Well, It Works...
Written: Dec 10 '05
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Pros: runs fast, looks really nice (except when crumbs get stuck in the speaker panels)
Cons: power supply dislodges easily; short battery life; not exactly portable
The Bottom Line: I would only buy this computer if you don't know of a better one. It's not bad, but not great.
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| germericanqt's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion zv5000 (559158) PC Notebo... |
When I first bought my laptop, I was eighteen and remained an inexperienced consumer when it came to higher end products, like technology and cars (I bought the first car that my parents agreed to cosign on..."no, dad! we don't need to research it! i wanna buy it NOW!")
I bought it because I was going to college and would obviously need a computer, and because I plan to write for a living, so obviously I needed a word processor. I decided on a laptop for portability and for space reasons(I didn't have any).
Here's a hint if you want a portable laptop: get one that is actually small enough to comfortably tote around, and get one that has a battery life longer than one hour.
I chose this laptop because I thought it would be nice for playing DVD's on, which it is, and because the keyboard was comfortable to type on (nice sized, with weighted keys). It was also well within my price range (I bought it for about $800 including the rebate.)
It has worked very well for me other than a couple of annoying issues, which may be specific to my computer--you'll have to read the other reviews to see if they are general problems.
First and foremost, there is the power supply, which doesn't seem to quite fit in the outlet on the back of the laptop. It's gotten to the point where the tiniest movement will dislodge it, breaking off the power supply and causing my computer to go into "hibernation" with little or no warning. In the middle of typing an epinions review, my laptop will go "peeuuw" and the screen will go dark.
Then there is the whole hibernation issue, which affects the laptop's portability. I changed the settings once and it seemed to delay this annoying shutdown, but since I got it reformatted I haven't been able to fix it and it hibernates at will (that is, when my shoddy power supply has become dislodged by a passing breeze.)
In both cases, the laptop has had nowhere near a two hour battery life, which isn't that great to begin with. The longest I've seen it survive before pooping out was about a half an hour.
Other than that, I've been happy with it. It runs pretty quickly, I've had no trouble setting up programs or installing printers or anything like that, and it has served my purposes well. If you want a portable laptop, probably avoid this one; if you do decide to get it, ask about the battery life and power supply and make sure to get a warranty in case you have the same problems I've had.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 800
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 201-300
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW
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Epinions.com ID:
germericanqt
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Location: Utah
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
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