottom. Of course it can be hooked to a media center via the built-in HDMI or USB ports for impressive sound and Blue-ray DVD play.
Battery life is about 3 - 4 hours with the power management default settings out of the box.
All round this is a great package, with the few cons noted below.
Cons:
1. Bluetooth headsets / headphones don't work for listening to music. I've written to HP and visited forums, and it seems that there is some issue with MS Vista that Microsoft hasn't fixed. This is a bit disappointing, however, if you are planning to run with XP (which I'm not sure will work with this 64 bit microprocessor) it may be ok. I, as are many, awaiting a fix for this issue. Many have reported issues with Bluetooth Stack Service not working. I found that there is a Microsoft patch (something to do with ActiveX killbits), that causes this problem. After the Bluetooth stopped working correctly, and rebuilding my system I found that by not installing this "fix" the Bluetooth works for everything (phone, mp3 player, etc.), but not with the headphones - for listening to music. Headphones do work for skype and with the phone.
2. The built-in Intel 5100 AGN WiFi Network adapter always indicates that its running at 54.0Mbps, even though I have a Netgear 854T Wireless-N router that can run at 300.0Mbps. If I connect a Netgear WPN121T USB adapter the HP Networking status indicates 300.0Mbps for that adapter. However, both adapters seem equally as fast for loading of webpages and downloads, so I'm not sure if the build-in Intel 5100 adapter is really running at 300.0Mbps even though it indicates on 54.0Mbps. I've been working with HP on this issue and they have not been able to fix yet.
3. The touch pad (as on all of these HPs) can act bizarrely, in that the mouse will jump to some other place when you touch the pad. It doesn't happen all of the time, but can be rather annoying. I'm not sure if it has to do with the way the notebook is leveled, but I do notice that if the keyboard is not on a stable table top or work space, the mouse jumping seems to happen more frequently. The synaptic touch pad driver sw provides some settings which seem to help.
4. Finally, the built-in cooling fan is noticably louder in the dv7-1270us than in the dv9910us models I have. Fortunately, in the BIOS it can be set to turn-on/off as needed, and not run continuously, so it's not too bad, but it pitch is at a frequency that causes my ears to ring if it runs very long. |
Good laptop, but with one fatal flaw
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| Review Date: May 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John Brook Monroe, DeLand, FL United States |
The flaw is not, as some people have suggested, in the keyboard. It's in the chrome strip on which the power button rests, along with a volume control, and the single, only, solitary, absolutely-no-other-way-to-do-this, wireless switch. The wireless switch isn't a positive contact mechanical switch like the power button--it's a capacitance "touch" location which ceases to function if the chrome strip happens to short against something. This not only turns off the wireless and makes turning it back on virtually impossible, it also causes the audio volume slide area to short, which makes the audio volume dialog strobe on and off repeatedly, accompanied by a cascade of annoying clicks.
We are returning the laptop to HP for warranty repairs on the hardware, and hoping that the unit comes back completely fixed.
I think that making the wireless functional only through a single, highly-suspect switch is a bad design. I've expressed this view to HP already.
Beyond that issue (and we have the chrome, not the bronze finish), I think the laptop excels in all other ways. I'll be happy to see it back and functioning in about...oh, maybe 10 days from now. |
Excellent Value
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| Review Date: March 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Tom L., Chicago, IL |
| This laptop works flawlessly. The screen is bright and sharp. There is plenty of disk space and connectivity. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections work well. The only flaw is that the keys are hard to read in bright light because there is not enough contrast between the bronze keys and the grey lettering. They are easy to read in normal lighting conditions. This laptop has the same features and functions as laptops costing $1,800 - $2,100. I highly recomend it. |
great laptop, it is windows you have to be aware
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| Review Date: April 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Angelika Sielken, Hawaii |
So I got my state of art Notebook PC today. What a beauty!
It was very easy to do the initial set up, and I got online ASAP - wireless router was @ ready.
I started loading simple programs & softwares, such as skype, mozilla, google chrome, and it was pretty much a smooth ride, Itunes however could not be loaded properly, because the latest version of Itunes does not work with 64-bit windows. Easy to solve - you have to upload Itunes, 7.6 on the apple website.
I've also loaded free antivirus software that I use on my other, older (much older laptops) instead of Norton.
After 5 hours and many updates, the laptop did not restart - it simply crashed. Heartbroken I called HP (since I did not burn my 2 or 3 DVD recovery - which now I highly recommend), who were very professional, very caring, and even though the whole process lasted 3 hours (the testing of the BIOS, and the hard drive) - I was doing other stuff, and HP customer service called at the time they said they would. Hard drive was OK (but they said that if it wouldn't they would replace it charge free; did I mention that HP provides customer service 24/7 no charge as well). Because it was the error of the software I was installing I believe and recommend that if you do it, please do install one at a time, making sure it actually did go through...
