Technology Blog

• Price as Tested: $1,000.00 List
• Type: Media
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• Processor Name: Intel Core i5 M430
• Processor Speed: 2.27 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB
• Weight: 7.12 lb
• Screen Size: 17.3 inches
• Screen Size Type: widescreen
• Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce G105M
• Storage Capacity: 500 GB
• Networking Options: 802.11n
• Primary Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW (Plus Minus)

Design
The dv7-3183cl's chassis hasn't changed in design from previous editions. The cover and the bezel are black with inlaid design of silver circular patterns. I also liked how the pattern continued on the inside of the laptop around the keyboard; many laptop manufactures only feature designs on the lid.
One of the first things you notice about the dv7-3183cl is the 17.3-inch widescreen display; it isn't technically HD but the 1600 by 900 native resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio give a clear and bright picture. I watched a couple episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" using the included Hulu Desktop app and was impressed with the picture. Below the screen are your media controls (volume, Play, FF, RW, Mute) and an Altec Lansing speaker bar that pumps out a pretty good sound when paired with the subwoofer located on the bottom of the laptop.
The dv7-3183cl has a full-size keyboard and a numerical keypad. The feedback on the keys is a bit soft, but entertainment-oriented laptops aren't usually used for writing The Great American Novel. It should suffice for normal e-mailing and Web surfing. Below the keyboard is a silver touchpad and two control buttons. The touchpad isn't multi-touch enabled and like the entire bezel and cover of the notebook a magnet for fingerprints. All of these features take up a lot of real estate and the 7.5 lbs is definitely a laptop designed for the desktop and is not as mobile as other 17-inch laptops like the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody) or the 6.7-lb. Dell Inspiron 1750 (2211MBU).
Features
Most of the notebook's ports are along the left side of the system. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports, as well as ports for VGA, DisplayPort, Ethernet, HDMI, ESATA/USB, and FireWire. There is also a multi-card reader so you can quickly load images off of your memory cards. Along the right side of the laptop you will find two more USB ports and a DVD multi-drive. We would love to have seen a Blu-ray drive here, especially if you are going to call it an "Entertainment Laptop." But then again that might have pushed the price above $1,000. It also has a Webcam centrally located above the screen and has 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth wireless capabilities.
The dv7-3183cl has Intel's new Core i5 CPU. This is Intel's new 32nm mainstream chip, and while it is not a quad-core like the Core i7, it does have hyper-threading technology. This allows efficient use of the two cores. This is important in a multimedia laptop that will often have multiple resource-hogging programs running at once.
The laptop's hard drive was only 500GB, which isn't very large in comparison to other laptops in this price range but it is a speedy 7200rpm. If you plan on storing or editing a lot of video it is something to think about, because that 500GB will disappear quicker than you think.
Costco also offers customers some added benefits. For example, whereas most vendors provide just a one-year warranty, Costco bumps that up to two years. It also offers Costco's Concierge Services, which a free service to Costco members who purchase electronics at the store. The service gives you access to technicians to walk you system setup, product use, and for troubleshooting. Lastly, the store accepts returns within 90 days (which takes care of buyers' remorse).

Performance

On our performance tests the dv7-3183cl was a solid mid-level performer. In the PCMark Vantage tests it scored 5,547, behind the HP Pavilion dv7-3080us and its score of 6,323. That being said, the 3080us does have a Core i7 processor. The dv7-3183cl easily bested other media center laptops with older processors like the Dell Studio 1555 (4285MBU), (3791) and Acer Aspire 7736Z-4809, (3539). Thanks to its new processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM, it also performed well on our multimedia tests, completing our Windows Multimedia Encoder tests in 49 seconds and scoring 7,664 on our CineBench R10 imagine tests. easily beating the Dell Studio 1555 and HP HDX18t.
It success on our multimedia tests were unfortunately coupled with its failures on our gaming and 3D tests. Its 512MB Nvidia GeForce G105M graphics had a tough time with our 3DMark06 test, scoring 3,808 at 1024 by 768 resolution. The Editors' Choice HDX18t and HP dv7-3080us beat this mark by a large margin, but then again, they cost $2,000 (direct) and $1,449 (list) respectively. And the dv7-3183cl practically crawled through our gaming tests again scoring far less than comparable multimedia laptops. It scored 2.5 frames per second (fps) on Crysis at high resolution; it didn't do much better on the same game at medium quality, scoring only 18fps.
The HP Pavilion dv7-3183cl is solid multimedia laptop for a family or a student looking for a desktop replacement laptop to be the hub of their entertainment center, one on which they can watch a lot of streaming content and edit and store a lot of photos. If you are a gamer you might be attracted by the visions of killing aliens on the beautiful 17.3-inch screen; this is not the laptop for you. Go instead with the (more expensive) Alienware M17x, the Editors' Choice for gaming laptops.