Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV9000Z 17" Screen Laptop Review

I have my HP dv9420us for over two years now and I have been very happy with it so far.  I bought this laptop in 2007 prior to my deployment to Iraq so that I would have the ability to stay in contact with friends and family and so I could watch videos and listen to music and do other basic computer type things.  At the time Vista was still very new and I had the drive wiped and XP put on it simply because I knew how to use XP and how to fix most of the problems that I would have.  It worked flawlessly for the entire 6 months that I was in Iraq.  When I got home I easily hooked it up to a wireless network that I have in my apartment and continued to use it there.

One of the things that I love about this laptop is that the screen is big and it is easy to work on because it's easy to see the things that are on the desktop.  Another feature that I appreciate with this laptop is the number pad on the right hand side, which makes it easier to enter numbers.  The built in web cam is great also, but the mic seems to be a little bit far away and so having an external microphone can be helpful.

In the entire time that I had this laptop, I have really only had one issue with it.  After about a year the wireless stopped working on the laptop.  I took it in to one of the local computer places and they weren't able to figure it out.  Since I have the extended warranty on the laptop I called to see about getting it fixed and I was informed that it was a known problem with this laptop and that I needed to call HP directly since they had automatically extended the warranty on the laptop.  After I contacted HP they informed me that I would have to put Vista back on the laptop before they would be able to work on it.  While in the process of puting the original operating system back on the laptop, the screen went out as well and it would no longer start correctly.  I called HP back and after running through a couple of troubleshooting ideas, they informed me that the issue was linked to the issue I was having with my wireless card.  They sent me a box and a shipping label and I sent the laptop to them.  Within less than a week I received my laptop back in complete working order and I have not had any problems with it since then.  I saw on here that some people have said that the HP customer service was bad and that they were slow and not very helpful, but that has not been my experience with them.  They understood my problem and were very quick to try and solve it.

My laptop is now on it's second deployment and it is still running great.  One of the concerns that I do have with it is that it runs very hot.  I have a cooling pad that I set underneath it just to make sure that it doesn't get too warm, but if you sit with your laptop on your lap it may get too warm for you and may want to look for a way to keep it a little bit cooler.

Overall I would definitely recommend this laptop.  It works great for most everyday computer user's needs.