Other than that I am not anticipating any more problems. The sound, and the visual effects are awesome.
As far as keyboard goes, yes it is a bit different, but not that hard to read as some suggested, but then again we are all very different...
I highly recommend it:) |
HP Pavilion DV7-1270US 17.0-Inch Laptop (2.4 GHz
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| Review Date: February 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Ewing, Los Angeles |
okay. agreed the keys are ridicious to see. So... HP why not s back-lite Keyboard? Then you would have a sweet deal!!.
Other than that pretty cool. Not to mention it really is a pretty machine!
Peace...
JLE
|
So far so good
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| Review Date: July 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: V. Najacht, |
| So far so good, have only had it for a couple of months. Only issue is with keyboard, hard to see letters/numbers/symbols on keys, but had heard about that before purchase. |
Great Value for the Cost
|
| Review Date: June 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Burke Thomas Ingraffia, |
| I like this computer a lot. It is the first 64-bit model I have had. My only complaint is that it is hard to read the keyboard at night. |
My Traveling & Entertainment Computer
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| Review Date: July 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: JOHN R DONAHUE, |
May I start this review stating that this computer completly fits all of my needs, but may fall slightly short for some others. The only negatives are that computer is a little heavy if you are carrying it around every day. Computer has a High Capacity 8-cell battery but seems to get low in one hour, when using Multimedia features. These items do not bother me at all since I live in both New York and Florida so computer travels only a few times a year, and is usually plugged in.
If you can live with above then I would say that this computer is definitely rated 5 STARS. Using the HP MediaSmart Software is outstanding. Great Audio,Video,Blu-Ray Disk Player.Watch your NETFLIX Movies Downloaded anywhere with WiFI Link 5100 Network & Bluetooth. |
Awesome..BUT..( there is always a "but" :P )
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| Review Date: October 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Rajiv Shah, USA |
Got this laptop a few months back. i just loved it. The looks are awesome..its got a bronze tinge to it.looks great. the 4 GB of ram coupled with the dual core processor is just enough to do anything on this laptop. The graphics card however was the "no-so-satisfying" part of the laptop. it says 1918GB of shared memory but wont tell you how much is the dedicated memory. neither does the tech know about it. you cant play some high end games like need for speed-shift. Call of duty 4 only works well on low settings. now these games only need 512 MB of graphics memory and still dont work well with 1918MB which this laptop has. So i dont know where it falls short.
Apart from this graphics card thing..i think its an awesome laptop. totally worth the money. Bluray's work well, HD display is amazing, no problems whatsoever with the speed of applications. i dont knw why people complaint about the keyboard. works well for me! its only a problem at night with the lights off. |
Brand New and Best Value
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| Review Date: February 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Amazon Mania, Oakland, CA USA |
Easy set-up, fast and it's beautiful. So far, there's no noticeable problem with the computer. When I had problem with networking, HP's technical rep was very polite and stayed with me until the problem was resolved. Although the problem was caused by configuration of the router thereby having to get to Cisco's tech, the HP's rep called me back the next day to make sure that my problem had been resolved. I was lucky to get a nice rep when most of the people have lousy experiende with HP technical rep's.
Also, the price which include $[...] rebate, it is of good value. I am very pleased with the product. |
Great capabilities for a sub-$1,000 notebook
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| Review Date: April 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mike Frerkes, Bettendorf, IA |
I purchased the dv7-1262us version of this Pavilion notebook from Staples and have been pleasantly surprised with its capabilities. The video card (an Nvidia 9600M GT) handles most modern gaming titles on low-to-moderate graphics settings. I'm not aware of many notebooks below $1,000 that can play GTA 4 in medium resolution, but HP's dv7 definitely makes the grade here. With the addition of a Blu-Ray ROM drive, the value of this machine becomes even greater.
There's ample memory and processor power for handling most tasks with ease. Even though the unit can be upgraded to 8 GB of RAM, I believe most users will find the 4 GB of included memory more than adequate. The biggest performance killer is HP's Total Care Advisor, which I recommend un-installing once setup is completed.
Another nice surprise was the machine's speakers. Typical laptop sound systems are lacking in quality, but the dv7 is one of the best I have heard. Having a sub-woofer on the bottom is probably what makes the difference. Whether you're listening to music or watching a Blu-Ray movie, the enhanced audio capability is a nice addition.
