GateWay Com

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Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Overall Great Laptop
Wow what can I say about this laptop? I placed my order on 11/7, product was shipped 11/9 and delivered 11/11! The shipping was listed as free super saver shipping but since Amazon had a free 2-day shipping promotion going on shortly after I bought it, I think they may have automatically upgraded it to that.

Anyways back to my review. Since I've only had this computer less than a week, I cannot be too critical or list every single pro/con. However I will attempt to list that which I have experienced (Typing the review on the laptop now!)

1) Computer came securely packaged and arrived on time, much earlier than expected. Package had the computer, battery, user manual, quick-start guide, power adapter + cord, and an HP remote (made for use with HP MediaSmart technology)

2) Initial set up is a breeze for a novice user. I'm not a novice by any means, so it really was a snap to get this computer up and running. Just make sure to plug it in and then let the computer run all the necessary updates and whatnot. Expect to set aside a minimum of 2 hours to get all this done.

3) I have been using Windows XP since...about my 7th or 8th grade year (2nd year sophomore in college, currently), so suffice it to say I didn't want to use Windows 7. Because this is a 64bit computer, and it has 4gigs of RAM and a 2.4GHz processor, I must say that Windows 7 is surprisingly fast and a very refreshing change after the last disaster of Windows Vista. The transparency effects arent too flashy like in Vista, and everything runs very clean, fast, and efficient. It does take a bit of time to get used to all the new options, but that might only be me since I did NOT upgrade to Vista, so I'm really learning for the first time the new layout of Windows.

4) As far as performance and graphics, I have not done any task which is terribly processor or graphics card intensive for me to have any opinion on that. I have installed Unreal Tournament 2004 and Rome: Total War. Both games are pretty graphics heavy and have run very very smooth so far. The settings are automatically calibrated in the game and it is nice to see the game set everything to HIGH quality. Proves this computer really has the punch to deal with games, even in a laptop form. The 17.3" screen is very vivid and bright while gaming, allowing the user to experience the best high-quality and high-def computing experience available.

5) A MAJOR point I want to make is the size of the computer and the search for a laptop case. I read alot about this computer before I bought it, and I did my best to try and shop online for a case to fit a screen this big. Unfortunately, not many case manufacturers have items made for a 17.3" screen, so my advice is to NOT shop online and have it be a hit-and-miss for finding the right size. I initially bought an (overpriced) backpack from Best Buy for damn near $80, and very quickly realized the incredible markup and bloated price they charge. Very soon after I returned it since both Staples and a local computer specialty store (GT Computers) had much cheaper and better quality items. I do want to make a note that some cases say 16", but they CAN fit this computer if they are spacious enough. My personal decision was to buy a laptop backpack rather than a case since this computer weighs in at a hefty 8lbs and is not the easiest thing in the world to carry around. Long story short is the advice to go to a store, rather than rely on a website, when it comes to buying a laptop case that actually fits.

6) Accessories + junk: The computer comes with an Altec Lansing Premium Sound System with Built-in Subwoofer. While this sounds good on paper, its not the best sound in the world in actuality. Perhaps I'm a bit biased since I have a 2.1 system with 40W subwoofer at my desktop, but for a pair of laptop speakers for the average user, they are really good. I was in a loud cafeteria setting, and my friend pulled out his USB powered speakers to hear a video he was playing...just for comparison purposes I turned my speakers up maxed and they not only drowned out HIS speakers (these were seperate, dedicated, USB powered speakers) but they also drowned out some of the cafeteria noise. An audiophile or someone who is really tech-savy will be able to tell the difference between low quality and high quality, but any other user or someone just looking for a casual computing experience will appreciate this laptop. Another fun accessory is the built-in HP MediaSmart remote control. It is slim, stylish, fits easily into the computer, and its alot of fun to show off to friends by turning my music on/off or skipping tracks and changing the volume from across the room. This computer really is aimed to be an entertainment PC, and hooked up correctly with an HDMI cable and a decent sound system, one could stream movies or videos from the internet, watch them on the tv, and control it all from the comfort of your couch! Very nice touch, and very fun to have.

