HP Pavilion DV9500T Review

Okay Guys here is my review on My HP Pavilion DV9500T



Specs

Intel Core 2 Duo (Santa Rosa) T7500 2.20ghz 800FSB 4MB L2 Cache
17.0 WXGA Ultra Brightview Screen 1440X900
2GB Ram 667MHz 2 Dimms
DVD*/-RW Drive With LightScribe
400GB Hard Drive (4200rpm)
Built in Webcam and Mic and Fingerprint reader
Nvidia Geforce 8400GS
3 USB Ports /1 HDMI/VGA/ S-Video Out / 5.1 Memorycard reader PCI Express Card Slot
Intel Wireless N Card
Bluetooth
Express card TV Tuner with Media Center Remote

Design and Build Quality



When i recieved the laptop from Fedex i opened the box and took out the laptop. I was stunned at how the laptop was designed. Nice curves all around. The glossy paint and imprint finish looks great. The laptop felt solid all around. No creeks crunches of any sort. very solid build. HP has out done themselves this time. great job HP

Keyboard and Touchpad



The Keyboard feels good. keys are a good size and they keyboard doesnt feel spoongy compared to my sisters Sattelite P105-S0624. However when playing Stepmania on the computer the Keyboard can lag sometimes but not often.overall very good keyboard. The Touchpad is large in size and has its own Vertical scroll area and also has a touchpad on and off button a very nice feature. HP should of kepted that in their DV8000 Series but im glad its in this laptop. However the touchpad has some drag to it.it feels like i drag the touchpad allot more.

Screen



The screen is fantastic! The WXGA Ultra Brightview is so bright i had to turn it down a couple of notches. theres very very very little light leakage and colors are very nice. you gotta see it to beleive. compared to our Samsung 40Inch HDTV it isnt far off. The Screen is made by Samsung. My advice is when buying this laptop try and go to the store and compare a single back lamp LCD and dual lamp LCD youll be surprised on how much brighter and colors are.

Performance



Performance out of the 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo T7500 is great Very speedy no slow downs runs Windows Vista very well. This is HP's top of the line Core 2 Duo cpu. runs very cool also.

Graphics card

The laptop has a Nvidia Geforce 8400GS. i ran Far Cry at 1024X768 on High Settings and no issues. plays very well. im sure i can push it allot more by overclocking it but i cant find any software to overclock it yet.


Ports and Connections

Ports and connections are just about enough for this laptop. Enough for everyday use.

Right Side



Ac Jack/USB Port/DVD Burner/Expresscard Slot

Left Side



S-Video/VGA /HP Expansion Dock Connector/Ethernet/56K Modem HDMI/2X USB /Firewire/Memory Card Reader




I got a TV Tuner with this laptop

Overall its a very nice laptop for the money. if you want a desktop replacement look at this before purchasing another brand

 

sweet! thanks for teh review :]

 

Very Nice. I ordered the Dv6500t last week. It should arrive at my house by the end of this week. Just a few questions: Do you hear any high pitch noices emitting from the fan area? and does yours get warm quickly?

 

Thanks for the review! What games have you played on it? I think you should go out and buy Oblivion

 

Sony,

Your glowing review of the touchpad indicates one of the following:

1. You are easily impressed.
2. You have not had this notebook long and/or have not used it.
3. Have never compared the touchpads of other notebooks.
4. You are an HP employee.

You would have to be the first user I've seen that likes HP's new touchpads. HP's is the least "responsive" of any unit in the same class. I've seen/used better touchpads on $300 Everex notebooks. The buttons are equally horrible, without even any physical divider between the touchpad and the buttons!

Your "review" is therefore quite suspect. I've had my unit for a month or so and find your observations a bit skewed. Mind you, I am satisfied with my 9500, but a might more critical of emotional reviews that don't seem to imply comparative knowledge.

 

ooops my mistake i was confusing my M1210 to the DV9500T. The touchpad has some drag it it.

