amyk1999's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV6605US (GS662UA) PC Not...
HP Pavilion Entertainment pc, DV6605us:
160gb hard drive, 1gb RAM, lightscribe, AMD Athlon x2, Windows Vista Premium
So my old faithful desktop crashed in October, after 8 years of great service (Gateway 2000) and I decided to go with a laptop. I'm a stay at home mom of 4 and I take LOTS of pictures - it's my hobby. I also do some work with websites for friends & family, so I wanted something that could handle Microsoft's Office, FrontPage, and my picture programs.
The HP Pavilion Entertainment notebook grabbed my attention immediately with it's wide screen and promises of better graphics for pics & videos. The outer body is pretty impressive with it's black & silver design. I'll skip to my pros & cons, since most of the tech stuff you can find anywhere else:
In random order, I love that it came wifi ready. And all the usb ports - 3 of them. Also the 5 in 1 card reader is awesome, as I have 3 different ones I use. I love the 160gb of hard drive - I have yet to go below 90gbs of hard drive, even with my hundreds and hundreds of pics.
I love the lightscribe feature! if you are a picture or dvd creating buff, being able to imprint your own design on a disc is amazing! It does require a special kind of disc, but they weren't that expensive.
It also comes with a remote for the dvd/cd programs, so i can use it as a stereo in my kitchen or bedroom, or let the kids watch dvds (ha,yeah right).
The keys are nice & easy to use, even for a newbie to laptops, like myself. The only thing I miss is my numeric key pad.
The dvd/cd playback, ff, rewind, and volume buttons are easily accessible at the top of the keyboard, by touch. The speaker to the laptop runs across the top. I didn't realize till later but when you close the lid with the cd playing, it covers the speaker. You can still hear, but I heard later they make laptops that show the speakers even when the laptop is closed. That would have been better.
I can't think of anything else outstanding to mention, I really love the computer, but here are my cons:
The speaker thing, as I already mentioned, is nuisance only level for me, as I just leave it open or hook it up to speakers.
But on a greater level of agitation is the Vista Premium. It really is full of unnecessary trials and bulky programs that are already installed on your hard drive & start up tray. My first day I was uninstalling and disabling so much junk. For instance, Moviefone or something similar, DVD creator programs, Roxio cd creator, etc, most of which can't run very fast on the 1gb RAM!
Also, on Vista, if you use AOL, it is still not fully compatible and right now I'm having to use IE, which I also suspect has compatibility issues as I freeze up too often and logged off.
Also, and the biggest problem of all with Vista, it takes over 512 of RAM just to run Vista, even with all the background programs disabled. With nothing open or running, the meter sits at about 533 on the resource meter - just to have your computer on! So, 1gb of RAM is WAY too low. I am installing 2gb of RAM this afternoon, in fact. If I were more tech savvy, I would get rid of Vista and install XP in a heartbeat!
A note on HP's customer service: I had a little mishap one month after buying the product and they mailed me a packaging kit within the week and picked it up same day by FedEx. It was sent to Nashville, where their tech center is located in one of the airport terminals (husband says), and it was back in my hands within 3 days. They actually picked it up on Friday at 5:30 and I had it back on Monday at 2pm - AMAZING! 1 yr warranty that came standard.
I can't remember, but I believe the laptop accepts only 4gb of RAM total, in two slots, so keep that in mind.
And that is really my only complaints :)
I found mine at Circuit City for $629 with a $50 rebate, so final price of $579, plus tax. My 2gb of RAM was $35 each, so upgrade for $70. That was in October of 2007.
Update 1-29-08: I tried to install new RAM and after two failed attempts, I was told by HP that my brand of RAM, Centon, is not compatible with this laptop. They said it is compatible with older HP laptops but apparently not the newer versions. I am sending it off to be fixed, under warranty, as it is now reading only one of the factory installed RAM cards. Once that is done, I will be taking it to an HP approved technician to install HP approved RAM :) So, beware Centon RAM for this laptop!
Update 4-30-08: I let a friend check out the RAM installation problem before sending it off and he had it installed within minutes. Apparently I wasn't inserting it in far enough. So, Centron Ram is NOT an issue with this laptop :) Since I updated the RAM, I have had no problem running multiple programs at once. And I downgraded to the older version of AOL, not the Vista Ready version, and fix a lot of those problems as well. Still recommend!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 579.00 Operating System: Windows Processor: AMD Athlon (K7) Processor speed: Don't Know Screen Size: 15 inches RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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