SM Review: HP Pavilion dv8000t

LincLinc OwnerDetroit Icrontian
edited June 2007 in Science & Tech
Read Sledgehammer's Review of the HP Pavilion dv8000t, just published on Short-Media's front page.
When I looked for a notebook, I wanted everything. I don’t want the cheapest hardware in a brand-new notebook, so I splurged a bit by upgrading to the top of the line Intel Duo T2600 CPU (2.16Ghz). I opted for dual hard drives and the 17” WSXGA+ Widescreen LCD.
In fact, I think there were more programs on this laptop than I have ever seen before in my life. From media players to photo buckets and about 50 HP games, I can honestly say a sixth of my screen was covered with HP junk. I know some people love these free programs and enjoy the fact that HP gives you all these nifty items, but my first step was to remove them all.
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Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    I'm impressed by the battery life for a unit with a screen this size and such a robust hardware setup. I've seen econoboxes which didn't make it nearly that long.

    Nice review, Sledge! :woowoo:
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited June 2006
    Nice work Sledge! Looks like an awesome laptop. Man, they have come a long way over the last couple of years.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I just re-built my Compaq R3000Z. I was VERY impressed. The laptop came with two recovery CDs which WAS NOT just a image. One was WinXP w/ SP2 and the other was a driver and application CD... AWESOME. They still need to update drivers a bit more on their website but the laptop was fully functioning in less than a day. All my applications and tweaks and even a few games... runs REALLY fast now!!!

    HP/Compaq will be added to my list of recommended laptop vendors for my users... :D
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Nice review. Is the DVD-rom on the right side? No DVI out?
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    MackanzOCZ wrote:
    Is the DVD-rom on the right side?
    No, it's the left. I should've added captions. Gotta wait for Sledge on the DVI question.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    No DVI... just your Standard VGA port, I use a VGA adapter to hook to the TV. But tbh I don't use it on the TV much. nor do I need a 2nd monitor as the 17" fits all my needs for a laptop.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    That means that the power, vga and network is on the right side? Especially with a stiff vga, it must be a pita to use an external mouse or? (if you are right-handed)
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Like I said with a 17" LCD sporting 1680 x 1440 I have yet to find a reason for an external monitor. and the port is far enough back so if you use an external mouse your good to go. as it has USB ports on both sides as well as bluetooth. I have yet to find an issue with it.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I love my v2000 and recommend hpshopping.com whenever I can.


    I briefly glanced at the article, but nowhere did I see mention of their STANDARD one year warranty, which is something rare when it comes to laptops these days. As well, you can upgrade it to a maximum of 3 years, and tack on the "Oops" warranty too to replace any accidental damage you do to the unit yourself. Quite a large selling point, IMO.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    You know I completely forgot about that entire aspect. I am so fired. I did buy the 3 year full replacement, accidental damage and in home repair warranty. It is cheap to buy to protect such a large investment. You can also buy it after the fact at HP’s web site.
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2006
    I've played with my friends, not the same one but very similar, and it seemed REALLY nice! :rockon:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    I've played with my friends, not the same one but very similar, and it seemed REALLY nice! :rockon:
    I admire the courage it took for you to admit that publicly. :thumbsup:
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    A few questions asked at AnAndtech.

    What is the weight with battery? Does the touchpad still have H-P's wonderful on/off switch? What kind of tray/caddy does the HDD use? Can a spare be obtained for a backup drive?

    The weight without the battery is about 6.8lbs with the batt 8.1lbs so I guess the batt is 1.3lbs.

    No the touch pad is new to HP it offers a scroll side bar, double tap click, and smooth functionality.

    The trays seem to be more of a heat cover than anything. They fasten with 1 screw in the center which holds the HD in place to connect to its SATA interface. If you order the Laptop with HP will not put the 2nd drive try inside the Laptop, I have heard you can order it but it isn't an easy process as the part isn't in their books.


    If anyone has questions or would like more info feel free to ask.
  • edited June 2006
    I have been looking for a notebook pc for months and I finally found a HP (dv8000t) which seemed to be very good. After I read your review I am convinced. But I´ve got one qustion. You wrote that you upgraded the sound card. I will propably play a lot of music in my notebook (with external speakers, Logitech 5.1 i think). Do I have to upgrade it?

    Thanks for the review, it helped a lot!

