Good Buy, With a Few Caveats
Written: Jan 01 '04
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Pros: Excellent value for the price.
Cons: No USB2, runs warm at times, a bit on the heavy side.
The Bottom Line: Great product if you have no need for USB2, and if you do, add-on cards are $20 or so.
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| tubbagoodness's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion ze4430us (DK582A) PC Note... |
After getting tired of shipping my desktop 17" monitor across the country for $150 , I finally decided to bite the bullet, give up any hope of upgrading/modding, and purchase a laptop. Here are the specs:
Athlon XP-M 2400 processor
512MB RAM
40 GB Fujitsu 4200rpm hard drive
Toshiba DVD/CD-RW (8x DVD, 24 write, 12 re-write, 24 read)
ATI Radeon IGP-320M (shared memory, up to 128MB)
Broadcom 54g Max Performance wireless NIC
National Semiconductor DP83815 10/100 NIC
ALI M5451 AC-Link audio
O2Micro OZ6912 PC-Card Controller
Ports:
2 USB 1.1 (ALI Chipset)
1 Firewire (Texas Instruments Chipset)
1 PS/2
1 Serial
1 Parallel
1 S-Video Out
I paid about $1000 USD after rebate and this review is my opinion of the laptop after 4 months of everyday use.
Display Graphics Controller
Perhaps the most important part of a laptop is the display, and the ze4430 does not disappoint. Bright and crisp at a native resolution of 1024x768, this 15" LCD is a joy to use. Playing DVD's show no signs of ghosting and the viewing angle isn't too shabby. The integrated Radeon IGP video card uses shared memory but runs most popular games at a very respectable frame rate. Games I've tested successfully include: MS Flight Simulator 2004 (minor slowdowns, but can be fixed by adjusting detail levels), Max Payne II (no slowdowns), and UT 2003. Games which require advanced pixel/vertex shaders such as Splinter Cell will most likely not run well on this machine. If you're looking for a serious gaming machine to run Doom 3, look at an Alienware laptop or stick with your desktop.
Everyday Use
Multitasking performance is excellent. Running several Firebird windows/tabs, Trillian, Winamp 5, and copying files back and forth from different partitions does not make a dent in system responsiveness.
Battery Life
On average use (web browsing, watching a DVD), the battery will last about 2 hours and 15 minutes. If you're in Linux and enable CPU throttling, it can last up to 3 hours.
Heat Output
Under certain conditions, this laptop will get unbearably warm and the fan will do nothing to alleviate the problem. As with any modern notebook, you should not block the airvents on the bottom by placing the machine on your bed. However, under normal business use, heat is not a problem if you've got it sitting on your lap.
Audio Output
The ze4430 speakers are built into top by the keyboard and frankly, aren't as loud as they could be. This is only a problem if you use your laptop to show DVD's and are more than 5 feet away.
Bundled Software
Nothing to write home about, my system came with XP Home, Quicken 2003, Norton Antivirus 2003, a bunch of HP Photo applications, and a DVD player. Unlike many other manufacturers, HP supplies you with an actual XP Home CD, making reformats painless. The install files for everything but the OS are located on the hard drive, so be sure to back these folders up if you decide to reformat.
Just in case things go haywire and you're not experienced in reformatting, HP's 5 recovery CD's make it a breeze to restore your system to factory defaults, with all the software included.
Linux Support
Most of the hardware is detected properly under a 2.4 kernel, except for the Broadcom wireless card and the ATI IGP chip. Check http://www.consultmatt.co.uk/nx9005/radeon-igp/index.php for excellent instructions on how to patch the kernel to include 2D/3D support for the chip. If you have a 2.6 kernel, check http://www.consultmatt.co.uk/nx9005/kernel26.php. As of January 1st, 2004, the Broadcom wireless card is not supported without the DriverLoader software from http://www.linuxant.com/company/. At $19.95, it uses existing Windows drivers to provide full support for the card. I've used the 1 month trial version with excellent results.
Misc. Gripes
The lack of integrated USB 2 ports is something HP cleverly leaves out of the system description. While not a major obstacle, it does limit future upgrades to either a Firewire solution (more expensive than USB), or a PC-Card USB2 controller (somewhat of a hassle because some of these cards require additional power cables that plug into your PS/2 or USB 1 port).
Also, at about 7 lbs, it's not the heaviest laptop to lug around, but it's not the lightest either. But the weight really isn't a big issue; after a couple months, you'll have strong forearms.
Four months after having this, the black paint has started to peel off from the Wireless card cover underneath. This isn't a major problem, but there have been numerous other cases reported on HP's support forums. If you're really concerned about what the bottom of your laptop looks like, you can order a replacement cover.
While the plastic casing feels a bit flimsy, I've jarred this laptop pretty hard more than once and it works just fine.
Additional Tips
Get the newest BIOS (KA.M 1.52) to fix a nasty buzzing noise coming from the system when using battery power. To make the DVD-ROM region free (and probably void your warranty unless you flash it back), make sure it's the same model as mine (Toshiba SD-R2312), and grab the region-free firmware from http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewtopic.php?t=8753.
The http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/ are a great resource for support as is the http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?locale=en_US&taskId=135&prodSeriesId=373268&prodTypeId=321957&pnameOID=331513&swEnvOID=228 for the ze4430, which often has newer versions of drivers than the normal support site.
If you're buying this directly from HPShopping.com and you're a college student or work at an educational institution, be sure to use HP's http://hpineducation.hp.com/products/products_you.html?agencyid=135 to receive upwards of $100 in instant rebates. As of 1/1/04, Firebird does not load this site properly, so use Internet Explorer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 41-50
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Epinions.com ID:
tubbagoodness
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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