great laptop, even better value if refurbished
Written: Apr 03 '04 (Updated Apr 05 '04)
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Pros: very silent, easy to use, crisp display, fast, very budget friendly
Cons: a little heavy, short warranty (90 days for hardware damage) for refurbished models
The Bottom Line: Ease of usage, great performance, no overheating, very silent, great value (especially if it's refurbished)
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| anaraluca's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion ze4560us (DM736A) PC Note... |
I did a lot of research before deciding which brand and model is the best. Having a rather tight budget, I looked at Dell’s cheaper models first. But as a cautious and a little paranoid consumer, I read the reviews before making any decision. All I have to say is this: either there is a conspiracy against Dell out there, or this manufacturer is so arrogant that they don’t give a damn about what people say about their products. I think the latter is a more likely answer. So I decided to look at HP. They don’t have such a broad range of choices for laptops as Dell has, but they are noticeable cheaper and better equipped. For instance, a refurbished HP ze4560us (like mine) – 1.87GHz, 512M RAM, 15” display, 40G HD, wireless card, DVD/CDRW combo – was $855, while a similar refurbished Dell was at least $100 more expensive. Plus, similar Dell models seemed a little heavier (7.5 lbs instead of 7.25) and bulkier.
Now, I bought this laptop a few days ago and this review may not be objective enough because of such a short period of actual use. However, there are a couple of things that stand out.
First of all, the shipping & delivery time was phenomenal (actually, the shortest I’ve ever experienced with online purchases). It basically arrived in 36 hours after ordering it (late at night). And I have to mention that I paid for the cheapest delivery method – 5-7 business days.
Then, it runs very smoothly, no overheating, no “freezings” or funny noises. Actually, it is unbelievably silent. It is my first laptop, but I have recently experienced a less than a year old Sony Vaio (don’t know the exact model), which had a very loud fan and used to get hot very quickly.
It also has great battery life and if taken care properly I'm sure it can do a great job for a long time. I’ve already charged it 3 times and with a relatively heavy usage, it lasted for about 3.5-4 hours each time (the tech specs say 3 hours).
It also has a TV out which is great for viewing DVDs on TV screen (if you don’t have a DVD player). The display itself is big enough for comfortably watching movies, though (15”, 1024x768, RADEON IGP 320M).
Very nice and sensitive touch-pad. The keyboard is OK, it just takes a little time to get used to it if you have been a desktop user. For instance, I experienced that one has to push keys harder in order to have all the letters properly displayed. I don’t think it’s a problem with this particular model, but a general feature for all laptop keyboards.
The Windows XP runs smoothly as well, even though I prefer its older sibling - Windows 2000 (it gives the user a little bit more control). As an advise - it's very important to activate the (3 months) free Norton Antivirus included in the software package.
No interaction with HP’s costumer service until now and I hope I’ll never have one either (although I think it’s better than Dell’s).
Finally, I would highly recommend this laptop for the first time users (students, especially). But be prepared with a comfortable carrying case because it can easily add about 11 lbs to your weight (including the adapter and the initial weight of the carrying case).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 855
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): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
anaraluca
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Reviews written: 4
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