Anyone have/had a G62? I'm looking into one

I'm looking to replace my now dead Toshiba Satellite. Had it for 6 years, so I'm way out of the game. Once upon a time, HP was the way to go. Lately I've been hearing bad things, however my mom owns one (which I've borrowed and am typing on now) as does my brother-in-law.

I'm trying to decide between these two laptops:
Acer Aspire AS5750-6636
HP G62x-400

I'm done with college now, so I don't need to drag it back and forth. It would stay on my desk or my lap at home, only get moved around the house or to a friend's house (in a case). I want it to last a fairly long time. I don't need a processor upgrade, i3 should be fine, my toshiba had a core duo that I loved. I could care less about HDD size, anything I found will be more than enough. I will use it for listening to/ripping music, watching some videos (Hulu/Youtube only), and for web/email. I don't need the heavy duty gaming, I have a console for that. I'm looking at the G62 specifically because it doesn't have the numeric keypad. I don't know why, OCD I guess, but I just would rather not have one.

I guess my questions would be, does anyone have one of these? What's your opinion on longevity/build? Will it last me quite a few years if I don't bang it around? How's the sound? My toshiba had altec lansing speakers and I loved them, they were better than the ones on my mom's G71. Any other comments/concerns would also be greatly appreciated. If you think I should look at other models, I tried posting in the "Which laptop should I buy" but didn't get very much feedback. Any other comments/concerns are also welcome. Thanks!

 

I have this model and it is great to me. I have it with the core i 370m and ati 6370 graphic card and its great for my everyday needs. It feels well built to me, I am very careful with my electronic and i can see this lasting me a few years even tho i will be getting one way before its do. I watch netflix on my 1080p flat screen thru the hdmi port and it looks amazing. Even with the built in screen it is still amazing. I can play most new games on low setting very well (didnt expect that). Its a good machined. Only thing i can think of is the fan when the system hits 60c it kicks in and boy does it blows tons of air out but it is kinda loud if you are not listening to anything. But I think the fan is a good thing cools the system down fast. My system usually idles at 43c and gets to 65c playing the newest gta or bf.The speakers are good nice and loud. I am glad I got it I was on a 500$ budget anyways but it worked out real nice and got what i wanted.

 

Can anyone else speak about this series? Should I go for the one I posted above? I'm a little wary of purchasing online before getting my hands on it. I believe there's a refund period at tigerdirect, but still...

How is the sound? I'm not a big fan of the speakers on the g71 my mom has, I feel like the audio isn't as clear as it could be.

Also, I hear some bad things about hardware with HP lately. Can anyone attest to that with this series? It's been out for about a year and a half now, I've read some bad reviews, but those with problems always post them...I haven't seen any stellar reviews yet. Any other comments/concerns/opinions I should knwo about? Thanks again!

 

Have you looked into the Pavilion g6 series? You might want to since this has replaced the G62 series.

Pavilion g6s - HP Pavilion g6 and g6s series | HP Official Store

Pavilion g6t - HP Pavilion g6 and g6t series | HP Official Store

 

I'm not a fan of the case on the new g6's...glossy and sticky. The trackpad is textured, which is helpful...but I dunno. Of course, I'm not sure I'd like the case on the g62's either as I've never had my hands on one. Plus, if what I'm hearing about HP reliability is true, maybe I should be looking at other brands? I just know once upon a time HP was the way to go and while I've never personally seen a problem, I'm a bit skeptical about getting one because I'll be pretty unhappy if I have a ton of trouble or it makes to the warranty end and dies.

 

I bought a refurb G62 with i3-350m and hd6370m (320 euros)
so far so good, battery life is terrible, like 2 or three hours, but the i3 can handle pretty much anything, it's a surprising CPU, and doesn't run hot (keyboard gets a bit hot but nothing really annoying). Good and cheap laptop.
..
But I prefer my 3820tg

 

The HP G62x-400 CTO is exact to my G62-147nr, except for 3 things, it has the core i3, and mine has the i5. Mine also had the smaller 250gb drive, which I upgraded to 500 after arrival.

The hard drive in the model you are looking at is 5400rpm, the stock one in my G62 was 7200.

One note, the one you are looking at is Refurbished and way overpriced imho.

Mine was Purchased Aug 2010, used for at least 10 hours every day since, so far so good, I use is as a desktop replacement so I have an external monitor, mouse and keyboard attached, so I cannot speak of the track pad, keyboard layout or quality. I don't like the glossy screen when I do go portable.

I don't see very many complaints on the HP forums about the G62 series, most of them are for the low end or early models, the rest of the complaints are usually from NOT reading the owners guide.

One common complaint is the track pad, it has no defined area by touch, no lines on the border or anything else to show where it ends with the rest of the palm rest.

Shop HP for the G62, I picked mine up at Fry's on sale for 599.99

 

I would love to get the G62-147nr, I've found it while doing some searches...just not to buy. It's on amazon for way too much, over $800, and I was hoping to buy it some place that has a warranty available. I would much rather have the upgraded cpu and a smaller hdd @ 7200. I don't need the bigger hard driver, but they all seem to come huge anymore. You can't get it from HP anymore. They discontinued it for the g6 series as justin stated above. Maybe it's back to the drawing board? Thanks for the info MoabUtah.

 

If you buy a NEW HP notebook from just about anywhere, it comes with a standard 1 year warranty, you just have to contact HP after you buy it to register the purchase date, so you get the full 1 year.

 

Yes that is to much for refurb. I paid 50$ more for mine brand new from hp with better cpu,gpu and dvd drive.