Quite satisfactory laptop overall, with a few things that could have been better.
Written: Sep 06 '04 (Updated Nov 23 '04)
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Pros: Slick Look, Fast Performance, Large Screen, Great Graphics and Sound, Fast shutdown, Multiple User Accounts.
Cons: No Floppy Drive, Insensitive Keyboard, Slow Booting, Power Cord Dropping, Less Touchpad Functionality, Horrible Support.
The Bottom Line: Packed with nice features at a reasonable price. Offers decent performance for game playing and other general purpose uses. Just hope you never have to contact the technical support.
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| inphri's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion ze4560us (DM736A) PC Note... |
[Update on Technical Support at the bottom]
I wanted to buy a laptop as a Christmas gift for my husband, who does not know too much about computers, but loves playing computer games. Therefore, I was looking for a laptop with enough disk space to house multiple games, fast processor to facilitate the game play, and of course as many features as I could get for a reasonable price. After several comparison shopping attempts and the recommendation from a computer expert friend, I purchased this laptop brand new from CompUSA.com for $1,300 in December 2003.
When he first booted up the laptop, we were both very excited and thought this was the coolest thing in the world. Now after 9 months, we are still happy with the laptop, but we also found out several things that could have been improved upon. I don't know the best way to categorize these things, so I will just start going down the list. Some of these may be software-related and not the laptop's fault.
Things I Like About It:
Good looking
Yeah, it has some cool looking blue and orange colored lights all around the laptop, including the power indicator, the battery indicator, the shortcut function keys, mute indicator, and the touchpad indicator. The keyboard is black, and the body is dark gray with silver trim. It's a nice-looking laptop for sure.
Touchpad lock
There is a button that allows us to disable the touchpad. This is very useful if I am working on a document (for example) and do not need the touchpad for quite a while. With the touchpad locked, I will not accidentally hit the touchpad and have my mouse jumping all over the place.
Fast shut-down time
It only takes less than 20 seconds for the computer to shut down. This is great especially when we play the games too late and finally realize it is way past bedtime. We don't have to sit around much longer to ensure the laptop is properly shut down.
Great features for game play
As I mentioned, the purpose of buying a laptop is for my husband to play PC games wherever he goes. This laptop serves this purpose quite well, with some exceptions. This laptop has a large 15" screen that expands almost as large as the laptop itself. There is not much wasted space around the screen at all. The graphic (1024 x 768 pixels, 32 bit color) and sound are both very good and clear, and the laptop plays the games' introductory movies very smoothly. It has 512 MB RAM, so the game play is smooth. The laptop has AMD Athlon processor, and I was told that this is better for gaming (in comparison to Intel processor). I cannot confirm this because I don't really know the differences.
Allows multiple user accounts with guest account
This is because of the Windows XP operating system that comes with this laptop. It allows us to create multiple user accounts with passwords, so we can have different icons and looks of the desktop. My husband adapted to the blue bubbly Windows XP look and he is happy with the Most Frequently Used Programs feature on the Start menu. But I switched my desktop to look like Classic Windows, and disabled the program grouping. However, a few things are still shared across user accounts and cannot be customized separately for each user account. We also set up a guest account where our renter can use our laptop to get on the Internet, but is not allowed to download and install any program to prevent virus. I don't want to get into too much detail because I am reviewing the laptop and not Windows XP, but I do want to mention it because that's what comes with this laptop.
Things I Don't Like About It:
Floppy disk drive not included
This is the most aggravating thing to my husband because he can't transfer files very easily. I understand that nowadays every computer has the CD-RW and/or portable external storage, so the floppy disk is less and less frequently used. However, we still have to work with older computers that either does not have a USB port (for external storage drive), or we don't feel like burning a CD every time when we have to move a small file from one computer to another. HP wants us to pay another $50 for an A-drive, and that is just unacceptable.
Insensitive keyboard
This might just be me, but I am used to the sensitive Dell Latitude keyboard. On this laptop, however, I have to type very hard in order for the computer to recognize my keystrokes. I often have skipped letters and have to go way back to correct my typing. This is the most aggravating thing to me, and I am glad I am not doing too much typing on this computer. My husband does not have as much complaint about this particular issue, because he types quite slowly with two fingers.
