My zx5000 first day review

This is my second laptop, my old Dell has W98, at work I use Desktop Dell W2000 and I want to get good looking notebook I hope I didn’t made a mistake.

My notebook specs:
HP Pavilion zx5000 customize notebook
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.00 GHz w/HT Technology
- 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen(1280x800)
- 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9600
- 512MB DDR SDRAM (2x256MB)
- 40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
- FREE Upgrade from DVD to DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive!!
- 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Delivery: Laptop arrived two days early. I was surprised the shipping box was very small, I ordered Dell laptop for my CEO and their shipping box was almost double the size.
Overall look: When I opened the box I think laptop look very nice, I own only Dell so I can’t compare others such as Apple and Sony frames may be better looking? For my eyes I really liked the look and weight is not a problem for me because I used to last 4 years dealing with 8 pounds Dell laptop.
Setup: It took 5 minutes, I follow the screen info and everything was ok, only I need to adjust the touch pad. Due to hurricane Charley I don’t have my cable and RoadRunner service so I couldn’t try the cable or wireless connection. I connect via phone line and used AOL with modem speed was 48000, which is after the storm and 3 days without power I felt connection was very easy and good.
Keyboard: I can say better than my old Dell keyboard but I don’t type a lot so I don’t know about the keyboard feelings, I use my notebook mostly for internet, email and XL spreadsheet.
Screen: I really liked the Brightview screen, I don’t see any glare problems least for my eyes. DVD movie looks very nice but even I played wide screen movie I got top and the bottom of the screen half inch black line. It is not bothering me overall screen is crisp and excellent. I can see more XL columns on the screen and I think it will help me on my reports.
Hard drive: I think HD was very quite and little slow. For my use mostly Word and XL files I don’t think it is a real issue for me.
Memory: I use my Sony memory stick pro and transfer some pictures and I think 128MB video memory helped a lot, looking the pictures, transferring and playing with them was very fast.
DVD/CD-R: DVD movie played very well, picture and sound was great, I didn’t have a time to try CD-R, I felt CD load time was little slow but not a big deal.
Speakers: I watched “Behind enemy lines” DVD movie, picture and sound was really good, I listen some CD’s from “Pink” again speaker sound was excellent.
Ports: Memory card reader really very good option, with my Sony MS pro card worked without any problem and speed was ok. I use USB port to transfer some of my Word and XL files with “Sandisk cruzer mini” flash card worked without any problem. No more carrying floppy or CD-RW issues, flash cards way to go.
Heat: I found the heat will be a little problem for me, least I expect not to hot to soon. I put notebook on my lap and I was wearing short so one hour later I felt heat is bothering my legs. I know this is P4 and powerful processor and heats up easily.
Battery: Another negative issue is battery time. I got 12 cell battery and I guess I expect more than 2 hours, but reality is exactly 2 hours later I was on 3% level.
First I charged the battery fully and unplugged. I started the notebook first time it took 5 minutes, I watched 5 min DVD movie and listen 5 min music CD. Later I use Sony MS pro transferred 75 pictures in to my hard drive (each picture was 5 mega pixel) than I create photo album and total I spend for picture transfer and album 30 min and I use AOL 30 min with phone line than I transfer some Word and XL files and I try to learn about new notebook futures so bottom line 2 hours well spent but again I guess my expectation was least 3 hours battery time. May be next time if I not use any memory stick or not transfer a lot of pictures and adjust the screen brightness I can get 3 hours.
Summary: I liked wide screen, memory card reader future, HD quite, volume control keys easy to reach, video memory fast, over all laptop looks nice.
I didn’t liked the heat and battery life.

I hope this review helps…

 

hey fishcube,
yes my box was packed very nice, I didn't see any damage outside the box...you are right Fed-ex better than UPS

 

Thanks for the review! Makes my wait for ours..that much harder

Was the laptop wrapped/packaged well in the box? I've gotten packages from UPS before that were smashed etc...I'm hoping Fedex does a better job.

HP zx5000 - Ordered 8/15, est. delivery 24th - P4 3.0HT, XP Home - 15.4" Widescreen/Brightview WXGA - 128mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 - 512MB SDRAM (1x512) - 60GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive - DVD/CD-RW Drive - 54g Integ Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth - 12 Cell Battery = $1577

 

What date did you order? also what date did it ship? Did you receive your zx on the 18th?

I know everyone keeps saying they got there's so many days early, but the estimated shipping date is the date is ships from the factory, not the date its to arrive.

I'm trying to gauge when ours will arrive since we both got the brightview option.


HP zx5000 - Ordered 8/15, est. delivery 24th - P4 3.0HT, XP Home - 15.4" Widescreen/Brightview WXGA - 128mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 - 512MB SDRAM (1x512) - 60GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive - DVD/CD-RW Drive - 54g Integ Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth - 12 Cell Battery = $1577

 

you will be able to get 3 hours when your loading all those things onto the new system the hard drive is working much more then normal so if the cpu, also if you lower the brightness just 2,3 level's it will help out a lot! I get 2.5-3.25 hours under normal use. Of course gaming will lower me to around 2 hours.


Compaq R3000T (CTO)
P4 Desktop 3.0GHz w/HT
1 X 512MB RAM
Radeon 9600 128MB
60GB 5,400 RPM HD
AquaMark3: 24,257, 3DMark03: 3,115