HP Pavilion - Thoughts

CrabieCrawford

Looking to buy a new laptop mostly for college stuff, needs to run microsoft office, autocad, sketchup, photoshop and maybe a few other. Might need a few of these open at a time as well as web browsing.

Also do a bit of gaming, nothing to graphic heavy, just football manager, possibly Diablo 3 (when it comes out).Also want to have it for about 3 years.

Was looking at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavilion-dv6-2113sa-Notebook-15-6-inch-Processor/dp/B0034G5G1U/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279485095&sr=1-15

Would this be ok? anyone have one?

El Gato

Wouldn't touch a HP again.

www.hplies.com
www.nvidiadefect.com

Save yourself a lot of time, frustration & dissapointment & get anything but a HP

NTMK

dont touch hp (or compaq). my housemate and i have 2 y.o hp's (mines a compaq) and they're overheating and crashing.

the laptops have not been used for anything but office and internet and you could fry an egg on both of them

nowuckenfurries

I wouldn't touch a HP with bargepole, have seen 2 die in 3 years, 1st was a dv2000 series that lasted just over 2 years before motherboard failure, the 2nd was a G70 that also had motherboard failure just 1 month after warranty had expired!!

El Gato

What HP/Compaq do ye have?

They may be the same as the faulty ones on the thread I started 'FAULTY HP LAPTOPS'

tfitzgerald

i have a hp pavilion desktop for about 2/3 years and i never had any problems with it in fact the opposite i like it a lot .

Shzm

You do realise this is about laptops right?

El Gato

tfitzgerald wrote: »

i have a hp pavilion desktop for about 2/3 years and i never had any problems with it in fact the opposite i like it a lot .

The problems I am referring to do not affect HP desktops as there is sufficient ventilation from a large heatsink in a desktop.

The issue affects the HP TX & DV series among others.

The lack of a good heatsink & fan assembly causes severe overheating & eventual terminal loss as a result of the GPU solder becoming so hot is mealts detaching from the MOBO

chillin_penguin

Yep would have to agree with everyone, I also had a Hp thing over heated like crazy could never leave on ur lap for even a min as it would burn you, and playing games was a nightmare after about a half hour it would shut down to top its self melting.

Bought a sony about 3months ago, no complaints at all at the moment and it stays nice and cool.

El Gato

CrabieCrawford wrote: »

Looking to buy a new laptop mostly for college stuff, needs to run microsoft office, autocad, sketchup, photoshop and maybe a few other. Might need a few of these open at a time as well as web browsing.

Also do a bit of gaming, nothing to graphic heavy, just football manager, possibly Diablo 3 (when it comes out).Also want to have it for about 3 years.

Was looking at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavilion-dv6-2113sa-Notebook-15-6-inch-Processor/dp/B0034G5G1U/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279485095&sr=1-15

Would this be ok? anyone have one?

To the OP, with regards to multitasking the HP will most definitely have problems.

You could consider Toshiba Lonovo or even Dell.

An 'I' processor i3 or i5 would be good for multitasking & if you have a bit of spare cash an i7.

One of my Laptops is a Dell Inspiron 1525 with an i3 & works really well.

El Gato

chillin_penguin wrote: »

......had a Hp thing over heated like crazy could never leave on ur lap for even a min as it would burn you, and playing games was a nightmare after about a half hour it would shut down to top its self melting.....l.

I had my TX on a cooling pad at all times, still didnt stop it failing from overheating

Bob_Harris

El Gato wrote: »

To the OP, with regards to multitasking the HP will most definitely have problems.

Well since it has 4GB of RAM and a pretty good dual core processor I fail to see how will have problems "multitasking".

Anyway, having multiple programs open in the background and using one is not multitasking. Unless the program you have sitting in the background is actually doing something, it won't effect performance, only eat up memory which that laptop has plenty of.

I use a HP laptop at work and I've never had a problem.

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Well since it has 4GB of RAM and a pretty good dual core processor I fail to see how will have problems "multitasking".

Anyway, having multiple programs open in the background and using one is not multitasking. Unless the program you have sitting in the background is actually doing something, it won't effect performance, only eat up memory which that laptop has plenty of.

I use a HP laptop at work and I've never had a problem.

I have had 4Gb of ram in my TX, a Dual core processor & when I mean 'multi tasking' I mean having multiple programs running at the same time.

With the 2 HP notebooks I had, the transition from 1 progam to another was sluggish, stopped responding most of the time.

Just because a Lpatop has 4Gb ram and a 'pretty good processor' does not necessairly mean that it will be able to cope with quote ' needs to run microsoft office, autocad, sketchup, photoshop and maybe a few other. Might need a few of these open at a time as well as web browsing.

