On Fri, 14 Dec 2012, Mike Miller wrote: > Thanks for all the tips on the HP laptops. The problems with general > flimsiness and loud, unstoppable fans are also reflected in these > comments (on the model I'm considering): > > http://www.amazon.com/HP-G7-2022us-LED-Backlit-Processor-Technology/product-reviews/B008QDJUI6/ A discovery about the fans: There is an option in the BIOS: "Fan always on" which is set to <ENABLE> by default. Change that and the fan only goes on when the computer heats up. The fan sounds cheap. The feel of the HP is cheap, plasticy. The DVD drive platter seems weak, breakable. It's not at all like the old Dell -- quite like you all have been saying. I'm not impressed with it, but how much is it worth to get a tougher machine? The thing is, I mostly use them when traveling, and I'm not doing that much traveling these days, so I'm not sure if I should spend more. The only reason I'm looking at this machine is that my nice little Asus EEEpc netbook has such a small screen. I do a lot with Xvnc set at 1680x1050, but the Asus is only 1024x600 while the HP is 1600x900. I'd love to have 1680x1050, which is what I run on most monitors, but I don't know of a laptop that has that native resolution. Those with 1920x1080 would be great, but they seem a lot pricier. There is one other reason -- I have a newer Canon DSLR and I want to be able to process photos on the laptop (e.g., using ImageMagick's convert). The little Asus would be struggling with them, but I'm sure the HP would handle them quickly. Mike