HP Pavilion ze5185 Laptop (2.4-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

by HP

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13 x 10.7 x 1.8 inches ; 7.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006LHEB
• Item model number: F4684H#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 29, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

If you’re shopping for a high-end portable computer that packs all the processing punch of a top-of-the-line desktop system, consider the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ze5185 notebook PC a strong contender. The ze5185’s lightning-fast processor and premium features will satisfy the most demanding needs at home or on the road, whether you’re running advanced productivity applications, watching new DVD releases, or playing the hottest new games.

The ze5185’s 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor sizzles through virtually any software. Its 128-bit ATI Mobility Radeon 2- and 3-D architecture and dedicated 32 MB of DDR SDRAM, together with the ze5185’s ultrahigh-resolution, 15-inch, active-matrix SXGA TFT display, elicit the full visual splendor of Hollywood blockbusters on DVD or 3-D simulator games. A built-in DVD/CD-RW combination drive (24x/8x/8x, 8x DVD) lets you watch movies on DVD, listen to and make CDs, and rapidly back up data.

The ze5185 provides expansive memory and storage. Its 60 GB hard drive consumes large application and data files, and its 512 MB of DDR SDRAM--expandable to a maximum of 1,024 MB--lets you run multiple applications smoothly. An integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45) connector makes networking easy. The notebook offers a Type II or III CardBus-enabled PC Card slot. Ports include two USB inputs, a PCI port replicator, a FireWire high-speed connector, a 25-pin parallel port, a serial connector, a PS2 keyboard/mouse connector, and 15-pin VGA and S-video TV-out plugs. The ze5185 also includes a 56K integrated modem with RJ-11 connector.

Bundled software includes Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, HP Memories Disc slide show (home DVD player-compatible), InterVideo WinDVD, CyberLink PowerDirector Pro VE video-editing tools, HP RecordNow CD-RW recording utility, ArcSoft Funhouse and PhotoImpression image-editing tools, Corel WordPerfect and Quattro Pro productivity applications, Quicken Financial Center by Intuit, Encyclopedia Britannica Ready Reference, Wild Tangent 3-D games, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, and Norton AntiVirus 2002 with a three-month live update.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best LCD screen I've found on a 15" notebook, December 28, 2002

By 

Dave (Portland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion ze5185 Laptop (2.4-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

Feature wise this HP looks similar to other high-end notebooks out there. What sets it apart is the extremely high quality display HP wisely endowed it with. With a faster response time, higher brightness, and more pixels, HP has outclassed its competitors with this offer.

The only benchmark Amazon offers if the pixel count (look under the Tech Specs), but you can use it as a good judge screen quality. The higher the count, the better the quality of the image (and it tends to indicate a newer, better LCD was used).

This notebook has a 1400-by-1050 LCD. Most of its competitors only offer a 1024-by-768 LCD, or at best a 1280-by-1024. By adding a LCD with 10% more pixels than the best the competition has to offer you get a sharper image (and sacrifice a little battery life).

At 6.4 pounds this is lighter than most, though not the lightest. It falls into the mobile desktop range (as opposed to thin-and-light) but thanks to higher quality components and engineer (it has a first class cooling system) you will see battery life that rivals notebooks aimed more for mobility than power.

You can find more mobile systems with more battery life, but you won't find one with the first class features this one has.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad looking, but Good!, January 1, 2003

By 

Lexin Shan "outdateboy" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion ze5185 Laptop (2.4-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I have to say that this laptop's looking is awkward. Compare to Toshiba's or any other japanese brands, the HP's computers look especially big. However, when you look at the technical datas, you find its actual size is smaller and lighter than any other P4 2.4G. It's just a matter of appearance design.

This laptop has two fans, which means the P4 2.4G is very hot. But the noise is very acceptable. The DVD/CDRW drive is kind of noisy when running fast, but it's unavoidable.

Compare to Toshiba's, HP's have PS/2 port so that you can keep your old mouse with you. It has 3 USB ports while Toshiba's have only 2.

The battery can last about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The touch-pad is wonderful. There is a touch-scrolling-bar on the right side of it. The touch-scrolling-bar is very easy to use compare to Sony's little wheel. It seems only HP has this wonderful idea.

One thing worth mentioning about this laptop is its very high LCD resolution. It's the highest you can find among P4 2.4G laptops. Of course, the fonts look smaller, but the clear LCD display makes small fonts comfortable and your desktop "bigger".

This laptop is more a desktop replacement than mobile computer. (fast, complete features as desktop) It's still movable but kind of big. If you really care the mobility, buy a P4 mobile CPU based laptop with a higher price. They are smaller and lighter.

I am sure you can get a very similar product from Toshiba much cheaper than HP. but I personally don't like japanese stuff. So this is the best i can find among non-japanese brands. If you don't have problem with japanese stuff, you'd better buy Toshiba's with a better looking and better price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality components, March 19, 2005

By 

Not an HP notebook fan now (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP Pavilion ze5185 Laptop (2.4-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I've had nothing but trouble wth this computer. I've had to return it several times to Best Buy (where I bought it) and directly to HP. Neither has been able to fix the latest problems.

The power switch wore out quick. It takes several tries to get it to power up. The USB, serial and power connections on the back loosen up. I loose connections constantly.

They raved about the speaker sysystem in this thing, but it's barely audible. Use headphones instead!

The battery life is rediculously short. I've tried the buit in optimizer and other suggestions of "exercising" the battery, but it won't last 2 hours even when word processing. It won't last long enough to watch half a DVD.

The display still works fine now (the reason I bought this model). I had a flickering problem at first but HP solved that one. HP did fix the problem crashing often too. They alos repaired the doors on the floppy that felloff the first week I owned it.

This unit isn't beat on. I am the sole user of this system and it has been taken VERY good care of. Never dropped. Rarely taken outside my home.

It could be a great system if HP used better connectors and hardware.

Dave