Also do a bit of gaming, nothing to graphic heavy, just football manager, possibly Diablo 3 (when it comes out)'


Also the OP required the laptop to last 3 years.....most affected HP's last 13-15 months

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

.....
I use a HP laptop at work and I've never had a problem.

Your HP is obviously not one of the 1000's affected by the nVidia GPU issue - lucky you.

Bob_Harris

El Gato wrote: »

I have had 4Gb of ram in my TX, a Dual core processor & when I mean 'multi tasking' I mean having multiple programs running at the same time.

With the 2 HP notebooks I had, the transition from 1 progam to another was sluggish, stopped responding most of the time.

Just because a Lpatop has 4Gb ram and a 'pretty good processor' does not necessairly mean that it will be able to cope with quote ' needs to run microsoft office, autocad, sketchup, photoshop and maybe a few other. Might need a few of these open at a time as well as web browsing.

The two HP notebooks you had have no relevance unless they were similarly speced to the one link in this thread.

I had a desktop with a 5600+ (about equal to the processor in the link laptop) with 2GB of DDR2 RAM and I had no problems using it for "multitasking" college work (photoshop, office, video editing, illustrator, etc).

Again, multitasking actually means multiple programs open and running (i.e. processing something).

If the guy had word, photoshop, autocad etc just open while browsing the web then the laptop would be well able for it.

If photoshop and autocad were actually processing something heavy (batch editing for example) in the background while he was trying to browse the web, then obviously the more power you have the better, but the linked laptop would not struggle either.

The graphics chip is basic but unless you are prepared to pay a significant amount more you are not likely to get anything much better.

Bob_Harris

El Gato wrote: »

Your HP is obviously not one of the 1000's affected by the nVidia GPU issue - lucky you.

Either does the laptop linked, it has an AMD / ATI chip.

It's a bit silly shouting to high heavens that you will "never touch a HP laptop again" due to previous problems which have no relevance to the product the OP asked about.

Shzm

Well actually it kind of does, if you'd bother to research the incredibly poor way HP has handled the whole situation.

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Either does the laptop linked, it has an AMD / ATI chip.

It's a bit silly shouting to high heavens that you will "never touch a HP laptop again" due to previous problems which have no relevance to the product the OP asked about.

1st off.....

The Pavilion TX I 'had', I say had as, it failed due to the chipset/GPU....HP Pavilion TX1000 (1250ea) 4Gb ram 160Gb HDD, AMD Turion 64x2 with nVidia card....actually 3 time the price of the model the OP is considering & supposedly the top tablet conversion at the time. The model the Op is considering is from the same family of products as the TX & DV series which have had documented issues.

2ndly, the OP is a student.

If you have a problem with your laptop (provided to you by work) all you have to do is return it to the IT dept or purchasing & you will get a replacement - no problem...but if the OP has an issue he will have to go through hoops to get sorted.

Bob_Harris

Shzm wrote: »

Well actually it kind of does, if you'd bother to research the incredibly poor way HP has handled the whole situation.

Actually it doesn't. You are just presuming he will have problems with the laptop and have to face a similar response from HP. Both situations highly unlikely to occur.

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

The two HP notebooks you had have no relevance unless they were similarly speced to the one link in this thread.

They were higher spec notebooks....still had issues

Bob_Harris wrote: »

I had a desktop with a 5600+ (about equal to the processor in the link laptop) with 2GB of DDR2 RAM and I had no problems using it for "multitasking" college work (photoshop, office, video editing, illustrator, etc).

Irrelevant to thread....we're talking about laotops....due to the large case, cooling not an issue with a desktop therefore bosrd not under excessive heat theefore not needing to divert power to cooling taking power from general running

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Again, multitasking actually means multiple programs open and running (i.e. processing something).

I am fully aware of what miltitasking is....when a program is open it is running it may be in ready wait or blocked state but it is using processing power....if the processor is working overtime to try deal with constant overheating (which is the issue with a LOT of HP's) therefore not dealing with 'tasks'

Bob_Harris wrote: »

If the guy had word, photoshop, autocad etc just open while browsing the web then the laptop would be well able for it.

Should being the keyword.

Bob_Harris wrote: »

The graphics chip is basic but unless you are prepared to pay a significant amount more you are not likely to get anything much better.

At the time the graphics card I got was the best you could get - thats what caused the issues with the TX & DV series of notebooks not to mention the 3 other mobo partners with the same chipset GPU combination

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Actually it doesn't. You are just presuming he will have problems with the laptop and have to face a similar response from HP. Both situations highly unlikely to occur.

http://www.hplies.com/

http://www.nvidiadefect.com/

A little light reading for you Bob

Seaneh

I've had a pavilion dv5 for 18 months and It's been a pain in the arse the whole time, gets md how, have to pull it apart and clean out the heatsink, re apply thermal paste and resit the heatsink and give it a little clean up every 3/4 months.

