Any common problems with dv4000s?

Hi all, after my Dell Inspiron 5150's motherboard went kerplat (second time, this time out of warranty), I'm back in the market for a new laptop.

I like the dv4000 because of the X700, however I've heard from some of my computer science buddies that HPs, particularly their consumer line, are known to go bad quickly. They suggested thinkpads (the z60M is what I'm looking at right now).

I was wondering if there were any common problems that dv4000 owners have encountered? I know the motherboard problem on my Dell is a pretty common one, though it really only become commonly known after I purchased it. The dv4000 however has been out for awhile in one form or another, so I was hoping that any pitfalls might have been uncovered. Any advice would be gladly welcomed!

Thanks

 

DV4000 and V4000T have been around for a while now and it seems that there are no common problems as drastic as yours with Dell. Recently there have been a number of threads about v4000t/dv4000, so I suggest look at those.
What do you mean by "go bad quickly"? You cannot compare their build quality with Thinkpads, of course, but after all you get what you pay for. HP makes cheap in price and average in quality notebooks.

 

HP laptops tend to have a high pitched noise coming from the keyboard area......

 

From what I've heard, the dv4000 with the ATI X700 can overheat if you're taxing the notebook too much. I've also heard complaints about the notebook's keyboard becoming "shiny" after a few months of hard use.

 

My dv4000 doesn't have a wailing keyboard, and I can't say I've heard of that issue with others.

If you're going to be doing really intensive tasks for hours on end, I'd get a cooling pad. I haven't had any overheating problems, but AMDvsIntel's point is valid - things can get quite warm when you game hard for awhile.

The keyboard issue is entirely cosmetic, but the dv4000 keyboard does seem to get that shiny look faster than most.

 

Thanks for the responses. Shiny keyboards and strange whining sounds I can deal with, broken motherboards and video cards and microphone jacks breaking off the sound card are the things I'm looking to avoid (having experienced them all before).

I'm thinking the dv4000 is what I'm going to get, though I'm a bit dissapointed in how expensive it is- I've seen reviews where a 770 M with the x700, lightscribe, 512, and the 80gb 5400rpm going for 1499, however now a similarly configured one goes for at least 200 more, and that review was like 3 months ago! What's the deal? Still a good price though.

 

My old Dell Inspiron 8200 got all the keys shiny within a year. It is not a big deal as long as you can still see the letters on it. I don't have any problem with any noise, but the head phone jack and power jack are my concern. I have the x700 video, but I do not have overheat problem. Perhaps I did not play enough game with it. But I do undervolt CPU and underclock the GPU.

 

Yeah, the keys on my keyboard and the touchpad all got shiny and smooth after a little less than two months of regular use, now I know the keyboards wear out eventually but thats too short in my opinion, still, its really only cosmetic.

To be honest, my DV4000s fan seems to be constantly running, and all I do are simple tasks like web surfing and at times the noise can get pretty annoying, I can't remember when the fan was off. And my DV4000 has Intel integrated graphics so the fan noise will probably be worse on the ATI ones.

 

Thanks for the further information. I can deal with fan noise, my music is usually on high enough that it wouldn't be a problem for me.

Billscho- why are the headphone and power jacks a concern for you?

I did think of another question I had- is it possible to fit the laptop into a laptop backpack with the 12 cell battery? It seems to stick out a fair amount, just wondering if it'll fit into HPs laptop backpack, or any other.

 

You might also take a look at the Compaq V4000T. It's basically the same thing only silver on the inside and black on the outside. It also is missing the quick playback and remote, etc... making it slightly less exspensive. I chose the Compaq for it's looks. And I don't care about that extra multi-media stuff. I just like to game.

Here's a link to some of my pics...
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=1617325#post1617325

 

I ordered my Dv4000 the day it came out with the X700 GPU and have used it extensively on a daily basis since receiving it. I don't have any noise problem, the keyboard is like new and the fan doesn't go on unless I'm gaming. The only problems I find are that the cooling vent is positioned such that it can be blocked if the notebook is being used in my lap and the button that activates the hibernation mode (when the lid is closed) projects above the surface of the case and can be inadvertently activated with my right thumb on occasion.

The unit can run warm, but the one time that I didn't have the vent cleared properly the unit detected a thermal overload and shut itself down.

I get good performance and battery life, and I have the 6 cell battery (actually I got 2 of them) which does not project beyond the bottom of the case.

The machine is not built like an IBM, but the build quality seems adequate; I think the performance/price point of this machine continues to be hard to beat.

 

I turned it off on my laptop and now I'm using the Fn+Sleep instead.

 

Excellent, what's the procedure/comand to turn it off... I'd like to do the same.

 

I believe in the power settings you can tell it what to do. When my lid closes i just have it turn off the lcd...hit the power button and it hibernates. if i need to turn it off i just shut down windows.

My issue I believe is video/memory related...not anything anyone else is experiencing so not worth mentioning here.

 

One of the common problems I've noticed is getting it away from my wife! LOL! But then again, it's really both of ours. Maybe we need another? ...Yeah, that's the ticket!!!

 

Control Panel/Display Properties/ Screen Saver/Power/advanced
I've set it to do nothing when I close the lid and it just turns off the screen.

 

Does anyone know how to turn off the backlight completely?

 

Why would you want to do that?

 

You wouldn't be able to see anything if you do that.

 

Isn't supposed to turn off when temps are low(like browsing you said)? Is processor running at 800Mhz as it is supposed to at low load?

I though DV4000 is much cooler than V2000z( Mine, fan does not run at all when I browse).

May be you could try RMClock or Centrino Hardware control to control it.( or may be speed fan?).

 

I finally got Centrino Hardware Control last night and the problem is wonderful. I used it with the basic settings and now my fan still constanty runs but about 2x more silenty plus my cpu temperature has been reduced by about 8 degrees.

 

In bright sunlight, it's very possible to see the screen still, especially with a BrightView Screen.

Maybe if I tried it out with a fresh OS install (shutting the lid only turns off the back-light).

 

DV4000 beats even the DV5000, which is kind off odd from HP's part. When its supposed to be an upgrade.
But anyways I am looking to get a DV4000, I might get it if I can ship it to my friends place in US, because you wont find the ATI X700 128mb in Canada...If not its a DV5000 for me

 

HP has a kind of cycle with their promos - you just have to catch it at the right time when the "free upgrades" they offer are the ones you want. For example, I waited a week to buy mine so that the free upgrade to LightScribe (useless - the media is way too expensive for this gimmick) would die and they would give me BrightView for free instead.

 

thats 100% true

sometime when you play a lot it can throttle CPU and you must stop playing while it cools down or it can simply hang

when i opened it i found thick aluminium(?) ~0.5mm foil between processor and radiator with some soot near it which was replaced with good thermal paste.
i wasn't able to reach or even find GPU to replace paste there

one more serious problem i have with my HP dv4210TX is misbehaved HDD or HDD contoller sometimes

i don't advice that notebook if you play a lot