HP Verve dv2660se hands on

I decided today that the Verve HP/Best Buy designed laptop looked worthy enough online to purchase.

I found a Best Buy with several in stock and checked out the display model. In the past I have owned my share of HP laptops, the last few of which were an nx7000, x1000, nc8430, dv9000t, nw8440, 8510p, HDX Dragon.

For a Special Edition laptop it felt cheap, it looks much cooler online than in person. The graphic looked faded, like they had some cloudy kind of clear coat on it, not like the embedded graphic the dv9500t has that looks glossy, the mouse pad buttons felt cheap and the screen looked washed out. Now mind you, I know it's hard to live up to the HDX and I'm not expecting it too but it's clear that HP looked to save money on this machine. The process used to decorate this machine must be different, who knows, maybe it's just this one, but the cheapness isn't just the graphic.

I asked how long this particular machine was on the floor since they get beat on and this one looked like it was installed not too long ago (it lacked the typical scratches and fingerprints, almost like nobody has been touching it). The sales guy said they got the dv2660se in stock last week and just put it out a few days ago.

It also doesn't bode well for this machine, I really expected it to be glossy and well finished. It doesn't come close, I'm sure with the price it should sell well now that it's on sale for $899.00 but it's not. I stood there and watched what machines people were looking at, now I'm not kidding when I say this, nobody looked at it, not even the kids.

The sales guy said they had hoped for better sales and the people who come in all hyped up to buy look at it and walk away. I walked in with every intention of buying it, the online pictures are fantastic and having a nice 14" machine to supplement the HDX monster would have been great, sadly it just doesn't live up to the pictures.

I'll put my flame suit on now but I felt I should post this because I know people were interested in the Verve. Go to Best Buy and look for yourself, let me know what you think, maybe I'm being too hard on it.

 

Uhh, wow. I actually found the dv2660se to be fantastic.....I thought it looked better in person than online, and some of the things you said (mouse buttons, etc) can be said for all HP Pavilion notebooks, since they all share the same mouse buttons. And I also found quality to be equal to every other dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 I've ever used, and the paint job looked fantastic, IMO. For $899, it really cannot be beaten as an all around machine. The only thing that kept me from buying one was the extended 12 cell battery.

 

You're looking at the display model - the one that 5 year old kids drool on, and the one that is practically thrown around for fun before they're put out on the floor. It's also the one that has mandatory software installed on it that pretty much cripples the machine. It takes pretty much 1 hour on the floor for a new laptop to become a crap laptop.

 

The mouse pad and buttons are NOT shared, my dv9000 had a much better pad and buttons, but thats another debate. It is possible they put out the one machine that made it through quality control and shouldn't have. It had no gloss at all and the screen was washed out, no adjustments helped and it just felt, cheap.

You didn't like the 12 cell battery?

 

If two days of use (or in this case lack there of) can make the entire surface look dull and the screen washed out, it's best to avoid the machine. The software has nothing to do with the washed out screen, it was running the Vista desktop, not the crapware Best Buy usually has running.

This particular machine was new and had very little use. Had kids been all over it there would ahve been fingerprints all over it trust me, all of these HP machines with the gloss finish attract fingerprints like a magnet.

Had it been on the floor a few months rather than a few days and wasn't actually the only clean machine I saw, I might agree and in fact would never have created this thread.

It is possible the bad egg was put out and heck, the floor staff doesn't care so it's not like they cleaned it but like I said, I could be wrong.

 

Maybe the dv9000 buttons are different, but I've used about a dozen (actually, probably more) different dv2 and dv6 computers, and the touchpads have all felt the same. I didn't like them, but since I use an external mouse anyways, it wasn't a big deal.

And no, I did not like the 12 cell battery. I have 0 problems with batterys that stick out the back of the notebook, like the Dell 9 cells (my Vostro 1500 came with the 9 cell, and I had no problems with that), but sticking out of the bottom of the notebook? Yea, that didn't appeal to me at all. Plus, with the 1" addition to the height of the back of the notebook, it wouldn't actually fit into my Targus notebook backpack (due to the 2.5" thickness...). If it had the HiCap 6 cell, or even the regular 6 cell, I would have bought it, almost guaranteed.

 

IT looks nice to me cause its Black and Bronze, the bestbuy in Federal Way, didn't gave much time looking closely at this laptop, personally it doesn't come with a 15.4", no choice of getting a good graphic card comparing to building one from hp home, no fingerprint reader etc, however 250 hard drive is nice. well, in conclusion 899 is way too expansive.

