The HP Pavilion 9000 overheats too quickly!
Written: Dec 29 '06 (Updated Dec 22 '07)
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Pros: Gaming performance much improved over 8000 series, can pick up with one hand, fast processor
Cons: Right shift key awkwardly place, battery life short, overheats quickly, customer support
The Bottom Line: After 1 year of use, and 3 replacement laptops gone, this product is hardly one I would call reliable. I would recommend looking elsewhere.
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| weatherbee1982's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion™ dv9000z (EW680AV) PC N... |
Ratings
Design (10%): 2
Features (30%): 7
Performance (40%): 8
Battery Life (10%): 5
Support (10%): 3
Overall: 6.3
Specifications
Dimensions: 15.16" (L) x 11.65" (W) x 1.57"
Weight: 7.8lbs
OS: Windows XP Media Center
Processor: AMD Turion(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-60(2.0GHz/1MB), 1.6 GHz FSB
RAM: 2,048MB PC 5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
Display: 17.0" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1440x900)
Graphics: 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600
Hard Drive: 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
2nd Hard Drive: Open
DVD Drive: LightScribe DVD /-RW w/Double Layer
Networking: 802.11a/b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
Battery: High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Speakers: Integrated Altec Lansing stereo speakers
Ports:
1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)
1 IEEE 1394 Firewire Port
1 Expansion Port
3 TV-Out (S-video) Integrated Consumer IR (remote control receiver)
Microphone in
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 VGA
Important Points:
With the HP Pavilion 9000 series, Hewlett-Packard continues in their attempt to reshape their desktop replacements laptops at an affordable price. The latest iteration incorporates the best of what both AMD and Intel have to offer at the time of inception (September 2006). Due to the numbering system that HP uses, it must be noted that the 9000z series includes the AMD processors and the 9000t series includes the Intel processors.
As of the time of this writing, through to mid-March of 2007, the purchase of this laptop can yield you a free* upgrade to Windows Vista (*depending on whether your laptop configuration meets the minimum requirements). Also, rebates can reduce the purchase price of the laptop by up to $200, with about 2/3 of the rebates being instant and the remaining third being mail-in. This can vary over a period of time, with rebates increasing or decreasing as the holiday season passes.
The 9000z series:
As I purchased the 9000z series, this is the only one I can comment on. The configuration options that are presented to you on the HP website (or if you buy stand alone) are usually pre-set to the Windows XP Media Center Edition. Unless you have a need to decrease the price of the basic Windows XP or are a professional needing the added features, I would stick with this feature right from the offering.
The AMD Mobile Processor series was one of the first to offer 64-bit technology. It is also one of the very few to offer both 64-bit and Dual-Core in one package. For the many of us that are not technologically inclined, allow me to break down what this means for you.
What is the main difference between 32- and 64-bit processors?
Unless the processor specifically states it, your processor at home or on your current laptop is 32-bit. As an analogy, think of a 2 lane highway. The 32-bit processor uses 1 lane of that highway, and processes that data in and out using just one lane. The 64-bit processor uses 2 lanes of that highway, allowing a less restrictive flow of data to flow into your processor.
What is the main difference between single and multi core processors?
Lately, the innovation for processors have shifted from increasing the speed of them to increasing the amount of cores. It is time to use one more analogy when talking about single and multiple core processors. One factory is tasked to work on 4 different products, with about 1000 units specified in total for each product. Now place two factories, with 2 different products in each, to work on those same 1000 units for each product. Which do you think will get the job done faster? The two factories, which in this case will be your multi-core processor.
The options presented by HP include a single-core AMD Sempron 3500 1.8GHz processor. Unless you are seriously strapped for cash (which really presents the question as to why you are buying this laptop in the first place), you should laugh at this option and set it aside just as if it was not there. I would also discourage the AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50 1.6GHz Processor with 512KB of cache (with cache dictating how much side storage your processor has to process the data it is being presented). It will only slow down the work you are trying to process. Instead, stick with the last three options, all of which are dual-core and all of which contain 64-bit processors and 1 MB of cache. The only difference between them are their processor speeds (my option being the TL-60 2GHz processor).