    PeterPilot
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    The notebook does not come with 5.1 support. So you will need an external card to provide your 5.1... I bought a Creative Card...
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    MackanzOCZ wrote:
    Nice review. Is the DVD-rom on the right side? No DVI out?

    DVD is on the Right! not the left... and the VGA is on the left..
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    DVD is on the Right! not the left... and the VGA is on the left..
    The pic with the DVD drive has a filename with 'left' in it, so I assumed...
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Not a problem I just wanted to clarify :)
  • edited June 2006
    i was actually just at Best Buy today and ran across this baby. i need to get a laptop for college, but i need 1 that can handle fairly rough gaming and preferably doesnt go over $1,400. now the store i was at had 2 variants of this:

    For $1,200
    -DV8ssgNR:

    -amd turion 64 mobile ML-34
    -same 17" brightview widescreen
    -gig DDR
    -100gig HD
    -dvd/cd read/write
    -various other features

    now this is what was listed on the tag. note: there is no graphics card specification on the tag but if memory serves me its running a Nvidia 7400 Go.

    For $1,650

    -intel Duo (im assuming 2.16GHz)
    -512 onboard graphics card memory as opposed to the 256 on the above rig
    -200gig HD

    other than that, this 1 is the same as the above.

    now both of these specific models seem to be no longer manufactured, but the store has a few left nonetheless.

    now, my question: with the given budget limit, would i be better off going for a 1.8 or so GHz Intel Duo or will the 1.8 64-bit AMD run close enough to make the cost difference a rip-off? im guessing this is the case, but i dont know much in the way of laptops (desktops, though, thats another story =P). 200 gig HD is nice also, but i can live with 100gig (current HD is 80 gig) for less $ =P

    keep in mind this is for college, which honestly even the crappiest 5 year old laptop should satisfy, and gaming.

    on a side note: the warranty offered by BestBuy was essentially the same 3 year warranty u mentioned above. cost was somewhere around $350. im assuming HP's is the same?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I've played with my friends :rockon:
    I'm very happy for you, but let's keep this thread on topic, OK?
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Potato wrote:
    i was actually just at Best Buy today and ran across this baby. i need to get a laptop for college, but i need 1 that can handle fairly rough gaming and preferably doesnt go over $1,400. now the store i was at had 2 variants of this:

    For $1,200
    -DV8ssgNR:

    -amd turion 64 mobile ML-34
    -same 17" brightview widescreen
    -gig DDR
    -100gig HD
    -dvd/cd read/write
    -various other features

    now this is what was listed on the tag. note: there is no graphics card specification on the tag but if memory serves me its running a Nvidia 7400 Go.

    For $1,650

    -intel Duo (im assuming 2.16GHz)
    -512 onboard graphics card memory as opposed to the 256 on the above rig
    -200gig HD

    other than that, this 1 is the same as the above.

    now both of these specific models seem to be no longer manufactured, but the store has a few left nonetheless.

    now, my question: with the given budget limit, would i be better off going for a 1.8 or so GHz Intel Duo or will the 1.8 64-bit AMD run close enough to make the cost difference a rip-off? im guessing this is the case, but i dont know much in the way of laptops (desktops, though, thats another story =P). 200 gig HD is nice also, but i can live with 100gig (current HD is 80 gig) for less $ =P

    keep in mind this is for college, which honestly even the crappiest 5 year old laptop should satisfy, and gaming.

    on a side note: the warranty offered by BestBuy was essentially the same 3 year warranty u mentioned above. cost was somewhere around $350. im assuming HP's is the same?

    From the reviews I hear of and reviews I have seen the Intel chip is the better choice. The HD setup in the Intel Laptop will be 2 100GB HD's at 5400RPM, I am betting the 100GB HD in the AMD setup will be 7200RPM.

    As to the graphics card the Nvidia 7400 Go has 128MB onboard memory and leeches the rest from your memory banks. "Shared memory" Gaming performance will die without 1.5GB in these bad boys and if your a gamer I would suggest 2GB.

    This laptop is kick butt if configured correctly, I found the one reviewed perfect for gaming, with a nice 17" screen and 2GB of ram I could never be happier.

    Stick with a slightly lower clocked Intel chip and go for more Ram. the 7400 Go series card should give you the gaming performance needed. maybe not at Uber high settings but at medium to high settings I can't complain.

    I think my warranty was $249.00 soemtimes they give you a better deal if you shop at www.hp.com
  • edited June 2006
    First of all, thanx for the thorough review you have made. Helped me make up my mind to for dv8000t after a long search in various forums and review sites. I have a few doubts about the same.