 

LOL, I thought so. I like my Latitude D410's pad better, as well.

 

Thanks for the review. Canada doesn't offer this model, the configuration options, etc.
But I did try the touchpad in a local store today on some of the new HP's (6565, etc.) and I thought they were fine.

 

yes thanks great review

 

The problem with the Pavillion touchpads is that the buttons are too mushy when you press them down and the touchpad area doesn't have the usual textured feel of normal touchpads. It's smooth and quite unresponsive. That's my personal experience.

 

I have to agree. The trackpad (touchpad) is pretty terrible. Buy a decent USB mouse and turn the stupid thing off. My HP Pavilion from 2001 has a better touchpad.

My other complaints are the lame media buttons and the weak sounding speakers. Other than that, I'm somewhat satisfied with my dv9543cl.

Oh... and the keyboard is decent but takes some getting used to.

 

I hope HP changes the toughpad by next year when I get my laptop for college.

 

Yeah I'm not extremely happy with my Presario C563's touchpad. I thought the one on my older Pavilion ze4427wm was much better. However, it's not the surface that bothers me with the Presario; the buttons themselves are quite small and should be much bigger since there is alot more room left tom make them bigger. Otherwise, no complaints (except for RAM... 512 is a drag)

 

The speakers are quite good actually. if compared to my XPS M1210 The Altec Lansings blow them away.

 

The dv9500 series stands out for its design against all competitors in the same price range. It offers the most bang for the buck and a very reasonable set of components to last (or which would stay competitive in running at least) for some years. They have cut down on some areas like the stock 8600M GS clock speeds, but they deliver a slim and amazing laptop which would surely invite envious passing glances. This downclocking is done to keep the thermal budget in check.

I have seen similarly configured Dell's and found them a bit bland overall. They look more robust, but they too show wear and tear. Liked the Vostro series though due to the all-black layout. Toshibas' seem too bling sometimes, especially their Satellite series. Tecra's still work fine.

The "dv" series can be used at both home and office, cleverly guised under the cloak of an entertainment laptop. Its a laptop you would always want to take home .

 

The Expresscard tuner lives up to what it is. Over the Air TV Signals are Very Clear HDTV Clear you guys can judge it

 

How are the sounds? does it produce any noise and static? w/ or w/o the headphones?

 

None i can detect no. just remember one thing however when ordering the DV9500T Go with Vista Home or Ultimate. I ordered Business and made a huge mistake and had to install Home Because Business doesnt have media center

 

"Home Premium" because I don't think that Basic has Media Center.

 

If it comes with business are you allowed to install premium with no problem?

 

Hello sonyfxa36:
Why is there vertical shade on the right edge of desktop? Is it just vista thing...for look or is it the wallpaper?
Sorry, haven't used vista yet.

 

its the vista sidebar

 

hey dudes, I ordered a HP 9500T to Colombia, I am getting it next week (hopefuly) so, I wanted to know, what are the differences between the batteries, I mean the 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery and the High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery in hours... do you have any (clever) tips about the laptop in general? is it strong or it tends to be weak? and... my last laptop was a Gateway M505, it was very nice, but!! the keyboard was weak, I had it for 2 years and the keys started to fall, so, is the HP 9500t a strong or a "weak" keyboard...

cheers!

 

If you have business, the next "upgrade" is to Ultimate. It gives you everything found in Home Premium plus Business, plus some other stuff. Microsoft sells an upgrade disk. Often it is included with HP computers. You do have to pay to get the license for the Ultimate upgrade key though.

 

How are the DVR(recording) functions with the tv tuner? Are there any dropped frames and what not?

 

it will probably give you a half hour more then the typical 8 cell battery. i have the Ultra Brightview Screen which has two back lamps so battery life takes a toll Well i only owned the laptop for 2 weeks so it isnt falling apart. Keyboard seems sturdy enough.

