Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I purchased this product in Jan 2011 at a local retailer. It was under $800. It matches the MacBook Pro almost feature for feature, but at 1/4 the price.
It is blazing fast! It played Crysis without the first hiccup. Adobe Lightroom is instant. Microsoft Office 2010 programs load before I can get my finger off the mouse button. Six generous Gigs of RAM take care of all the tasks for which I use this computer. It is almost a desktop replacement.
The ATI graphics is good, and the Beats audio is rich. The bass response can be a little too much when external speakers are hooked up. It seems to be optimized for headphone and built-in speaker listening. This is easily adjusted with the Beats control program in the system tray.
The camera built in at the top of the screen is the almost as good as the MacBook Pro's camera. It is light years ahead of the cheap webcams I've seen on the other laptops at the store. It accurately accounts for the available light in the room and has a sharp picture.
The 17.3in. screen is ample, bright, and crisp. The color response seems to be good and it has no perceptible blur. It has the glossy surface, so we get a little deeper blacks, but also a little glare. I must say that it is not bad about glare, however. It has not been an issue under several different lighting conditions. It's really just not a problem.
The fingerprint reader... this thing is really nice. I was worried that this would be some cheesy gee-whiz gadget that would be more trouble than it's worth. I didn't expect to use it. I was wrong. It has a very intuitive control panel that comes up the first time you swipe it. It can control your computer login and also can be used for each website at which you login. It works with Firefox, as well as Internet Exploder. The nice thing is that my kids can't get around it. They've hacked my password a couple of times, but this thing won't let them in. Very well done HP.
The keyboard is not backlit! What's up with not having a backlit keyboard!? Every laptop at this performance level should have a backlit keyboard! I actually took a star off for it. If you don't think it's a big deal, try using it in a dark room. I touch type, but I need a little help with which key combo is for the special functions (volume, brightness, etc). I will say that the island style keys are fantastic. No double key presses! This is way better than the older style of laptop keyboards. Very well done. And, unlike MBP, it has a numeric keypad. I use it all the time in my work, so I really appreciate that.
The trackpad is large and requires just the right amount of pressure so as to be easy to push, while not being prone to accidental pressed. In fact, I type thousands of words per day and have not accidentally hit it yet, though my hands rest across it. It uses multi-touch and scrolls and zooms accurately and smoothly. This has been tweaked by Synaptics and finally gotten right. Good job guys.
The Aluminum case on this model makes for a very nice finish. The HP logo on the back has a mirror looking background when the computer is off. When it is on, the logo lights up just like the Apple logo does on MacBooks. The aluminum case also turns the entire shell of the laptop into a giant heatsink. This monster stays cool under every task except heavy 3D gaming! This is the coolest laptop I've ever used. I ran the internet and MS Office 2010 for hours without it getting more than barely warm on my legs. The custom LASER etching is also a nice touch. I would personally like to see HP offer a textured aluminum case. This would help out with grabbing and holding, like when pulling it out of a case or bag. Again, well done HP. I also have to add here that I like the very simple monotone layout of the unit. All lights are simple white and small. The entire keyboard area is black (both keys and background). The rest of the case is simple aluminum, and a black thin border around the monitor. The only thing different is the lockout indicator on the touchpad. It glows red when the touchpad is disabled. BTW that's done by tapping the top left corner three times.
The speed of this beast is really good. HP has a little bit of bloatware on it, which is constantly updating, calling home, or popping up suggestions or reminders about things. I'm about to remedy this shortly. If it will run Windows 7 as fast as it is running it, Linux must really fly! I'm sure none of the gadgetry works under Linux, but I'm about to find out about that too. Actually, the Hackintosh guys need to get OS X working on this box. That would be just right. 6GB of RAM and a 640MB HDD with drop protection is pretty good for a laptop. There are plenty of ports too. Two USB on the right. Three USB on the left, one of which doubles as an eSATA. Headphone and mic are on the left, as well as ethernet and VGA. There is a card reader on front-left and the Blu-Ray is on the right. Power is on the right. One point of real weirdness is that the power and drive activity LEDs are on the right side rather than in the front. Who made that decision? that is one of the strangest things I've ever seen.
Summary:
Great Screen
Great Graphics and gaming
Great sound (adjust for external speakers)
Great Keyboard (why is it not illuminated!?)
Great Trackpad
Great cooling
Fast processor
Lots of memory
Big HDD
Plenty of ports
Great battery
Clean, monotone, simple design and layout (well done)
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HP Pavilion dv7-4270us 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC - SilverGet the HP laptop that's made for the way you play and work. Access the songs and movies you love using the HP Pavilion dv7-4270us Entertainment Notebook PC, powered by an AMD Phenom II quad-core processor. Play music the way it's meant to be heard with Beats Audio, plus edit slideshows and watch Blu-ray DVDs on the large 17.3-inch diagonal High-Definition LED display. Count on fast data entry using the numeric keypad and manage your passwords easily using the integrated fingerprint reader. The sleek, sophisticated HP Pavilion dv7-4270us Entertainment Notebook PC delivers style and substance with a brushed aluminum finish with the stream design in argento. Video chat with family and friends across the globe using the integrated HP webcam designed for low-light environments. Burn custom labels onto CDs and DVDs using LightScribe Technology and transfer photos from a digital camera to your notebook using the digital media reader. Browse the Web from any room using built-in Wi-Fi, plus wirelessly sync your HP laptop to a printer or smartphone using integrated Bluetooth.
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