    How did you upgrade the laptop with the 2GB OCZ RAM you bought? Can you provide me the exact model number of the RAM you bought, so I can do the same?

    I have heard HP's warranty gets nullified if you remove the cover/seal or if you install a non-HP supplied hardware. Would that have happened in your case?

    I would appreciate it if you could also give me the model number of the sound card you bought and how you managed to install it.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    First of all, thanx for the thorough review you have made. Helped me make up my mind to for dv8000t after a long search in various forums and review sites. I have a few doubts about the same.

    How did you upgrade the laptop with the 2GB OCZ RAM you bought? Can you provide me the exact model number of the RAM you bought, so I can do the same?

    I have heard HP's warranty gets nullified if you remove the cover/seal or if you install a non-HP supplied hardware. Would that have happened in your case?

    I would appreciate it if you could also give me the model number of the sound card you bought and how you managed to install it.

    First off I am glad you found the review helpful, the soul purpose of me writing it was to fill in the gap of no Intel based Dv8000t reviews being online. Most of them are all based on the AMD platform.

    For the purpose of Ram there are 2 options. if you want the best of the best OCZ you will want the 667Mhz if you want to save a few bucks you can get the 533Mhz models I have provided links for both below.

    OCZ 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400)
    http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227099

    OCZ 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
    http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227110

    As to the warranty Hp is very odd about, they will let you upgrade your computer on your own and they will even walk you through it on there online chat. For the most part I know how to upgrade laptops and PC's but to cover the warranty for the Laptop I logged on HP's 24/7 online chat for the Pavilion Laptops and asked them, they record the SN and the PN so they can go back and see you upgraded your tower with the guidance of a supposed professional "who really is a Joe blow copying and pasting pre written text." I just never told them the new memory being installed wasn't ram I bought from them.

    If you ever need to send your notebook back for repair simply replace the upgraded ram with the stock ram that it came with. It is always good to keep the extra parts. The ram install is very easy, as you remove the middle cover "2 screws" and reveal the ram slots , there are two metal clips on both ends of the memory carefully push both of them at the same time and the ram should semi spring up. carefully slide the memory out. If there are 2 sticks of ram inside you will repeat the process. Now once you have those removed carefully insert the new ram sticks the same way the old ones came out. once clipped in place, boot up and make sure the laptop sees the new memory.

    As for the sound it is a Plug and play device that will make use of your PCMCIA slot, which is on the left front side of your laptop. "make sure to pop out the filler that HP puts in there for you" I easily slide the card in and out of the laptop when I need it and when I don't need it I put the filler back in. I mainly got it so it will hook up to my 5.1 surround sound system at home. I use the standard headphone jack on the right side while traveling. Sometime I will slide the card in but it is really just using power for no reason... unless you plan on buying those 5.1 surround sound headphones.

    Creative 70SB053000012 PCMCIA Sound Card
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102185

    Direct link to creatives site:

    http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=204&product=10769

    I was able to pick mine up for $40.00 online, with a little peeking around I am sure you can find a good deal.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Potato: keep in mind that the Turion version of this PC does not have the nVidia graphics, it contains ATI 200M graphics, so the PC will be unlikely to be as gaming-capable as the Intel/nVidia version that Sledgehammer reviewed.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    GHoosdum wrote:
    Potato: keep in mind that the Turion version of this PC does not have the nVidia graphics, it contains ATI 200M graphics, so the PC will be unlikely to be as gaming-capable as the Intel/nVidia version that Sledgehammer reviewed.

    Very true the AMD version is not a good gamer, I think HP's website has now given you the option to upgrade into the Nvidia 7400 or the 7600 graphics card.

    Note: You cannot Upgrade the graphics after the fact in these laptops.... as the GPU and memory are built onto the Motherboard.
  • edited June 2006
    it contains ATI 200M graphics

    ^ eek. well that settles that. i was just curious if the AMD cpu could perform along side the Duo.

    as far as ram goes, the few games i play use about 700 or so MB of ram when fully loaded so it works for now. in about 2 years im going to need to upgrade to 2 gigs of ram anyway, though, for school purposes (computer science major) so i suppose ill go ahead and plunk in the OCZ ram.

    very good review m8. i spent a while online looking for reviews on this particular line of notebooks and couldnt find much. top notch review