Power cord too easily detached
When we insert the power cord into the power input, it is very easy. The problem is, it also comes out by itself too easily. If we move the laptop, we need to check to see if the power cord is still attached. What makes this worse is that the USB port is right next to the power input. Because this laptop does not have an A-drive, we use the USB port external storage drive a lot. Every time when we unplug the external storage drive, it bumps the power cord a little bit, and the power plug comes out. I never have this problem with my Dell Latitude laptop. If this goes un-noticed (especially when we play games in full-screen mode and cannot see the battery/power status), the power drains out and the laptop goes into hibernation mode in the middle of the game play. Fortunately, in most cases, as soon as we plug the power back in, we can log right back in to our user account, and the computer remembers where we left off. There are only a few games that will be shut down and the data will be lost.
Slow booting time
When we boot up the computer, it takes quite a long time to become fully functional. Generally, it takes about 2 and half minutes before it is fully booted so we can start to run programs on the computer.
It also gives us a false impression that it is booted but it is really not. What I mean is, we will see the desktop wall paper and all our icons as if the laptop were ready; but when we double-click on any icon to launch the program, nothing happens. The first few times I just kept double-clicking, and I ended up with several windows popping up at the same time. So I finally learned that I have to wait until the laptop is fully-booted before I can run any program. The way I can tell whether the computer is fully booted is by either hearing the booting music, or seeing all the system tray icons (if muted).
Poor touchpad functionality
If this is configurable, then I have not found where to customize the touchpad. I am not a mouse-lover and I use hot keys as much as I can. Sometimes I rather use the touchpad because it is right next to my fingers, even though I have the mouse plugged in. This laptop does not allow me to do that. When a mouse is plugged in, I cannot use the touchpad at the same time. Also, when I wanted to click on something using the touchpad, I have to actually press the click buttons below the touchpad, and I cannot simply tap on the touchpad. My Dell Latitude allows me to tap the touchpad to click. This would have been very useful if it were available on this laptop. Sometimes I need to work (or play) very quietly, and having to press the click buttons makes a lot of noise.
Windows XP is too new for old games
This is really our personal issue, but I want to mention it in case you have a similar situation. Most of my husband's games are compatible with Windows 95/98, but not Windows XP. We had to fetch a lot of patches over the Internet to get his old games working on this laptop. For the games we can't find patches for, or if the patches don't work perfectly, we have to use the old Windows 98 desktop.
Noise when reading CD or DVD
When the laptop is reading the data on the CD or DVD, it makes a zooming noise. This is normal for computers and usually it is at an acceptable level. However, occasionally, the noise is so loud that it makes me nervous. If this is the case, the noise level is usually reduced in stages after a few seconds, and it sounds funny - like someone is down-shifting a manual transmission car.
Sometimes the USB port is not recognized
This happens randomly and not frequently enough to be a real problem, but it is annoying at times. Because this laptop does not have an A-drive, we use the external storage drive using the USB port. Sometimes after we plug in the external drive, it is not recognized immediately. Sometimes the external drive shows up after refreshing the Windows Explorer view, but sometimes it only shows up after we unplug it and then plug it into the second USB port.
Things I Feel Neutral About It:
Weight
For a laptop, the portability (weight) is important. This laptop is quite heavy (over 7 lbs), but not the heaviest I have ever used. It is about the same as my Dell Latitude, and therefore I don't have too much complaint about it. However, it does get quite tiresome after I carry it around for a while.
Heat
After you run the computer for a while, it gets really hot. I think most laptops do this, so I don't have too much complaint about it. I do notice the fan is working very hard and making quite a bit noise.
Adequate battery life
The battery included with the laptop is supposed to have a normal battery life of 3 hours, but it usually runs a little less than that, about 2 and half hours only. I don't have much complaint about it because we usually run it with the power cord (except when the power cord got bumped and we didn't know). Still, my Dell Latitude excels in this department, because it has a full 3 hours of battery life, and I have had it for 3 years by now. Since we have only gotten this laptop for 9 months, I cannot evaluate whether the battery life decreases overtime. If I remember, I will come back after a couple years to update this posting.
Laptop case and Microsoft Office not included
I guess nowadays no one really includes a laptop case or Microsoft Office with the purchase of a laptop any more. I am ok with this, but it will certainly be a plus if these were included. Just keep this in mind because you will have to invest the money to get a good laptop case (if you don't have one already), and the software (not limited to Microsoft Office) you will need.
