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HP Pavilion ze4220 Notebook PC (1.70 GHz Celeron, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive)

HP Pavilion ze4220 Notebook PC (1.70 GHz Celeron, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive)

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Beware of design flaws of this notebook...
Review: and perhaps the either HP/Compaq line of notebook PCs.

Got this notebook a week ago. Start noticed it cannot keep accurate time. Depends on how the load is, it some times looses up to 10 minutes in less than two hours.

I was advised by HP support I need to update BIOS of the notebook. They first told me to run 'e-diags' utility from the notebook, which as it turns out it was not there. After several e-mail it was clear that the only way to put it on is to run the 'Recovery CD' this is a four CD set. Further more, there is no selection to restore individuals program. I have to run the entire 4 CD set. To make things worst, this recover CD will also reformat the hard disk and wipe out whatever it is on it!

At this point I tried to see if there is any other way to update the BIOS. Well, the only other way is to use a floppy drive, which this notebook does not have! I also asked if they can e-mail or I can down load this 'e-diags'. As it turns out, HP has designed this 'e-diags' in a 'hidden' partition on the hard disk. If your notebook does not have that partition on it, the only way to 'get it' is to run that recover CD to reformat and re-partition the disk!! Can you imagine some time down the road when you have 10 or even 20 GB of stuff that you need to backup and recover just to recover some program may be you delete it by accident?

I consider the logic behind this design totally wrong. It seems HP has placed more importance on making their engineers has easier life than to their customers. It is unacceptable to let a BIOS flaw that cannot keep time to get out of door in the first place. Worst, they should not have designed a system recover program that is so inflexible that require wipe out the entire driver even to just recover a program. Lastly, they should not design a system update tool that is solely depends on a unknown hidden partition.

Needless to say, I will return the notebook and get a Toshiba or Sony instead. I have no doubt the rest of HP and Compaq line used the same flawed design.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rocks
Review: I have had absolutely no problems with this. Even though it's XP. :) Good hard processing speed, etc. And I can't tell you the number of people who've come up to me and admired the cool blue lights at the top edge of the keyboard. Very cool looking. Not quite Apple design but pretty good-lookin' for a Windows machine.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent notebook
Review: I'm very pleased with this notebook. Excellent DVD playing, and very nice sound quality. For those of you who like using your laptop to watch DVDs and listen to music, you'll be pleased with the results of this one. Good processing speed. Isn't exactly a P4, but is enough for daily tasks such as word processing, e-mail, internet, etc. Oh, a nice extra that this comes with is the very cool, very unique blue lights at the top of the keyboard and on the power button and the task bar down at the bottom. Better than a Mac design..much.. Overall, this is a good notebook and worth buying.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bang For The Buck
Review: One of the best laptops for the price I have seen in years. Fantastic monitor resolution, plays DVDS like a charm. Only downside to this laptop is the lack of an internal floppy disk drive, but other than that, top quality here.


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