failing like never before

HP dv2910us (dv2700) – Unboxing

(The beginning to my review of the HP dv2910us (dv2700) can be found here)

Its become fairly popular in reviews these days, to include pictures and a description of one's experiences with unboxing expensive electronic equipment. Lemming that I am, here's my unboxing experience with my HP dv2910us.

The box is a standard, nondescript brown box bearing an HP and Intel logo on the front, nothing at all like Apple's shiny white boxes, complete with carrying handle, that so many people have become fond of. There are people that are of the opinion that it is Apple's attention to small details, like the box, that has allowed them to be so successful. I frankly couldn't give a crap what the box looks like, and I find the Apple boxes to be unnecessarily flashy.

When I opened the box, I was greeted by a lovely little instruction sheet from HP, a sure sign that HP really does care about improving the user experience. A sort of nice clever trick, the simplified setup guide had been stuck into a little slot above the laptop, so that it is the first thing a new HP laptop owner sees upon opening the box. Its the little stuff that counts, right?

Amusingly enough, the simplified, "quick setup" instructions begin with "1: Unpack the Box." Apparently HP thinks we're all idiots, which leads me to below they're following in Apple's footsteps. The "quick setup" instructions are fully illustrated, complete with numbered diagrams and arrows. The instructions follow thusly:

1. Unpack the box
2. Insert the battery
3. Connect to external power
4. Open the computer, and then turn it on
5. Follow the on-screen instructions
6. Now you can use the computer for these activities:
   • Watching movies
   • Playing games
   • Setting up a wireless network
   • Connecting to the Internet
   • Installing additional software and hardware
   • Creating recovery discs

Inside of the cardboard box, the laptop is wrapped in a plastic bag and is floating serenely on two foam buffers. The lid of the laptop has a clear plastic tape thingum on it to protect against scratches, and there is a piece of paper between the keyboard and screen to protect the screen from scratching.

Included in the box, you'll find, (aside from the laptop) an AC adaptor, infrared media remote, manuals, 6-cell battery, cheap earbuds, and a cloth for wiping the laptop down. Everything is packed neatly and efficiently into the box. You won't be finding any restore discs inside the box; HP provides this new thing, where there's a restore partition on the laptop's hard drive that you can boot from and then use to restore the OS to its factory settings.

Continue on with the review:

• Index
• Unboxing (currently viewing)
• Build Quality and Design
• User Experience
• Installing Linux
• Summary and Conclusions