My only complaint is the silver, mirror-like touchpad. It is a smudge magnet! That's a relatively minor issue in my opinion, and certainly doesn't overshadow the tremendous overall value of the HP dv7. |
HP DV7-1270US - good for me
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| Review Date: August 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Z. Wilson, Reno, NV |
This has been a pretty solid laptop. I've had it for 2 months now and it works really well.
Likes:
Blu-Ray
Good Screen
Fast (renders modo scenes 2x faster than my desktop)
Integrated Camera
Dislikes:
Have to rely on HP drivers for Graphics Card (my blu ray stop working when i upgraded to nVidia's unified driver)
People say the keys are hard to read. This is true about 60% of the time.
The integrated camera works well, and you can talk without using an external mic, which is great! |
Great EXCEPT for the keyboard...
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| Review Date: January 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: HateTheCold, Florida |
I had read that the poor visibility of the letters on the keyboard was a possible issue. I was not prepared for what a problem it was. Except under ideal conditions, the letters are virtually impossible to read. The letters just fade into the key background. Amazing. Someone at HP ought to be flogged for the key background/character color combination chosen. I solved it by buying a replacement keyboard (silver key background w/black characters). Cost was $28. The process of changing was a bit complicated even though I had found a web site with complete instructions. A lot of little screws to remove and the order components were removed matters. NOT a task to be taken lightly.
It also came with Vista and I paid about $90 to upgrade to Windows7.
Bottom line the $585 I paid for the computer ended up being $700 in total.
It replaces a Dell E1705 Laptop. It is a decent computer for my needs and probably was a good buy, but not a painless way to save a few dollars. |
Incredible desktop replacement with upgrade options
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| Review Date: September 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Lee Allen, |
How do I start? First the only negative things I have are the keyboard and touchpad. As others have said, the contrast on the keyboard does cause one to scratch their head. I learned how to type without looking, so it is not that much of a problem, but a problem it is in low light situations. The touchpad is right where I rest my thumbs while typing. The first thing I had to do was purchase a Logitech Nano mouse and turn off the touchpad so I take off one star. Perfect solution. Now the good.
This baby comes with two (2) drive bays, what a pleasant surprise with only one occupied from my vendor. When Windows 7 released, I pulled the original 5400 RPM 320 Gig drive and installed a 100 Gig SSD in the primary drive bay and a 7200 RPM 500 Gig drive for my data. I also pulled the two 2 Gig memory chips and replaced them with two 4 Gig SO-DIMM DDR2 800 sticks for a total of 8 Gigs of memory. This combination gave me a laptop some people would die for on their desktop. A lot of bloatware does come with this unit so starting from scratch with Windows 7 64 Bit was almost a no brainer. Some of the HP drivers for the entertaiment features, Bluetooth, Lightscribe DVD drive required additional downloads. They weren't automatic, but the basic drivers are with W7.
I built my own docking station using a 7 port USB hub, an ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor, and a Logitech MX 5500 Revolution Black Bluetooth Cordless Desktop. Added a metal monitor stand for the monitor and the laptop fits nicely underneath with additional airspace underneath for additional cooling. Now I have the ultimate road warrior. Best decision I have made in a long, long time. |
Great buy for the price
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| Review Date: October 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Southern, Louisiana |
I bought this for my fiancee after she went overseas primarily for Skype video chat and because she like to watch things and play games from time to time. For the most part she is very happy with it and loves it. I played with it before I sent it to her. Updated it and installed items. For the most part the computer itself performs well. I would have given it 5 stars but Vista just rubs me the wrong way.
I was jealous that it came with bluray as I have a Toshiba Qosmio and bluray has yet to be included with that model. Oh well. She definitely has an advantage with this model. I'm an IT and I was already a fan of HP so to see her smile and be excited was enough for me to be pleased with another product that they released. Definitely a great bargain.
For those parents looking for something for their college kids and still give the great power and performance then this would definitely be a great investment. Primarily because its a name you can trust.
17" screen
plenty of memory
great processor
bluray
Just buy it! |
nice laptop
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| Review Date: March 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Annette Seddon, |
nice laptop for the money, couldn't find a better one at this price, definitely worth it
|
my kewl DV7-1260us
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| Review Date: July 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kenneth E. Nelson, San Francisco,CA |
| I brought my new laptop HP DV7-1260us and love it. bronze color is cool. and i love all the features. The IR remote control. Never had a remote control for a laptop before. But this is cool! The 17" widescreen i love. but one thing i do think it needs is the keypad needs a backlight. and the webcam coulod use a green light to indicate that the camera is on or off. But other then that its one of my best choices. |
Bronze Beauty but keyboard illegible!
