Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion DV9730US 17.0-inch Entertainment Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-64 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Radiance

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I recieved this laptop about 4 days ago and all I can say is wow! The laptop is performing beyond my expectations and the price while higher than other laptops was well worth it for this performing machine. I will admit to being biased to HP as all of my laptops have been HP and majority of my printers have been HP too. The details are as follows. Impressive screen with no dead pixels or such.
Long lasting battery life- I had it on all during and 1hr30min class with the internet on in balanced power mode and at the end of class I still had 80% of 100% battery left. Much better than my old lappy whose total time with wireless was 2hr max. I have watched 2 full lenght films on here in power saver and was able to get through both and had 40% battery left. Games take up a little more juice of your running full screen with serious graphics. The 17 screen is gorgeous and big. For some it may be too big but I like big screens for watching movies and practicing presentations. The included remote is a big bonus.
I despise Microsoft Works and can't afford the new Microsoft Office Student addition (even with the break through my college) So I downloaded OpenOffice 2.3 and all I can say is that I will never go back to Microsoft as long as OpenOffice keeps putting out such a quality product for free. I know I'm reviewing the lappy but this software is 150% better than MS Office. I will be upgrading the graphics card in a year or two (its good just not great). Internet over the n route is blazing fast. Have no problem picking up wireless signals. Has a handy little feature where if its going to overheat it shuts itself down. (I left it on on my bed and pillows got tossed on it while on and wonderful lappy that it is it shut down) I hate with a passion Vista but not much to do about it execpt maybe try Linux out though I haven't been a big fan of that either. Lets face it Vista is here and we are all going to have to learn to use and deal with it. Came with some decent games and the gadget side bar. Webcam and quickplay are awesome. I love that when using the webcam you get great resolution and no lag time in image (I use it to converse with the folks back home) Overall I rate this lappy a 4.7 out of 5 it only loses some due to OS and extra software junk preloaded on it.
UPDATE 4/12/2008: So I've been using this in class and doing some moderate to heavy photo and video editing and it works great. I will say that I have never had so many updates that take for ever on any of my other laptops but I assume this to be because of Vista. Lightscribe is fun and the built in card reader works like a gem. The outside (nice shiny black) does get horribly filthy with fingerprints and such but is easily cleaned with the microfiber cloth included. The sound from the speakers is good but not great now that I have been playing tunes on it (better than my previous lappy) I will still hook up to external speaker for when I have it connected to my HD projector. Speaking of which my vid on the projector be it through the TV on my comp or dvds played is amazing. Overall I now give it a 4.6/5 only taking of .1 because of the above mentioned issues. Will update more later...

I finally decided to upgrade my 8 year old Sony desktop (which still works fine). This is my first laptop! I am not a computer geek at all, but wanted something with a big screen as a home computer and take up little space. I also wanted a machine that had all the bells and whistles on it so I will hopefully last me along time and I wont need to upgrade anytime soon. Not to mention computers these days come with crazy amounts of memory compared to my old desktop. that was a plus

I wanted a Sony, but didnt find a laptop style to my liking. I like the HP 17" screen, and side numerical pad on right of keyboard. This machine is not that heavy as some people say (on other sites). I mean jeez go work out if you think this is too heavy. I will be using this mainly as home PC, but great to have the option of transporting it with me. The main attraction was the blu ray player of this model. I wanted the future hd disc technology and be able to play my collection of blu ray movies.

Also having the option to hook up to my TV via hdmi output port is awesome! I just got it yesterday, and figured out a little trick. Had to search all over online for solution. When you connect to hdtv with hdmi cable and want to watch a blu ray movie on hdtv....Make sure you go to your Nvidia console (your display settings program), Change to use single monitor instead of dual monitors displaying at same time because blu ray movies will not be allowed to be displayed on 2 monitors at same time for some reason. You will get a message that says "Content protected not allowed to play in this display mode". So change to single monitor as your hdtv and then you should be in business! Hope that helps anyone with the problem I encountered. I was frustrated because this was the sole purpose I wanted the blu ray player to hook up to my hdtv. Glad I found people with same problem and a solution online. So I am giving back to the online community. HP online support was no help they just said some blu ray discs will not play on HDTV only on the laptop screen because they have alot of memory on them. That is a load of bologna.

