dv4000 questions..

hi guys.. im planning to buy a dv4000 in two weeks and i just wanna know if im making the correct decision..

1. i just wanna know whats the difference between the britescreen and the regular? which is better? (coz the costs are the same) i read the forum that the brite screen is glossy.. how glossy was it? like mirror glossy? should i go for the regular one?

2. another is does it run hot??? was the fan noisy? ( i dont want a laptop that overheats and has noisy fan tho)

3. is light scribe worth it? should i just go with the regular double layer? its d same right? (same speed only the other one with light scribe technology?)

4. how about the sound? was it clear? was it loud?

please help me decide.. thanks...
and if u have additional information about the dv4000 please post.. (like problems, flaws etc.,..)

thanks guys.. waiting to hear from you..

 

I've had a DV4000 for a couple of months and can tell you things about it.

I have it with the glossy screen, have never seen it with the matte screen, all the models sold in stores have the glossy screen, only way you could get the matte one is if you custom ordered one with it. Anyways, I'm pretty satisfied with my screen, though it can sometimes get annoying. It is like a mirror where I can see my reflection, but only when the screen is off or displaying dark colors. When its displaying white for example, I can't see my reflection.

Most people will say the pros of a glossy screen outweigh the cons. People have said these types of screen have better contrast, show colors better and so are ideal for movie watching, photo viewing, etc whereas matte screens are ideal for office work. I am very satisfied with the screen on mine and would get this type of screen again for my next notebook.

The fan rarely turns on in mine and is only a bit noisy for like 10 seconds and then becomes quiet. Its not an issue to me, I rarely notice it. The notebook also has never ever ran hot for me.

The speakers on it are great in my opinion, some of if not the best I have ever heard on a notebook.

The lightscribe I say would probably be not worth it. You have to get special Lightscribe compatible media and it burns it very slowly. I think the technology is promising however and I will personally wait until it can burn the discs faster, the media is cheaper and that it can burn in color, which is probably unlikely.

The only flaw that annoys me with the DV4000 is that the keyboard and touchpad will wear off pretty quickly. All of the keys on my keyboard are already shiny, glossy and worn down after just two months of use, very disappointing but the keyboard still works 100% fine, its just a pet peeve to me.

Oh yeah, my DV4000 has the Intel integrated GMA900 graphics. If you order yours with the ATI Radeon X700, I think the notebook will get noisy and quite warm, I think a few users complained about that, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyways, good luck on your purchase!

 

oh is that so? im planning to get the ATI with it.. it would be disappointing if it runs hot and fans noisy.. what do u mean when u said ur keyboard wear off? can u take a pic of ur keyboard so we could see how bad it is? im also looking into toshiba M60.. was that laptop better than the dv4000?

thanks for the reply..

 

I have dv4000 w/x700
PM 2.0Ghz
matte screen (non-brightview)

1) go to a store and check out the glossy screen. If you dig it, then get that. If you prefer the matte-finish goodness of standard LCDs, then go for the non-brightview. That's what I did and I couldn't be happier.

2) I think it runs rather warm. Too warm. I may be limiting my chances for having more kids by running this thing on my lap. The fan is quiet and only comes on when needed.

3) i have no experience with this.

4) sound is fine. Nothing great. Nothing to complain about. Plenty loud enough.

good luck

 

I've got a Dv4000 with the X700 and glossy screen.

1. The glossy screen is not good in bright light. I like the glossy option, but if I wereusing the machine outside it would be a pain.
2. The machine runs warm, but not hot unless demanding applications like 3D games are being played. Even then, the fans are not noisy.
3. The speakers are clear, capable of putting out a lot of sound, and although they can be loud (without terrible clipping) they are tinny sounding.
4. I don't have lightscribe, decided against it when I researched the technology.

 

I got an HP dv4000 on Friday. I like the glossy screen, but haven't seen the regular screen so I can't tell you which is better. The touchpad is kind of annoying, sometimes it will decide to only move up and down and not left to right and you just wait a second or so and it will work again. The sound isn't perfect, but it's not terrible either. I watched a DVD w/ quickplay and the sound was pretty good. I rarely ever hear the fan, and when I do it's only for a couple of seconds. It does get kind of warm by the processor fan area if you have the computer turned on for awhile. I have the DVD writer w/o light scribe, but haven't tried it out yet. I have a 100GB 4200RPM drive that is fast enough for me. I have integrated graphics because i don't run graphics demanding things. The remote is cool if you want to pay the extra money of what ever it cost now. to store it just put it in the PC card slot.

 

Really? I haven't had that kind of problem at all. My touchpad has worked just fine. The only thing that annoys me is that it feels oily all the time and I have to many times wipe it with a cloth.

 

I have, and I know others have mentioned it as well. A chat support session with HP tech support advised me to simply reinstall the touchpad drivers (duh!), which I did with no real expectation of seeing any improvement...I was right. It works most of the time, but quite frequently it'll just decide not to resond. Not sure what the cure is, but I'll keep looking.

That being said, I'm very happy with my decision to purchase the dv4000. It does have it's quirks, but every notebook out there has some of their own....and the 'bang-for-your-buck' ratio of this notebook is among the best available.

 

I just re-install the touchpad driver. For some reason, it was not working properly when I received it. For instance, the scroll bar never worked. Running the update from the web does not help. After I manually re-install it using the files in SWSetup, it is now working properly. I choose "Alps Pointing-device (2-way)".