My Configuration:
HP Pavilion dv4000 CTO NB
WinXP Home Edition SP2
Pentium M Processor 770 (2.13 GHz)
15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700
1.25GB DDR2 SDRAM (512MB stock + 1GB from newegg.com = 1.25GB installed and a 256MB spare module)
80 GB 5400 RPM HDD
DVD+/-RW/R DL & CD-RW
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
HP Mobile Remote Control
HP Sport Backpack
USB full sized optical mouse (newegg.com)
Price: $1912dlls
Screen:
The screen is not as bright as others I've seen (like the Vaio's screens) but I think it is also not as reflective, and that's good. I had no dead pixels and I'm glad about it. I'm very happy with my screen, although I would like it to get a slower dim level.
Graphics:
I didn't use any bechmark software, so I'm using my gaming experiences.
Call of Duty 2: Plays great! Maybe not at max res, but it looks great!.
NFS Most Wanted: Well, if you want to play on medium-high resolution the game's performance will decrease.
Battlefield 2: I played this game for about 20 minutes, it is not playable on max resolution, you have to go with a general medium (I played this game when I only had 512MB DDR2, not 1.25GB).
SimCity 4 with Rush Hour: This game plays very well with the X700, at least on a medium size city.
SimCity is an old game (2003), but considering I had some trouble playing it with a P4 HT 2.8GHz and an ATi Radeon 9200 on med res, I was surpriced when I played it on my lappy with all settings set to high.
This lappy is better for gaming than my desktop (P4 HT 2.8, ATi Radeon 9200, 512MB DDR)
Speakers:
Great speakers, loud enough, although the audio quality is really poor, you will easily tell using headphones. It is disappointing.
Noise:
This lappy is very quiet when not gaming or doing any processor intensive task. While gaming, the fan can get loud.
Keyboard:
I've been using my lappy for about 1 month and the keyboard is starting to shine, I'm really sad.
Pointing device:
At the begining I really had a hard time using it, but I set the touching sensitivity to Max and the problem was corrected.
DVD/CD Writer:
I ignore the DVD writing speed (sorry) but the CD writing speed is very slow, just 24x.
QuickPlay:
It does take less time to boot than Windows. I like it to play movies, not to play music.
Battery Life:
With the screen almost on the dimmest level, using MS Word and playing music and videos on Windows Media Player 10 and the Wireless LAN beeing On 70% of the time and Off the other 30%, I get about 2-2:15 hours of battery life.
Just forget about playing on batteries, the battery life gets really shorter and because of the PowerPlay feature of the GPU, the game's performance will decrease a lot.
Conclusion:
Would I recommen this laptop? Of course, unless you are a hardcore gamer. I'm happy with my lappy and I think I'll give it a 9. HP had the lowest price I could find for a laptop with same specs.
I had lots of pictures, but unfortunately I lost them all, and I don't have a digital camera. Sorry.
HP Pavilion dv4000 CTO NB
WinXP Home Edition SP2
Pentium M Processor 770 (2.13 GHz)
15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700
1.25GB DDR2 SDRAM (512MB stock + 1GB from newegg.com = 1.25GB installed and a 256MB spare module)
80 GB 5400 RPM HDD
DVD+/-RW/R DL & CD-RW
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
HP Mobile Remote Control
HP Sport Backpack
USB full sized optical mouse (newegg.com)
Price: $1912dlls
Screen:
The screen is not as bright as others I've seen (like the Vaio's screens) but I think it is also not as reflective, and that's good. I had no dead pixels and I'm glad about it. I'm very happy with my screen, although I would like it to get a slower dim level.
Graphics:
I didn't use any bechmark software, so I'm using my gaming experiences.
Call of Duty 2: Plays great! Maybe not at max res, but it looks great!.
NFS Most Wanted: Well, if you want to play on medium-high resolution the game's performance will decrease.
Battlefield 2: I played this game for about 20 minutes, it is not playable on max resolution, you have to go with a general medium (I played this game when I only had 512MB DDR2, not 1.25GB).
SimCity 4 with Rush Hour: This game plays very well with the X700, at least on a medium size city.
SimCity is an old game (2003), but considering I had some trouble playing it with a P4 HT 2.8GHz and an ATi Radeon 9200 on med res, I was surpriced when I played it on my lappy with all settings set to high.
This lappy is better for gaming than my desktop (P4 HT 2.8, ATi Radeon 9200, 512MB DDR)
Speakers:
Great speakers, loud enough, although the audio quality is really poor, you will easily tell using headphones. It is disappointing.
Noise:
This lappy is very quiet when not gaming or doing any processor intensive task. While gaming, the fan can get loud.
Keyboard:
I've been using my lappy for about 1 month and the keyboard is starting to shine, I'm really sad.
Pointing device:
At the begining I really had a hard time using it, but I set the touching sensitivity to Max and the problem was corrected.
DVD/CD Writer:
I ignore the DVD writing speed (sorry) but the CD writing speed is very slow, just 24x.
QuickPlay:
It does take less time to boot than Windows. I like it to play movies, not to play music.
Battery Life:
With the screen almost on the dimmest level, using MS Word and playing music and videos on Windows Media Player 10 and the Wireless LAN beeing On 70% of the time and Off the other 30%, I get about 2-2:15 hours of battery life.
Just forget about playing on batteries, the battery life gets really shorter and because of the PowerPlay feature of the GPU, the game's performance will decrease a lot.
Conclusion:
Would I recommen this laptop? Of course, unless you are a hardcore gamer. I'm happy with my lappy and I think I'll give it a 9. HP had the lowest price I could find for a laptop with same specs.
I had lots of pictures, but unfortunately I lost them all, and I don't have a digital camera. Sorry.
