My most recent laptop computer was an iBook G4 I purchased several years ago. It has worked flawlessly throughout the years, but it was showing signs of aging and it was time to get a new laptop. I was really happy with the performance of the iBook, and my first obvious choice was a MacBook, but being that this laptop will primarily be for work, I really didn't feel like going the Bootcamp route of running Windows.
During my daily surfing I found a $300 off coupon for HP laptops, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to grab a real nice machine. I picked up an HP dv9500z for just under $900. The basic feature set is a dual-core AMD processor, 1GB of RAM, Nvidia 8400GS, and a 17" widescreen display.
Display/Case
The first thing you notice about this computer is it's definitely a 17" widescreen. The display resolution is 1400x900 and includes HP's BrightView technology. It's a bright and vivid display and the colors are very brilliant. One of the best I have ever seen on a notebook computer. Even though this is a good sized machine, the weight is a bit under 8lbs. and has a low profile of about 1.5 inches.
The outside of the case and some parts of the inside are covered in a high gloss "radiance" pattern finish. It adds an elegant touch to what otherwise would be just another dull plastic looking PC. The only downside I see is it picks up fingerprints very easily.
Overall, it seems to be well built and sturdy and doesn't have that "cheap" feel that I have experienced with other brands. There is a variety of connections on the computer including 4 USB ports, Firewire, HDMI, mutli-card reader, and the usual variety of network and expansion ports.
Keyboard/Touchpad
While doing research on this laptop I noticed several people with similar models had a dislike of the touchpad, more specifically the click buttons. On every laptop I have ever owned or used the buttons on the touchpad were firm and solid. However, the HP's have a different approach with a more soft and "springy" design. This took me a bit of time to get comfortable with but once I got used to it the soft touch I actually preferred it over the hard click buttons.
The touchpad is your standard type with the addition of a scrolling section which allows you to easily scroll through documents or webpages with the slide of your finger. The touchpad also includes a button which allows you to turn on or off the pad for the times when you are using a mouse or another input device.
Being that this is a 17" notebook it has plenty of room for the standard keyboard layout, and a numeric keypad. The keys are comfortable to work with, but there is nothing in particularly special to write anymore about.
Wireless/Networking
The unit comes standard with 802.11a/b wireless LAN, but I also choose the g/n upgrade along with Bluetooth. I have a 802.11b wireless router, but I was glad to have options for the future if needed. The wireless card also has an on/off button on the front of the case to turn off if needed. The wireless connection was made without problem and signal strength inside the house has been excellent so far. Aside from Windows wireless connectivity HP also includes it's own wireless assistant which I promptly turned off as the Windows functionality is enough for me.
Hard/DVD Drives
The standard media drive was a 8x DVD+/-RW with double layer support, and HP had another special where you could upgrade to a Lightscribe drive for free, so I took that option. I haven't had the chance to burn anything, so I can't comment much on this.
I also opted for a 160GB hard drive, but one of the things I particularly like about this model is the ability to easily add a second hard drive. I have never liked using an external hard drive with a laptop, it seems to defeat the purpose of portability for me. Having the option to add another drive if needed in the future is much appreciated.
Performance / Final Thoughts
I configured the notebook with a dual-core 2.0ghz AMD processor, which incidentally, is my very first computer with an AMD. Due to my budget, I had to make a choice between 2GB of RAM or the upgraded video card. Obviously, since RAM is much cheaper and easier to install at another time, I had to settle for 1GB of RAM which I will upgrade soon.
Windows Vista Home Premium came preinstalled along with the usual amount of trial software and a desktop full of shortcuts to everything from eBay to Microsoft Office. Normally I would have done a complete reinstall of Windows, but since HP doesn't include a copy of Windows, I had to make my own recovery disk, and I just didn't feel like going through the reinstall process.
I removed all the demo software, did the usual cleaning of folders and system maintenance, and then I used TweakVista to disable any unneeded startup programs, and to stop any unused services to free up some resources.
I was concerned that with just 1GB of memory that Vista was going to be very slow, but to my surprise the performance has been outstanding. Adding an additional GB of RAM will definitely improve the performance, but for the time being I'm quite happy with how it has been working so far. Vista gives it a Windows Experience Index score of 3.6, which is brought down a bit because of the video card, but that is about what I expected from a notebook PC.
Battery life is about 3 to 4 hours depending on the type of use, which is much better than what I expected. Although it's nice to have decent battery life, I really didn't intend on using it much away from home or unplugged.
I don't have any of the fancy benchmark tests you might find in tech magazines, and that is done on purpose as I personally find them annoying and unreliable. One of the biggest things for me when purchasing a new PC whether it is a desktop or notebook, is how it works with real world use, not confusing numbers that mean nothing to the average user.
I am big on multi-tasking, and right now I have Expression Web, IE, Outlook 2007, and Word 2007 open, along with various components of Object Desktop. I have no real noticeable slowdowns, and switching or opening new windows is pretty seamless. Booting to desktop takes about a minute/minute and a half, which isn't great, but could be worse. I know that my security software has increased the boot time, but that's something I have to have so there's not too many options around that.
Overall I'm quite impressed with the HP dv9500z. Performance is beyond what I expected and I can definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a 17" notebook media PC.
