HP Pavilion dv9207us Notebook Hot Deal? $749.99 AR ($400) and AIS ($50)

[TheRealDeal]

Do you have the express card hooked up to cable? If so how is the qam tuner? Are you getting channels you don't normally get with the cable box?

I haven't pulled my express card out of the box yet.

What is a qam tuner?

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I don't know about Vista, but in XP the ExperessCard tuner works with MCE perfectly. The drivers are great as far as I've seen.

One thing to watch for: the coax --> mini-coax adapter for the card has some kind of interference-reducing ferrite core or something on it. Keep the adapter away form the system because it will interfere with the data on the right hard drive and could corrupt it. My tuner also gets really hot, I put some ramsinks on the metal part that sticks out of the system to help cool it.

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: TheRealDeal
Do you have the express card hooked up to cable? If so how is the qam tuner? Are you getting channels you don't normally get with the cable box?

I haven't pulled my express card of the box yet.

What is a qam tuner?

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I don't know about Vista, but in XP the ExperessCard tuner works with MCE perfectly. The drivers are great as far as I've seen.

One thing to watch for: the coax --> mini-coax adapter for the card has some kind of interference-reducing ferrite core or something on it. Keep the adapter away form the system because it will interfere with the data on the right hard drive and could corrupt it. My tuner also gets really hot, I put some ramsinks on the metal part that sticks out of the system to help cool it.

I used it with a coax and S-video connection to my Dish Network STB. Never tried QAM, I wasn't aware the tuner had it. The picture with S-video was better than with Coax, particularly in color accuracy. I would try the QAM for you but my laptop's out for repair now (CPU fan died).

 

[TheRealDeal]

The HP EC300 Tuner card cost $180 alone, according to hp's site.....

 

[MadScientist]

I got this for my son in March. Submitted the CompUSA rebate right away online but there is a 3 week wait, in case you decide to return it, before they even consider the request, then a 10 - 12 weeks wait before your $350. check is mailed. The $50. HP rebate is just as slow. It was 3 weeks before they even acknowledged they received my rebate.

It's definitely a great buy for the price, if all the rebates come through. Even with coupons nothing from Dell comes close.
First thing I did was order 2 gigs of G. Skill ram from the Egg, deleted all the bloatware, made 2 recovery disks and formatted and merged the HP partition.

 

[mattbooty]

Has anyone had any luck tracking down all the drivers for this laptop for windows XP? I want to downgrade this (I ordered it this weekend, it hasn't come yet) and if you go to HP's website they don't list all the XP drivers under this model. I tried picking through similar models and found some of the drivers I'll need, but not all of them (at least not an equivalent of all the drivers listed for this model for Vista).

Any help would be great. Thanks for this great deal!


EDIT: Right after posting this I discovered a link to the drivers I needed. My next question is, would I be better off downgrading to XP Pro or XP MCE?

 

[bigi]

I got it. It was big. LCD was average and mine was defective.
I've retruned it.

 

[boggsie]

Originally posted by: mattbooty
Has anyone had any luck tracking down all the drivers for this laptop for windows XP? I want to downgrade this (I ordered it this weekend, it hasn't come yet) and if you go to HP's website they don't list all the XP drivers under this model. I tried picking through similar models and found some of the drivers I'll need, but not all of them (at least not an equivalent of all the drivers listed for this model for Vista).

Any help would be great. Thanks for this great deal!


EDIT: Right after posting this I discovered a link to the drivers I needed. My next question is, would I be better off downgrading to XP Pro or XP MCE?

It depends on what you intend to use it for; MCE permits you to use it as a home entertainment PC (TV program). You can find programs to enable this in XP Pro, so it depends on how integrated with the OS you want the media features to be.

 

[TheRealDeal]

To Vista or not to Vista?

It really depends on what you plan to use it for. Vista has known issues with 3rd party software packages right now. So bad that Microsoft is promoting a new sticker that states "vista certified". If you plan on surfing the web and watching TV on it, then you are probably fine, but if you intend to play some good games and install all your favorite software, then you might seriously consider XP. I need the best of both worlds because I know Vista is not going away and I need to test apps and performance.

This comes with a 120 GB drive, so you have room to create a dual boot (Vista and XP) which is what I did. It will be challenging but it can be done.

This is seriously nice machine for the money.

 

[Kccdx2]

down to 749.99 After rebates. Added another $50 instant rebate.

 

[GuildBoss]

Just pulled the trigger. I haven't spent so much money at one time on anything since I bought my car about 2 years ago. I'm sweating here! But how could I possibly pass on this deal when I've been so close to jumping on some of these other deals at BB, CC, etc for far inferior rigs? Couldn't resist....

