Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:16 am
I've got essentially the same DV7 as the one listed, except it is 1600x900 and no bluetooth. I've been pretty thrilled with it. Of course, I paid $850 for it. I'm not sure its worth the price you'd pay through HP. Check out Sam's Club (where I got mine) and see if they have it for ~$1000. I think you have a misprint on the HP's specs. I'm positve it has 3 USB 3.0's and 1 USB 2.0 like mine does. It lists 3 USB 2.0's and 1 USB 2.0's (doesn't make sense). Also, the HP has Blu-Ray, Asus doesn't.
For the record, my wife has an Asus, which I picked out for her. Its great. But the build-quality-feel award goes to my HP.
Here are my niggles with it:
Battery life - nowhere close to 9 hours. HP has pretty bad estimates. Figured nearly 4 hours, but never hitting it.
My spacebar has a squeak that I have been too lazy to see if I can fix.
Wireless-n is 2.4ghz only. I live in a house with no conflicting channels, so this isn't an issue.
Here is what I love:
It does indeed have space for 2 hdd's. I added a 120GB Agility 3, and it's pretty awesome. Got me 20 minutes more battery life (which with a 17" monitor, I'll never need because I don't lug this thing around).
Gaming is pretty sweet with the 650m @ 1600x900.
Beats audio - if you are into music, movies, or even games, I've found it pretty awesome. I used it as a dedicated music player when cleaning out a gym. It was flawless. Great sound even at a distance. Heard it just fine over an electronic floor buffer.
The BD player works as advertised.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8