Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion DV9260US 17" Entertainment Notebook PC (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7200, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, HD SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Ultimate)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

When any new operating system is introduced, it makes you look at your equipment and realize that computers do not age well . . . just quickly.

As Vista is quite the memory hog, it did seem time to go "all the way" so I chose the Pavilion dv9260us and I'm glad I did.

I will keep my opinions about Vista separate and apart from the review of this notebook. Obviously, you can detect that I'm not quite satisified with Microsoft's latest venture.

But HP can not be blamed for anything except creating a wonderful, strong machine. For close to 20+ years I used a desktop or tower computer at home. Plus a monitor. Reviewers praised the "small footprint" and mini-tower but they added space and clutter and today I realize they did not improve the overall performance of the PC.

With the dv9260us, I decided to try to optomize and save some space and I'm glad I did.

This notebook is a solid, well crafted product. The screen is bright, crisp and clear. HP generously provided users with USB ports galore and enough other ports (for cable modem hookup, card reader, etc.) that you don't have to worry about hubs. It is a quiet, fast and strong machine that is sleek to look at and slick to work with. Although the speakers are not "music hall" quality, they do their job - a bit tinny but OK if you are not going to use it as a primary source of music.

Suggestion to future buyers: Do what I did and get the Dock Replicator. Not only does it add even more USB ports, you can buy an additional 300GB hard drive, a wireless mouse/laptop, etc. After an hour or so, you'll forget that you are not using a mighty tower - that is how professional HP created this one.

I will start with my pet peeve about this machine which is the front loaded plugin for the headphone/speaker jack, mic etc right in front under and directly aligned with the touch pad. This is a very poor design and beyond understanding for what is otherwise a very slick machine. What were they thinking? I like the design of last year's equivalent that has these plugs under the express card slot. Makes so much more sense over there. Anyone who uses this machine as a home theatre stand in wants those external speakers plugged in because the on board speakers do not do the HD DVD player or anything other than a online phone chat justice.

Now for the upside of the machine: Where else could you get so many features for such a reasonable package price? The screen is terrific. Nice fast processor, loads of ram, two 120 gig hard drives, hd dvd player/ burner, TV tuner,256 mb dedicated video memory and all with Vista Ultimate. I don't need to re write the specs here but they aren't exactly correctly represented on the Amazon site. The specs are better than listed here. Check the Hp site for accurate specs. I really enjoy Vista. It takes a while to figure out how to get all your gear to work in vista but it all will despite what you've heard. Just be patient with it. Overall, I am thrilled with the machine, my third HP notebook this year. I keep buying them for my family members because they are so great. Hp service is a bit cumbersome but once one gets through the 1st and 2nd level techs to the real techs then service is smooth and efficient. I am very sold on this product. I threw away my old dinosaur tower and now have this machine in its place. Instead of the docking station I bought a powered Belkin usb hub to keep all my peripherals plugged in conveniently. The HDMI port is a plus too because now I can fire up either of my 45" lcd hd tv's with this little gem. So overall despite the front plugs mentioned at the outset and the reason I rank this with only 4 stars I am recommending this machine to anyone who wants a notebook or a full powered system that replaces any desktop with aplomb.

I bought one of these laptops a week ago, and I must say I am impressed. You couldn't ask much more from a laptop at this price. What sets this laptop apart from others, for me, is the whole combination of features: A fairly fast, 2.0ghz dual-core CPU, 2.0gb RAM, a GeForce Go 7600 video card with its own 256mb of RAM, lots of hard drive space, and built-in wireless network device. Also, the optical drive burns dual-layer DVDs, CDs, and reads CDs, DVDs, and HD-DVDs - something I hadn't expected. The 17" widescreen display is sharp and provides a nice 1440x900 screen resolution. In addition, this laptop includes plenty of connections: 4 USB ports, a VGA video output, a TV output, HDMI output, an expansion card port, gigabit Ethernet, modem, and what looks like a small FireWire port. And that's not all; this laptop also has a built-in webcam above the screen, and a memory card reader so that you can copy pictures from a digital camera (or other device) using a memory card onto the laptop.