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| Review Date: January 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Edmund H. Fernandes, |
I just received my very cool HP Pavilion DV7-1240US, but I can't see the letters & numbers on the keyboard. The whole laptop is bronze, including the keyboard, and the keyboard letters & numbers appear to be gray. I tried moving my reading lamp as close as possible to the laptop & I still can't make out the letters & numbers properly. I have to keep moving my head around from different angles just to see. I can't believe HP would release a product with this obvious problem...
If only the letters & numbers were white against the bronze this notebook would have gotten 5 stars!
Anyone out there with this issue, and if so is there any solution besides returning it?
Everything else seems to be very good.
EDIT!!! February 28th, 2009
I returned this & purchased the DV7-1150US, very similar features in silver-gray. The keyboard is legible, black letters & numbers on silver-gray. Very nice.
|
Keyboard not readable in any light.
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| Review Date: June 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Green, Gainesville, Fl |
This is a great laptop, for almost any application. The major flaw was that design trumped function...the color coordinated keyboard featured black letters on bronze keys, and I could not read them accurately in any light at all.
I had to return it to HP who replaced the keyboard with a white on bronze keyboard I could read. (no cost, no shipping charges. It was gone less than 10 days.
Unless you are a complete touch typist who never needs to see a key, you may want to avoid this model.
I am now completely satisfied. |
Quick review
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| Review Date: June 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: L. Abdulla, USA |
| I agree with most of the good and the bad reviews the others wrote and I am not going to repeat what they said. I just want to bring up a couple of points nobody seems to have mentioned. This computer has all the USB's on the Left and Right sides, plugging any USB cable will be in your way especially if you need a clear area for a mouse. you can't place any documents or books on either side because it will damage or bend the USB jack etc. Another thing that they don't mention except if you dig deep into HP's site, you can not use Windows XP as a second OS although they make it sound that dual boot is a piece of cake. You can only upgrade but not downgrade! You are stuck with Vista or W7. |
Mixed Feelings Over This HP Pavilion Laptop
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| Review Date: April 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Marissa, Grosse Ile, MI |
I have the 1245dx version of this laptop. The 17-inch screen is marvelous and the laptop's design and the chrome/bronze finish is sharp and makes it look so much more expensive than it actually is. It is not as portable as other laptops but is an acceptable trade-off to have a big screen. The keys are very comfortable and have a nice soft touch, the space bar is short and works well ergonomically, and the keyboard is laid out with number keys off to the right, which is useful. Both for work and for play [media applications], you feel like you have a mini flat screen TV on your desk.
My review of this laptop is mixed however. This HP Pavilion refreshes slower than the Compaq Presarios my kids have. Also, when changing the appearance of the menu and other texts, there are some fonts that end up with less fidelity - parts of letters are faded! The worse is the white color of the letters/symbols on the keyboard. They are very hard to see against a bronze background. If you look at the keys from the right side at an angle, the letters and symbols are very visible. But who would crank their necks this far to type? When looking directly over the keys, more than half of the letters and symbols are nearly invisible! So much for fashion versus function.
Other than these complaints, I would still recommend this laptop. Will I buy another one? Yes, but only if they do something about the colors on the keyboard. |
Keyboard impossible to read
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| Review Date: April 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jean L. Hawkins, Anaheim, California USA |
| I am fairly pleased with this laptop and think it was a great bargain for the price but the keyboard is very hard to see the letters/numbers, etc.,!!! What was HP thinking when they designed this product?? I'm half tempted to return it but like it otherwise. |
Nice specs...poor performance...
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| Review Date: May 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: K L, |
Shipment was not an issue it arrived within the time frame promised.
Like the aesthetics of the laptop despite its annoying flaws. Such as:
Audio problems, sometimes would cut out especially between logging in and out, which is one of the most annoying problems I'm experiencing.
Scroll on mouse pad buggy & scroll bar is dysfunctional.
