This is a competent midsize notebook for people who want a bit of everything. The intel CPU can handle virtually anything you throw at it - productivity, HD videos, etc. The graphics chip is also decent for casual gaming at the native resolution. You might not achieve high quality graphics in cutting edge games, but you can still play and enjoy them with medium settings. However, I ran into various overheating issues with this laptop. When the temperature was too high the CPU throttled down. This caused anything I was doing to momentarily stutter and freeze a few times. I'm not sure if I received a bad notebook, or if there's something wrong with the fan, but it just doesn't manage heat dissipation as well as I'd like. I'd give it a 4 for specs but have to take off a point for the occasional overheating issues.

inm8num2

Berkeley, CA

What a mistake buying this laptop was. What makes it worse, when it was time to purchase a laptop I researched this for weeks! I was just glancing at the mostly all good reviews below and I wonder what laptop everyone else got. Or better yet, what did I get? The laptop I purchased was the DV4t Pavilion with a 14" screen, 4GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive, Core 2 Duo processor, with blu ray/DVD player. On the surface, the specs (at the time) looked great. But I have had problems after problems with this computer. Of course, the problems started right after the one year warranty had expired... The biggest annoyance is that this runs incredibly hot and constantly overheats to the point of shutting down. I can't watch a movie or anything like that because it will get too hot. I need a cooling pad underneath it all the time or it'll overheat on even the most basic functions. The cursor gets jumpy out of nowhere and I'll need to reposition it if I'm in the middle of typing. Any moisture on your fingertips and the mousepad is sticky and not comfortable to use. The left/right buttons don't always work so I've needed to use a wireless mouse. The screen now flickers or goes all black if not positioned in exactly the right place (slightly towards closed). I can't open it all the way and certainly can't close it anymore because of this. I've gone through two batteries in 3-4 years and am at the point where I need a third (I have to keep it plugged in to the power now) This may be a laptop but with a cooling pad, wireless mouse & adapter, screen I can't close, it's not very portable! Two USB ports aren't enough; if I need to print something I have to unplug the cooling pad and hope for the best. When using this plasticy laptop it is quite obvious that it's cheaply made with some gloss thrown on there to make it look good. Sure, it's a budget laptop, but it needs to handle the basic of needs and this falls way short of that.

changeup45

Mount Dora, FL

My husband got this computer 3 1/2 years ago for Optometry school. We have been pretty happy with this product, but there have been ups and downs with it as well. The computer is very easy to use which is nice, and I really like the design on it as well. I have really liked how smooth the mouse has been on this computer. I have had trouble on other laptops with the mouse, but I love this one! We had a time or two where we had to take the computer in for either a virus or something else, but it was free at the school so it wasn't to bad for us. The battery life on it is ok. I wish it lasted a little longer and that they would warn you a little better that it was low. There have been several times when I didn't realize how low the battery was and then it died. It has really been a pretty good computer for us though. So overall I would recommend it to anybody. Ease of Use This computer is very easy to use. Battery Life The battery life isn't too bad. I wish it lasted a little longer. Support & Service It was good. I only had to use it a couple of times. Speed/Performance This computer speed and performance has been pretty good. Sometimes its slower than I would like, but not too bad. Design I love the design and feel of this computer. Durability We have had this computer for a little over 3 years and it was used for my husbands school. So he was on it all the time. So overall I would say the durability is great.

heidib13

USA

The HP Pavilion DV4 Notebook/Laptop PC is quite satisfactory. When i first bought it i didnt like the laptop that much, since it was somewhat a down grade from my Toshiba (sorry, forgot the model i had). However, the laptop really grew on to me and now i love it as much as my children. There are a few flaws in the laptop like the somewhat short battery life and the fact that sometimes it heats up a lot. also the fact that there's this little light thing on the back of the laptop that lights up and stays lit as soon as the laptop turns on. But other than that, i love it.

ramshaia

Oakland Gardens, NY

Overall, this laptop is pretty good. The performance could improve though, my laptop tend's to freeze up when opening some website's such as Facebook. Everything really great besides that. Easy to use, Plenty of ports, external remote, more than enough stuff.

CurrentReview

USA

I picked the HP Pavilion dv4-2169 in Apr'10 and was pleasantly surprised with this combination of power and portability. The laptop runs a HP Pavilion dv4-2169 with 4 GB or DDR3 RAM, 500 GB SATA HDD with Inbuilt Wireless, WebCam, DVD burner with a 14 inch 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) screen.The laptop runs cool and with 4 GB of RAM and the blazing fast 500 GB (7200 RPM) hdd running multiple applications, browsing, image editing etc. is a breeze. the only thing the laptop struggles is with modern games.HP provides a small remote that stores in the Express Card slot and a easily removable DVD drive which allows you to lose some weight and conserve battery if needed. The touch sensitive volume control and wireless buttons and the nifty button to turn off the touch pad are good features to have. Would still have liked dedicated media controls for play stop, fwd etc.Over all it's a good looking piece of equipment but a couple of things I did like to change is the mocha print and the HP logo on the outside which just functions as a Juice sapper, though it looks good.Display is bright; movies look good and text / icons are highly readable. Viewing angle is still pretty good, especially compared to Dell Inspiron. But you have to adjust the screen to get the beperfect contrast-brightness. The speakers are good and provide good sound for music and movies bothFor extended times away from the socket HP does offer a 9 Cell battery but that adds a decent amount of bulk to this compact well designed budget machine.if you are looking for a gaming PC, this is not what you want. But If excellent performance is what you are looking at with great battery time, this baby is for you.

