HP Pavilion DV9812US 17" Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-60 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium) Reviews

• Good Notebook

  
  By ARCTY5ZV8VMZE on 2008-04-12
  First and foremost, this notebook is good as a desktop, why? It is 17" wide and hence quite heavy. So if you are planning lugging this everyday, you better have a good shoulder.
  
  Performance wise, 3GB RAM helps it run super fast. Screen is great, crisp and clear. Comes with a remote but don't really count on it - has very bare functions and can be useful only during DVD viewing.
  
  Like any other new notebook, it is very quiet (no fan noise). All in all a very good notebook and wide screen allows you to open multiple windows placing them side by side. If you require to save space on your desk this is a great alternative.
  
  

• Nice machine...if you like Vista

  
  By AQGTW25FEI9D6 on 2008-04-27
  This is a very nice computer. The large 17" screen is glossy and high quality, which my nephew who uses an Apple noticed. The memory and graphics are sufficient for most uses, but don't buy this model if you plan on using it for a lot of graphics-intensive games. Also, don't buy it if you plan on downgrading to Windows XP. Of course you can downgrade if you are willing to invest the time and effort of finding and installing third-party drivers, but HP does not support XP on this model. I would give a rating of 2 or three stars to the whole package (Vista+the computer) only because Vista makes it run as slowly as my five-year-old laptop did on XP. I give the computer on its own a rating of 4 stars, and if you take into account that you get what you pay for it probably deserves 5 stars.
  
  I made the decision to buy this model because it fit my budget and Amazon was able to get it to me quickly. Although I was disappointed that I could not easily downgrade to XP I am satisfied with it as a low-end laptop.
  
  

• Bad choice

  
  By A1AFT3EL4OYBHT on 2008-04-20
  While this is a feature packed machine, I would be wary.
  Ours never worked, right out of the box. Tech support wanted me to crack the thing open and fiddle with the motherboards. Uh, no. I'll just take it back thanks.
  It was the last one at the store we bought it from, and the other store in the area only had one left, which was*also a return for being defective*.
  Granted this is only two out of how many thousands that are probably fine, but it made me shy away from this machine.
  I am *really* disappointed as this seems like a great notebook, though as the other reviewer stated, it is a bit on the heavy side. Just get a good padded strap notebook/laptop bag and it shouldn't be too bad for quick trips from the car to your office, or from class to class on campus.
  
  

• Great value

  
  By A3RUX0E3ACAMQV on 2008-04-29
  Just received mine today and the first impressions are good. The laptop is bulky and a little heavy which is to be expected since it sports a 17' screen, but otherwise is a great system. The screen is very good; bright and with a clear display. The 4GB memory and the graphics card are more than sufficient for most purposes. The laptop is really quiet and I tried the webcam and the speakers and they too are impressive. I think that the full sized keyboard is a great asset. Working on it is easy and the large bright screen really helps. All the ports & slots are on the sides but I didn't find that much of a problem. If you don't intend to carry the laptop around on your shoulders for a long while, just to the office & back, then this is a very good system.
  
  

• Great, but only if you're interested in the bottom-most basics

  
  By AFDN8395HBE42 on 2008-05-11
  After considerable research, we recently purchased this notebook and were extremely disappointed. HP could have had a really great system with this notebook, but they blew it. The 17" screen is gorgeous, the sound is almost as good, particularly when it is docked on the XB3000 expansion base. For Internet browsing, general office work, and e-mail, this system performs beautifully and it makes Vista and Aero look drop-dead beautiful. But this system touts itself as a multimedia system and even includes a remote and video editing software... Our 10-year-old desktop spanked this notebook when it came to running photo-editing software, games, and DVDs. It was a huge disappointment and is going back to the store for a full refund tomorrow. I know you get what you pay for, but we at least expected it to live up to what it promised, and it didn't by far.
  
  
• Great Buy...great features
  By A32Q5L58240L75 on 2008-04-26
  Out of the box, within an hour, I was connected through the network to my HP C6810 printer, internet was up and running, Outlook 2003 was set up to receive email. Staples is the place to buy this, I got a promotion deal on it, $[...] with $[...] rebate.
  