Thanks OP!

 

[ezwithak]

Edited heading to reflect change in price from $799 to $749.

 

[GuildBoss]

This deal would be even hotter if they'd actually get around to shipping the darn thing. Anybody get a confirmation that these really do exist?

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: GuildBoss
This deal would be even hotter if they'd actually get around to shipping the darn thing. Anybody get a confirmation that these really do exist?

As I previously posted, I got this for my son at the end of March. It shipped from TX to PA in less than a week.
Vista uses up a lot of memory and the 1 GB it comes with is not enough. Upgraded it to 2 GB and just sold the 1 GB on fleabay. I got an email from CompUSA yesterday that my rebate check had been mailed. The HP rebate is still processing.

 

[mattbooty]

Originally posted by: GuildBoss
This deal would be even hotter if they'd actually get around to shipping the darn thing. Anybody get a confirmation that these really do exist?

I'm having the same problem. Ordered mine on 5/5 when it listed Usually ships in 1-2 Business Days and still hasn't shipped. Every time I call they give me a new excuse as to why it hasn't shipped yet. Now I see they've taken down the product page.

 

[TheRealDeal]

You made a good choice. I paid $100 more last month for this but I am still happy. Runs WOW great on WinXP.

Originally posted by: GuildBoss
Just pulled the trigger. I haven't spent so much money at one time on anything since I bought my car about 2 years ago. I'm sweating here! But how could I possibly pass on this deal when I've been so close to jumping on some of these other deals at BB, CC, etc for far inferior rigs? Couldn't resist....

Thanks OP!

 

[Spurst]

dead deal?

 

[Esquire]

think you can stick a fork in it, it is done

 

[GuildBoss]

Yup, product page is gone. My order still says usually ships in 1-2 business days. Doesn't look good....

 

[professor farnsworth]

it liiiiiiives!!

 

[GuildBoss]

Originally posted by: professor farnsworth
it liiiiiiives!!

Whew, well this lifts my heart somewhat but mine still hasn't shipped. Although, it *does* say on that page that it ships in 3-6 business days...

Just checked my local CompUSA and they have stock so I'm just gonna cancel this online order and go pick the darn thing up. The old fashioned way!

 

[mattbooty]

Originally posted by: GuildBoss
Whew, well this lifts my heart somewhat but mine still hasn't shipped. Although, it *does* say on that page that it ships in 3-6 business days...

Just checked my local CompUSA and they have stock so I'm just gonna cancel this online order and go pick the darn thing up. The old fashioned way!

I just called AGAIN and this time they actually escalated my problem. She said they show them as being in stock so she doesn't know why it hasn't shipped yet. Hopefully this will move the process along.

Unfortunately I don't have a compusa anywhere near me so I can't go pick it up.

 

[ezwithak]

For those who bought this laptop, how is the express card tv tuner? Does it work well?

 

[mattbooty]

Originally posted by: mattbooty
]I just called AGAIN and this time they actually escalated my problem. She said they show them as being in stock so she doesn't know why it hasn't shipped yet. Hopefully this will move the process along.

Unfortunately I don't have a compusa anywhere near me so I can't go pick it up.

Apparently this worked, my laptop is now marked as SHIPPED!!!! Thanks for this great deal!

 

[GuildBoss]

What a mess.

So I decided not to wait for shipping since my order still shows as "Ships in 1-2 business days" and just went to my local store to buy it. I had them cancel my online order and ring me out for the laptop. So far so good.

But here's where things get sticky. The CompUSA rebate form that printed at the register is for $300. But, as of this writing, if you go to the product page at compusa.com it shows a rebate of $350. But wait! Go ahead and click that rebate and look at the qualifying date....oops, it ended on 5/16! WTF? Yup, the current rebate is $300.

However, since I originally purchased this online on 5/13, I have a copy of the $350 rebate that I downloaded that night and the end date is actually 5/19! WTF?!?

Anyway, I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with 2 different people explaining this whole fiasco. I emailed my copy of the rebate which does indeed prove that I qualify for $350. But to throw another wrench in the works, I'd already went to their online ebates site and entered in the rebate from the register, which is the $300 version. *sigh*

Ideally, I should have just printed out my 5/19 copy and mailed it in.

Well, I'll keep you posted.

P.S. I'm so steamed about this fiasco I haven't even opened the box yet to check out my new lappy! But if they don't give me the extra $50 it's going back.

 

[professor farnsworth]

care to make that $350 rebate that ends on 5/19 available to the public seeing as how compusa isnt linking to it anymore?