Do not purchase this!
Written: Jul 18 '03
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Pros: Somewhat inexpensive
Cons: Support, WIFI conflicts, noisy, heavy
The Bottom Line: Do not purchase this. If you want one really bad, have mine.
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| ryang99's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion Ze5385us (DC965A#ABA) PC ... |
I purchased this laptop for about $1600. I brought it home and got it out of the box. I turned it on and was already having issues with it...the screen was completely blank and it was having issues with power. So, I called their long-distance support line and after being on hold for a while, I was told to return it.
I returned it and was able to get another ZE5385US that day. I took it home and everything seemed ok. I used it for about 6 weeks until it started having display issues. There was some bad connection between the adapter and the LCD screen creating a variety of odd colors on the screen as well as a distorted image.
So I call up their long-distance support line again. 30 minutes on hold... I finally get someone to pick up and I can almost understand the words that theyre saying. I end up having to send it in to their support center.
HP claims a 3-5 day turnaround on all repairs. Well I got mine back in 10. The day I got it back, I had the same issues.
So I call up their long-distance support line. It took me two times to get there this time...they hung up on me. So after 90 minutes of being on hold, I get some gut with broken english telling me that I could walk it into a place such as CompUSA and pay them to fix it for me. After a discussion with his supervisor, my PC was sent back to their repair center.
When I got my PC back, the LCD screen seemed ok. However, there are some software conflicts present on the system. So, after having my computer gone for 3 weeks, I get to format my drive and start all over.
I would not recommend this computer to anyone. It has been more trouble that I would have ever dreamed.
Other issues...
- The computer has a tendency to run hot...VERY HOT. If you have this, I recommend blowing $10 on a Targus CoolPad to lift it off of your furniture.
- The computer has 2 fan speeds...loud and louder. I'm supposed to have this tank running next to me in my dorm room. I recommend spending a little bit more money on a laptop that is a little more thought-out in development.
- Hard drive is slow...I got a 2.6Ghz P4. That means nothing when your laptop's hard drive is a snail. To check it out, I run the Windows Task Manager and I see that my processor usage is at 5% during these slowdowns. With 512MB of DDR ram and no intense applications running, I concur that it is the hard drive slowing me down.
- Very heavy...this laptop is a beast. If you are a business individual looking for a travel notebook, this is not going to be your laptop.
- Horrible support...I would like to thank AT&T for saving me money by offering me Nationwide Long Distance. I spent over four hours total on long-distance calls to resolve these issues. On top of that, you will need someone that speaks about 10 different languages to translate what ever in the world they are telling you.
- WIFI issues...half the time, the LAN-Express 802.11b driver won't start! I have to reboot in order to get my internet back...very annoying.
There are a couple of good things such as the 512 DDR, the 64MD ATI graphics card, 60GB of slow hard drive space, and the processor.
It came with a good price, but so has my lesson. I learned that when it comes to notebooks, spend more and buy a great one. What is saving a couple hundred when you spend more time trying to fix it?
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1600.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
ryang99
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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