  The only draw back was IE was corrupted. But I was able to download Firefox.
  
  This is a sleek machine. Runs all my old game software and my Office Pro 2003. I do have Office Pro 2007 as a demo for 60 days.
  
  Buy this machine. I am now exploring Slingbox so as to run my TV through it.
  
  
• great notebook
  By AUX4JAXQAKXK9 on 2008-04-23
  Just purchased this notebook at Staples. It's a GREAT computer. I wanted 3G to run Vista because without it your computer will be slow. Screen is beautiful. Took about half an hour to set up. Had no problems whatsoever.
  Using this with FIOS internet is awesome!
  
  Highly reccomended!
  
  
• so far, so good
  By A3PO12B1O9WD3B on 2008-06-06
  Good solid laptop...worked right of the box. Set up was quick and easy. So far Vista is behaving itself.
  
  
• The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
  By A175GQ20LIYO6X on 2008-07-01
  OVERVIEW:
  I purchased this laptop because it has a large amount of memory and hard drive space (4GB memory, 320GB hard drive), it has a dual core Pentium processor, and also important is a separate graphic system (NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS) that doesn't suck performance like on other laptops.
  
  It comes installed with Vista Home Premium, which is the basics + multimedia (similar to XP Multimedia Edition in product positioning), and it comes with a folder of installers and drivers, should you want to back that up and install your own clean version of Vista without the fluff or junk.
  
  Some nice things about the laptop is that is sports 4 USB ports and a firewire port for access to external devices, and has the newer PC Card expansion slot. It has a DVD recorder with BlueRay playback (haven't tried it yet), decent speakers (Altec Lansing), memory card reader, HDMI port, S-Video, and the standard modem and ethernet port. The coolest thing, should you need it to store all your music and videos, is a secondary drive bay to hold another hard drive, so you can get another 320 GB drive should you need that.
  
  PERFORMANCE:
  
  Overall, the performance is reasonable, but I know I could get more mileage with Windows XP, as lesser powered systems are more responsive. Vista has some nice features, but is not as responsive as XP. Many times, at least 2-3 times a week, I have stuff crash. Explorer (clicking on Start Menu) and Internet Explorer have crashed, and some programs seem to lock up and choke the system of resources, making other programs unresponsive. Programs requiring administrative access, sometimes take 30 seconds before you get a dialog to "allow" the program to run.
  
  The worst problem I've had is when the video driver bugs out frequently when using programs that use full screen (DirectX) like 3D video games. Windows notes the NVIDIA driver at fault. I updated the driver, but still have these problems, where the screen goes completely black, is unresponsive, until Vista resets the driver, and I get a display again.
  
  Another major problem, is that the multimedia controls, like sound volume, lock up my programs. In addition to raising/lowering the volume, it draws a graphic to show feedback of settings, but in doing so, my program is momentarily frozen. When playing an online video game like Warcraft during an intense moment, this well, was frustrating.
  
  OTHER NOTES:
  
  I think there are two design issues with the laptop: the keyboard and speaker grill:
  
  The speaker grill has tendency to not stay attached. Inspect your model carefully to make sure there are no flaws, and purchase an extended warranty in case a portion of the grill cover pops up in the future. I had to exchange my first laptop immediately at Fry's because of this.
  
  The keyboard keys have open spaces between the keys and sharp edges. Thus it is easy to pop the keys off and destroy the keyboard. If you had this laptop in a bag with papers and folders for instance, the flat thin object could rip out the keys. So, I recommend keeping the black cloth that came with the box, and place it above the keyboard when transporting as well as keep the laptop in a separate cover or bag if placed in bigger luggage (such as large computer bag) to protect the delicate keys.
  
  INSTALLING XP or OTHER OSes:
  
  HP doesn't support installing Windows XP, and so the Windows XP drivers are not available. In order to install XP, you'll have to be really computer savvy. You'll need to identify the devices (use device manager), and get the Windows XP drivers from the chipset vendors.
  
