Any ideas for an HP that would meet my needs?

I recently tried a couple HP laptops and they didn't work out. I still hope that there is some HP that might meet my needs.

(I edited the following requirements a bit since first posting)

My main requirements are

- 15" screen, 1920x1080 resolution

- good for movie watching--that means bright colors, high contrast, and preferably the ability to make color and contrast adjustments to video through the video control panel

- also important, with respect to movie watching, is the ability to stream hi-definition content. My understanding is that to stream hi-def movies from Amazon, Netflix, HBO Now, etc. requires hardware capable of doing so. Probably most laptops these days have this power, but I want to be sure.

- also important with respect to movie watching is a relatively wide viewing angle.

- moderate to high CPU power. I will be doing some number crunching. But I don't want to pay an extra $200 or whatever to get the absolute fastest available CPU. Just a better than average CPU and memory speed.

- a nice keyboard, with good travel and moderate resistance

- at least 2 USB 3.0 ports. A third USB port as well (could be 2.0 or C).

- a non-fubar keyboard layout (some of these laptops have keys in the wrong places)

So I tried an HP Envy and I could not stand the keyboard. The feel was terrible.

Then I tried a ProBook G3. This is a business class notebook, and I am aware that often companies put better keyboards (more rugged too) on that class. Sure enough, it's a pretty good keyboard. However, the battery life is pitiful. Less than 2 hours. Also it seems to be under-powered--it runs my number-crunching app slowly. I am not sure why---it does have a Core i7 processor, but I guess it's not the fastest one. Or maybe the memory is slow.

So is anyone aware of an HP brand notebook that might meet my needs?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Would a used EliteBook with a Sandy era Corei7 be just the ticket? And that can have a lot of RAM. Especially a W series??

 

Well, I would like to buy a new HP because I want the free return if it doesn't work out. I looked at current EliteBooks and some look good, however I would have to verify that it has a wide viewing angle and decent color gamut (and adjustable video contrast/colors).

 

Pretty sure you should just look for a good laptop. The elitebooks are pretty decent, but HP consumer laptops are absolutely awful. I would probably look elsewhere and find a free return through another seller. It literally sounds like you just want any quad core cpu with an IPS screen, there are plenty of other options.

 

Agreed with the above; HP's consumer-class is barely any better than the infamous 2006-2009-ish period where they were pushing out so much garbage. I'd definitely go business-class if I were to buy HP (which, I did). Also, you can certainly return an OEM-refurbished laptop if you wanted to without much hassle at all; same warranty and warranty options as new-stock as well.

That Probook probably has a dual-core ULV i7 (say, i7-4xxxU for example), which really is just a slightly-faster dual-core ULV i5. If you want a quad-core, full-voltage i7, you need to look for i7s that end with something other than -U, which you'll really only find on the workstation-class laptops these days with HP (ZBook or older Elitebook -w models).

That said, I'd second looking into OEM-refurbished business-class laptops with the CPU specs you want. Though it would be useful to know what you mean by "number-crunching" to give you better advice.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm not clear what you mean when you say looking for a laptop "elsewhere" or an "OEM-refurbished" laptop. Do you mean an HP or do you mean I should be looking for other brands as well? Does OEM-refurbished mean it is sold by HP (or Dell, or Lenovo, or whatever) or are these other companies, maybe companies that specialize in refurbishing laptops? Where can I find a company like this?

My number crunching is audio synthesis. Mostly it involves software that I wrote myself to synthesize musical sounds through algorithms that are compute-intensive. It's hard to predict how fast it would run on various CPUs, but it's not critical that it run at blazing speed. Just good speed. It can take advantage of multiple cores, so quad core is good.

One advantage of quad core is that when Windows goes into an update frenzy and decides to use all the CPU cycles of an entire core, at least you've got three cores left to get stuff done.

 

By OEM-refurbished, I mean that the computer maker themselves had restored it to new-like condition (so, HP Outlet for HP computers, Dell Outlet for Dell's, etc.), as opposed to a third party (like Newegg, whose refurbished computers are... questionable in quality given the reviews on certain models). Personally if I'm going to buy a refurb, I'd go with the company who made the computer and no-one else. Sort of like buying a certified pre-own Nissan at a Nissan shop instead of Big Al's Used Car Lot.

 

Thanks. Another question. What technical specs do you need to know that a laptop can stream and display high-definition video from Amazon or Netflix etc.?

My 2010 Toshiba Tecra A10 cannot. When I try to stream video from Amazon, it's of poor quality. When I tried to purchase the high-def rental, I got a message telling me my hardware was not compatible. There is something about the need for HDCP decoder hardware. How can I know if a new or refurbished laptop has this? I noticed this is never mentioned in the specs, and when I've been chatting with salespeople they never seem to know what it is.

 

HDCP is built in the graphics card, it's basically a copy protection system. Even your old laptop might have had it in hardware level but the feature was missing in drivers. Hard to say. It is standard in any modern device though.

I found info that Tecra A10 models would be Intel Core2Duo based - a little bit on the slow side these days. Pretty capable as word processors

I tested 4k video in youtube with my laptop (i7, 16GB ram, SSD etc) and I was still dropping a frame or two and then lots more when I resumed typing this on another monitor. Out of my 100mbit/s internet connection the stream consumed 73mbit/s for the duration of the video.

Since I own couple of those before mentioned W series Elitebooks I can recommend them However the only IPS display variant they have is the Dreamcolor which is expensive. Latest versions of ZBooks do have regular IPS as well as the Dreamcolor option. They can be a bit on the pricey side though... which is why I've got mine used.