 

Does anyone see any difference in the basic screen

 

sonyfxa36

You said you have the Ultra Brightview Screen and that it has two back lights. Is the extra backlight the only difference in the Ulta and the regular? Is the benefit in daylight conditions where you are going against bight lights?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157998

this should answer your question. Dual Back lamp on the HP Compared to the Toshiba with a single backlamp. Both are at max brightness

 

On thursday, I got my 9500t and it is having the same high pitched noise, which seems to come whenever the fan kicks in... it is unlike a usual fans uffff kind of sound blowing air, it is sharp, high pitched whining noise, very distinct from other fan sounds...

Here are a few observations:
1. You can hear the noise for a while right during booting, so it is very easy to reproduce
2. You can hear the noise whenever the fan kicks in due to enhanced activity like gaming, or even a heavy web page loading...
3. In all other cases when the fan is not working the notebook is dead silent - these cases include cold air around which can keep the fan not in use for normal activity, probably this is the reason why some people are baffled as to why it keeps silent for long and then suddenly whines out of nowhere
4. The whine is low (but still annoying) when activity is low but becomes louder and louder while you play games...

Here are my specs : 2.2ghz T7500, 4 GB RAM, 17 WSXGA, 8700M GS graphics card

I am returning the notebook on monday for a replacement and I left them with a strict warning that I will have to return the new one too, this time for a refund, if the defect still remains...

 

This is BAD as I am waiting for the same machine and really don't have time to replace it if something is wrong. Will let all know how it's going to be... Fedex delivery planned for Tuesday.

 

Please don't forget to let us know what you find in your piece. It will help all of us (and esp. will let me know that this squealing fan noise thing is not a generic issue, if it didn't happen with you)

I love these forums, they let you meet with people in your situation and share experiences.. you won't get this power of information anywhere else...

 

8700M GS? or do you mean 8600

 

Yes you are right, it is 8600M GS, it is an amazing card, I was able to play Halo for windows without time lag, all action games that I played gave almost instantaneous response and the display was superb, clear and very detailed... had it not been due to the squealing fan, I would have kept the baby with me...

My new laptop is now scheduled to be delivered on 28th Aug. Will let all of you know, whether this issue repeats or not.

 

What is the "Allow hybrid sleep" under the power setting for Sleep?

 

Hybrid sleep is a new sleep-state in Vista saves open applications and documents to the disk as well as in memory. According to MS, this enables you to recover apps and docs in the event of a power outage while the computer is in sleep mode. In normal sleep mode, things are only saved to memory, so everything is lost if there's a power interruption. See: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/335c6a5d-0304-4af1-b135-6bf6c124dc111033.mspx

Edit: Of course, the upshot of this is a lot more wear-n-tear on the HDD, and a need for more frequent defragmenting. That's probably why the option default is off and hybrid sleep must be affirmatively selected by the user.

 

Wear and tear on the hard drive? Not likely. The amount of extra wear on a drive specifically because of this feature will be zero to none, or no more than any other normal usage of the drive. It's not like you're going to get an extra 2 weeks of life on the drive if you don't use this.

Also, it will not affect fragmentation, as this feature uses the hibernation file, which is a pre-allocated contiguous file already on the disk.

 

Hey dr4kkar! please, tell me how you have ordered from HP to outside of USA. I'm from Peru... and I want a 9500t too .

 

A power failure would only effect a notebook if the battery failed since you would normally have set to go to hibernate from sleep mode when battery gets to a certain level.

Am I correct here?

 

Well, got mine and it works absolutely GREAT!!! No noises, silent as dead!!! Even when fan is on, it's not loud at all. Just put mine new 7200rpm 160GB and really, really happy with everything. Made a clean reinstall of the system from zero. The only thing strange is that the COA on the back of the laptop does not match the COA I get while getting the COA with 3-rd party soft for activation purposes. And I was not able to activate Vista with the COA on a sticker and was able to do this with the COA recovered from the system itself. Anyone - any thoughts about it?