Wired and wireless Internet is a snap to set up with Cable modem service and a router
The reason I put this under "Neutral" is because we did have a lot of problems at first, and I still don't know what caused the problems. We ordered the DSL high speed Internet service with a phone company, but we could never get online. The phone company kept telling us that there was nothing wrong on their end, and wanted us to re-install the operating system. Of course we were not going to do that. So we cancelled the DSL and ordered cable modem service from the cable company. At first it still couldn't get us online. The cable company also told us that there was nothing wrong on their end and wanted us to reinstall the network connection. We did not do that either. As we were getting really frustrated, I bought a wireless router, connected the cable modem to that router, and configured the laptop according to the router's manual. Instantly, we were online. I still don't know why we couldn't get online without the router, so I cannot tell you whether this is a necessary investment. The wireless capability on the laptop (and the router) also allows us to take the laptop upstairs in our bedroom, leaving the cable modem downstairs in the dining room. I believe it is about 20 feet in linear distance, but we have not tested how much farther we can go.
Horrible HP Technical Support by Phone:
I keep the overall rating for the laptop the same, but I am lowering the rating for technical support significantly. I had to contact them for 2 different problems, and the quality of the technical support is disappointing. Hopefully, if the laptop behaves, you will never have to deal with them.
Annoying voice recognition system
They used to have very confusing menu options, where I could not easily find the option I wanted. Now they changed to a voice recognition system, which is worse. I have to say the right words, and sometimes the system does not recognize my accent. If I say something when the system is still announcing the options, the system cannot understand and I have to repeat myself.
Short hold time
This is one good thing about the phone support. The hold time is never very long, no matter when you call.
Strong accent I cannot understand
Out of the 20+ times I called, I only talked to 2 people who spoke clear English. I am not a native English speaker, so it is not very easy for me to understand English over the phone, and it certainly does not help if the other party has a very strong accent.
Incompetent note-taking
Every time when I called, the person I spoke to was taking notes. However, they seemed to take notes of only a sentence here, and a sentence there of what I said. Therefore, the notes never made sense to the next person I spoke to. I had to repeat the entire problem every time I spoke to them, and the notes are essentially useless.
Never speak to the same person
HP routes their phone all over the place, and there is no way to speak to the same person again. It is very inefficient because I have to explain the problem over and over, sometimes 5 times in 3 hours. I was also cut-off once while the HP representative was on the phone with the FedEx representative for a complicated delivery issue. I called back but I could not find another HP representative who could understand my issue.
Everything resorts to "restore your operating system"
The support they provided over the phone (on both issues I called about) was not helpful at all. They did not seem to really understand my issues, but always told me to restore my operating system. Their mentality is that if the customer restores the operating system, then it's as good as new ("out of the factory"). My first problem actually had something to do with the router configuration. I understand this was not an HP problem, but the HP representative wanted me to restore my operating system without even trying to identify the problem. I am glad I did not listen to him. My recent (second) problem was that the laptop would not boot. In that case, I could not backup anything in my hard drive because I couldn't even boot up the computer (HP would charge me $150 to back up my hard drive, plus shipping charges and a two-week delay - I did not agree to that). Not only I lost everything in my hard drive, but the restore of the operating system also did not help resolving the issue. HP finally told me to ship the laptop back to their repair center. Fortunately, this time they picked up the shipping charges. I am yet to find out if they fixed the computer right. I have made over 15 phone calls for this one issue over the last 2 weeks, and my overall impression is that their phone representatives are incompetent.
Final Words
I think this is a decent laptop for a general user, as far as performance is concerned. Also, I like the shortcut keys, the wireless capability, and the slick looking. My husband loves this laptop very much, except for the fact that it does not have an A-drive. Most of the complaints are from me. The keyboard needs some time to get used to, and the power input needs to be monitored. If you can get this at a decent price (I guess nowadays it goes for less than $1,000), then I think it is a good choice.
Foot Note About Dell Latitude
I have been comparing this laptop with my Dell Latitude throughout the review, and it seems like my Dell Latitude is superior in many ways. So you may wonder, then why don't I recommend Dell Latitude instead? A short version is that I am not happy with its performance that degraded dramatically overtime.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1306
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
inphri
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Member: Selene Nieh
Location: Fairfax, VA, USA
Reviews written: 56
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
I intend to actively share my experience and opinion. Information is never enough! ^_^
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