  If that sounds complicated, well, it gets worse. Even after grabbing the needed drivers, you'll find that Windows XP will not recognize the hard drive during installation. There's a new serial ATA chipset from Intel, so you'll need to get drivers on a floppy disk and use the F6 option when installing XP. Even worse, is that it wasn't easy to find, I have to scour the internet, and what I have I'm not sure will work.
  
  I wouldn't recommend destroying existing OS, as you'll need it for support calls if there is something wrong with hardware. You'll have to create partitions for XP (Vista has limitations, so I used Linux live CD). After you get XP installed on another partition, you will have to get some utility to boot between Vista and XP, or install Linux to help juggle all the OSes.
  
  As for Linux and other OSes, I notice at least one problem chipset from RICOH, which is well known for not supporting non-Windows OSes. Thus, some or many components of the laptop may not work under Linux.
  
  For installing your own Vista, HP does not give you your own install CD, so you'll either have to buy a full retail version, or purchase an OEM install CD w/o license key, which may be accessible through dealer channels (talk to your local small computer shop). As Vista Home Premium is limited, I would recommend upgrading to Ultimate if you can afford the added expense. Ultimate is business + multimedia essentially.
  
  If that sounds complex, well, it unfortunately is quite involved. I tried my best to keep the technical side simple, but HP lack of support for XP and Vista woes makes this difficult.
  
  LAST WORDS:
  
  Overall, I think the laptop is a good deal for the price tag. The unfortunate circumstance with Vista is a problem with other pre-installed-Windows laptops as well. We're all forced to go that direction, as that's whats is sold from big companies (except Apple naturally).
  
  The multimedia features is a nice bonus, but not a major selling point for my casual usage. The biggest selling point for me on this laptop, is the separate video card for increased performance (increased performance just perhaps not under Vista), and the secondary drive bay is nice for media collectors.
  
  
• Great computer but not for playing games..
  By A2V8UG769TCBPD on 2008-06-04
  This is a great computer considering for what you pay for it but it's not intended for playing games. I bought this as a desktop replacement and so far, I would say it rivals a regular desktop when it comes to available system resources. Normally, you'd have to pay $1K+ for this. So happy, I got this than a much expensive Sony brands. Love AMAZON prices too!
  
  
• Great Mobile Desktop Replacement
  By A3JTZ0CDQCZCT on 2008-06-29
  Bought this unit about a month ago as a replacement for my wife's aging Toshiba 2.8MHz 15" laptop. She was looking for a machine with a full size keyboard and number pad with additional speed, storage, and memory. She owns a retail store and also runs 3 websites so portability is only a factor taking the computer from home to her shop and back. Although a "heavyweight" at 7.7 lbs this unit is still .1 lbs lighter than her old Toshiba. I was very unsure about going to Vista, but after stripping off the uneeded HP extras, this unit has plenty of memory and speed even running Vista to keep my wife (the only person I know who normally bounces between 10 web pages, MS Frontpage, Excel, and possibly Word) working without a degradation in speed. The screen is bright and clear. She often also works at a local coffee house and the battery life seems decent once you adjust the settings to the saver mode. So far all aces...
  
  
• Excellent choice
  By AI58UD32SKM6I on 2008-06-06
  This was an excellent choice, it has run perfectly since I received it. I am writing this review on it! I use it daily and I really love it. Great size screen and great for games.
  
  
• Yet to recieve
  By A350D6695WAE6E on 2008-06-08
  Ordered this on the weekend, excited bout it :) Hope it tunrs out as i expect! :) Fingers crosed.
  
  
• Laptop for ther rest of us
  By A7JFFXNPFQ96X on 2008-06-09
  The only thing this laptop needs is the Ultimate Windows Vista software so that you can change the languaje of the system when you need it. Other than that, everything is excellent.
  
  
• recomended
  By A2HU6P1NNR4TV0 on 2008-06-13
  the display is awesome, the processor is really good the only thing missing is the fingerprint reader, but thats not so bad...
  
  

• Belkin 17-Inch Messenger Bag (Chocolate/Tourmaline)
• Logitech V220 Cordless Optical Mouse for Notebooks
• Targus TLE400 17 Deluxe Leather Notebook Case
• Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 -Slate
• Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Upgrade