This laptop also includes several accessories - a TV tuner, a couple remote controls, and a pair of headphones. A remote would make it nice to use as part of an entertainment center.

By the way, Amazon's specs aren't quite accurate - This laptop has 2 120gb hard drives for a total of 240gb, not 200gb.

Another nice touch about this laptop is that this laptop's keyboard includes a separate area for a numeric keypad, which is nice - many laptops have a smaller keyboard with the numeric keypad where the letters are.

Another thing I like about this laptop is that the HDMI output allows you to connect to modern high-definition TVs, and with an HDMI-DVI adapter, you can use a PC monitor with a digital connection.

This laptop comes with Windows Vista installed. One thing that concerned me is that when I started my laptop up the first time, over 900mb of the RAM - almost half the total RAM in the laptop - was in use. I got this down to a bit over 600mb by removing some software and disabling some of the fancy stuff I don't need. I also looked into installing Windows XP (which doesn't use as much memory). HP has Windows XP drivers for this laptop on their web site, and you can also order Windows XP recovery discs from HP's site. I did, and Windows XP runs well on this laptop, using less RAM than Vista.

This laptop could replace my desktop PC, which is very similar in specs. The video card in this laptop is great for gaming, and the fast CPU makes it good for gaming and general use. Overall, this is an excellent laptop and provides everything you'd need in a computer in a portable laptop package. This is probably one of the best laptops on the market for its price range.

I am an avid programmer with multimedia and HD frenesis. I don't want to go into tech specs as this site pretty much covers them all but I am pretty sure this is the best laptop out there, for sure!...
I use it to do heavy duty programming and database design and at nights I plug it to my Home Theater and Widescreen HDProjector and I i have a better setting than a Cinema, with true HD and DTS sound.. Worth every penny.. and will last long!.. It's not as limited as a Dell, as fragile as a sony nor does it warm up as a toshiba (and I've had them all).. It's simply an incredible piece of machinery. Get it now! The screen is amazing, the connectivity is astounding and the features (including vista) are well worth it. Finally a company that delivers what it promises. And online support was fabulous... Go for it!

Overall I have been very impressed with the performance of the laptop to this point. Vista Ultimate has worked flawlessly and setup of the tv tuner and media center options was very straight forward. I haven't yet put it through all of the paces but to this point I think it is going to be more than adequate for my family's personal use.

My only complaint is with this line in the Amazon.com description -
"1 HDMI output (for connecting to a compatible HDTV or home theater receiver for uncompressed digital audio and video)"

This is misleading in that the HDMI does not output audio but video only. I did not learn about this until I tried to output HD from the laptop to my Sharp Aquos HDTV. Then I had to search HP's website and do some additional online research to find the answer. I e-mailed Amazon customer service to let them know about the inaccuracy and basically was told - "However, I suggest that you check with the company personnel once if your HDTV is compatible one or if you are unable to connect the
right way."

This response doesn't even make sense. They did include HP's support information so I assume they mean that it is HP's problem. I really just wish they would update the description to be more accurate.

I really like the features of this new notebook (which I purchased here on Amazon for a great price.)

The biggest problem is Vista and the fact that there is little 64 bit support out there. It's now nearly May of 2007 and I still can't use my NEW HP printer (NO Vista driver for the Laserjet 2600n) No Driver for my Scanner (Pentax 600) and I can't even use Microsoft's own OneCare software that I purchased last year. I thought it would be bad but I thought i'd at least be able to print on a NEW printer. The Vista Advisor also told me the printer was supported.

Further, the notebook is extremely slow after using it for two months now. I'm not able to burn anything to the CD Burner (try contacting HP Support in India - had several VERY frustrating calls to support (where their focus is to UPSELL me on additional warranty and a "Great Deal" on office 2007 - HP India support is a total and complete joke) Another example, is the Docking station that can be ordered with this also failed and i've been waiting two months and still no replacement. (The last call they told me my support contract on that was up - I told them I never got the replacement I needed the week after receiving the defective unit. Typical for HP Support.