Full of bloat ware from hp which slows it down considerably to the point that one who didn't know it wouldn't believe that there are two 2.4Ghz processors running the machine, but was a minor problem easily remedied. |
Keyboard
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| Review Date: July 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Joseph J. Marzilli, Cape Cod |
The keyboard is unreadable (black lettering against a bronze background)
How could such an experienced firm make such a mistake!? |
Dissappointed
|
| Review Date: July 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Susan Bujhawan, Trinidad |
| I purchase this laptop recently actually a little over a month and i noticed a crack developed in the sreen, I do not know if this is a defect on the computer but the laptop was not used for any other purpose than to check mail it was never moved from my room. I am very disappointed, i will like to know a possible solution asap. I must say, the laptop seems like a great machine but i will like to rectify this problem. |
Let's just be honest for once
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| Review Date: July 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. D. Jones, Elkton MD |
| I'm calling this "let's be honest for once" due to the very fact that we as adults will not be for the purposes of our ego. Yes, this laptop has sleek lines, and the color is cool. The graphics are sharp and the screen is large enough that you can enjoy the DVD player. Add on a subwoofer and you have yourself a nice machine. If that is what you are looking for then this is the laptop for you. BUT, after a long day, you have brought home work that needs to be in the next day, you want to retreat to your corner and complete it....this is NOT the machine for that job and all of the above sleekness means nothing to you. Like magic the keyboard basically disappears. I am sorry that I never took typing seriously; I have a new profound high level of respect along with envy for the touch key typist. Still out of frustration, you do not want to put out the money for this only to have a keyboard you can't see. I have even tried holding it at various angles to try and work with it. At a recent outing,my friends wanted to see the laptop with the disappearing key board, I was too ashame to even bring it out. In closing if "entertainment" is the name of the game, HP has clearly knocked the ball out of the park with this one. If you need to do work, because you need your job to help fund your entertainment, go to something else, HP missed the mark on that issue. |
Impossible keyboard
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| Review Date: June 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Big Dogs, GA |
This is truly a lovely machine - looks great, functions great but everyone who had a comment about the dark letters on the keyboard was spot on. Impossible to see even in a good light! What were they thinking? I returned mine and received a full refund (Yay Amazon).
A friend subsequently purchased one at Best Buy with white letters on the keys but she still has trouble seeing those in certain lights. I think it is the flatness of the keys as well as the color and gloss that makes it difficult. Also, the PC lays fairly flat if you don't buy the longer life battery so tht may contribute. Note that the model offered via Amazon is NOT the same as you see in Best Buy, etc. That one is a DV7-1245. If you look at the 1245 in the store and perceive a difficulty, you DEFINITELY will not the 1240 with the brown letters!!! |
Keyboard is ridiculously hard to see
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| Review Date: February 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Midgen21, Bothell, WA USA |
I purchased this laptop about a month ago. It's quite accpetible as laptops go, but it has one glaring flaw, which affects all of the bronze colored HP laptops.
The Keyboard is ridiculously hard to read unless you have a very bright light directly overhead. There just isn't enough contrast between the white letters and the bronze keys to be able to see them.
Touch typing is fine, until you need to find a special key (PgUp, PgDn, Insert, Delete, etc...). It's extremely frustrating.
I'm actually looking through the HP parts store to see if I can find a black keyboard with white letters to replace this with (It would look horrible, but at least I could read the keys). |
Get's Hot drops dead!!! HP does not care!
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| Review Date: January 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Mike Sondgeroth, |
| First I will say the machine has awesome features. The screen is very nice quite large, however the screen is glossy so if you are in an office or anywhere near sunlight forget seeing the screen without glare. Glare off of the keyboard makes the keys unreadable in office lighting. After about 3 months of use this machine started getting so hot it would shut off on it's own. Making me lose all my work and just poof, gone, it would restart and do it again in about 2 hours. HP support 6 months later and 25 calls later they have yet to bother to even try to fix this machine with this known issue!!!!!!!! I call , they say I am out of warranty, i say bull, I give them all the info, they say oh you are under warranty please hold, then they so ok we will send a box. Well no box ever comes, so I call again every week, and every week same old story again and again they make me flip over the machine and give the serial number and tell me it is out of warranty. I am quite sure they will continue with this until it actually is out of warranty. And if they do bother to try to fix it, I am not confident it will come back to me working any better. So far they are still discussing cleaning the fan, which I have already done. STAY far away from HP if you have to rely on your machine for work.. AND HP customer service? Non existant ..... |
Same problem
|
| Review Date: January 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dudeskavich, |
The keyboard is the stupidest design ever. I called HP to complain about the flaw in a dark brown colored keyboard that has lettering painted in a dark brown color, which makes typing anything, especially numbers, a serious hassle. What did the non technical support manager tell me? The keyboard is not a flaw, it was intentionally designed that way. If you don't like it, then you can return the product. Nice to see how HP is out to please the customer, when apparently they feel cocky and arrogant in this economy that they can tell a customer, "If you don't like it, then buy something else." No more HP products for me, and by word of mouth I won't recommend their products to anyone else either.
By the way, the same bronze colored computer sells at Sam's club, but with white letters on the keyboard. If it wasn't a design flaw, then why is the problem fixed on those computers sold at the retail giant?? My advice to anyone else is, complain to the CEO of HP, cause management doesn't care. |
HD 17 inch
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| Review Date: September 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Vijay Vasudevan, |
1. Dont buy this if you want a notebook that you want to carry around. Its heavy.
2. The keyboard is really very hard to read - seriously.
|
poor choice for color of keyboard
|
| Review Date: April 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Florian Zigan, Brighton, Colorado |
| Great laptop, but would be a lot better if you could see the keyboard. where can I get a black keyboard to replace this one? I found the answer to the problem of not being able to see the keys, keyboard stickers,[...]. |
Surprisingly disappointing!
|
| Review Date: June 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: fw Bear, San Francisco, CA |
I purchased this notebook here, after talking to Amazon assistance about what features it enjoyed.
