December 19, 2009
HP Pavilion DV4-1541US 14.1-Inch Espresso Laptop – Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life
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From the Manufacturer
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Buy HP Pavilion DV4-1541US 14.1-Inch Espresso Laptop – Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life at Amazon
December 19th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I didn’t expect to buy this. First, I *hate* white electronics (they usually look cheap and like they should carry the Fisher Price logo). Second, I know people who have had serious issues with HP laptop motherboards. However, last week Staples had it for about two hundred bucks less than its MSRP which was about two hundred less than I expected to pay for these specs. I couldn’t resist.
I’m happy with the design. First, the white is not so bad. It has a shiny “pearl” like surface, a subtle graphic design on the cover/wrist rests and black and silver trim. This all makes it look more grown up and stylish than other white laptops. Second, compared to other laptops with these specs it’s not too big or heavy. It’s in-between a netbook and most full sized laptops. Also, the weight can be reduced by half a pound by swapping out the DVD drive for a dummy piece which is included.
I’m overall happy with the performance and quality. Seems fast and smooth for the most part, and I’m not currently having any problems with it. But I had a couple of initial problems. First, I had to take the first one I got back due to a stuck pixel that I couldn’t unstick with any software programs. I didn’t want to risk voiding the warranty with any physical methods. The second one I got was stuck-pixel-free. However, I was having serious issues playing internet video. That was a big deal to me. I tried a live chat rep – I think he was illiterate – he kept asking for info I had already provided, completely misconstrued my problem and even when I explained it for the 3rd time, he offered completely inappropriate solutions (e.g. program specific solutions, when I had told him it was in all programs). Somewhat dubious, I finally called tech support. I got a guy who was GREAT. Granted it took us over an hour of troubleshooting, but he finally figured it out. The issue was the wi-fi card driver. It just needed to be updated with the newest, which was posted on HP’s site. So, I highly recommend checking HP’s site for the latest driver updates, especially if you’re having this issue.
And I agree with the other reviewer about the battery – 2 to 3 hours is what you can reasonably expect, but it depends on what you are doing. And yes, it is very quiet. Also, I should note that I did not get the rectangular remote shown on the bottom of this page with mine. I only got the small card one shown in the pictures up top. So, I don’t think that other remote comes with it. (EDIT: Since I posted this review, Amazon has replaced the picture of the remote, it now shows a correct remote).
Just in case, I picked up Squaretrade’s 3rd party extended warranty. It was a great price compared to Staples’ and HP’s plans. And it will protect me if this ends up being a lemon or if my dog flies into the cord and knocks it off the coffee table.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Since my Dell laptop is seven years old, I’ve been looking for a replacement for the last few months. There are so many options that it was hard to make a choice. Since I bought a Sony Vaio for my wife recently – the VGN-NW270F, I had a good laptop to compare to this HP DV4.
You basically have two general choices to make: do you want a powerful laptop that can do lots of things, but has a shorter batter life or do you want a lighter less powerful laptop which has an extended life. I went with the power laptop which the HP is.
In general, I’m very happy and impressed. The HP is a bit smaller – 14″ vs 15.6″, but I actually prefer the smaller form factor. The 15.6 is more a desktop replacement size. They both have the same 320 GB hard drive and plenty of other ports and 4 GB or ram. I wanted an HDMI port and both have this feature. When you connect the HP to my 42″ TV the screen looks sharp and stunning. I can now watch internet video and ripped movies on my big screen. One feature the Sony has is the ability to play Blue Ray disks, but since I don’t own any of those, it’s not a factor.
The HP does have a nice Recovery partition and a few other features, but I don’t use them. The Sony has a better metal body, keyboard and track pad area (I use a real mouse.), but the HP is ok.
Windows 7 is a joy to work with and even though I bought a manual, I haven’t had to crack it open yet. I’ve gone from XP to Windows 7 without a hitch.
Pros
Fast bootup and performance
One click to turn wireless on and off.
Fantastic HDMI video to home TV
Cons
Case and keyboard not as nice as Sony Vaio.
Track area doesn’t have the nice feel of a Sony
A little bit of junkware you need to uninstall.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Ordered this over the weekend, what a superb machine i mean super quiet, really fast, doesn’t heat up and has all the latest multimedia features. I removed the optical drive (slide and remove) and lost about half a pound on the weight. Battery is great gave me 3.5hrs. I don’t have any complaints. Do yourself a favor and ignore the other two reviews. For $689 this is a steal.