HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
- Intel Core i3-330M Processor (2.13 GHz, 3 MB L3 Cache)
- 4 GB DDR3 System Memory (2 DIMM) (expandable to 8 GB)
- 500GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive (SATA), LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, * Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life
- 14.1″ Diagonal WXGA HD HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800), Intel HD Graphics with up to 1696MB Total Available Graphics Memory
For those who want an all-in-one performance notebook with rich multimedia features, the HP Pavilion dv4 Entertainment series delivers mobile performance that looks as great as it runs. Powered by the latest processor and graphics technologies, it delivers optimal mobile performance to support your lifestyle.
Rating: 
(out of 36 reviews)
List Price: $ 970.00
Price: $ 629.99
Review by Miguel A. Atuesta for HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
Rating:
I had have this computer for a month now, so here goes nothing:
Pros:
– Excellent design
– 4GB Ram, enough for most tasks
– 500GB hard drive, for me that’s enough for now
– Small size and little weight (even lighter when DVD is removed, which is an excellent feature in itself)
– Windows 7 (better than Vista, we’ll see about XP)
– EXCELLENT PRICE
Cons:
– Battery life is about 2 hours, bound to decrease within 6 months, not on par with most other laptops this size.
– Touchpad really has a mind of its own on ocassion.
– Glossy design is beautiful, but it’s also a fingerprint magnet
– Opening it is a cumbersome task, not really bad, but a little.
– Windows 7 “64bit” – Some old programs I use refuse to work in such environment.
All in all a solid laptop, with excellent features (and minor inconveniences), but please, HP, this is my third HP laptop and the batteries have never been your forte. (yet I keep buying HP) DO SOMETHING!
UPDATE: The battery won’t last for more than an hour and a half, so I took two stars off my review for this major inconvenience. Sorry to say this, but I no longer recommend this purchase.
Review by Jessica L. Milbrett for HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
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I’ve owned my computer for almost a week now, and I’m absolutely loving it. For the money I almost bought an Hp with a T6600 processor and 320GB hard drive etc etc. I bought this for the same price as the other hp and got MORE memory and a better processor. Why wouldn’t you want an upgrade of 180 GB hard drive for free? If your a student and like to have lots of music, videos and play light gaming and still have tons of room for your homework and projects, this is a great computer.
I also love how its 14″ monitor, so I can take it anywhere and fit it into any bag. It has a very sleek and glossy exterior. A little bit of work to keep clean, but that’s no reason not to buy a computer. The speakers are great for a laptop. I was actually surprised how clear sounds and music was. As with most HP laptops, you get the lightscribe burner, which is great, but it also comes with a disc replacement thing so if you don’t care to use a disc drive, you can remove it and save some weight. But really it doesn’t weigh that much.
The only downfall I have with this computer is the slightly low battery life. I think a little bit of that might be my fault cause I just plugged in and played rather than letting the battery charge fully first before I started playing with it.
Great laptop for the price.
Review by Jonathan R. Rynd for HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
Rating:
This is a good system to own if you can deal with a few minor annoyances.
Windows 7 works well. Most things are in different places than XP but it’s easy to find them.
This system has a basic graphics card. The Windows Experience numbers warn that the Aero interface will be sluggish sometimes, and I definitely feel that’s true.
The hard drive impressively large, although not all the 500GB is usable. It is split up into three partitions. One is the system restore partition (since Windows install discs are not included), and one is the quickstart partition (a fast starting non-Windows environment that lets you surf the web and browse your media collection), so the hard drive really has only around 320 mb free when you get it. That’s lots for your pictures, videos, music, etc. It’s also quite speedy.
4GB RAM standard, which should be more than enough, except that about 1.5 GB are used for the integrated graphics so you only have around 2.5 GB for programs. In the future, when RAM prices come down, I’ll be upgrading to 8GB of RAM.
The only ads on the machine are trials of Norton Internet Security 2010 1-User, and Microsoft Office Standard 2007 FULL VERSION, prominent links to HP’s accessories store (buy from Amazon instead), an ad for an online backup service, and an icon for one of Amazon’s competitors (a Bay Area auction site). Not bad.
I have no problems with overheating here. The touch panel for adjusting volume is very very useful.
Review by M. Priest for HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
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I switched from a Mac to this PC, and I’m very glad I did. Windows 7 is pretty great. There’s a decent amount of junk software preloaded, but also some useful software (media organizers/ players, etc), and useless but fun games.
Other than that, what’s not to like, especially now that it’s $50 less than the $700 I paid for it? It’s 14″, so it’s transportable. Has a DVD drive, a ton of memory, is really fast. Multiple programs run easily. Battery lasts about three hours, but can last longer with wireless/ speakers turned off.
In contrast to some negative reviews, I have had zero problems with the computer overheating. The only reasons I can think to not purchase it are if you wanted either Bluetooth or Bluray capabilities directly installed, as it doesn’t have either.
Review by Deacon Blues for HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid)
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I did mountains of research before committing to a replacement for my dead Sony (second dead Vaio = end of brand loyalty), and I chose this HP for its performance, value, and seeming sturdiness. The new i3 processor is fantastic and there is plenty of RAM to handle multitasking. I haven’t even had to pace myself with my computing whims — I’m downloading, word processing, virus-scanning, and listening to music without worrying about overloading the system. What I like most about this laptop is the big bright display, which for me was important in the switch from 15.4 to 14.1 — nothing else in this price range compares. Finally, the machine is built well compared to others in this price range (I’m looking in your direction Asus and Acer).
Some reviewers have mentioned overheating, and I was apprehensive about this — and after buying I was constantly monitoring the temp to see if a return was in my immediate future. But really it’s not so bad, better than my last Sony, and I do believe that having the i3 processor (still blazing fast, mind you) minimizes this problem in this configuration. But if heat is your number one concern, sacrifice more computing power and go for one of the new super-mobile types with the dainty processors. They will stay cooler of course.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with this purchase and would recommend this HP laptop to my friends, family, and to all of you!