 

Let me quote you one of my older posts here:

"Anyway, I had a chance to play with one of these today with a T7500 and 8400M and I can tell you it's pure 53x. I am so tempted to get it but must resist because I know it's not something I want/need (already have an ugly-by-comparison 8510w on order). It really does look great in real life because the imprint highlights are so detailed it's amazing. Puts the Macbooks to shame. Battery life is pretty poor with the 6-cell though. Screen quality is really good, not as grainy or washed-out as Toshiba's new glossy screens. The touchpad is also a disappointment as it's not properly textured and the on/off buttons are a bit too recessed. Keyboard has minimal flex, typical Vista style keys, OK but not as good as the business notebooks.
Overall build quality is pretty solid. This thing shuts with a solid thud, hence has the "expensive" feel, even if made mostly from plastic."

 

Ok, decided to give it another shot. Went back to Best Buy tonight and bought the Verve to give it a valid shot of impressing me or going back to the store.

I liked the fact it has a huge hard drive, 2gigs of memory and so far I like the machine but still feel the Verve graphic could be glossier, plus the screen has a gloss on matte look to it, like they used an older design screen and added a gloss finish to it, but it displays things fine enough, off angle viewing isn't as good as it could be. Aside from that it is a nice machine and the display is what you would expect for less than 900bucks. My wife thinks it looks just fine, so maybe I am a bit more picky than most.

The machine is responsive, the Intel video does an ok job, there won't be any gaming on this machine so for what we'll be using it for it works fine. The touchpad is made by Alps and isn't as good as the one used on the more expensive machines, I have until the end of January to decide on keeping it.

Now I have something to run around with and can save the HDX for what it was intended for.

EDIT: One good thing to note, the battery lasts forever and this thing doesn't get warm, it runs amazingly cool. Very easy to use around the house. One last negative, the keyboard could be better, but had I not owned other more expensive HP laptops I wouldn't be so picky here, it just lacks the tactile feel of the HDX and DV9000 and on series.

 

Just a word of warning: not a good idea to buy a laptop from BB or CC as a test drive. 15% restocking fee will make you upset if the laptop doesn't suit you and you return it.

 

As a Christmas gift I can return for full refund up till 1/31/08. That was the first base I covered prior to swiping my credit card.

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=cat10004&contentId=1117177044087&id=cat12098

Got to cover your bases more carefully.

 

Yeah, how could I miss that, it's only posted at their store, on their website and all so I must be just telling myself I'll get a full refund, because when I said I covered my bases I was just playing with words and all.

If I say I cover my bases, I'm not kidding or saying it to please the bandwidth and then eating the 15% (I have yet to pay a restocking fee). I knew someone would come back with their link, I should have played lotto this morning.

Now you can post how it's impossible to get a full refund, and I'll say lets just agree to disagree. My wife once said that a long time ago, she knows better now and no, it doesn't mean being an ahole in the store, it's all in knowing how to use the system and the managers desperate attempts to keep sales up, know how to play the manager and you can go far.

I know how to play but I have not decided yet, I have a month and a half to mull it over. So far it's nice enough to keep, we'll see by the last week of January.

It's first test is this Friday at the Mall Of America, we'll see how it does in the bright lights. As mobile as it is the only negative I have really is the screen right now.

 

I checked out the HP Verve this weekend and it looked quite nice but for the price, I was hesitant to buy it. My mom loved it and thought it was neat but a bit pricey compared to the sales they have in the US.

 

How much was it in Canada?

 

Sorry, I didn't know "I can return it without a restock fee" meant "I don't care about what's written down, I'll just play the manager to get what I want". My mistake.

 

Just last week Best Buy changed the "regular price" from $1599.99 down to $1399.99. The sale price, which has been going on since the summer, is $1099.99. But Canadian taxes for some provinces is much higher than in the US. I have to pay 14% tax on top of the $1099.99.

 

I see, we'll play tit for tat, my turn.

I'm sorry you fall for what they wrote and don't fend for yourself. I'm sorry you walk up like a sheep and let them keep your money when you don't have to, my mistake.

You aren't there for them, they are there for you. I didn't say be a dick to the manager, playing them or working them or talking them into something is your responsibility, if they couldn't twist their own rules they wouldn't. They LOVE it when the sheep come in and buy or return something and pay because they make money either way.

