Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion DV6-2162NR 15.6-Inch Black Laptop--Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I bought this HP for my wife to replace her 3 year old Toshiba. It's 100% her computer but she places everything technical in our lives on me and then holds me accountable for its performance. My wife is brutal on electronics and her laptop is no exception. The Toshiba had a VERY hard life and ticked along perfectly until the past few months. After wasting $200 on a failed repair (hard drive) I decided it was cheaper to replace it than to nurse it along. I initially went shopping for another Toshiba and frankly, I feel like I would be writing a 5 star review for a Toshiba if it hadn't come down to a $150 price difference. I was able to use the competing Toshiba at a retailer, but when I went to Amazon I found this HP. Nearly identical in performance and appearance; aside from a couple of keyboard control features they were the same.

I bought the HP, Amazon shipped it FedEX and it arrived to Fairbanks Alaska in less than 48 hours (used standard shipping, nothing special). She loves it, charged it up and it performs flawlessly and much better than my 8 month old Dell XPS (Argh, never again...long story). I have not attempted to load Office 2007 yet, but suspect from my research on 64 bit systems, it will work fine. Neither one of us cares for the bubble scheme and thinks it detracts from the professional look of the rest of the finish (petty, I know).

The mouse pad works perfectly and I particularly like the keyboard layout and feel of the keys. I REALLY like the number pad without having to buy a 17+ inch system which is of course standard now.

4 USB ports, 1 HDMI output, a great LCD screen and Graphics card...zero to complain about. Oh, and Windows 7 works very well.

I'll report back if it doesn't hold up to the flagrant neglect my wife typically inflicts on her electronics, but as of for now she is rightfully treating like a shiny new sports car!

Alright, so I'm 26 and a student, and I had been making due with a old Dell Dimension for the last 3 years, so hopelessly out of date that I wont spare you the details. I needed an upgrade and wanted a laptop in the $600-800 range that had a speedy processor, ability to handle videos of all types smoothly (esp. HD), enough RAM to multi-task with heavy programs and not break a sweat, lots of slots USB and otherwise and 500 gigs of space. When I saw the specs on this Pavillion it met all my qualifications, with good battery life for my traveling (I go from FL to NY often) and a nice look and smooth functionality/keyboard to boot.
Obviously, buying a laptop is not a light consideration, especially when you have been working toward it for a while like me. So naturally upon booting up I immediately put it through the ringer. I loaded a printer, scanner and second monitor into the USBs, then used Nero to burn a DVD while watching Futurama on the monitor and Inglorious Basterds playing in 1080p on the main screen. Additionally I had iTunes doing a mass conversion while scanning some images in the background, with BitTorrent and Limerwire downloading and WinAVI converter making a .VOB as well. I had NO problems whatsoever = no lag, no image interlacing, no errors or delays in the converting/burning, no internet problems, no scanning issues or anything. That immediately sold it for me; if it can handle all the tasks I use most frequently all at once and look terrific doing it, who am I to complain?
4 GB of RAM is plenty, and though I prefer AMD in general the Intel i3 chipset is powerful and well worth it over Core Duo processors. Everything looks gorgeous, especially vivid colors in HD - South Park is a good example. The HDMI exporting is wonderful and looks great on my big screen. I'm never a big fan of proprietary software, but HP has a number of useful programs on here. The Mediasmart app is really good for HD, much better than Media Player in my estimation. The IDT sound options are terrific, especially for creating an artificial depth of field out of tiny Altec Lansing speakers - not bad themselves, by the way. The pad is great, with a scroll bar built in, the keyboard is big and has a number pad, a mic jack and two headphone jacks are in the front, and it's not too heavy either - I mean I could go on and on but you get the point. The only thing remotely disappointing was the webcam but honestly I don't care about it one iota.
This machine is sleek, speedy and strong with lots of options and will definitely be in use for a long time for me at least. Highly recommended.