Pro tip. get a thin piece of copper plate, cut to size of the two chips cooled by heatsisk/fan assembly. put a layer of paste on the chip, then the copper plate, another layer of paste and then reassemble the heatsink, will fit a lot snugger and drastically improves the heat problem.

Shzm

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Actually it doesn't. You are just presuming he will have problems with the laptop and have to face a similar response from HP. Both situations highly unlikely to occur.

Say what? I never said he would have problems. I said that HP have handled the current situation with the nvidia defect very poorly.

If you knew anything about it at all, you'd know this.

El Gato

Seaneh wrote: »

I've had a pavilion dv5 for 18 months and It's been a pain in the arse the whole time, gets md how, have to pull it apart and clean out the heatsink, re apply thermal paste and resit the heatsink and give it a little clean up every 3/4 months.

Pro tip. get a thin piece of copper plate, cut to size of the two chips cooled by heatsisk/fan assembly. put a layer of paste on the chip, then the copper plate, another layer of paste and then reassemble the heatsink, will fit a lot snugger and drastically improves the heat problem.

Yeah, the DV5 was one of the affected lappies.

Even with the steps you mentioned there is a good chance that the solder will be undone & require a reball (if the lappie becomes terminal)

I have done one of my TX's & the broadcom isn't working still.

I got 6 copper shims from china for the TX/DV but havent tried them yet. Used the 'penny' method!!

El Gato

Shzm wrote: »

Say what? I never said he would have problems. I said that HP have handled the current situation with the nvidia defect very poorly.

If you knew anything about it at all, you'd know this.

LoL, it was me who said the OP would have a pain in his as8 if he had to return his laptop.

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Actually it doesn't. You are just presuming he will have problems with the laptop and have to face a similar response from HP. Both situations highly unlikely to occur.

Going on HP's track record for producing sh*te machines OP WILL have issues....HP's response to everything is "That'll cost €500 to fix"

Bob_Harris

El Gato wrote: »

Irrelevant to thread....we're talking about laotops....due to the large case, cooling not an issue with a desktop therefore bosrd not under excessive heat theefore not needing to divert power to cooling taking power from general running

I am fully aware of what miltitasking is....when a program is open it is running it may be in ready wait or blocked state but it is using processing power....if the processor is working overtime to try deal with constant overheating (which is the issue with a LOT of HP's) therefore not dealing with 'tasks'

I think you need to learn how computers work. Overheating does not affect performance unless it is a case of extreme overheating which causes the computer / laptop to shut down to protect itself.

Bob_Harris

Shzm wrote: »

Say what? I never said he would have problems. I said that HP have handled the current situation with the nvidia defect very poorly.

If you knew anything about it at all, you'd know this.

Right, so HP + Nvidia problems means he should not buy HP + ATI?

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

I think you need to learn how computers work. Overheating does not affect performance unless it is a case of extreme overheating which causes the computer / laptop to shut down to protect itself.

Well, prior to shutting down to protect itself the laptop will freeze up, programs will stop responding & unsaved work will be lost.....the cases with affected HP's have caused the laptops TO DIE.

While working on part of my thesis on Processing & Threads within the Linux Kernel, my TX froze & died, not only could I not restart the laptop I had to remove the HD to recover the document I was preparing....so YES overheating WILL affect performance.

If you consider shutting down not affecting performance maybe you should look up how computers work

Shzm

It's like talking to a brick wall..

Once more, I said that HP have handled the situation with the affected laptops very poorly. This is a reflection on how HP values their customers.

I didn't say the OP would have an issue with the laptop. However, if for whatever reason, a similar situation arises that affects this laptop, he's going to have to deal with HP isn't he? He's not going to go calling ATI.

El Gato

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Right, so HP + Nvidia problems means he should not buy HP + ATI?

The components HP use are of substandard quality....almost no thermal paste on CPU/GPU's...substandard soldering & incorrect grouping of components....nVidia have confirmend this as have other GPU manufacturers

The fact that HP have outsourced to areas notorious for substandard practises etc proves that they dont give a sh*t about their product

HE SHOULD NOT BUY A HP - FULL STOP.

El Gato

But thats my opinion, & thats what he asked for - opinions

angel01

I have a HP Pavilion DV6 which I bought last year (I have had a dv2000 prior to this), my boyfriend has a Pavilion laptop as well. I would never dream of using anything other than a pavilion. Really good laptops and never had one single issue.

It does exactly what I need it to do and it has never given me any issues. I love HP laptops

My laptop works like a dream and I recommend them completely

angel01

El Gato wrote: »

http://www.hplies.com/

http://www.nvidiadefect.com/

A little light reading for you Bob

all a load of rubbish :rolleyes:

El Gato

angel01 wrote: »

I have a HP Pavilion DV6 which I bought last year (I have had a dv2000 prior to this), my boyfriend has a Pavilion laptop as well. I would never dream of using anything other than a pavilion. Really good laptops and never had one single issue.