So far this is a great machine, works clean, very easy to setup, easy controls, cool remotes that come with it, tv tuner need some adjusting to get clear channels but cool feature still, and getting used to Vista but dont see any show stoppers i will catch on to it soon.

Your money will not go any farther than with this laptop. I knew how many features this computer had when I bought it but I was still surprised to find so much stuff in the box when I received it yesterday. I have tried out many of the features already and everything seems to work as advertised. I was most impressed with the tv tuner. It works great and the laptop comes with a full-size remote (as well as a mini one) so you can change the channels without having to touch the notebook at all. The remote also works great with music (including I-tunes). The large widescreen 17" display is great for watching movies. Another nice feature is the amount of ports (HDMI, S-Video, 4 USB) this thing has: more than you could ever need.

Received my DV9750US yesterday. It's got some good features, big bright screen, even when running on battery power. If you know how to set the power settings in Vista. It came with 3GB memory, I wanted 4GB. Stick with the 3GB unless you are running a 64 bit OS. Laptop seems to be plenty fast enough, but I have not installed my Apps yet. Boots up fast and shuts down fast.

Only three stars for the following reasons:

HP's Quickplay does not display in full screen, or at least I have not found the control yet.

Mine came with a Blue-Ray drive, waste of money because it would not play on my HD LCD TV via the built in HDMI port.
Why have a HDMI output and HD DVD player if you can't watch a movie in full screen mode (Blue-Ray only plays with HP's Quickplay software) I would have gotten the model with a HD drive and 2.2 GHZ DC had I known that.

Next is the keyboard, the 'Shift' Key seem too small, or the 'Enter' Key is too big. Takes getting used to.

This model also came with two 250GB hard drives, one for the OS and one for Data. I have not seen any RAID options which would have been nice to have.

I would give the DV9750US 4 or 4 1/2 stars, but the Blue-Ray limitations or QuickPlay limitation just pissed me off. Other than that and no RAID, this may prove to be the best laptop I've had. I'll still buy another one, without the Blue-Ray drive.

Good but not Great.

The specs on this notebook are better than any comparable ones I have found anywhere for $1500. The screen is great, its fast, powerful, has blue ray, and lots of TV tuner stuff I didnt need.
What I didnt like..........
I happened to get a new one with defects. The internet explorer locked up daily which is not cool. There was also a rattle inside the case on the left near one of the hard drives, that rattled when typing or using the touch pad (which was very good. Not too sensitive.)The internet explorer would lock up daily if the unit was left on in any mode for more than a few minutes. It wasnt a virus or anything I installed. It was probably a vista problem but I never could get it to stop. The screen also dims way too much when unplugged. Not a good feature! The battery could be at 100% but the screen would dim regardless as soon as it was unplugged by some 30%. Made it very difficullt to see. There was included a lot of TV tuner stuff thats really not needed. I wish they would remove all that uneccessary TV stuff and work on the screen dimming.

I reaaly liked the notebook. The problems I had were immediate, streight out of the box. There was no replacement available so I had to return it. I must have gotton one of those 5% thats defective. It sucks but it happens. I havent seen any reviews that have had similar problems so maybe its an isolated problem.

Overall, the notebook is a great buy......but with the screen dimming like it does (lenovos do the same thing), the problems I had with it brand new, it still gets a 3 just for the specs. and performance. Its almost a perfect comp. as long as you take along the plug.

Ill probably buy another one!

I just bought this HP DV9750 laptop as an upgrade from the the HP DV6000 for school, and so far I very pleased with the construction, design and functionality. Mine has 3GB of RAM (Max 4GB), 500 GB hard drive (250x2), Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 USB Ports, Bluray/DVD R/RW drive and the built in card reader (very handy). I use it mostly for school, some of my classes include Photoshop CS3, Indesign CS3, Illustrater CS3, Adobe Premiere Elements 4, Quark, Web design and development, this thing is able to run all my programs with no problems and at acceptable rates when running multiple Adobe programs. The operating system i have is the Vista Home Premium. I agree that all the TV tuning stuff is overkill, but it did come with a REAL Remote to control the Media Center (I'm using it on my desktop though). I am very satisfied with this Laptop. I would buy it again and highlt recommend it to anyone looking for a good laptop at a reasonable price (it was worth the cost). Good Job HP.