I picked this up at another store, the dv6-2155dx, and I was a little unsure of getting the i3 processor instead of a model with the i5 or i7. I'm sure those are even faster but I can say for sure, this laptop is the quickest, most responsive, of any laptop I've had and I go through a lot by frequently upgrading and selling or loaning my previous.
In this case I wanted to get a machine built with Windows 7 instead of trying to install it on my previous Vista system.
Standout features for me so far:
* Very solid and comfortable (and quiet) keyboard with lots of space, very ergonomic.
* The fact that it has a number pad area like a desktop keyboard.
* The widescreen performance and look. It just totally feels like a 17" screen even though its not.
* Speed, as I mentioned.
* Startup time is excellent. I can open and use an application in < 30-secs. I can also start many applications at once without it skipping a beat.
* Quiet and speedy CD-rom.
* Nice 500GB hard drive
Potential drawbacks.
* The i3 is very new but also the bottom of the tier of this generation of intel processors. It might become dated or bog down after I add a lot more data/programs to the system. The 4GB of RAM is a big help in keeping things moving.

Overall I am very pleased with what I got. It's very solid feeling and very quiet and doesn't get hot at all.
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Edit 6/18/2010 to add: When I said "*I can open and use an application in < 30-secs", I meant that I can do that from the point it's not yet on. So in the morning, turn on the power, login with my password, let all the startup processes finish and begin to idle, then open any program ---> all before 30 secs have passed.
And I've now added photoshop over 10,000 large jpg's and RAW image files, large iTunes library, etc., and it's performance hasn't noticeably declined. Just takes a bit more time for maintenance (more files to scan and defrag).
Still no heat, even when running photoshop & iTunes, Firefox & Chrome browsers, all together.
And it's so quiet I do not hear it unless I hold it up to my ear and I've got normal hearing still (thankfully).
And Win 7 has been a pleasure. You can customize the desktop, start menu, and taskbar to your preferences and make them like XP, which I did at first. But I went back to the original Win 7 theme and love it. Explore the jumplist features.
Also, the 'Live taskbar previews' (when you hover over the icon or bar and get a small window) is more interactive than with Vista(Aero). You can turn it off if you don't like it of course. I did with my previous Vista laptop because it was sluggish but this laptop has no trouble with the enhanced appearance tools.
So still quite happy.

This is a very nice laptop. Here are the highlights:

The Core i3 runs cool and fast
The 15 inch screen is bright and clear
The 500GB hard drive is a good size and is also 7200 rpm (many laptops in this price range are only 5400rpm)
The keyboard is comfortable and includes a number pad. At the top is a smooth touchpad style volume control/mute button.
The synaptics trackpad has a dedicated vertical scroll area and the updated drivers now support three finger scrolling.
Not too much preinstalled junkware to remove.
Good amount of ports (4 USBs, one which handles eSata, plus an HDMI port) in addition to the standards you'd expect on a laptop.
Speakers are nothing special, which is to be expected, but the computer comes with a small remote control that can be used to control audio and video playback. It might only work on the preinstalled HP media software. The remote can be conveniently stored in the express card slot on the left side of the computer.
Fairly lightweight.
Wireless-N capability

Negatives? Not much really.
It won't handle heavy duty gaming, but that's not what it's designed for.
This model doesn't include Lightscribe or bluetooth, which is important to some people.
You can definitely see fingerprints and I could do without the bubble graphics, but it's still a very sleek looking computer.
The case is basic plastic, not ultra-durable aluminum. A sleeve/case is probably a good investment.

I compared this to a number of other similarly priced laptops (mostly other HPs, Dells, and Sonys) and feel pretty confident that I made the right decision.

I saw this computer in Staples and I was drawn to it then. It was a bit cheaper because it was a floor model, but I wanted it. I especially wanted a full keyboard, because I do accounting work from home. The first week, I was very nervous with such a tiny computer. I was barely able to type. Not now... Now my fingers fly! I love Windows 7. I love how compact this thing is. The screen is huge compared to my desktop (which is going to Goodwill).