7) Battery life: The product name boasts an "Up to 4.5 hour battery life" and I'm not sure how true this claim is, since I don't get anywhere NEAR 4 hours, but more on the low end of 3. All my settings are set to low, including screen brightness...everything is designed to save power. Don't get me wrong though: for a laptop with a screen this big, and with the processing power it packs, the battery has stunning performance. However, don't expect to get more than 3 hours, maybe 3.5 hours if you do -nothing- but word process and web surf. Windows 7 doesn't show the battery time remaining when you hover over the system tray icon like Windows Vista and XP do, but to circumvent that I downloaded a free program called BatteryBar, and it gives detailed statistics on the battery's time left to charge, full charge capacity (measured in megawatt-hours, or mWh), as well as the charge/discharge rate, full lifetime, and battery wear (Mine is at 3.4% of 73,440 mWh, meaning I can use about 97% of the battery's full capacity. Its current capacity is 70,963 mWh, and this is just due to normal degredation that happens as soon as the battery if manufactured.) On that note, it is really best to USE the battery rather than not to, since either way it is going to degrade. You cannot stop the natrual degredation process, so its better to just use it up. The HP user guides recommend discharging the battery down to 5% before fully recharging, to help the battery retain its charge/discharge cycles.

Anyhow, I think that is more than enough information from someone who has only had this computer 5 days. I'm sure I will write a revision to this review in the future, if I notice any major changes, or decide to upgrade the information for more potential buyers. Thanks for reading, and I hope it helps in your decision! My verdict? Get this computer if your are someone looking to watch lots of movies, view pictures or slideshows, and do alot of music/video based stuff (watching Youtube, movies, etc). I'm not a gamer but in looking for a laptop I wanted something that HAS the performance, if I need it, whether I decide to use it or not. If you are a college student (like I am), its a great laptop with great battery life, but be prepared to carry around a bit of added weight, just due to the sheer size of this thing.

Overall great laptop and I wouldn't change it for the world. Thanks for reading!

Superb for the Money
I had bought a zd8000 series 17 inch laptop 5 years ago. And not had a single problem with it.
So I went back to HP for this model. The zd8000 is a p4 and cannot chomp high def video.

This computer, dv7 3060us can chomp/edit the high def video. You'll be able to hook up that 500 $ canon
high def camcorder to it and flow easily. Which is what I was looking for. Using magic edit movie pro 15
when I added 3D titles, it began to struggle and the cpu went to 100 %.
Hehehe, this is to be expected. Regular titles are no sweat. I'm having no probs with high def playback.

Came sealed in the box, which is a +++ Nothing cheeky.
I seen someone complain about the chrome touchpad in another review, believe me, its a non issue.
I see someone else complain about fingerprints, believe me, its also a non issue.

This computer is high tech looking, and when I compare it to my old zd8000 it sits lower
but is wider. My wrists are very happy with this lower position, good work HP.
Super wide comfortable keypad ....

I'm also using this laptop to do multi tracking with music, and so far, no hiccups for that.
Working like a dream for multi tracking.

Windows 7 on this will boot up in about a minute, which is very nice also.


For the money, its a great laptop, good update for me.

Okay, here's what you really want to know.
This is an honest review from the perspective of a 50+ year-old guy who is very picky and cheap, overeducated and damn proud of his underachievments. Let's face it: most of what old folks do is CEREBRAL; I'm not a marathon runner or a dumbass nosepicking kid on a skateboard. I think for a living, and for those who can appreciate the difference, I offer the following nuggets of wisdom.

