Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion DV6775US 15.4-inch Entertainment Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Black

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

HP Pavilion DV6725US 15.4" Entertainment Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-60 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)

The HP DV6700 line of notebooks is an update to the DV6000 line. There are currently 7 base models and perhaps a few more on the way. Chip wise these are based on either the Intel Core 2 Duo or the AMD Turion 64 X2. I have owned both the DV6725 and the DV6415 from one of the previous generations HP Pavilion DV6415US 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T2130, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium). This is a very nice design that was priced right for the market. The included features are great on both Intel and AMD versions. If you want the larger 17 inch screen you will have to step up to the 9700 HP Pavilion DV9720US 17.0" Entertainment Laptop (AMD Athlon 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-60 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium). There are few concerns, but overall this is a winner.

There is some confusion created because the reviews for all the various models have been collected here. Just keep that in mind. Most of what I have to say is not processor specific and applies to virtually all the models in this 6700 grouping.

Pros
+ Nice price for a great notebook with many features
+ Included Altec Lansing speaker produces nice sound for a notebook
+ Nice included expansion ports including S-Video, VGA, USB2.0, Firewire, LAN and modem
+ Nice memory card reader and IR port, which users have come to expect
+ Works well with included Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate
+ Cool electrostatic buttons for quick play features above the keyboard
+ Serviceable mouse touch pad
+ Wireless a/b/g, with front button to disable or enable
+ Awesome included windows mobile remote slides away into laptop body!
+ New sleek, shiny, thinner body made of black composite material
+ Nice DVD/CD dual-layer burner
+ Nice wide screen is adequate for mobile use or home use
+ Nice sized included 160 GB SATA hard drive; 200 and 250 GB configs available
+ Microphone and webcam integrated into monitor screen
+ Decent RAM sizes ranging from 2 to 4 GB.
+ Included HP software will help novice users with dashboards and alerts; can be disabled
+ Nice multimedia controls above the keypad allow for easy adjustment

Cons
- Only Vista Premium, when Vista Ultimate would have been ideal
- Common Issue: only 32 bit versions of windows included, under-using dual core chips
- Memory expansion limited to 4GB
- No easy way to add an internal hard drive
- Display still draws a lot of power, with more efficient models on the horizon
- Battery life leaves much to be desired, topping out at 1-3 hours for most unplugged users
- Some power issues may require you to frequently reseat your cord or battery
- New shiny body attracts fingerprints and dust, may not appeal to everyone
- Like most HP laptops, video card shares memory with RAM, limiting the RAM for your OS
- Power cord connection a little to close to right USB port, making most USB mice cramped
- Ethernet only 10/100 when the market is going to 1000 Gig-E
- No included wireless-N or EVDO
- HP's customer service reputation has been suffering with higher than normal failure rates

Installation is very smooth, a well designed process with the usual kind of included instructions. If you're like me you'll want to take the time to remove a lot of the unnecessary software trials included here. Just one word of caution, it's very difficult to change your main hard drive in Vista, so even if you multi-boot like me avoid the temptation to partition the main system drive too much.

There are some quirky aspects of Vista, so you can configure how you want your power saving modes like Sleep and Hibernate to work. Keep it simple: avoid the Sleep mode and only use hibernate. You'll save yourself some headaches that way.

At least Windows Media Center is included with Vista Premium. The should have included a lot more, including wireless N and Vista Ultimate. This came out at the end of 2007 after all. Perhaps in the next version.

Perhaps most disturbing are the growing number of people who have had support issues with HP. Unfortunately, I can tell you from experience as somebody who buys a lot of notebook computers that this is an industry wide problem. There really isn't an all around better alternative than HP so you have to pick your models carefully. Hopefully they've worked out the kinks from the previous generation of this product.

As for me, despite some minor issues I've been satisfied with both of my HP models, this one included. For home use, its ideal. I am waiting for the prices to drop a little further before I step up to my next one.

Enjoy!

Love, love, love it! After three Sony Vaio laptops, I decided to branch out a little and I am so glad that I did! Not to knock Sony or anything, it's just that now I see that there are just as good options (if not better) for as good or better pricing.

Now on to more 'technical' stuff. This laptop is very fast and runs the entire Adobe CS3 Master collection at warp speed! Amost as fast as my desktop. (I had flash, illustrator, phtoshop & dreamweaver all open at once and alternated between them for almost an hour and it never missed a beat or froze up once!)

Vista still irritates me a bit but I am going to be a little more patient with it than I was with my desktop (I ended up loading XP pro after 3 days) because I use the laptop a lot less for work type stuff. But just because Vista is annoying at times, I wasn't going to ding the laptop on it.

PLUS...it's beautiful! Gives you that Apple style and look with all the familiarity of Windows.

So all in all, I am very satisfied with the purchase. Even if you do heavy design or video editing etc, this machine can definitely handle it.

I just purchased this note book and love it. Between the 3gb of ram, GeForce 8400 256mb video card and 250 gb hard drive, who could ask for more. You have a high definition screen and a duo core intel processor. I've seen no laptop with this much hardware for such a low price.

I use this notebook at work and for a litte internet game play. With the GeForce 8400 256mb video card both run smooth as silk.

Whether you are looking for a gaming laptop or a strong personal/business laptop, this is the one for you.

