37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
HP DV67XX - A Nice Update to the DV6000 Notebook Lineup, April 16, 2008
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!
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty & Brains..., March 3, 2008
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.
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