Customer Reviews

HP ProBook 4530s XU015UT 15.6" LED Notebook (2.1 GHz Intel Core i3-2310M Dual-Core Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

***Pros***
I bought this laptop as a family utility machine, it sits in my living room and at least 4 people use it regularly. I was looking for something that was new and had new components, this has a 2nd gen Intel I3 processor along with a USB 3.0 port and bluetooth 3.0. The major pro to this machine is the price along with some new features. The screen display and keyboard are nice as well. It also has a 720P Webcam with facial recognition software and fingerprint reader(it doesn't always work though). For those that care about noise this thing doesn't really make any, my previous laptop fan ran a lot.

***Cons***
I took a star off because the machine has lots of crap software on it. It would be nice if you could have the option of just getting it shipped with the OS only. There are also 3 partitions on the hard drive, 1 called HP recovery, 2nd which is FAT32 for HP tools, and a 3rd for everything else. I'm still working on removing crap software, but it still runs fast and boots in 20 - 30 seconds.

***Other***
This is not a gaming laptop so if you want it to play the latest and greatest games look elsewhere. You should be able to play most web games or anything that doesn't require a dedicated video card.

Overall I am very satisfied with the purchase. I researched for about a month straight and ended up on this one based on highest functionality for the price combined with the newest hardware.

***Update 8/19/2011***
I updated to 5 stars because I am very satisfied with this machine. The processor is really fast and I really like the USB 3.0 backups are super fast. I don't use the webcam or transport the laptop much so I can't really comment on that. For the price its an excellent machine.

We (I and my wife) did our own comparison with other brands and found this to have the best specification and also value for money. It is originally sold for 570-580$ in HP, so getting this at a huge discount from CircuitCity is really great.

Our goal was to find a decent laptop for home use within budget of 400-450$ dollars. We compared HP-Pavilion g6-1b79dx priced at 429.99$, Toshiba - C655-S5128 at 449.99$, Toshiba - C655-S5212 at 399.99$, Dell Inspiron 15R i3-380M at 399$, Lenovo ideapad z560 at 449.99$.

For this kind of price, i receive a HD webcam, anti-glare screen, bluetooth and WiFi. Plus i also receive a HDMI port for viewing images/movies on my larger LCD TV. It also comes with Windows 7 (64 bit) which enables the OS to handle large amounts of data (RAM) when compared to 32 bit. The only flaw if i could say so is that it comes with 320 GB Hard drive whereas others might offer you a 500 GB capacity, but who cares! atleast i find the storage capacity enough. Also only HP Probook 4530 XU015UT provides both, bluetooth and WiFi when compared within this price range. (so transfer files from any device to your PC hassle-free)

This is touted as a business laptop in HP website, so you know it means business and not some decorative (read flashy) home laptop. It also comes with a brushed aluminium finish.

This laptop also offers HP enhanced security comes with fingerprint, face detection and other security features which you can enable using HP proprietory software. I found it so good that i ordered 2 of these from Amazon.

We have been using it for about 2 weeks now and thoroughly enjoy watching movies, using WiFi, Skype and other stuff. CircuitCity promptly delivered this to us and i have no reason to complain whatsoever.

Hope you all will find the review helpful

This laptops is awesome.

This laptop has the sandy bridge version of the i3 which has really strong integrated graphics card. and very quick processor.

I was actually able to get around 35 FPS on Civilization V on low setting which means I could run smoothly at medium settings, which also means that you can play alot of other games like MW2, Fifa, NFS, Portal, Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3, and games at this intensity on low settings. Fifa will surely run on medium settings.

Aside from the specs, The touchpad is a little bit rough at first as if you're touching very fine sandpaper, but after a while of use you get used to it and realize that it actually works better than glossy touchpads on other laptops.

Also the USB hubs are a little bit hard to get extensions in them, but for me that's a plus so that the USBs don't fall off easily.

The screen is really vibrant, although I haven't tested it in direct sunlight. You will also notice that there is a lot of space beyond the display in the front (a good .5 inch on both sides and like 1.5 inches on the top.)

The speakers are actually really loud and crisp clear.

There is bluetooth built in. And there is two USB 3.0 hubs.

