These recommendations/condemnations are based SOLELY on the published specs, not software load, warranty, expected durability, nor anything else. Those can easily be changed/influenced/will expire, etc, but it's the hardware itself which can't be changed. Of the 31 listed, I would only consider the following 5:
HP dv7-2177cl
-This is the only one of the 5 which does
not use the Core i5 430M processor. It comes with Vista SP1 instead of Win7, and it uses an older Core 2 Duo P7550* which, though it runs at the same 2.26GHz as the rest, will only perform at about 80% the speed of the i5 models. However, this model makes up for these by having
the best graphics card (Radeon Mobility 4650) of the bunch (literally about
3x faster than any of the rest). This is the model I would recommend, even in spite of the slower processor and older OS.
Toshiba L555-S7008
-The only non-HP of the bunch, this is the lightest 17in in the field at only 7lb. However, it has the slow integrated Intel graphics, slower Ethernet (no gigabit), and the shortest battery life. Choose this one only if you absolutely can't stand HP.
HP dv6-2170us
-This is the only 15in model in the list, and therefore the lightest of all 5, but its smaller screen may be an issue if you want full widescreen (and it also has the slow integrated Intel GPU). It will still do 720p, but only just. Choose this one if you hate 17in screens, want the longest battery life, or need the absolute lightest/most portable notebook.
HP dv7-3186cl
HP dv7-3188cl
-These two models are almost identical except for the price and the size of the hard drive. The 3186 has the faster i5 but is middle-of-the-road on pretty much all the other specs. The 3188 looks like it is just a 3186 but with 2x320GB drives inside it and an extra $100 on the pricetag. The dual drives can (with some effort**) be configured to a partial RAID0 for high speed but low reliability, or a partial RAID1 for moderate speed but much better reliability.
They are my opinions, no warranty is expressed/implied/etc. You are encouraged to verify my data before plunking down any cash/credit.
Thanks to
Notebookcheck.net for helping out, I didn't know about this site's existence until I started doing this research.
--Patrick
*The Sam's club website incorrectly claims it uses a 'P7750,' which doesn't actually exist. It is possible they meant to say 'P7570,' which has the same specs as the P7550 except that it has Intel's virtualization technology enabled (the P7550 does not), however HP's website claims
this model uses the P7550. This won't matter to you if you never plan on using Win7's XP Compatibility mode, which does work on P7570 but won't on P7550.
**You'd have to split the drives up, and you wouldn't be able to boot from the RAID portion. However, it might be handy to have the option of either a RAID0 swap partition for scratch files or a RAID1 for important data (depending on how you plan to use the machine).
