HP DV7T Customizable Notebook

by Taylor Flatt on December 23rd, 2008 at 12:29 am EDT - 391 views

Recently, I was graced with a HP DV7T laptop.  To start off, here are the specs,

• Net Price: $887.18
• 17.0″ diagonal WXGA+ High Def BrightView Widescreen Display
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• Intel Graphics media Accelerator 4500MD
• 250GB Sata HDD
• Webcam
• Fingerprint Reader
• Integrated 56k Modem
• Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Vista Home 64bit

With that covered, I’d like to say that I was quite pleased when I received the laptop.  Not only was the computer slick with the black glassy exterior but it had a catchy interior with a light up display that allowed me to control my media center by touch.  It also had a neat light up display on the back (Letters HP light up).

When I first opened the computer up and started it, I was quite surprised by the user friendliness of it.  First, it walked me through personalizing my computer, then it offered to show me how to do everything but turn it off.  After skipping through all this (which seemed like hours), I finally got to the computer part.  This is when the cold hard truths hit me.

When I finally got to the desktop, I was surpised to find around 10 icons with advertisements on the computer.  I then proceeded to the Add/Remove and found over 20 programs installed (the ones that aren’t needed).  With the sleek design and crafty layout it had me spoofed that they, like all other companies, shoved advertisements down your throats whenever they could.

Other than the guilty truth that they are not unlike any other major company, I was quite pleased with the performance.  The performance is fluid throughout the weeks to follow. With a dozen or so programs running at once, it never blinked an eye (due to in part that it is new and has decent ram).

I’d also like to point out that the laptop doesn’t give off that much heat at all. Compared to my sister-in-law’s new Toshiba Satellite, it is like the arctic. That is one thing I’d like to commend HP on with respects to heat wise.

With respect to graphics, however, the computer is definitely not the best in the league. With an Intel card, it is in the lower half of the category rendering me useless when attempting to play any graphic demanding games.  Even though I didn’t really buy the computer to play games, it is still a factor in determining the performance of the machine. It is great in all other aspects execpt graphics.  The only other way I could have improved, was to get the NVIDIA 9600 and then upgrade my batter which all would have cost me about 150-200 more.

Review

Good: Slim, lightweight and easy to carry. Sleek design with great performance. Very good price for a 17″ computer with decent specs at that.  It has easy to reach media controls that are lightened up on the panel.

Bad: Advertisements upon login.  The battery life is kind of disapointing but is workable.