I'll quote my HP experience from another post.
"With the materials used anymore I don't know many notebooks that can't take a serious beating. That's how I got my HP warranty story. Went to Orlando. Left my notebook on top of the luggage where I put it in really quick through the liftglass of my Expedition. Like an idiot I might add. Opened the lift gate at our destination, the laptop was running (I was running some spare BOINC time off a power inverter in my truck) inverted through the fall, landing on it's front edge then falling over onto it's top, this is landing on asphalt. From a 5 ft. drop. Picked it up thinking 1 week in and I was already gonna have to have to whole thing rebuilt by HP. But it was still running. The front edge is a little dinged up, and the left trackpad button was a little popped up, but I pushed it back down and it snapped right back into place. The only way you can tell it was dropped is from the scratches on the front edge. But all else is intact and 100% working order. I did exchange the DVD burner because it appears to have developed a slight rattle after the drop. But the distance between that and the drop makes me think perhaps it was the drive itself..."
I love the feel of this DV9500t that I use. My brother just received his DV6500 a few days ago and he loves it. Great build, and with the 12 cell battery he got, he plays halo for 2 hours straight and longer on a single charge. and i love the looks of HP. The built in webcam with light is good quality, and the dual mics in the screen have excellent gain. The Altec Lansin speakers in the DV series laptops put out crisp clear highs that never distort even at max volume, and the bass...is...decent.
HP DV9500t
T7500 2.2Ghz Core2Duo processor
2GB RAM
Windows vista Ultimate 64bit
DVD burner with Lightscribe
HP DV6500t
T7250 2.0Ghz Core2Duo processor
2Gb RAM
Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
DVD burner with Lightscribe