Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've been using this computer for about 3 weeks now, and am quite happy with its performance and battery life. It has switchable graphics and automatically (unless disabled) switches between built-in graphics when battery powered and dedicated graphics (ATI HD6550) when wall cube powered. I don't use this computer for gaming, but the HD6550 is a fairly respectable card. Battery life is listed at 7.75 hours. I was originally seeing around 6 hours in my typical usage scenario (see note re change below). I am also pleased with its thermal management. When working hard it gets warm - but not hot. Air exhaust is on the left, toward the back of the case, which is an acceptable location. Since it is billed as an "entertainment" laptop, there is a goodly amount of HP software installed for managing audio, video, photos, etc. I thought I would remove most of this, but found it to be relatively inoffensive and even useful at times. The hard drive is a generous 750 GB, so I wasn't too concerned about needing to free up space. I did disable the built-in backup management software in favor of adding a second 750 GB hard drive (this required purchasing an HP4000 series drive caddy and cable). I made the new drive (7200 RPM) the primary drive and relegated the slower 5400 RPM drive that came with the 4280 to backup. Having two hard drives did, of course, reduce battery life somewhat, but I still get around 5.5 hours - not bad at all. I can now do backups in-situ via partition imaging, plus daily backups to an external USB drive. Regarding that - the HP4280 has a powered eSATA port (combo USB and eSATA), which I use with a Seagate GoFlex Pro 750 GB drive with eSATA interface - and it is fast (GoFlex pro uses 7200 RPM drive which matches the one I swapped in and made my boot drive).
There is also a fingerprint scanner which can be used to log in (password entry is still available as alternative). You have to spend a few minutes registering your fingerprint (plus one alternative print) - but after that, you can log in by just swiping your finger over the scanner. It took some getting used to, but I now log in this way almost exclusively. One little trick I found - place your finger over the scanner, then hesitate for just a bit (about 1/4 to 1/2 second) before swiping and it will read much more reliably. At least that's the case for me - maybe I "trained" it that way. ;-)
My only real complaint is that the touch pad implementation is - well, just awful. As has been noted by others, it's almost impossible to position the cursor and click to select without moving the cursor off target, and if you touch the case near the touch pad - that moves the cursor. Really annoying. I added a Logitech M705 mouse which uses their tiny unifying receiver (I leave it plugged in all the time), and it works quite well, even with the receiver on the opposite side of the computer (that location works best for my carry case).
One last note - this beasty has a blue ray player and Beats audio - very nice combo for watching HD movies.
Overall, I am very happy with this computer. It lost one star for the schizoid touch pad and the slow hard drive.
Update 2011-05-10. Recently updated Synaptic Pointing Device drivers, and there were definite improvements in touch pad operation.
Click Here to see more reviews about: HP Pavilion dv7-4280us 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC (Silver)
Watch Blu-ray DVDs at home and on the go. It's simple with the Blu-ray player and large 17.3-inch diagonal High-Definition LED display on the HP Pavilion dv7-4280us Entertainment Notebook PC. Plus, play music the way it's meant to be heard with integrated Beats Audio and count on fast data entry using the numeric keypad. You can also manage your passwords effortlessly on this HP laptop using the integrated fingerprint reader. Keep your digital library on the large hard drive and help prevent data loss with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection. With ATI Mobility Radeon HD video graphics and lots of memory, image-intensive programs and games run smoothly. The HP Pavilion dv7-4280us Entertainment Notebook PC has everything you want, including style and substance. It looks great thanks to a brushed aluminum finish with the stream design in argento. Video chat in low-light environments using the integrated HP webcam, burn custom labels onto CDs and DVDs using LightScribe Technology and transfer photos from a digital camera to your HP laptop using the digital media reader. Browse the Web from any room using built-in Wi-Fi, plus wirelessly sync your HP laptop to a printer or smartphone using integrated Bluetooth.
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