I was looking forward to a fast modern near-top-of-the-line computer.
Starting with turning it on for the first time it is i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y s-l--o---w... Even with 8 GB of ram and a fast disc.
It crawled through the initial setup and I finally had to shut it down late into the night before I could do the "Factory Restore". (It did recognize Double Layer DVDs and so did this important backup on only one.)
It loads many-many-many promotional "Try it, You'll like it!" versions of all sorts of trash software and defaults to a lot of promoter's "Foot-in-the-door" software and services.
The anti-virus is particularly intrusive taking up the screen with a large banner that can only be removed if you have previously loaded Windows Task Manager to END TASK. And then before you know it, it is back again, blocking the screen and intercepting the keyboard.
Another intolerable "Feature" occurred the first day I used the machine (day 3). While I was online downloading data and images that were updated every three minutes, it suddenly took over the screen and announce that it was now going to proceed with "part 3 of 5. DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER!" and my broadband connection was dropped and the screen continued with that message.
I have no idea what it was doing, so of course, I turned off the computer.
It has done that twice more now but I am ready for it and turn off the machine before "God-knows-what" it will do to the computer (notice I didn't say "MY computer". I feel like I am not the owner/operator, but a mere bystander who paid for this.
I won't go on with ALL of the harassment, but will leave with this: I CAN'T READ THE KEYBOARD UNLESS THERE IS A BRIGHT LIGHT SHINING ON IT.
Their "stylish design" of bronze and tans looks very pretty but it gives us a tan keyboard with darker tan lettering. THE LETTERS ARE -COMPLETELY- INVISIBLE!
I have ordered a set of stick-on keytops that may solve that but for the rest, I have a "modern" computer that is slower than my first Apple ][.
Be -VERY- sure that you want this one.
I am very - very DISAPPOINTED.
|
HP Pavilion dv1260us w/ 17" Screen
|
| Review Date: September 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Whitley, California |
I have had my HP Pavilion dv1260us for 7 months now. At first, I was totally jazzed by the unit - a great 17" screen, which I love, along with many other great features. It was fast and worked great. But then, after 5 or 6 months of fairly heavy use, I began having problems.
Before I get into those, let me say that I took very good care of the laptop - using it only at home - not taking it anywhere or abusing it in any way. (Due to severe space constraints, I choose to use a laptop rather than a desktop computer.) Since I use an added wireless keyboard, I do not have an issue with the laptop's keyboard as expressed in other comments.
Without going into long, tedious details, the main problems consisted of the DVD player failing. I contacted HP tech support, which I personally think is very good - I got e-mail replies within a couple of hours and they continued to try to work with me. Bottom line, I never did get the DVD player to work, which in many ways makes the computer useless as you cannot play your movies or music on disk and you cannot download the software programs that come with new hardware items such as printers, etc.
The other major thing that started to happen was the computer just began shutting down for no apparent reason. I contacted HP tech support and tried many interventions without fixing the problem. The most recent thing (disaster!) which happened was all of a sudden I got a blue screen with the dreaded message: "Fatal System Failure." I have no formal training with computers; however, I have used them for years and have sort of learned along the way. So, I tried everything that I could think of and finally got the laptop to boot up. Everything looked okay, except as I checked things out further, I discovered that I had lost all of my files! I was so grateful that just 3 weeks before I had subscribed to a back-up service which daily scans and stores the contents of your computer, so I was able to successfully restore everything. (By the way, I highly recommend getting a reputable back-up service. It can prevent disaster!)
So, now everything is restored (at least for the moment) and I haven't had a shut-down in a while, but the DVD unit still does not work. Plus, I have "lost faith" in the computer. With the kind of work that I do, which includes being a webmaster, I MUST have a reliable machine that I can trust.
Rather than return the computer and go thru whatever delays that may entail, I have decided to try a different brand. I had poor luck with my last HP Pavilion, so I am ready for a brand change. The other computer also had problems with the DVD unit. In my opinion, HP does not produce the high-quality computers that they used to a while back.
My very first computer many years ago was an Acer, which I had good luck with, so I have decided to go back and give that brand a re-try. I will return this HP unit for whatever repair or replacement HP may give, but I will not use it as my primary computer.