It ways a little bit more than your average 15.6 inch laptop, which I guess is due to the brushed aluminum finish on the back and surrounding the touchpad.

Overall this is the best laptop purchase I have ever made.

There seems to be a lot of conflicting reviews on this laptop. Some say they have one usb 3.0 port, some say they have two. I purchased this laptop a couple of weeks ago, and the laptop I received DID NOT have any usb 3.0 ports. If that is a problem for anybody they should probably look elsewhere.

As far as the build quality, this laptop is very nice. I really like the brushed metal lid and the hard plastic bottom seems sturdy enough to me. The webcam is decent enough and the dual microphones perform really well. The chiclet keyboard is really nice, and it's convenient to have a number pad. I find myself using the fingerprint sensor to sign in to windows a lot, and so far I've had no issues. Once again the lack of usb 3.0 might but an issue for some, but I find the four usb 2.0 ports sufficient.

Performance wise this laptop is very good for the price. It can definitely handle web applications with ease, but can also easily handle programs like Lightroom 3, and of course microsoft's suite of productivity programs. I have also done some light gaming with games like Counterstrike Source, Portal 2, and Team Fortress 2 with no problems at all. Anything more demanding than those games, and you should look elsewhere (minecraft gave me lots of frame droppage). One more note, the computer was loaded with a lot of crapware (as expected from hp). I had over 90 processes and 50% memory usage on startup, but I don't consider it a huge issue because it's easily fixed if you want.

Overall this laptop is really nice and I would definitely recommend it to anyone except hardcore gamers and others who would need a dedicated GPU. For the price you can't really go wrong!

This is an excellent computer,lending me to believe that HP puts a lot into their probook series of laptops. The touch pad is annoying, but not annoying enough to complain. And as far as the extra software, there was not a lot on it at all. And all you need is a good uninstaller (a third party one, I suggest either Revo or Advanced Uninstaller Pro). Took what I wanted off and I have no problems. This thing has so many other features as well. I would suggest not to uninstall any of the HP software, for some of them have been very helpful. Overall, this was a good solid buy, and I am very happy.

Oh, and unless it is a high model specially designed LP, none of them have good speakers, so don't expect them to. Find a good pair of usb speakers and call it a day.

This laptop is great for the value. My only complain is that HP could have used a higher quality LCD. In order to satisfy my eyes, I had to play around with graphic settings until I found something suitable. Not a big deal and only a minor hiccup when looking to buy a replacement computer on a budget. Overall its been great. I recommend installing a fresh copy of windows, you can find drivers on HP.com. The computer comes loaded with bloatware.

I recently bought the HP probook 4530 with 4 gb ram and 320 gb oh hdd space. First of all let me go ahead say that the product looks really good and i really love the finish. It doesn't attract skin oil as much as the plastic finished laptops.

The battery life is decent but not exceptional. The webcam and all the HP built in-software is okay and does not take up too much resources. I am not a big gamer and hence the graphic detailing with the intel card is good for me. The speakers are really good with this laptop and the sound card has built in equalizers which enhances your listening experience.

The only concern till now is the mouse pad and you need to get used to the two finger zoom and scroll. Its really annoying when you type and tends to get in the way. The keyboard comes with a numpad, so that's a definite plus and its quite roomy too. Overall a great laptop for the price and so far no complaints from me.

Bronze laptop is beautiful and matte screen is a joy to read during the daytime. This is just what I was looking for, minus a lighted keyboard. If HP incorporates lighted keyboards into this design, I will be in heaven. Price was very good and delivery was flawless. Set-up takes about 15 minutes, not counting all the Windows updates, but still this is much easier & less stress than getting a new computer ten years ago. My old laptop did not make the ratio correct for streaming to TV, but this one does it perfectly, filling the whole screen with the programs. Comes with Windows Starter -- may not need to purchase separate Windows anymore, more money saved. Terrific purchase, so pleased.