ParagD

Colonia, NJ

My husband and I received the HP Pavilion DV4 laptop as a gift from my husband's mother. Our old laptop had seen better days, and we were just glad to have something new. I had only owned Dell laptops prior to getting this one, so I was a little bit concerned. I've now had the laptop for over a year and have been very pleased with it. It is fairly lightweight and the screen size is large enough that I can see everything clearly. It seems to have a fairly long battery life compared to what my Dell had. Best of all, it is really easy to use and very straightforward in instructions for set-up. I think just about anyone could use this laptop. It has a good amount of memory to suit my family's purposes, and I often download pictures on it and my husband has a lot of songs he has downloaded on it. I also like the fact that if you leave it unattended for a period of time and you are running off of battery power only, it will do a semi shutdown to conserve your battery power so you don't lose unsaved work. I'm not sure how long the battery power will last once it does this, but this has saved me from losing my work a couple of times. I've also never had problems with the laptop overheating. The only thing I don't like about it has to do with appearance. Fingerprints are very visible on both the outer part of the laptop and the area just below the keys and I am constantly having to wipe them off.  Overall, I think this laptop is a great value for the money and would recommend it. 

breelog

Magnolia, AR

The HP Pavillion dv4-2160 is one of the best purchases made by my family. It's super easy to use and comes with everything you need to get any computer job done. It even comes with a remote control. It would be nice if the cover could be switched, but that's not an option. I can use the programs with ease because if for some reason I don't know how to use a certain function or program, it has a step by step guide for just about everything you try to do on here. Also, every time there is any kind of needed update, the computer alerts the user with a blinking icon at the bottom of the screen and doesn't interupt what you are working on. I would definitely recommend this type of computer to anyone. I personally would not like to take it with me and hold up the security lines at the airport because I have to unpack it and put it in a separate bin.

ML2007

Montebello, CA

I've heard others say that the HP laptop isn't any good but ... I disagree.  I've had mine for over a year and love it.  It performs well, is dependable and easy to use.  It's also reasonably light-weight making it great for carrying along on trips, etc.  My only criticism of this laptop is that it does seem to get overheated occasionally and doesn't perform as well when that happens.  It happens infrequently, but it does happen.  However, powering down for awhile takes care of that.  I also use a CoolMax pad which help keep the machine cool. I would definitely buy another HP based on my experience with this laptop! Ease of Use I still adore this laptop ... it is everything I need and want in a laptop! Battery Life I rarely need to use just the battery and typically have my laptop connected to electricity. When I use the battery, if I set it for best efficiency (which I typically don't do) it lasts for awhile ... not really long enough to watch a movie or anything like that but long enough to do quick tasks. It could be better! Support & Service I'll give this feature an "OK" because I've never had to use it so I'm not sure if the service & support is good or not. Speed/Performance Performs very well! Design It isn't too heavy ... the keyboard is nice. Durability Seems durable to me ... I've had the unit for about 5 years and it's survived travels and a lot of use!

Smallftprints

Asheville, NC

A birthday present..Ummm first the battery. It doesn't last long and it doesn't matter what you turn down or off..if you get 2 hours out of it consider yourself lucky-very lucky.. The keyboard..is not finger friendly, it doesn't work at a touch so when your typing you may miss a letter or two, and that's when it's not going off doing what it wants..it has a mind of it's own..it likes to jump to different locations, if your not paying attention you can be typing in the middle of a word, or paragraph you had no intentions of touching...the enter key is loooong, I keep hitting it when I don't mean to..it felt like the whole keyboard was off to the left by a key or two, but you do get use to finger placement.. The touchpad..mine was new out of the box, keep that in mind..after a few weeks it was actually kinda sticky...nothing cured it..it's almost like it never got a topcoat of something.. anyway my fingers didn't slide across it easily and I ended up sticking a piece of saranwrap to it, to make my finger glide.. It gets hot. waaaaay to hot to play with without a cooler under it... It's light, only about 8 lbs and easy to carry, and comes with the cover for the hard drive if you want to remove it, though why you would I'm not quite sure.. It's very glossy on the outside which means fingerprints are easy to see.. Speakers are great for a laptop, the widescreen button baffled me so I gave up trying to figure it out.. Over all performance wise it's a great machine..I just couldn't adjust to it, most of the problems being the mind of it's own when typing, and how hot it got on my lap..the frustration mounted to unbearable. After talking to HP's helpless desk I got rid of it and went for Toshiba's Tecra..And when I told them I was going to get rid of it for a Toshiba, they didn't seem to care...  

nancysrighthere2

Navarre, FL