HP Pavilion ze5185 Notebook PC (2.4-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

Product Description

The HP Pavilion ze5000 series notebook PC is your ultimate desktop replacement packed with a set of features to satisfy the most stringent requirements. Its powerful performance allows you to share presentations, burn CDs or simply relax with a DVD film. With an integrated modem plus wireless accessories, this product makes it easy for you to stay connected as well.

Amazon.com Product Description

If you're shopping for a high-end portable computer that packs all the processing punch of a top-of-the-line desktop system, consider the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ze5185 notebook PC a strong contender. The ze5185's lightning-fast processor and premium features will satisfy the most demanding needs at home or on the road, whether you're running advanced productivity applications, watching new DVD releases, or playing the hottest new games.

The ze5185's 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor sizzles through virtually any software. Its 128-bit ATI Mobility Radeon 2- and 3-D architecture and dedicated 32 MB of DDR SDRAM, together with the ze5185's ultrahigh-resolution, 15-inch, active-matrix SXGA TFT display, elicit the full visual splendor of Hollywood blockbusters on DVD or 3-D simulator games. A built-in DVD/CD-RW combination drive (24x/8x/8x, 8x DVD) lets you watch movies on DVD, listen to and make CDs, and rapidly back up data.

The ze5185 provides expansive memory and storage. Its 60 GB hard drive consumes large application and data files, and its 512 MB of DDR SDRAM--expandable to a maximum of 1,024 MB--lets you run multiple applications smoothly. An integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45) connector makes networking easy. The notebook offers a Type II or III CardBus-enabled PC Card slot. Ports include two USB inputs, a PCI port replicator, a FireWire high-speed connector, a 25-pin parallel port, a serial connector, a PS2 keyboard/mouse connector, and 15-pin VGA and S-video TV-out plugs. The ze5185 also includes a 56K integrated modem with RJ-11 connector.

Bundled software includes Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, HP Memories Disc slide show (home DVD player-compatible), InterVideo WinDVD, CyberLink PowerDirector Pro VE video-editing tools, HP RecordNow CD-RW recording utility, ArcSoft Funhouse and PhotoImpression image-editing tools, Corel WordPerfect and Quattro Pro productivity applications, Quicken Financial Center by Intuit, Encyclopedia Britannica Ready Reference, Wild Tangent 3-D games, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, and Norton AntiVirus 2002 with a three-month live update.

Customer Reviews:

Poor quality components.......2005-03-19

I've had nothing but trouble wth this computer. I've had to return it several times to Best Buy (where I bought it) and directly to HP. Neither has been able to fix the latest problems.

The power switch wore out quick. It takes several tries to get it to power up. The USB, serial and power connections on the back loosen up. I loose connections constantly.

They raved about the speaker sysystem in this thing, but it's barely audible. Use headphones instead!

The battery life is rediculously short. I've tried the buit in optimizer and other suggestions of "exercising" the battery, but it won't last 2 hours even when word processing. It won't last long enough to watch half a DVD.

The display still works fine now (the reason I bought this model). I had a flickering problem at first but HP solved that one. HP did fix the problem crashing often too. They alos repaired the doors on the floppy that felloff the first week I owned it.

This unit isn't beat on. I am the sole user of this system and it has been taken VERY good care of. Never dropped. Rarely taken outside my home.

It could be a great system if HP used better connectors and hardware.

Dave

Never Better.......2005-03-15

First off the first thing I did was put a Gig of RAM in this puppy and now have used it for over a year. Never a problem have I had. I do programming for my job, and Star Wars Galaxies on it with no problems whatsoever. (Galstaph on Corbantis) I have never used a better laptop (for work) and it isn't bad for other things as well. I would suggest this to anyone (who didn't nead POWERFULL graphics).

Work good if you can find the right drivers.......2005-01-27

Display is better then my dell laptop. Resolution up to 1400x1050, my new dell can't go that high. display look sharper. Harddrive slow, put a samsung 80GB 7200rpm drive in run faster can now run video editing tool on this laptop wish it came with dvd burner. can't say how drive work change it to a TOSHIBA DVD-R/RW SD-6112 drive work very good, no overheating or shutting off when rendering videos, can't say the same for my dell which is newer. everything else runs good.
Cons
Have problem with the ATI MOBILITY M6 video card HP doesn,t have a driver for this model labtop on there site so computer use to shutdown when playing game or running video editing software even going on the internet.Since I am a computer tech I was looking for the corrected driver for this lapptop found it, but I warn you down use the driver that you get from 3rd party or what the people say on the sites they work but not correctly. will slow down the system and there will be a delay in the video, driver on other site are only design to run with the video cards chipset not with the laptop that why they can only be installed manually. the place you get the corrected driver is from (WWW.HP.COM) THEN PUT IN INSTEAD OF ZE5185 PUT IN XE4500 THEN DOWNLOAD ATI MOBILITY M6 DRIVER FOR WIN XP XE4500 HAVE THE AMOST THE SAME CHIPSET AS THE ZE5185, ZE5170. DRIVER WILL INSTALLED EASY WITHOUT HAVE TO GO TO CONTROL PANEL. YOUR LAPTOP WILL RUN VERY GOOD NO MORE VIDEO DELAYS OR SHUTDOWN. as for the rating gave it a 3 only because hp support is terrable they can't give you help on this problem they make it seem like the problem isn't known, and tell you all kind of other thing. and they didn't even give you the right disks they are for another model. Now that I have the right driver the laptop run great.

This thing needs to quiet down a bit.......2003-10-08

I bought this computer about 2 months ago, it worked great at first, quiet, fast, dependable so it seemed. Now 2 months later the fan wont stop running and its EXTREMELY loud, I tried upgrading the antivirus but everytime I did I had to reboot the system because nothing would work. When I try listening to music it is first low, then loud, then low, even without me touching the volume button. The computer takes a while to start up even with its original start up settings. It hasnt frozen on me yet, but I am expecting it anytime. But the most annoying problem is the fan. Its just very very loud. I try to work at night in my dorm and this thing wakes up my roommate. If you dont mind an extremely loud computer thats kind of hard to upgrade the antivirus, then this is your computer. I guess I have to live with it a while longer, according to Best Buy there is nothing they can do about that.

HP should stick to making printers.......2003-07-18

The computer was a problem from the first time I turned it on. Several video flaws, repeated crashes. The touch pad virtually stopped working after a few weeks. The benchmarks are terrible. The worst value for your money.

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