The only other option I would recommend for you is to choose a lower memory of RAM, and purchase one yourself. Hewlett-Packard's options for RAM are themselves expensive, and you can acquire your own for a much cheaper price that will perform much better. For specification purposes, the RAM this laptop uses is PC2-5300 SDRAM 667 MHz, and the max the laptop's motherboard can support is 2,048 MB (or 2GB in short).
My thoughts:
The options chosen for (or pre-built into) the laptop will strongly dictate the strong and weak points of each individual laptop in the 9000-series. However, I will stick with the specifications that I have listed above and review it as such.
The design of the laptop slightly improved over the 8000 series, considering the issues that many have now started to complain about concerning the keyboard. This laptop is considerably lighter, can be picked up with one hand and has stood up to abuse already (I've dropped it once from a height of 5 feet due to a big dog being far too happy to see me). The keyboard coming first, none of the keys have stuck, especially the shift and control keys. It was these two keys that caused me considerable anguish with the 8000-series, and thankfully have been quickly corrected. However, the right shift key on the keyboard is far from optimal, as it is about as small as the normal typing keys. I have missed it on numerous occasions during my fast typing, which has caused a great deal of mumbling on my part during long reports. The next most important aspect of this laptop is the touchpad. The 8000-series laptop had a touch and go basis when it came to the quick-scroll feature available on the right-side of the pad itself. Sometimes you actually had to wrestle with it in order to get it to work. This time around, the 9000-series has actually corrected the sensitivity of the touchpad, allowing the quick-scroll feature to work as it was intended. There is also a button allowing you to turn off the pad itself should you hook up a USB or Firewire capable mouse, which is a nice improvement (and got rid of the annoyance of the 8000-series which did not have this feature).
The quickplay keys on the top of the laptop are heat/touch sensitive and don't need to be pressed at all. My one major gripe about them is that they make a rather high-pitched noise when you are using them, which is quite annoying when you are turning down the volume in a crowded room (i.e. lecture hall). As I lecture on an occasional basis and use my laptop all the time during them, this is an annoyance that I would have much rather avoided. Shutting down the laptop is also something that is a little frustrating, as it seems like the clamps are not quite as smoothly aligned as they should be. It seems like I have to apply far more force than is necessary, which makes a rather loud noise every time I shut down my laptop. Everything else about this laptop's design is an improvement. It is lighter, much more comfortable and the speakers have been moved to near the screen, allowing for it to shrink a little.
As mentioned earlier, there are quickplay buttons included on this laptop. A continued feature from the 8000-series is the ability to bypass the bootup of the Microsoft OS to play your favorite DVD's using this laptop. Unfortunately, I am saddened to see the calculator button go. It was one of my most used buttons from the last 8000-series laptop, but it is something I can live without. The 17" screen uses 1440x900 resolution, which is standard today. This screen is protected in a durable frame, as I can attest to on my first drop from 5 feet. The laptop feel directly on the screen, and no evidence is shown from either the screen or the laptop itself that this ever feel. Another good feature is the brightness of the screen itself, as it is not overly bright when either powered by battery or by the power cord. Though it is quite glossy, and when in a well lit area, could cause serious problems in seeing what you are typing. The included web cam and microphone both serve their job well enough, considering the price of the option. Other web cams and microphones that are from 3rd-parties will often serve better, but if one purchased this option, you are not overly concerned about the quality of the picture or the sound. There are 4 USB ports, and 1 Firewire port. This is the same amount as the 8000-series, so no improvement is noted. There is a port for a second hard drive, but that issue will be discussed later.
Performance is objectively dependent on the processor, graphics card and RAM placed into the laptop. I will applaud the processor right from the off, as it is quite fast and I have not bogged down too badly in multiple applications that I have ran. The graphics card has ran Star Wars: Empire At War, with the aid of the processor and RAM, on Max settings with no noticeable slow down. I will even go further to comment that this laptop has ran the Supreme Commander Beta on Medium Settings, with up to 5 AI's and nearly 100 Units on screen slugging it out at nearly 20 FPS, which is quite a pleasant surprise. This game is one of the first few to utilize the dual core processors (and quad-core of Intels) and is VERY demanding. I have ran MATLAB 7.1 on this laptop, with the full intent of running a model simulation on it. While the model was being calculated (Southwestern United States, 5 kilometer grid, 1 hour resolution over a 1 week period utilizing weather data), I could surf the internet and check my e-mail without any noticeable slow down. It is THESE issues that I am happy to say allows me to give a near perfect score for the performance of this laptop. The reason I say near perfect is that this laptop does still bog down a little when I am running Microsoft Excel, Word, and surfing the web using Firefox and checking e-mail using Thunderbird. Maybe I am a little too demanding, but a Teaching Assistant has to be.