Amazing computer. I'm incredibly happy with this product. The price is rediculously cheap for what comes in this computer, and I shopped around extensively before making my purchase. Anything is a step up from my last Dell laptop, but this HP truly exceeded my expectations with it's style and specks. This computer has way more space and memory than I probably need, and yet it was CHEAPER than some of the other computers with less to offer, so buying it was a no-brainer! I recommend this for everyone. :)

I am mostly satisfied by this laptop. Especially loved its looks. Absolutely soothing to touch. No cold metal, no cheap plastic. There was no problem connecting to the wireless network either.
Some (minor) things which I didnt like are:
- i didnt get an option to go for the matt finish screen. I personally dont prefer glossy screens. Also I felt the viewing angle to be low in the LCD panel
- i also didnt like the fact that it had a huge hard disk (250GB) but only one partition!! I cannot imagine how the performance will not be impacted with the mess of fragmented data and windows page files and all my documents that accumulates over time in that one huge partition. i managed to partition it myself, but it was an added incovienience

Apart from tht, it is really cool. the bundled, DVD writer and the youCam software are useful and interesting. Microsoft Works is one software wch i found thoroughly useless but i cud not let myself not buy it along with the laptop

I bought this laptop from Fry's Electronics and very satisfied with it. It has a big Ram (3G ram integrated), fast CPU (which can run almost any current games), a a dedicate Video card (8400GS NVIDIA). Right after I bought it, I ran couple games like Age of Empire 3, Bioshock and it ran smoothly. It would be nice if you upgrade to 4G ram but it is unnecessary. Personally, I think if you want a gaming PC around 1000 dollars, this should be a right choice.

I recently purchased this laptop and it is everything I needed in a notebook. It comes accommodated with all the features I need, and the price I purchased it for was very modest. For me this computer was great for all my needs. Plus, it has best quality screen, and the webcam quality is phenomenal. It runs so smoothly and I would recommend this laptop to anyone in the market for one!!

I bought it 2 weeks ago but so far I love it. The keyboard is great and very responsive. It has adequate CPU speed, I develop software for a living and have a bunch of technical software installed and it all works great on this laptop. I love the screen resolution, and the web camera - i used it to chat with family online and they reported that the image was really clear. the speakers are great, do not miss my PC at all. I love the entertainment features including the remote control - i hope to soon connect it to my HD LCD tv to watch movies. I really like the design on the outside, and the weight is adequate - it is not heavy or anything.

I upgraded it to Vista Ultimate and it works very well. In short, I really like it so far!!

We're not really technologically saavy, but so far we've loved our computer. We read the reviews before buying and we knew a few of the features we needed, and we're pleased with our purchase. We only need a laptop for basic applications and occasionally editing a home video from our video camera. We haven't tried our movie editing yet, but everything is great. We love the look and the functionality of this laptop. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because we do not like Windows Vista. I'm having a hard time getting used to it. It's not user friendly at all (coming from a somewhat computer illiterate person), so maybe it's easier for others. Overall I'd recommend this laptop.

This particular laptop model is a good value for your money (March 2008 when I purchased it). I spent some time shopping around for a laptop to replace my desktop at a reasonable price, and this model was the winner. It has a faster AMD dual core processor than comparable models (TL-62 at 2.1 GHz). Similar priced laptops most likely give you the AMD model below (the slower TL-60). If you prefer Intel processors, you'll pay a premium as most laptops at this price range give you an Intel Duo Core T5450 which runs at a slower 1.7 GHz. If you want a 2.0 GHz processor, you have to upgrade to the T7250 or T8100 processor which costs $150+ more.

This laptop gives you a generous 3 GB of RAM which is a big plus. 250 GB hard drive is the standard size for less-than-$1000 laptops. For me, the biggest feature is the 256 MB nVidia GeForce 8400M GS discrete graphics card. The discrete graphics card allows you to run video games much more smoothly than an integrated graphics card found on cheaper laptops. 256 MB is very good for a laptop at this price. I play Battlefield 2142 and it runs smoothly on the laptop. I'm sure it will struggle with the newest, more graphics-intensive games that will be released later in 2008, but then you'll need to buy a very expensive gaming laptop or just go with a desktop... I definitely didn't want to spend $2,000+ on a laptop.

As for the negatives, they are minor:
1) QuickPlay is a complete joke. I thought you could play a DVD movie without loading up Windows. Nope... If you press the QuickPlay button, the laptop still loads Windows but takes you directly to the QuickPlay interface. Not much benefit in this...

Here's a blurb from Wikipedia if you search on "QuickPlay":

"As of 2008, QuickPlay versions 3.0 and newer included in notebooks shipping with Windows Vista, do not provide users with instant access to the software, as the "Direct" function no longer exists due to unresolved compatibilty issues. Users must first boot into Windows and access their user accounts before the software can run. It is currently unknown if or when HP plans to release newer versions of Quickplay, with a direct boot function."

2) The specs on the laptop battery that's included with the package shows battery life at 2 hours. Not very long. It probably can't last through a whole movie. If you plan to work a lot without power (e.g. Working during a airplane flight), buy an extra higher-capacity battery.
3) You get no CD/DVD in the box. As you'll read in the instructions, you'll need to burn a few DVD/CD's to create recovery discs the first time you boot up the laptop.

There are faster and more graphics-intensive laptops. But if you're looking to replace a desktop computer with a laptop without spending a lot (under $1,000), I recommend this laptop model.