I hope this review has been useful. I think many times a review is done before the "honeymoon" for a given product is over and in my opinion many of those early reviews are skewed towards the positive. Since I have had this computer for over 6 months, I do think this review might be a bit more accurate than those done after just a few weeks or less of product use. Wishing you the best of luck with your computer search! |
hp dv7-1240US
|
| Review Date: January 26, 2010 |
| Reviewer: James T. Yezek, Sterling, Va |
I've had this notebook for just under a year. HP's warranty service is completely worthless, people, so you better hope this thing has no issues. Mine decided to just quit one day - no warning, it just shut itself off and would never come up again. Tried tech support, who walked me thru checking memory & the drive (not the problem). Shipped it back, they "fixed" it, and when I got it back 1/2 the memory was missing and the unit was still not fixed (same problems). So I got a case manager and an "escalated 2nd service". Now I'm told that they've taken enough time to run out the warranty, and they want $300+ to fix what they failed to fix on the first repair.
Next time, I'll buy something built by a reputable company. HP once fell in that category, but no longer. |
Like a luxury car with overly tinted front windscreen!
|
| Review Date: June 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Proud Father of 3, NJ, USA |
It is very difficult to read the black letters on the bronze keyboard under normal lighting conditions. Owning this laptop is like owning a luxury car with overly tinted front window screens i.e. the tool is feature loaded but is fairly useless for everyday use. I should have read the reviews before giving my wife the go-ahead to purchase the unit. I called HP: the customer service rep also acknowledged getting lots of return/repair calls about the difficult-to-read keyboard. Go figure!
Like so many other buyers, we have returned the unit. |
This WILL fail and HP customer support will not help you.
|
| Review Date: June 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Simpson, North Carolina |
HP laptops are ticking time bombs. My Pavilion dv7 1260us got a power drain 14 months after getting it. Eventually the battery stops charging and even while plugged in it doesn't power on. After replacing the AC adapter at the suggestion of their website, and replacing the battery at the recommendation of telephone support they wanted $400 to replace the motherboard.
As I've learned the hard way like many others, HP has become a terrible company that makes bad products and has even worse customer support. I've had the Pavailion dv7 for about a year with no problems, then as soon as the warranty expires so does the device. Contacting customer support is about as useful as shooting yourself in the face. They are really sales people that are more interested in selling you more products that will not fix your device, and all done in bad english. Their once great customer support has been outsourced to India. You'll end up talking to somebody that knows half as much about computers as you, and reads the same trouble shooting tips they have on thier website.
I will never again buy an HP product. |
Do not buy an HP laptop
|
| Review Date: October 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Karen, California, USA |
| I bought 2 HP laptops and have had nothing but trouble. 1 laptop had to go back to the shop three times: once because the bracket connecting the screen to the keyboard broke, once because the hard drive was defective and once because the sound card was defective. One time I sent it to HP and they returned my computer still broken. My other laptop had to be returned to the factory because the hard drive was defective. I have had to do so many system restores (and in fact did one last night) and lost programs that I had to buy (Word Perfect). Even though it was supposed to have been repaired, my itunes library still doesn't play right. The music will skip. This computer is a huge disappointment. I don't even use the computer anymore because it is so annoying. Vista makes it even worse (although I think hp finally realized this.) |
Unreliable, unconsistand and unconsiderate of my time.
|
| Review Date: May 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Alberto Deloucas, CAPE CANAVERAL, FL, US |
| HP Pavilion DV7-1260US 17.0-Inch Laptop (2.2 GHz AMD Turion X2 RM-74 Dual-Core Processor, 4 GB RAM, 400 GB Hard Drive, Blu-ray Drive, Vista Premium) |
Its the AMD TURION, NOT the computer.
|
| Review Date: August 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: W. freeman, fairmont, wv |
| Turions are the worst, i repeat the worst processors on the market. The single cores were horrible in there inception in about 2005 or so, and critics even claimed this was the beginning of the end for AMD. Athlons are pretty good and use to beat the heck out of Pentiums. Well with all the new I series out now AMD can barely hold its head above water and most places that sell them are wal-mart and staples, for much cheaper. Even Celerons beat the Dual Core Turions is benchmark tests or are not far behind. I have this computer and it was just horrible, the processor couldnt even handle Vista, and even today with 7 i've seen several people say omg this is soooo slow. I have a new HP Dv7 with all the bells and whistles and the worst part about it, yep you guessed it, the AMD Phenom Triple core at 2.1ghz. Thats a total of about 6.3 ghz total processing power, which is barely above my emachines pentium dual core 2.27. Actually the emachines does everything quicker, but can't play games, thats it. So stick with Intel, you'll be glad you did, i like mine because of the price, and thats WHY it was so cheap.:( |
Unusable Keyboard-Great Computer
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| Review Date: June 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Edrie Goldstein, Weatherford, TX USA |
This is a great computer that has all of the features that anyone would ever need, for everyday home and or business at home computing.
