HP 17.3" Pavilion dv7-4171us Laptop Notebook PC with BLU-RAY Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Purchased on a closeout from an office supply store - it was 'easy' to take this one home because of a 'negotiated' price for a display model. My curent HP 17 inch laptop was approaching 3 years old was going to the wife to replace her even older 15.6 inch laptop model.
I Liked:
Price
The screen contrast
Blue Ray player
7200 rpm hard drive speed
HD capacity
Battery Life
Windows 7 64 bit
fingerprint security
AMD triple core processor speed
'Out to lunch' on:
weight (8.2 lbs) not bad for a 17.3 in laptop ... but ..
Video Card ... would have liked 1 gb discreet - but my $$$ weren't there
4gb RAM - I increased that before I left the store.
Use:
I'm a Video Games (VBS2) trainer for the US Army and like as much processor and video power as I'm able to afford for my personally owned computer. We use HP Elete Series 17" laptops at work with quad core Intel 2.5 ghz processors and 1 gb discrete video cards - (these run hot-temperature wise) but I can't afford a current version of this model with an i5 or i7 processor for personal use.
I paid 25% (way under $700) of what one of these HP Eletes would have cost - which made this a screaming deal. As a 'road warrior' this laptop allows me to connect Blue-Ray to my hotel flat panel TVs with a cheap HDMI cable. The computer display itself is hi-def but not true Blue Ray. Sound from the computer is better than my older model HP - but still 'blah'. My headphones are still necessary to get best sound. Even my iPod portable speakers do a better job.
My games run ok - the older ones fine - no problem - the newer ones - in less than maximum resolution and sound and I suspect that some may not run at all (speculation on my part - don't play much outside VBS2 anyway on the high end).
Should you buy?
Mine was based on price - as I have a family, house and life to balance.
It will do many things well
It is a 'mediocre' gaming machine
All my 'Office' products run very well
Photoshop projects are limited somewhat in speed by a 'blah' video card - but better than
I thought when I bought it
500gb 7200 rpm HD is a plus for speed
I went to 8 gb of memory before the box left the shop
Blue Ray player is a BIG plus for me.
For an under $700 price - this is a good value
Extended warranty
I purchased a 3 year warranty simply because I travel extensively as part of my employment. Additionally - this was a display model - and although it looked in great shape - who knows what it suffered before the store closed it out. The sellers warranty offered replacement for damage and loss - and although my 3 year old current laptop still works ok - it has been dinged and binged heavily over the years and any one of those 'dents' could have popped a board or crashed a hard drive.
For 'normal' use - I really would take my chances and skip the warranty purchase. My history with HP laptops has been very good and the normal warranty is enough for most users (IMHO).
This model is limited in distribution to only certain retail chain outlets - and newer models are now pushing this one to closeout status. Shop carefully, see if anyone will bargain - and check the technical specifications of any laptop you buy to make sure the computer is a match for your expected uses.

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