I bet when your house gets re-assesed if they go up more than they should you just say, gosh, the Government wants more of my money, but hey, it's written down so I'll just bend over (this could start a whole other thread).

I DON'T care whats written down because THEY don't care about whats written down. The manager on duty has the right to charge you the fee or not to charge you, if you're, now excuse the term, if you're stupid enough to return something without trying to get all of your money back, that is your mistake.

Now, just call me an ahole and be done with it, you do it your way and I'll do it my way but my way isn't immoral or illegal or wrong, it's smart because Best Buy knows that the majority will fall in lock step and abide by whats on the wall or website but others will not fall in line like sheep. We'll get our money back and the sheep won't, seems to work. If they one day they say nope, this is our policy deal with it or buy someplace else, then I'll go someplace else, funny how free market works.

 

Can you order directly from say Best Buy's website or would you still get stuck?

 

I'm sorry for warning people that doing what you recommended may come back and bite them in the butt. I'm sorry for when I was working in the Computers department and had to deal with people who demanded a full refund even when our General Manager said "no" about 10 times. I'm sorry to those people who constantly threatened to "never come back" when we pull up their shopping history and see that we haven't made a single cent off of them and have actually lost money keeping them as a customer. I'm sorry when the GM finds out and pretty much gives the customer an ultimatum - either keep the laptop, or pay 15%. My mistake.

It's great that you have a backbone, I just wanted to warn people that it may not always work. However, for some reason, you took it as a personal attack.

 

I didn't take it as a personal attack at all, you keep inferring/assuming I DEMAND my money back, not at all. I simply have a discussion with the manager that ends up with him being happy to give me a refund, call it a talent, whatever.

I have never claimed I wouldn't come back and I have never been a jerk to the person and I've never been given an ultimatum. Your mistake is that you assume, a lot.

I'm sorry you worked in a crappy computer department that has you assuming so much even when I keep explaining myself, not my mistake. I've met a lot of people like you that worked in a crappy computer department, hopefully you are more knowledgable (I am not assuming you aren't, please note that) than the ones I meet in the local Best Buy's etc, because the kids in these stores don't know jack, about anything. (off topic, when I bought the computer a kid in the computer department was telling a lady she should leave her "Vista compute" on for a week so it gets to know her computer, but make sure to not touch it, my jaw just about hit the floor).

Sometimes the computer department is crappy because the customer has to deal with staff that are clueless about what they are selling, not the customers mistake and if they demand their money back after dealing with a Geek Squad moron who talked them into a pile of crap, more power to them.

I have not and will not tell anybody that if they do try to get back 100%, they will get a 100% refund, what I have said, pretty clearly is that if you don't try, you will most definately pay 15%.

I do have backbone, it took a few years of getting screwed by stores for me to decide not to get screwed anymore.

If I go in Jan of '08 and they tell me pay 15% or keep it and he doesn't budge (I'll take wagers he/she does give 100% refund) then I'll simply return it for store credit, but I don't see that happening, but if it does, then I won't buy laptops from there anymore. Easy pumpkineasy...

EDIT: Don't take me being long winded as taking something personal, I just like to explain myself fully, sometimes the person I'm responding too thinks I'm upset, 99.9% I post with a smile and a forum lacks the ability to show a persons tone, so if I seem upset, I'm not but rest assured I'd say so if I was, as I'm sure you would.

I consider this a healthy debate that we disagree on, and I see why but want you to fully understand where I'm coming from. Now I digress, someone with an XP laptop is *****ing about how crappy it is and I have to fix the program she installed on it from the web that has now installed a virus, but of course she did nothing................it's the laptops fault and now the laptops sucks... sheeesh users are fun.

 

so I want to get this notebook, only thing is I want a 14" one that can handel audio and more importantly video editing (like with sony vegas etc)

would this be a good choice? I've been hearing negative coments on the video card

 

I've been eyeing the Verve at Best Buy for awhile, and while I can say I am not a fan of 14" laptops, I can say that the laptop that they had on the floor as a demo looked great. I found the laptop to be well built, sturdy, and handled like a dream. I dunno, perhaps the original poster ran into a Verve edition that was previously abused and "dressed up" in order to save from having to put a brand new model on display.

 

I just got mine from bb. For 849 it's actually really nice, I'm loving it. It looks way more expensive than whatit really is