HP Pavillion dv7 1285dx Review

[Lucen791]

I thought I'd toss out a review of this laptop in case anyone is considering buying one as I've had some great experiences with it, but also a few problems that people might want to know about before dropping 1200 bucks on it.

 

First, I'll start with cost. You could do a lot worse for $1200.00 (1500 with full protection plan). So I consider this a strong point for the system. I've yet to find software that can slow this thing down, and with the huge amount of hard drive space (for a laptop anyway), I only need to plug in my external when I want to transfer something and not when I have to. Overall, it has performed great and maintains an impressive FPS even while dual boxing games that would cause my old system to slow down by themselves. So, here are the specs:

 

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.40 GHz

RAM: 6110 MB

Vid Card: nvidia geforce 9600m GT (2542 MB display memory, 2046 shared, 512 dedicated)

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit, Service Pack 1 (it updates to 2 when you open it up and connect to the net)

Hard Drive: 500GB, 5400RPM

Battery Life: 3.5 hours casual use, 2.5 gaming

 

The machine has three USB ports, an HDMI input, an ethernet input, an 8X rewriteable DVD drive (no blueray) with dual layer support, touch audio controls and windows ehome suite. There is also a video monitor input.

 

The big strengths of this machine are touched on above. It's a beast as far a physical hardware goes. I've dedicated 1 of my 6MB to a page file to handle system tasks and still haven't come close to using the rest even when running a ton of programs at once. I've been able to run Firefox, WoW, The Matrix Online and City of Heroes at the same time without seeing any of the three games drop below 25 FPS. When run alone, they rarely drop below 40, and they're all being run on the highest settings available. The machine will get pretty hot when I do that, but since I only did it a few times to test it, that's not normally an issue.

 

The big hard drive (for a laptop) is quite nice as I never have to worry about disk space when installing games or checking out new programs. It allows me to be a bit lazy about maintaining my files and software, which is a bit of a negative, but that's hardly the machine's fault. The RPM could be a bit better, but I've yet to run into a problem because of it. The display can run at 1440X900. It's listed as an HD monitor on the box, though it doesn't feel like it's quite there, but it is pretty sharp. I can watch DVD's on this and don't notice much difference between it and my HD television. It actually does have an HDMI input and can play HD footage without a problem.

 

The sound is also very solid for a laptop. I can watch a dvd without using headphones and it sounds fine, which is impressive. It even does a decent job of throwing sound to give you that semi-surround sound feel at times. Quite nice for a laptop.

 

Finally, a 17 inch widescreen display. :)

 

Now, on to the negatives...

 

Microsoft eHome is a big problem for me. The infrared sensor for the remote cannot be removed. Even when you set windows to not automatically install drivers when hardware is detected, it will reinstall the drivers for it... every single time. Without a prompt. It's quite annoying as it does interfere with some games. For example, you cannot access the console in Fallout 3 because certain keys are don't function while the game is running. There's a mod to get around that particular problem, but really, you shouldn't have to deal with something like that in the first place. I spent several hours on the phone with HP's tech support, who were great... but there just wasn't a way to remove the accompanying device drivers permanently. And even if you could do it, it would prevent you from plugging a USB mouse in, apparently, as the systems are tied together. Personally, I don't use eHome at all, so it just ends up getting in my way.

 

Vista... I've grown to really like it, but I had to adjust it quite a bit to make it run more like XP on the surface. Once I eliminated the bells and whistles that chew up resources and do nothing practical (like the scrolling three dimensional wheel of applications that are running), I was much happier with it. The security features are quite customizable so that you can get the amount of OS intervention you might want without going overboard or just having to shut it all off. That being said, it's the 64bit version of Vista, so it's not getting a ton of support just yet. And this does pop up from time to time. In The Matrix Online, there are areas of the game where the video simply cuts out until I turn or move to another location. It's a problem that has been linked directly to the OS by the dev team, and in that case, it won't be fixed since the game is shutting down in a few weeks. But issues like that can happen. I've run into issues with programs that create PDF files (Final Draft 7 and Final Draft 8, specifically) where the programs simply cannot save in that format. The fine people at Final Draft said they're hoping to patch the program with a fix by Christmas. Problems like this will pop up, which takes the shine off a bit.

 

Battery life could be a little better, though this isn't a huge deal. I rarely game somewhere where I don't have access to a power outlet anyway.

 

Size... Mostly a positive, but I almost couldn't fit it in the laptop bag I had just bought for my old machine, which would have ended up being a waste of 50 bucks. Yeah, that's just me being a cheap SOB and really isn't a negative. :)

 

The last thing I'll mention is that it has an integrated webcam, but I haven't used it so I can't comment on its quality.

 

Anyway, overall I love this machine, flaws and all. I'm hoping this writeup will help anyone who is considering it to make up their minds.

[Thor.]

nice review, do you have a link to it with windows 7 pre installed :P that pre alpha version of 7 is garbage lol, just kidding but i wasn't about vista.

 

Also it would have been nice if it was a amd duel core

 

Also a link would be nice.

[Lucen791]

Also a link would be nice.

 

I picked mine up through Best Buy, so I don't have a link to one with Windows 7 preinstalled. As far as I know, they're only selling Vista right now. Nothing comes up in a google search, either. HP's website doesn't include an option to install Windows 7, either, which isn't surprising since it's not out yet. :)

 

I'd guess that your best bet would be to find a third party seller who isn't a major corporation. Maybe a local shop who wouldn't mind throwing Windows 7 on for you when you purchase it.

[Thor.]

Lol i was only teasing, anyway i was thinking of getting a laptop but changed my mind, it would have been a good idea for those long trips on the road this year, vacation time. I really was thinking about it.

 

All comes down to funding really.

 

if anything i would have gotten a sli laptop, there is a such thing you know :yes:

[Birrii]

Hey, I think I've seen this computer being advertised behind a science magazine.

 

Maybe it's something... special :P