I have a few minor complaints:

I have turned off the wireless by mistake twice because there is a blue "symbol" for the wireless at the top of the keyboard that is actually a "touch screen button". It is very easy to run your finger over it and think you don't have a wireless connection. There's also a symbol the mute the sound to the left of the WiFi, but I still didn't catch on that fast.

I would prefer more of the USB connection ports not so close to the front of the computer. I would rather not feel like I can dislodge them. Maybe it's because I'm not quite used to having a laptop as yet.

Other than that, I love this computer. I thought I wanted a Dell, but not now. I've used the service with HP when I had a problem. They were terrific. I couldn't have asked for more. I did some research before I bought this HP and other people gave it high marks, too. It's a good deal for the money.

Well I just got my notebook in the mail today but so far I am very happy. I like Windows 7, and the webcam works great. I used it to talk with my family and my kids had a lot of fun using the special effects with the webcam when we were using Skype. The system starts up fast which is a really good thing even after loading all my stuff to the notebook I had it all done in a few hours. I did a lot of research before I purchased this and for the price you can't go wrong.

After several months of using this laptop, I still give it 5 stars. It never gave any problems and it is really fast. When my daughter needed a laptop I got another one the same kind for her since I know what I am getting.
I teach in an online university , I needed a fast computer, and this laptop is so fast. Windows 7 is great too.

Overall I love this computer, but I am having constant issues with the installed wireless device. It refuses to connect to any routers except the occasional 20 minute span here and there. I have researched online and found this is due to a defect issue with the hardware used and Windows 7 compatibility with various routers. I have tried it with a NetGear router as well as a Linksys Router. I have upgraded all firmware and even upgraded the Laptop's drivers for the wireless device. Still having issues. I will continue to find a better solution to it, but I fear I may have to break down and buy a USB adapter to get my wireless connection for this laptop.

It's been a bit of a journey with this laptop. I purchased it for my wife's birthday, with Amazon offering by far the best deal I could find online or locally. It arrived in good time, and looked sleek. I began setting everything up, to have it ready to be presented to her. Figuring I'd turn it on and have all the usual setup work done for her, I encountered a roadblock - a faulty fan was preventing it from passing Bios, and that was all she wrote. Dead-on-arrival.

Amazon was able to quickly send me a replacement, and with a bit of trepidation, I went through the process again. This time, much better luck. Everything working very well, and my wife quickly falling in love with it after having nothing but problems with her previous Sony Vaio from day one.

All was well until 2 days later. After spending hours and hours transferring all the necessary media files and downloading all the program and driver updates - the optical drive wasn't being recognized, and I couldn't load the very last bit of software (printer drivers). Not again!

Unfortunately, I was unable to troubleshoot the issue myself. Not wanting to get yet another replacement sent out and spend another two days transferring everything, I contacted HP support with little hope they'd be able to address it. Seems I had some preconceived notions based on feedback I'd heard from others.

Much to my surprise, I was able to work with an agent via chat who quickly identified the issue as a known problem (upper and lower filters needing to be removed in the registry keys). He sent me detailed instructions and about 10 minutes later, everything was working again. Great!

On to the system itself.

Pro's:
Very sleek and shiny. Good ergonomics, the keyboard and touchpad work very well.
Great performance. Able to run multiple programs, network, etc. very quickly. Huge improvement from our 2 year old Vaio.
My first experience with Win7 - already a fan.
HP support pulled through for me.

Con's:
Dead on arrival and encountered problem on replacement after only 2 days.
Battery life would be pretty hard-pressed to last 4.5 hours. With typical energy-saving settings unplugged, this might last 2.5 hours in my experience - but that's about what I expected.

I'd give this 5-stars easily if it weren't for the two quality issues missed.

Time will tell if the issues I experienced were isolated, but I certainly hope so. The laptop itself has been a joy.

I love this computer. I was looking for a new laptop to replace my ancient one. I did a lot of research and found this to be a smoking good deal for the price. The fact that every single fingerprint shows up is a little abnoxious but the finish is beautiful so it is worth the trade off of having to wipe it down all of the time. The laptop is super fast and has excellent features. This is definately the laptop to buy!!!