I bought this laptop specifically for its "hackintosh" potential, and it hasn't disappointed on any level. As a PC, it's not too bloated with crap, although to be honest it was a bit much for me, and I backed up my activation, loaded a clean install using disc images from Microsoft, and restored the activation. Performance is nice, and for most users 4GB of RAM is enough (FYI it's only on one stick, so upgrades aren't that wasteful and are rather cheap). The hardware is rather nice, especially for the price, and I've never felt like I was using a cheap laptop.

As a hackintosh, it's lived up to everything I expected, and installation was easy enough (not without a few hiccups, most of which came from me trying to follow two different guides--just follow one guide!!!). It can dual boot (though not with Boot Camp, as that's for legit Macs), run Parallels, and other than Bluetooth and HDMI audio, everything works beautifully as a Mac (Lion 10.7.2)! Honestly, it's better for me (I prefer the widescreen full keyboard setup of this PC to my GF's MacBook).

Highly recommended no matter what your uses may be.

The laptop itself isn't too bad. When I first received it, I thought it had too much bloatware (expected with HP) and that it could've been a bit faster (both the OS and Internet Explorer are about as fast as my '07 Acer Aspire with Vista). Still, it came preloaded with some programs I'd need (pdf reader, flash, word, etc.) and it did what it was supposed to do reliably, so I would've given it a 4-5 star rating. HOWEVER, not even 3 weeks after receiving my notebook, I turn it on and get a DOS screen saying "Start-up failed." I then have to call HP's help center to receive support from people that I honestly think can barely understand me at times (and vice versa). They send me the OS disk (does not come with comp, fyi) which I use to no avail. After running HP's system diagnostics (built into computer), I find out that there's something wrong with the hard-disk. I reseat it and still, Windows is unable to boot. This of course means either the hard-disk or motherboard is physically non-functioning (thanks HP). Despite my concerns against it, I end up having to send my computer in for repair. HP is not affiliated with any computer service companies near me that work on consumer/non-business pc's. To HP's credit, they sent me a shipping box and label quickly, free of charge. The issue was fixed within a day of me sending my notebook and shipped back immediately after service to arrive at my house the next day. I end up missing the first delivery attempt (didn't expect it back that fast) so I have to wait the weekend for the next delivery. But, the next delivery never came. After a few days I call FEDEX, and they inform me that my package is MISSING. I end up going through tons of trouble with them, including an ironic twist where they try to tell me that they never received the package from HP (Door-tag number and tracking brought that argument to an end, though). After I finally get Fedex to admit their wrongdoing AND that they'll compensate me (through HP), I call HP and try to file a claim like I'm supposed to. Once again, the pseudo-language barrier made things that much more tedious. In the end, I was supposed to be called after a few days by a "higher-up" agent who'd handle my case. Nobody ever called. I eventually end up calling them again to receive basically the same response: they will deal with Fedex, but I'll have to speak with a case worker who should be calling me in about a week. Great. I'm also told that it will probably take "a lot of weeks" for me to talk with HP about a replacement because of how long it will take Fedex and HP to work things out; Fedex will probably be compensating HP directly, so I will still have to deal with HP about my compensation. And, given the amount of run-around I've been getting, I'm not even sure if I'll ever be compensated. It's already been 3 weeks since I started dealing with this. At this point I'd just get a refund if I could. I wanted to give a more positive review, but the malfunctioning hardware plus the lengthy amount of time I've spent dealing with HP and Fedex have me feeling nothing but regret for buying this notebook. I was already wary of HP products, but now, I'm not sure if I'll be using HP in the future. And, btw, I'm DEFINITELY done with Fedex.

UPDATE: OK, have been meaning to update this for a long time, but never did. To the commenters, yes, I do realize that HP did not manufacture the hard-drive; however, they did install a defective piece of hardware into one of their products, which is their fault and ultimately reflects upon them. I actually addressed a lot of these concerns in a follow-up MONTHS ago, but I could not send my comment through for some reason. Anyway, got my laptop back at the end of Sept. (I think that's ~7wks after identifying the prob., if you were wondering). It has been working fine (typing on it now). In my failed follow-up, I said I'd bump up my rating from 1 star to 3 once I got compensated. Done. I really have no further complaints. I'm leaving my original post up because I feel it's a more candid account of what I was dealing with at the time. And, just for the record, I do like this laptop.