Hewlett Packard dv6110us Review

Hewlett Packard dv6110us — 

I've had this HP DV6110US laptop almost 2 years now and am generally satisfied with it.  It came with XP and a "coupon" to upgrade to Vista (which wasn't yet released, still in Beta)...and I did install Vista 32-bit business version and have had no problems with Vista (except the normal "big brother" issues) but neither would I have gone much out of my way to install Vista had it not been offered as free upgrade. 

I used to have several IBM Thinkpads, and miss the "Trackpoint" device...guess I got used to using it, and miss it on the HP laptops.   Also, the AC adapter runs VERY hot (the system itself runs hot, but this isn't too unusual for current laptops)...you can burn yourself on it if you aren't careful...also I had to replace the AC adapter due to stress flex in the cord (DC) which caused it to stop working.  But the HP laptops seem to be a bit better value than the corresponding Lenovo (used to be IBM)  ones.

 The biggest issue I've had with this laptop is having to return it to HP multiple times for repair.  Note there was a real problem with the laptop each time...Now that it is out of warranty I wonder how long it will be and how expensive when my next problem comes up.  The first problem was almost silly, the Time of Day battery (not the big power battery) went bad so the system wouldn't keep time when shut down.  The service guide indicates that the user could replace it themself, which I would have if the battery was inexpensive (it was $50), but HP insisted on me sending it in.. They replaced the battery OK but caused another problem with the case (physical) where the system kept reseting...I sent it in twice for that problem (one time they didn't fix it right).  Most recently the wireless connection stopped working, and I found this was a known problem by HP (via their site)...but I had to inform the HP phone rep about it, he seemed to know nothing of it...since the system was out of warranty the repair would have otherwise been at my expense.  Each time I've sent it in I wanted to avoid sending in the hard disk, which I didn't want to reload (I know, backing up the hard disk beforehand is way to go, but I didn't want to have to reload it each time especially since none of the problems involved the hard disk).  HP would have reloaded the hard disk to the default factory load, which I wanted to avoid.

I also prefer the "old" form-factor displays (i.e. more the "square" than "rectanglar" format) but none of the newer laptops including this one seem to offer that anymore).

 It may sound like I don't like the laptop...in general, I like it, it does what I want it to do, but I do have concerns about its reliability...other than that, I 'm generally happy with it.