 

I was also looking into getting the DV9500T. I currently have a DV6000z, it has the 2.0Ghz AMD dual core, 2GB RAM, Nvidia go 7200, 120GB HDD, 15.4 Brightview.

The main reason I am looking at upgrading is because I installed the game Bioshock and couldn't even play it on my laptop without being really choppy (even with the graphics turned all the way down). I think it is this way because of the video card and the AMD running hot hence slower processor speeds.

Anyways, I was looking at getting the DV9500T with 2.2 GHZ Intel core 2 duo, 2 GB or RAM (I'm buying the 2x2GB RAM from Newegg because it is cheaper), Vista Ultimate 64 bit, the Nvidia 8600 GS, 17 HD Brightview, and the 120GB 7200 HDD (I know that when you get up higher it offers 2 HDDs for the space, does this mean that if I want to I can install a second HDD on my own inside the laptop? If not I was going to get a bigger HDD directly from them).

I want this laptop to be able to play all the newer games, even if the graphics are in the middle. If you guys could give me your opinions, especially the people that currently own one, on whether or not this laptop will truly be able to handle the newer games. I wish they offered a better video card, but will this video card be able to handle it?

I also had another question in regards to the DV9500T, is the SATA channel 150 or 300 on the laptops?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks in advance for your opinions and help.

 

The 2nd drive bay requires an adapter that you need from HP for $40. That's the only way to buy another drive and install it. I think it's way too much for something like that, but what can you do.

 

I have two 160 drives in my dv9543. This the link to the drives: http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.c0de16d8dc6cf72ba1d3fea6eac4f0a0/

They are Sata 150. I don't know what HP uses for the 7200 drives. You might consider buying the computer with two drives from HP since they would have the bracket. If it is not fast enough, you could always take one out and put a faster one it its place. Then use the drive you removed in a external case for extra backup.

I don't play games so I can not address that issue. I have connected mine to my HDTV using HIMI and that works very well.

 

On my dv9643, the "write caching on the disk" and the "advanced performance" are not enabled. The comments in the area where you select them refer to the risk if power outage or no battery backup. With the battery in a notebook and the power management to hibernate on low battery, it looks like low risk.

Is there a reason not to enable?

How much extra performace will enabling give?

 

hey, mi hermano vive en USA y el me hizo el favor de pedirlo y para traerlo... mi madre viene el 1 de octubre... asi que creo que tendrias que tener quien te lo compre y ademas te lo lleve a tu casa :S aunque tengo entendido que hay empresas de encomiendas que envian a sur america cualquier paquete, en este caso te cobraria como 30 o 40 dolares...

 

where can I find those options?

 

Regarding COA, I didn't have to do anything... It activated by itself, so I guess, the preinstalled version carry the activation. Though, I am saving both COAs, which I may need if I have to restore from system recovery dvds...

That said, I received the new dv95006 (replacement) on 30th Aug, the new notebook is very silent, amazing display and fabulous sound. It is light weight and very fast. I am more than satisfied. I have created a new threads with some photos showing HDTV via the tunercard, I have just one word - amazing.

 

It is amazing! Enjoy it!

 

Go to control panel, system, device manager, hard drive properties, policies.

 

Suland - it sounds like you replaced (or added) a 7200 RPM drive in your dv9500T. I am looking to purchase a dv9500T or maybe the dv6500T which I realize only has one HD bay. I understand the dv9500T has a second drive bay and as such am considering buying the standard HD and then adding a second 7200 or possibly upgrading both. How easy/difficult is it? Does the 7200 have a significant affect on battery life?

On the otherhand if I purchase the dv6500T, and decide to replace the HD what's the easiest way to transfer the OS/drivers/software if you decide to replace the HD?

I plan to do video editing and am under the impression that a 7200rpm HD is the way to go. Also I will purchase the min. memory and then add additional and will also get the discrete video card.

Thanks in advance for your help as well as others in the forum!