Battery life has improved for the 9000 series laptops. Without the use of any of the wireless features and without any processor intensive features running, the battery life was 3 hours and 25 minutes (vs. 1 and 1/2 to 3 hours on the 8000 series). When running intensive features or using the wireless features of this laptop, the battery life decreases down to 2 hours (vs an hour on the 8000 series). The comparison for the 8000 series was using a normal 8-cell lithium ion battery, vs. a "high-capacity" 8-cell lithium ion battery for the 9000 series.
Support has not been as great with the 9000 series as I had hoped. In this case, I was inquiring about inserting a 2nd hard drive into my laptop, as I quickly found out that the 100GB I did have would not suffice for my work. Much to my disappointment, it was not a simple plug-and-play process, as the website had advertised when I purchased this laptop. False advertising quickly brings down this score, as you must purchase a part (Hard Drive Mounting Bracket Part 434106-001) in order to insert any hard drive you purchase. In order to find this part, I had to find it by way of a forum, and could NOT find it on the Hewlett-Packard website. When I called Hewlett-Packard themselves, the person who answered was practically clueless. Quite disappointing, considering the urgency at which I needed to insert the hard drive into my laptop (received the laptop nearly 2 weeks ago and confirmation for the part came after 5 business days). The customer support still knows how to work with their laptop, but don't expect any support for upgrades.
I purchased my new laptop in early December at a cost of $1249.99. Since the holiday shopping season has ended, not as many rebates are being pushed, so this same laptop (with the current specifications) can be obtained for $1362.99 (after all applicable rebates). A similarly equipped laptop from Dell will run close to $3,500, one from Toshiba will run for $1999.99, and one from Alienware will run for an astounding $4,480(!). So considering the price of the competition, this computer is reasonably affordable and still within a reasonable range for a college student, college graduate student (such as myself), or a person who is on a budget that still wants a great laptop.
UPDATE:
This update comes exactly one year later with many disappointments with this laptop series.
First and foremost is the amount of replacement laptops that I have had to go through while this product was in warrenty. The number stood at 3. Yes, that number is not a typo or a misprint. The problem has constantly been the same with this product from Hewlett-Packard, and now the 8000 series, which is the monitor. All three replacement laptops have had the monitor (or the graphics card) suffer some calamity of some sort, all of which due to overheating, which has resorted to many calls to customer support. The last time the laptop died, the USB ports all went kaput, followed by the laptop screen, and then the graphics card.
The first call to customer support for the replacement (in June) resulted in me being directed to some gentleman in India. This conversation was frustrating, mostly due to the thick accent and very broken English. After nearly 15 to 20 minutes of attempting to explain my problem to the fellow, we both finally came to a consensus that my laptop's monitor took a fall and needed a replacement. This process took all of 2 hours by phone, and the box took 2 weeks from busted laptop to replacement.
This laptop lasted roughly 3 months before I was calling for a 2nd time, with the same problem. This time, I was calling at the start of the academic year and was quite frustrated. The monitor on the laptop had once again gone and took a smoke. The gentleman this time, thankfully, spoke English well and with an Anglicized accent. Things went quickly, but unfortunately for me, I was out a laptop for another 3 weeks during the academic semester.
Here I sit, another laptop gone... 1 day out of warranty. This has been a frustrating trip, and I do believe this product needs a redesign. What are the odds of one individual getting 3 lemons in a row? I don't think they would be that high. So with that, the story closes with this product, and what was once a highly valued product now goes to a "NO" recommendation.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1249.99
Operating System: Windows
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
weatherbee1982
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Member: Stephen
Location: Tucson, AZ
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 11 members
About Me:
Gaming enthusiast and starving graduate student.
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