PS: With the NVIDIA graphics card it will not only handle HD movies but it can play games like Neverwinter Nights 2 (graphic intense) with no problem.

I purchased the HP d9740us at a local retailer. What initially drew me to this laptop was the blu-ray drive and 17" screen. Throw in the HDMI connector and you have a winner.
Read carefully what's in the box because you get just about everything you need including 2 remotes a tv tuner, antenna and some necessary cables.
I don't like Vista but I'm leaving it installed as it seems that drivers for this laptop might not be easily available from HP for Windows XP.
I'm also not a fan of HP Quick Play but it does the job. Word of caution newer Blu-ray discs may not play. I couldn't get Spiderman 3 to play at all however other discs played very well.
Hooking this laptop up my big-screen tv provides an awesome experience. The quality of the blu-ray is amazing and having the remote makes it easy to use your laptop.
The right side shift key is small but having a full size keyboard and numeric keypad is very handy. The DVD touch pad is also good to have. If you had a previous version of Quick Play you were able to play dvds without booting that is no longer possible.
I don't like the placement of the power cord jack as I think it leads to problems when it is on the side rather than the back, in fact there are no connectors on the back whatsoever everything is on the sides.
Built in speakers are ok not spectacular.
All in all you will get a lot for your dollar and I can recommend this laptop highly.

I seem to have been a Gateway computer person all my life. Now I find I am in possession of a HP laptop. This unit is fantastic. I am still learning Vista, but once I get that taken care of I have no doubts this will be the finest computer I have ever used. I like the appearance, the versatility, the function of this unit. I highly recommend everyone take a good hard look at this unit.

I bought this from Amazon to replace my aging HP dv5470, the prices dropped a bit after my purchase but its still a good buy. Performance aside, getting the same config in any other brand is not possible for a comparable price. And there is synergy to the configuration. Except for the graphics card, which is a bit let down for this system, everything else from Application performance to disk response is great. Battery lasts about 1:20 on average. Camera clarity, Mic response, Screen crispness meet my expectation.

On the negative side, I didn't like the resistance offered by the lid on closing, feels a bit rough. The disc could have been partitioned to prevent data loss in case of a recovery.
Overall, recommended if you don't want to go above 1.4k

I purchased the 9720US basic model because of a huge price reduction AND Rebate combination that just took place and dropped the price dramatically. This is my first 17" laptop. I spend too much time on the road and wanted to see my kids and grandkids in full screen using a built in video camera - AND it works great.

Appearance: Layout is ok, beautiful shiny cover, stout hinges and overall good construction. 17" High gloss screen rendered beautiful video pictures in controlled lighting situations - but terrible headache inducing glare reflecting from overhead office lights or sunlight.

Features: Screen with NVIDIA 7150M 799MB shared processor memory gave great resolution. USB ports, firewire and networking plugs are adequate and positioned conventially. DVD /R/W and DVD Etching on the superdrive is cool. 5 in 1 card reader lacks a slot for my CF memory cards from my Canon dSLR.

Processing Power: As a heavy photo editor user - the processor is adequate - but using a full Photoshop package - you never have enough horse power for photo rendering. 2 GB of RAM and about 140GB of FREE disk space on a 160 GB HD are adequate. I use a powered hub and a pocket 160GB hard drive to store my photos.

Ergonomics, WI-FI and Battery Life: Keyboard is full sized - with numeric keypad - the only annoyance being an undersized right Shift key that takes some getting used to. Built in WI-FI can be used at almost full strength almost anywhere in my 2400 sq ft house. Battery life is about 90 minutes depending on activity - but to be expected from a unit with a big, bright wide screen.

Conclusion: As this model's project life matures - steep money discounts and rebates are coming available on an adequate machine used for normal desktop replacement. Overall - unless you need specific processing speed and capability - the AMD chipped HP 9720 remains an industry price leader. The days are short before a newer model is ready to replace it on store shelves. An OUTSTANDING value for the money. The only tangable downside is the forced replacement of all my computer luggage - that purchased for my 15.4" laptops no longer fits this wider screened beauty. If 7.7 pounds seems like too much to carry - purchase a 17" rollerbag.