Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I purchased this notebook (on sale with a printer and backpack) as I hoped it would work as a multipurpose notebook. I need it for school, work and use it as an entertainment PC and occasional internet box at coffee shops. It is inadequate for each of these purposes except as an internet box.
I purchase this as a replacement for a stolen HP DV6131od which I loved. This is similar in many aspects, better in some respects, but its pitfalls well outweigh its good points. I purchased it from OfficeMax and tried to return it within 48 hours. OfficeMax refused to accept its return because I had opened the box. I will probably have to sue them. I will boycott their store forever, and urge others to do the same.
The Good Stuff:
The AMD Turion 64 processor is more than adequate, and comparable to the Intel core 2 Duo T5200 in the DV6131. It has 2Gig of memory, which is more than adequate for most uses. Memory througput is excellent as the system has a very high speed bus and DDR 5400 memory.
The keyboard surface is slightly angled unlike many notebooks, which tend to be boxy. I work as a paralegal and law clerk, which requires a great deal of typing. The angled keyboard makes typing much easier.
The cursor touchpad has an on-off switch right above the touchpad. The cursor pad on just about all notebooks is right below the keyboard, and you can inadvertently make the cursor jump by touching it. This makes it easier to use an external USB mouse and more functional as a work computer. It has a section on the cursor pad which works like a wheel on the mouse for quick up-and-down scrolling.
HP has QuickPlay buttons above the keyboard and its own proprietary software which make it functional as an entertainment PC. I very much like the voume controls and entertainment buttons.
The system has digital optical output (although it does not come with the adapter) for digital audio output and S-video output to connect into home theater system.
The Shortcomings:
The video processor is horribly inadequate. Videos and DVDs do not play as smoothly as I would like. This unit is marketed and sold as an entertainment PC. It is barely adequate for this purpose. Given the speed of the processor and front side bus, this is probably the result of an out of date video processing system.
It only comes with a 6 cell battery. Battery life is short -- about an hour and a half.
Vista Home Premium. Nuff said? Vista is, in my opinion, a major mistake. It is incapable of running much of the business software I use. Further, Vista Home Premium, which comes installed, has much of the commercial networking capabilities of Vista Ultimate and Business disabled. Knowing the problems with Vista, I bought this with the intent to downgrade the software. However, HP does not provide much support for Windosws XP. The drivers are available, but HP does not publish them on its website with this computer. HP does not have XP install disks for this computer.
Benchmarks:
The following benchmarks show the video processor is horrible by current standards:
3dMark2001 = 3315
3dMark2003 = 1036 (It is interesting to note that the CPU tests run the same tests at a faster frame rate than the video processor!)
3dMark2006 = 194
Overall benchmark scores:
Performance Test PassMark 6.1 = 372
PC Wizard = 2422.55
Subsequently, I downgraded the OS to XP Professional. Some very bright customer service tech at HP sent me a list of all of the XP drivers for the system. With the old XP o/sand got the following scores:
3dMark 2001 = 4610
3dMark 2003 = 1132
PC Wizard 2523.64
Performance Test Passmark 6.1 = 398
So, the system does better with a downgrade in the O/S, however, you loose all of the fun stuff (i.e., Quickplay) that is incorporated into this entertainment PC.
Click Here to see more reviews about: HP Pavilion dv6427cl - Turion 64 X2 TL-56 / 1.8 GHz - RAM 1 GB - HDD 160 GB - DVDRW (R DL) / DVD-RAM - GF Go 6150 - WLAN : 802.11b/g - Vista Home Premium - 15.4" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) BrightView - camera - remarketed
PROCESSOR AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-58 1.9 GHz512KB+512KB L2 CacheMEMORY2048 MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)Max Memory: 2GBHARD DRIVE160 GB (5400 RPM) SATAMULTIMEDIA DRIVESuper Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer SupportDISPLAY15.4" WXGA High-Definition Brightview Widescreen (1280 X 800) DisplayDIGITAL MEDIA5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards HP FINISH & FEATURESHP Imprint Finish & HP Webcam with Integrated MicrophoneVIDEO GRAPHICSNVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (UMA) w/ Up to 559 MB shared RAMCOMMUNICATIONHigh speed 56k modemNETWORK CARDIntegrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)WIRELESS802.11b/g WLAN KEYBOARD101-key compatible & 2 Quick Launch Buttons-HP Quick Play Menu and DVDPOINTING DEVICETouch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down padEXTERNAL PORTS3 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 2 Headphone out - 1 w/SPDIF Digital Audio & 1 stereo 1 microphone-in 1 VGA (15-pin) 1 TV-Out (S-video) 1 RJ-11 (modem) 1 RJ -45 (LAN) 1 notebook expansion port 3 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin) 1 Consumer IR SOUNDAltec LansingPC CARD SLOTS1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)DIMENSIONS14.05" (L) x 10.12" (W) x 1" (min H)/1.56" (max H) WEIGHT6.8lbsPOWER65W AC Adapter 6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows Vista Home Premium
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