It does exactly what I need it to do and it has never given me any issues. I love HP laptops

My laptop works like a dream and I recommend them completely

Wow, 3 HP's without issues, must be a record!!

angel01

CrabieCrawford wrote: »

Looking to buy a new laptop mostly for college stuff, needs to run microsoft office, autocad, sketchup, photoshop and maybe a few other. Might need a few of these open at a time as well as web browsing.

Also do a bit of gaming, nothing to graphic heavy, just football manager, possibly Diablo 3 (when it comes out).Also want to have it for about 3 years.

Was looking at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavilion-dv6-2113sa-Notebook-15-6-inch-Processor/dp/B0034G5G1U/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279485095&sr=1-15

Would this be ok? anyone have one?

Mine is very similar to that (you have a bigger HD than me), go for it, you won't regret it

El Gato

angel01 wrote: »

all a load of rubbish :rolleyes:

Work for HP, do we Angel01? :eek:

angel01

El Gato wrote: »

Wow, 3 HP's without issues, must be a record!!

Grow up... :rolleyes: It is opinions... stop slating everyone elses. Respect other posters.:)

angel01

El Gato wrote: »

Work for HP, do we Angel01? :eek:

No I don't, I like HP laptops, shoot me now.... so because I like HP machines, suddenly I work for them...

Do you work for Dell? :pac:

You obviously have a bee in your bonnet about them as nearly all of your posts are about them, so I think you are the one with the issue, not me.

El Gato

angel01 wrote: »

all a load of rubbish :rolleyes:

Hmmm, Angel, how can you refute over 2500 reported issues in the UK, over 8000 in North America (reported) & over 5000 in Europe?

That doesnt even take into consideration the unreported issues?

El Gato

angel01 wrote: »

No I don't, I like HP laptops, shoot me now.... so because I like HP machines, suddenly I work for them...

Do you work for Dell? :pac:

Have done in the past but if they produced the same sh*ite HP do I would say the same...as a matter of fact some of the XPS family had the exact same issue as they used the same mobo config

Shzm

angel01 wrote: »

all a load of rubbish :rolleyes:

Hahaha. Oh god

angel01

Why isn't that a surprise!!

Anyway HP have dealt with this issue, In my opinion and experience, I have never had an issue so OP, go for it, the pavilion range are really good and as I said earlier, I have a similar spec to yours and play FM, and do similar things with my laptop and all works perfect for me

El Gato

angel01 wrote: »

Why isn't that a surprise!!

Anyway HP have dealt with this issue, In my opinion and experience, I have never had an issue so OP, go for it, the pavilion range are really good and as I said earlier, I have a similar spec to yours and play FM, and do similar things with my laptop and all works perfect for me

Actually Angel youre wrong, HP have NOT dealt with this issue...there are 11 people on this forum alone who have contacted me since my original post ('FAULTY HP LPTOPS) just over a week ago, wanting help with addressing HP.....they either have tried to get HP to resolve their issue & have been unsuccessful or are unsure of how to go about addressing the issue with HP.

As far as HP were concerned there 'was not problem' when clearly there was. Even now they are denying any issue...even nVidia spokespeople have admitted the fault but not HP

Donnelly117

ive had a hp pavillion (dv6000) laptop for about 2 years now and its been faultless. never had a single problem with it

tfitzgerald

Shzm wrote: »

You do realise this is about laptops right?

sorry i did not realise it was about laptops i saw hp pavilion and thought if i could be of help to the op i would if i offended anyone im sorry

Shzm

tfitzgerald wrote: »

sorry i did not realise it was about laptops i saw hp pavilion and thought if i could be of help to the op i would if i offended anyone im sorry

no problem

El Gato

tfitzgerald wrote: »

sorry i did not realise it was about laptops i saw hp pavilion and thought if i could be of help to the op i would if i offended anyone im sorry

Dont think you offended anyone tfitzgearld, certainly not me!:)

The desktops have better temp management due to the extra space available.

The issue with the affected HP laptop stems from insufficeint cooling leading to mobo seperation

El Gato

TO THE OP.


Please let us know what brand you decided to go with in the end!!!

Seaneh

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Right, so HP + Nvidia problems means he should not buy HP + ATI?

No.

Mine is a dv5 1110em, which is a ATI gfx card and I have the same problems.

the TX and DV brands are just a giang clusterfúck.

El Gato

Seaneh wrote: »

No.

Mine is a dv5 1110em, which is a ATI gfx card and I have the same problems.

the TX and DV brands are just a giang clusterfúck.

TBH Seaneh, I think there are wayyy more people affected by the issue & just don't know what happened to their laptops.

I think if all those affcted did come forward, it would be a total clusterf*ck for HP