This new HP Pavilion DV7-3063CL replaced my 20-year old IBM Aptiva desktop that ran my own custom version of Win98SE. (I re-wrote and compiled parts of the OS to suit my needs, as well as used code from Windows ME to properly support large DASD's. Reverse engineering ROCKS.) I have used 56K dialup and a nice old NEC 15" flatscreen that worked great for almost 20 years. I bought this thing on a whim for Christmas, now that I'm divorced and finally have some extra money. I've always wanted a decent laptop and now I have it! Here are my honest impressions of this thing.

I'm cheap, so I bought discounted at Costco. What caught my eye immediately was the stainless steel around the edge, the HDMI port, the touchpad and the brick-sturdy feel. It's not ultra-light, nor does the screen flip open easily. The screen hinge is tight and has remained that way since I bought it. This is good: I don't want the damned thing flopping around while I type. The artsy-fartsy design on the front sucks but it's not obnoxious either. It's HUGE, heavy and it takes up a lot of real estate. This isn't a laptop: it's a portable desktop computer, which suits me just fine.

Windows 7 isn't as much of a PIA as I thought it might be. The function keys really save time. The DVD player controls up next to the screen are outstanding and very useful. The keyboard is quiet and mushy which bothers me, as I prefer my old classic IBM 5150 board that makes lots of soothing clickety-clackety noise. Getting used to a laptop keyboard takes lots of PATIENCE. Separate numberpad is nice. Ability to turn off touchpad is great because my big paws often get in the way. GOBS of ports on this thing, more than you'll ever need. It feels SOLID and well made. The HD is lightning fast and quiet. The screen is a stunner and easy to read --great for us old guys who can't see their feet anymore.

This machine is often reviewed as mediocre in performance testing. Bullcookies. It's unbelievably fast by anyone's standards, and I've run Windows 7 performance index testing that proves it. The AMD dual-core processer, 4-gig DDR2 memory and 500GB 7200-SATA drive work well together; I shut the swapfile nonsense off completely, de-crapified the HD and made numerous tweaks including the deletion of dozens of scheduled tasks, and this machine now flat-out HAULS ASS.

Watching instant-play movies from Netflix on an HDTV is a breeze using a $.50 cent HDMI cable. I discovered the DVD drive supports DVD-RAM disks, although writing is extremely slow. Win7 also can use DVD -/+RW disks like a floppy for reading/writing. Great for backing up data, but again, SLOW. There is also a 2nd drive bay to install another hard drive for full-system (cloned) backups. You can turn off the foofy screen effects through Control Panel so that it looks like older versions of Windows and speed things up, but I find that computer speed is greasy-fast no matter if the silly effects are on or off, thanks to the fast dedicated video card. The SDHC card slot works great and is fast; I use Class 6 cards to back data up, and it's much easier than using DVD's by a longshot.

The bad news: tons of bloatware and crap slow boot times and suck up RAM. Thanks, HP, you cagefull of simeon, crap-throwing idiots! The good news: it can be blown away easily using "PC Decrapifier" (Love the name! Freeware and it WORKS) and tweaking task scheduler. All I left in was MS Works. All that "Windows Live" crapola, Photoshop X2 nonsense and the rest got blown away immediately. Same goes for the demoware, upgrade-beggerware and especially the upgradeware games --GONE, and whatever you do --be SURE to blow the Norton Antivirus demoware away ASAP; it causes nothing but problems. Nuke anything that loads up at boot time, esp. those damned "updaters" that sit in memory and basically do nothing. I shed 20GB by just dumping bloatware and I now have an honest-to-goodness 30-second cold boot to brag about. If you take the time to dump all the crap that comes preinstalled, you will be awestruck by the raw speed this thing has to offer for such a bargain laptop.

Bottom line: lightning-fast, beautiful huge screen, Win7, oodles of storage and RAM and sexy lines at a great price. Battery life is not overstated; I easily get 4+ hours on a charge with the screen brightness turned down. This is a great replacement for a desktop system, and I can recommend it to the over-50 crowd that just wants something fast, cheap, and that WORKS with just a few tweaks. Dump the bloatware and you've got a greasy-fast, sexy, wide-screened toy that will make your nipples hard just thinking about it.