HP 9207us - impressions

I promised a first impressions when I received my HP 9207us from CompUSA - ($799 after $400 rebates) in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111724&page=12&highlight=9207us

(or search for 9207us)

The bad:

1. Wise counsel of this awesome forum is correct - the resolution (1440 x 900) on a 17" is completely unacceptable for photo editing. Wisely I had made the decision not to use the laptop for this purpose. Thanks Folks!

2. Of course, I'm comparing the monitor side-by-side to my husbands Dell e1705 WUXGA+ and all I can say is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

3. But, even just assessing it on its own, there is light leakage at the bottom, non-existent horizontal viewing angle, and just a complete loss of image quality from when assessing the display starting at the top and going to the bottom of the display.

4. This laptop cannot be used on one's lap - runs hot to the touch. No you're not going to get burned, but it won't be comfortable.

The good:

5. It has acceptable build quality.

6. Newegg RAM upgrade to 2 x 1 GB sticks worked flawlessly.

7. The box was perfectly new. All expected parts are included and I have yet to even play with all the toys.

8. The laptop works great - no excessive fan noise or hard drive noise.

9. To my touch (as I had expected from in-store inspection of similar HP laptops and extensive research about what I was getting) the keyboard, touchpad and numpad as well as port location and overall button/key arrangement is awesome.

10. Though this sucker is heavy, it is not too heavy (IMCO) for household and backyard portabilty.

11. Though filled with bloatware, everything installed that I didn't uninstall works snappy. Played a DVD and it was very nice - no lag or fall off in expected visuals based on specs. Yes an apparent conflict in the display assessment, but DVD is much more pleasant to watch than just plain ole web surfing.

Bottom line: Am I going to keep it? Yes. It met with my expectations. Am I going to study on the display and do some more 'scientific' assessments and consider an HP warranty call for a replacement (which I would likely qualify for), dunno at this point. Not enough time invested to narrow down the problem or determine if I think I have a 'bad' display.

All things considered for those on a limited budget who want a few bells and whistles (analog tv tuner, webcam, discrete graphics, etc.) this is a great purchase - though I don't speak for any other similar or even better offers out there.

Do I think I got what I paid for? Yes.
Do I want to return it and pay more for better? No

I hope to do a review, I don't know when. I hope this long post helps give someone a nudge in either direction if they are fence sitting on this deal versus another.

Please forgive the lack of 'scientificness' - I just hoped that my 'impressions' might be helpful to some.

Thanks for your awesome support Forum Folks. You are RIGHT ON when it comes to your assessments, reviews and advice.

Melanie