Hewlett Packard HP Pavilion Entertainment PC Review

Knowing that I am not an avid review-reader or review-writer, and that I'm not a computer geek by any means, please bear with my on this one....

SCREEN SIZE/WEIGHT:

I have owned my hp pavilion entertainment pc since May 2008.  I did a lot of research on which laptop would be best for my needs, and this one kept coming back.  I do a lot of graphic design work (and surprisingly, I am not a mac user - GASP!, I know), I am online constantly, and I needed to store A LOT of pictures and video.  I purchased the 17.1" widescreen edition because I like to have a lot of screen space for all the windows I open constantly.  This is one thing I may change if I had it to do over again.  After you finally find a laptop bag that will hold a 17" computer, and then get the computer inside...it is actually quite heavy.  Comparing it to older laptops, it's not heavy at all, but I guess I'm a bit of a baby, it's a bit more than I want to lug around all day.

VISTA:

Vista came installed on my computer, and has given me very few problems since day one.  Everything has been running great, even after storing MANY GBs of pictures and video.  There was one glitch but I'm thinking that may have been a virus problem, not a Vista problem.

GAMES:

I was displeased with the amount of games that came pre-installed, however.  There were several games that you could play only a certain number of times before you were asked to download them (for money, of course).  Now, I am not an avid gamer, but if you are going to give me games, don't waste my time with games I can only play five times before they expire and just sit taking up space on my computer.  I uninstalled them as soon as I realized that this was the case.  I was displeased with how difficult it was to actually uninstall them though.  There was a long process of selecting the individual games that you wanted to delete and which ones you wanted to keep.  Once they were uninstalled though, I didn't notice a difference in the speed of the computer.

CASE: 

The outside of the computer seems to get dirty really easy.  The black shiny case picks up fingerprints like nobody's business and it seems to wear easily.  (Please understand that though I may sound like I am complaining about all this, no worries, these are just minor things that I wanted to let you know about - the computer itself is great).

KEYBOARD:

I love having the full keyboard and number pad.  This is my first laptop and I am pleased with how easy the transition was.  I have used friends' computers that don't have the full keyboard or number pad, and it is really inconvienent sometimes.  Speaking of the keys, they are quiet to type on, each key gives a nice tactile click when you press them, and the board is laid out nicely.  The only keyboard layout change that I would make is that the right shift key is much smaller than you would expect and often times I press enter instead of shift when I am typing quickly.  I thought maybe this was just me at first, but it seems that other people who type on my computer notice it too.  Again, not a major flaw, just takes some getting used to.

EXTERNAL ATTCHMENTS:

The amount of ports that this computer has really astounds me.  There are four well-placed USB ports, a firewire port, phone jack, ethernet jack, one for plugging in another screen, and a couple others I have have yet to learn about.  There is also a slot for SD cards, which is really convienent for uploading pictures from my camera.  Because of my graphic design, I usually have two printers plugged in and I like to have access to an old-fashioned mouse every now and again, so having so many USB ports has been really useful.

REMOTE:

Another feature that I have really enjoyed is the remote that you can use for playing CDs and DVDs.  It snaps right into the side of the computer, which is great so I will have it with me all the time, and it is easy to use.  Since the screen is so large, I can set up the computer at a distance and use the remote when watching a DVD and it feels just like watching a television (actually better than most of my televisions since none of mine are HD).

POWER CORD:

The power cord plugs into the right hand side of the computer right next to the screen.  I have found that if it gets jarred even a little it does not continue charging.  This is not really a huge deal since most of the time I am looking at the screen when this happens and when the computer is not charging, the screen dims, and then I know to plug it back in all the way.  If the screen is closed, however, I do not always notice right away and sometimes get surprised when I go to take my computer out when I am not near a wall outlet and it's totally dead.  I don't know if this is a flaw with the type of computer or just with mine specifically.   

Excellent computer!  Nice Job HP!