Performance isn't great either - after a few months and installing all the "built in" security software the thing runs very slow. This could be the new Vista indexing but its very frustrating doing simple things - like typing an email into Outlook (or any software for that matter) - very often the cursor just HANGS as some background process takes over the machine. Additionally, it takes over 2 minutes to boot up "completely". I say that becuase Vista has to load a ton of extra software like the side bar, etc. Oh, and try to work and open the Media Center to watch TV - you can forget about trying to actually use Word or some other software at the same time. So Not sure if its bad design or just Vista being a hog.

The notebook also NEVER remembers my dual monitor settings and have to reset it after each and every reboot (And I'm up to date with a new driver that came out last week - go figure)

So bottom line is you get what you pay for, I guess Great price = absolutely terrible HP support + sub-par performance.

This will be my last HP purchase - I made a big mistake shopping solely on price and features. The problem is I don't know of any other PC manufacturers that really do have good support.

This computer looks sleek and beautiful and boasts lots of great "entertainment" package items. Unfortunately, if you can't hear anything, what good is the entertainment package? After repeated attempts to fix the problem through what HP claims to be "customer service", I have given up. What ticks me off the most is the sound issue I am encountering is a KNOWN problem at HP, yet they continue to sell this computer to unsuspecting consumers. If you like to be put on hold multiple times for at least 30 minutes and have the customer service people from another country dump your call when they don't know how to help you, this computers for you!

I purchased this machine one year ago. When I opening the computer it never worked right I had to send it back to the factory. Fine, it came back I set it up and once again not working correctly. Bang it goes back again and 2 weeks later it is returned once more.

It performs well enough with some service calls but I figure I better buy extra warranty which I am happy I did. Less than one year later the screen blows up and turns to colors just running down the screen. I am told to send it in with the box they sent me. Fine, fed ex picks it up and week after week I am told they are working on it.

Now the fun begins, the latest person from India tells me today the computer never arrived...WHAT NEVER ARRIVED... I call HP headquarters and am told now that they must file a claim with Fed Ex. For over one month after being told they are working on it I am in limbo.

I HATE HP for the computer and for there tech support. I will never buy another HP product and will bad mouth them to everybody until this is resolved.

I HATE HP I HATE HP I HATE HP I HATE HP I HATE HP I HATE HP I HATE HP

First the SPDIF port doesn't work. I spent 4 hours with tech support who had me load demo versions of other companies multimedia software, since they said HP's doesn't work. Finally we gave up.

Then it hasn't been able to burn a DVD yet, using HP media. Of course it doesn't come with a Windows install disk nor a recovery disk (you'll need the recovery disk), so you have to burn one. I requested one from HP, and only a month later they sent me one.

It crashed once in a while since I got it. After a while it started crashing every 2 to 15 minutes. Working with HP support, they had me reformat the hard disk and re-install with the recovery disk. This failed. So they sent me a new recovery disk. And a week later I got to try it again, and once again it failed. Then they transferred my case to the poorly named "quality" manager. He contacted me a week and a half later. They sent me a new hard disk, which arrived with the a bracket screw half way in, at an angle, and stripped. This made the disk not fit until I was able to replace the screw. It has now been 1 1/2 months, and I have a dead PC and the "quality" manager won't get back to me.

Also note that Visa 64 does not support DRM. So although this is an "entertainment" PC, it does not work with many online music and video services.

Needless to say I won't be purchasing HP products again. I have had problems with other brands of PCs, but they were always addressed promptly.

Maybe I was unlucky but within a few weeks the power kept crashing off so I would just restart it. Then, last week it crashed off and would not restart. Just 4 beeps every time and I could hear the hard drive turning bu no display. Customer support was helpful via on-line chat and eventually said I should mail it back to HP (it's under 1 year warranty). Fine, except that I bought in in the USA and now I'm in UK.
Now, getting on for 3 years later, I found that there's a serious issue with overheating causing failure. This combination of video card and processor is known to fail - I cannot recommend these laptops at all.
Almost 4 years after purchase: To anyone thinking of buying an HP product - beware! I have since found out that there is a manufacturing defect in the nvidia chip which HP knows about. Literally thousands of people have complained on an HP forum but due to the size (and cost) of the problem HP refuse to make a recall.