Hp Dv9858ca

Can't seem to find this model being reviewed anywhere so minus well just ask on here...

Anyone have this model and can point out the pros and cons of it? Also what is the difference between this and the dv9700 series?

I am an engineering student so I will mainly be using it for designing (AutoCAD). I will also be gaming on it (Im not a hardcore gamer but I do like to play a few of the newest titles), and multimedia viewing. I will be travelling with it as well.
Again, I am not sure if this is the right place to ask or not, but if it is I apologize in advance.

 

You can look up any dv9000 review and find comments that are applicable to the machine you are looking at.

 

hehe yea thats my problem finding those comments. Well thanks anyways..

 

Where is this avalibile?

 

Its avaliable in Canada.

So after more surfing I still could not find a difference between the 9800 series and the 9700 series.

 

The only difference in between the dv9000/9500/9700 is the parts within them. The numbers are also there so signify a refreshed version of the model

 

Hi, I just purchased a dv9858ca and have used it for a couple of days - so my review will just be preliminary.

I bought this for two reasons:

1) I previously purchased a 17" hp laptop for my wife, running vista (Eek!) and sporting wireless N. It's turned out be a fantastic machine and she just loves it. Vista seems to work on this machine - no probs at all and the wireless N (together with our Dlink 655) works flawlessly (I've had LOTS of probs with several units previously that ran B/G and linksys, etc). It's quite light and has the best keyboard on any machine in its price range.
2) I wanted to replace my desktop and so wanted a powerful cpu, large harddrive, wireless N, good keyboard, nVidea graphics for ubuntu linux.

Ok. This machine came with Vista *64* bit - which thwarted my efforts to shrink down the partition size (at first). Eventually I succeeded by using GParted instead of Vista's builtin partition manager. I've never been a Vista fan, I think XP still outperforms it, but Vista's security model is much better, and this machine has enough horsepower to run Vista. Vista 64 might be an issue if you need drivers for weird devices (I eally have no idea) but my iPod works fine and I don't use anything else (so I cannot say). The single most annoying isssue of the machine is the weird, pathetically *bad* righthand shift key. It's hard not to hit the up arrow instead. Very annoying. I mostly use Ubuntu Linux so nVidia graphics (not ATI!) was important to me. I'm running it now and it works just fine.
The trackpad works just ok. If you've ever used a Macbook then you'll find this a sloppy second. I've got a small Macbook (13") screen so this time I wanted a 17" screen. After 1 day I can tell you - buy a 17" display unit. You will *always* be glad you did. Thsi machine's display is wonderful. MMM what else? ...

 

did u just call up hp to order this?

i was hoping it was available somewhere so i could see it first hand.

 

Sry about being so slow to reply...

Ok. I've been using this beastie for a few weeks now. I bought it from Best Buy. It was just sitting there... I liked the stats (I wanted something with a bigger hd than 250g), I liked the cpu and the 4gigs of ram. Again the only weak point is the stupid righthand side shift key. It's one of those "WTF were they thinking?" things. But for me it's not a deal breaker. BTW I'm no lover of Best Buy - but you can find it there (at least *I* did).

I've since learned that Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04 Linux) has some issues running on a laptop. I couldn't get the wireless config to stick, and had to reset it each time. Not good. Then, after sleeping, the sound would bugger up - this is a reported, acknowledged problem with Hardy Heron. To me, running a laptop without sleep and hibernate is just a pain. I've now got the wireless config persistent using the wicd download. The sound problem is a fajor muck-up though. No worries - I suppose this will be fixed in no time.

On the Vista side, Vista takes soooo long to sleep or hibernate that I find it annoying. I have been using a 13" Macbook, which you just close the lid and go. Vista? You have to linger for an extra 2 minutes while it saves its state. Further, some recent Windows Update reset the power settings and my battery drained keeping the laptop awake after I closed the lid - which *should* have put it to sleep. Ok, I've reset the power settings and so-far-so-good.

I haven't had any probs with the 64-bit version of Vista, although my colleagues (programmers) all thought I would.

HP laptops have the best quality keyboards, and this unit works well. I luv how I can just use it, close the lid and (eventually) put it away. Pick it up the next day, walk down to the kitchen, make some breakfast, open it up and powerup and the wireless "just works." I use a laptop twice as much as a desktop because I can move around the house with it (or watch videos in bed before sleep). The cpu is so powerful that it's strong enough for anything I want to do - it's my main machine and I donn neeeed no steeenkeeen desktop to chain me in one room, one chair.

Don't believe the marketing about the big battery - it lasts about the same as others, give or take - certainly NO 5 hours of use though.

As I said before - buy a 17" laptop - don't make the mistake of getting a 13 or 15". Remember, video uses landscape layout but webpages use portrait mode (tall and narrow). The 13" Macbook is just a pain to surf with because you are forever scrolling up and down on the short-height screen. I luv the giant 17" screen.