The keyboard, however, rendered the computer unusable. It came with a dark gray keyboard with black lettering, and I couldn't read the letters.
As I wanted the computer, I sent it back to HP and they replaced the keyboard. The new one is an improvement but not it doesn't completely fix the problem. The new keyboard is silver with black lettering.
It's still somewhat difficult to see but tolerable.
Another problem, the bevels on the letter glare with the type of overhead lighting that I have in my home office, and lo and behold, the "8" key came off the keyboard while I was typing this.
Absent the keyboard issues, I would rate this very high. But the keyboard issues are not absent. |
Do not buy an HP Laptop
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| Review Date: April 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: demeter, seattle |
| My HP Pavilion quit working after 3 weeks. The sound card went out and I was unable to connect to the internet. I contacted the tech serice & after their suggestions the computer would not function at all. I lost all applications and a weeks worth of work, almost lost a client. I contacted customer service, the customer service rep was not interested in my complaint and was rude. I can not believe the behavior of the HP company and THEY LIKE OTHER COMPANIES will fall by the wayside if they forget how important the customer is. I did a little research and found that most HP laptops do not last a year. I am buying a macintosh & selling my HP Pavilion DV7! |
Unacceptable
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| Review Date: June 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Milo Bennett, |
| The letters on the keyboard are basically invisible under most normal lighting. Never even booted it up. Simply slipped it back into carton and returned it. Who designed this? |
Hewlett packard review
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| Review Date: August 30, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Bradford Oshiro, |
every single time I buy a comptuer from HP them selfs it comes in dead and useless.
when it cannot be fixed. Void the warrenty and Hewlett Packard Demened me to mail my brand new computers to Africa and Donate the dead computers to the Poor people. HP have to re-design the entire motherboard and rebuild the computer from scratch and yet it dose not work.
No mater the make and model number.I went though four notebooks and from many different verersions. Not one worked.
Over heating motherboard that dies. Windows Vista dose not work. Opening a yellow foulder. Blue screen of death over the graphic controler and the open GL files error. or both at the same time. Controlers that do not work. Hewlett packard instuctions for a computer that Hewlett Packard cannot fix them selfs. Donate the computer to Africa and Donate the computer to the poor people. poor people cannot afford to build a new motherboard from scrartch. do a scratch build on a motherboard.. cannot do a scratch build on controlers. then do a Civil Law suit on it
anything that Micosoft cannot fix. Void the warrnety and demand the consumers to do a civil law suit.
I refuse to buy a HP /Dell and Toshiba Direct computers when something dose not work out of the box. they cannot fix it. send it in it comes back more broken. and the warnrety if void.
\The best thing to learn about a product is to read the low grades first. bewcuase that is the ones that count. it tells the fruad of the item
I did told you that all 4 computers did not work on bad design and opening a foulder or doing something. anything will be go to a
blue screen of death over Open GL Files and graphic controlers and or both. and over heat to death. and void warrnety issues that will not be solved
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Avoid HP, worst service and warranty support in existance
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| Review Date: August 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jeff S. Connell, |
| Laptop was received with a broken ethernet port. HP would not service my laptop due to "customer related damage" which it was obviously not. There is a reason they are dead last in all customer service polls. God forbid if you need actually service. Between dealing with people in India, which most barely speak English, and zero warranty support, take your money elsewhere. HP is the worst service experience I have ever had. |
ok is HP makes the owrst notebooks and worst customer service and the worst CEO
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| Review Date: June 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bradford Oshiro, Honolulu, HI United States |
you like to know about HP's Notebooks. I got severla of them they are all dead fresh out of the box brand new.. I got Over heating with the motherboard died on it many times. The worst O.S. that gets the blue screen of death on every little thing I do with it. I suffered lots of money lost. DV7 any versiob. its a recall item. dead production. dead design flaws. service department. make beleave they fit it. Simply do nothing and send it back. make me waste my time and kill the warrenty.
HP is simply the worst compnay I haved ever used. I for one are not supose to buy anything HP as log as I around. my cases are closed agsinst me. all service reports are deleated.. all case numbers deleated. so that they can kick me off due to not finding anything.if I do give them the case nubmers about a thousnds of them theyreport the case number is fraud.
I want to see HP go out of business. HP makes dea computers to make a living is way too far in my book. I lost well over 3,000.00 on them some of it was X-mas bonus pay.
DO NOT BUY HP! THIS IS A CONSUMER FRAUD |
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