    [edit] looking at the monitor, is the Ultra BrightView display worth shelling out the extra 100 bucks as opposed to the standard BrightView? o, and it does appear that HP upgraded the 7400 to a 7600 Go
  • edited June 2006
    Potato wrote:
    ^ eek. well that settles that. i was just curious if the AMD cpu could perform along side the Duo.

    as far as ram goes, the few games i play use about 700 or so MB of ram when fully loaded so it works for now. in about 2 years im going to need to upgrade to 2 gigs of ram anyway, though, for school purposes (computer science major) so i suppose ill go ahead and plunk in the OCZ ram.

    very good review m8. i spent a while online looking for reviews on this particular line of notebooks and couldnt find much. top notch review

    [edit] looking at the monitor, is the Ultra BrightView display worth shelling out the extra 100 bucks as opposed to the standard BrightView? o, and it does appear that HP upgraded the 7400 to a 7600 Go

    I think 2GB is an absolute must (as sledge did), if you intend to spend money on serious hardware. Windows vista would be coming out soon and everyone would start installing it. It requires atleast 1GB to give a normal performance you expect from an XP machine having 512MB. So 2GB is not going to raise people's eyes in the near future.

    Sledge, you installed the OCZ RAM as 2 banks of 1 GB right ? So have you got the performance boost associated with dual channel memory access ?

    As you advised, I intend to go for the 667Mhz option. Even then I would be saving about $150!

    Thanx again for the detailed info you gave me. I intend to go for the PCMCIA option too.

    Also, I have seen a 100GB 7200 RPM HDD option on HP's dv8000t "customize your laptop" section. Is that really true or is it a typo on HP's part. If that's true, then there would be a serious performance boost right ?, albeit lesser battery life.
  • edited June 2006
    well honestly i doubt i will be installing vista EVER, but WITHOUT A DOUBT not within 2 years. besides, comp sci classes require fully patched version of XP, and while ill be using lab comps most of the time neway, it'd be nice to have my own to do those extended projects and the like. i will have 1 gig at least, no doubt there. 1 gig seems to run everything i throw at it very nicely, but 2 gigs seems excessive to me. the only super-ultra-mega-uber graphic intensive program im likely to run on this comp within its lifetime is half-life 3 and/or soon-to-come half-life 2 episodes. im not big on the EA factory or the intense, hard-core fps's.

    at any rate, my 2 biggest issues are with the HD and the display. is the ultra bright worth the extra 100 bucks? and on a more personal note, i cant decide if that dual HD 160 gig is worth the price...i'd REEEAAALLLYYY like that dual HD, but taking into mind ill be tossing in the $350 warranty, i think i may have to sacrifice it to keep cost down.

    thoughts? opinions?

    [edit] in response to ur question about the HD RPM: im no expert by any definition of the word, but an increase in ~2000 RPM will prolly only see u shave 3 seconds or so off those load times. maybe a few more on start-up. not really worth the $ IMO...but i may be wrong, of course.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    TBH the 7200RPM will make a difference in gaming and other HD intensive applications. For me I wnet with dual HD's with the OS on the main drive and my games on the other. Sure I am using both HD's on the road but the performance is worth it.

    I did see a perfomance boost when upgrading....
  • edited June 2006
    Potato wrote:
    well honestly i doubt i will be installing vista EVER, but WITHOUT A DOUBT not within 2 years. besides, comp sci classes require fully patched version of XP, and while ill be using lab comps most of the time neway, it'd be nice to have my own to do those extended projects and the like. i will have 1 gig at least, no doubt there. 1 gig seems to run everything i throw at it very nicely, but 2 gigs seems excessive to me. the only super-ultra-mega-uber graphic intensive program im likely to run on this comp within its lifetime is half-life 3 and/or soon-to-come half-life 2 episodes. im not big on the EA factory or the intense, hard-core fps's.

    You are right. For me 2GB is essential as I use WSAD, Oracle, Rational Rose and a couple of other application all the time.

    Even though you may never install Vista, when you spend big bucks on such a notebook, its worth the money to make it future proof.

    And inspite of Microsoft's past glitches Vista is going to be a benchmark as far as operating systems go. And peer pressure might ultimately tempt you to install it. :-)

    I have to admit I am not a fan of microsoft though. More of a Linux buff.

    I think i shall defenitely explore the 7200RPM model. I found out that it won't use any extra power as those models have fluid lubricated motors to reduce friction and noise.
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