HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx

[BodybyFisher]

Well about 2 months ago my ACER laptop overheated and died. I found that the cooling fan had ingested a lot of dust creating a impacted clog at the fan outlet that I was unable to see

I have been reluctant to buy a computer with Vista on it as my experience was that it was a DOG, and very annoying with its constant dumbed down dunning and prompting and warnings.

Well I did some research and found out that the VISTA 64 bit version was much better and I have to agree it is very fast even on my lousy wireless connection which I am going to fix soon, I am too far from the wireless modem. In addition, I like that Vista 64 runs 32 bit programs with no problem

The machine has 4 gigs of PC2-5300 addressable ram with this 64 bit OS which helps a lot with vista's graphical interface.

I disabled the UAC (user account control) which stops the dumbed down stupid questions the OS constantly throws at you

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/supertweaks.htm

I liked that it has an HDMI output, so I can connect it to an HDTV, the Lightscribe DVD writer should be cool, it did not have bluetooth but I can buy a USB bluetooth adapter for $41 if I want. I would have liked to have the N wireless protocal, but G is pretty quick. One of the biggest selling points was that it came with a 12 cell lithium-ion battery giving me long battery life. Once I get used to the keyboard, I think I will like this computer, I bought it at Best Buy.. Mike

Microprocessor 2.00 GHz Intel Core2 Duo Processor T6400

Microprocessor Cache 2MB L2 Cache

Memory 4096MB

Memory Max 8192MB

Video Graphics Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

Video Memory Up to 1759MB

Hard Drive 320GB (5400RPM)

Multimedia Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

Display 15.4" Diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800) Display

Fax/Modem High speed 56k modem

Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN

Wireless Connectivity 802.11b/g WLAN

Sound Altec Lansing speakers

Keyboard 101-key compatible

Pointing Device Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad

PC Card Slots 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)

External Ports 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards

4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA

2 Headphone out

1 microphone-in

HDMI

1 VGA (15-pin)

eSATA + USB 2.0

1 RJ-11 (modem)

1 RJ -45 (LAN)

1 notebook expansion port 3

1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)

Dimensions 14.05" (L) x 10.2" (D) x 1.37" (min H)/1.65" (max H)

Weight 5.83Ibs

Security Kensington MicroSaver lock slot

Power-on password

Accepts 3rd party security lock devices

Power 65W AC Adapter

12-Cell Lithium-Ion battery

[Texas Jim]

Cool specs on the new machine.

Sounds like a nice one.

Thanks for the info about the 64 bit Vista...THAT is good to know, because like you, I have been reluctant to get one with Vista.

I will have to replace my old Toshiba laptop someday soon.

It is about 5 years old.

The battery is not much good anymore so for any extended use, it needs to be plugged in.

One of the PCMCIA slots is REAL FLAKY.. .. and the other is just a little flaky.

My son has a fairly new HP with the WIDE SCREEN on it that I really like.

It has given him -0- problems..so far.

Good luck with your new toy and have fun.

[Bruce Nunnally]

A USB bluetooth adapter can be much less; I think the last 2 I bought were under $5 ea. I am still traveling with my Dell Mini 9 netbook, which works great for internet & forum stuff. Day to day I use desktops. Nothing with Vista yet; I may manage to skip to Windows7 although it appears to be vista-renamed anyway.

[MAC]

I run Vista 32 bit but my computer has an AMD Athlon 6000+ processor and 2 GB of fast RAM. It's basically my gaming computer which also has NVIDIA 8800 GTS 640 MB graphics. I also use the USB stick that comes with Vista, which speeds things up. I have to agree that the constant prompting is annoying.

The computer I'm on now is an upgraded HP Thin Client, which is silent running (no fan) and runs on a 60W power source. The processor is only 1GHz but it's fast enough for basic things like word processing and Internet surfing. I'm also thinking about buying a mini computer in the future when the Thin Client needs replacing. Some mini computers have power supplies that are upward of 250 watts that provide for a faster machine. But these computer will not be silent running.