Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)For the TLDR types skip to the last paragraph.
Just days before black friday my old laptop elected to die. Given the timing and my available fundage at the time, a good deal outweighed a top-end machine.
At $379.99 with a $50 mail-in this was the bargain I was looking for.
I can't comment on reliability given the brief time-frame, but in terms of the rest:
Aesthetic-- The case is a nice unit that looks/feels a bit more solid than my Toshiba Satellite, and the matte blue (black in Amazon's version) rather than glossier finish makes it less prone to things like smudges/fingerprints.
Keyboard-- Lacking a 10-key allows the rest of the keyboard to feel less cramped, with good sized keys that have good feel to them without feeling like they will jam or take too much pressure to hit.
The one complaint I do have is the column of hotkeys along the left edge of the keyboard. The concept is good, but I'll take keeping ctrl in corner as it's always been over bringing up the calculator at the push of a button for example.
Display-- Thus far the display has a good picture and is nice quality, while 15.6'' is for most purposes the perfect happy medium between size and portability.
Temperature-- Thus far even with the computer being on for long stretches temperature has never appeared to be an issue, never feeling more than a little warm to the touch with fairly quiet fan-noise. My one concern is that the vents on this machine are a bit smaller than most, but so far it hasn't seemed to have any impact.
RAM-- 3 gigs of DDR3 is the norm for a machine in this bracket, with upgrade ability should you so desire. Memory usage tends to run around 50% with normal usage (i.e. antivirus active but not scanning, a couple small background items, and web browser with a few open tabs).
Processor-- AMD Athlon II dual-core 2.2 ghz. Given that many sub $500 laptops are still using Celeron or Sempron processors this is again a great value. No it won't keep up with that >$1,000 machine with a Phenom/i7 chip, but is quite nice at this price bracket.
Graphics-- Finding a dedicated graphics card instead of integrated is virtually impossible on the budget end of laptops, that said the Radeon 4250 chipset has been able to handle fairly new graphics-intensive games (such as Dawn of War 2) with no issue (albeit on lower settings).
Touchpad-- Compared to offputting texture of my last laptop this one has a good size and feel while having an on/off integrated into the touchpad is a nice feature to avoid palm-dragging text while typing.
Software-- Given that this machine caps out at 8 gigs of RAM it really isn't built to take advantage of what 64 bit has to offer, I would have preferred 32 bit for my needs. The HP advisor dock is a nice tidbit I haven't really put to use, but could be handy for some users, and while the heavy-handed push towards Norton is a bit offputting all new computers have their list of trial programs they try to push on you.
Peripherals-- A little bit lacking here the only thing notable would be 3 USB slots instead of 2, coupled with the standard heaphone/mic jacks, ethernet, and vga out. The lack of HDMI is expected in this price range but items like comboing one USB with esata, the lack of a SD card reader, and all controls for things like volume, wifi on/off, and brightness integrated into the keyboard are notably lacking. The lack of a wifi card slot is not an immediate concern, but if the internal wifi malfunctions you'll be using up a less efficient USB receiver.
Other-- Remember battery life usually describes the ideal situation (dvd drive not spinning, screen brightness low, etc.)-- realistic battery life is probably closer to 3 hours in an average situation. Also the speakers boast 'hd' sound but in reality are tinny and underwhelming.
Bottom Line:
For a sub $500 laptop this is a solid machine with good under-the-hood specs and a nice feel. It lacks some of the peripheral niceties like a memory card-reader but is otherwise a great value machine that packs a little more punch than the 2 gig of RAM sempron/celeron single-core foes common in the 'bargain' bracket.
While the specs for the price are nice, felt I had to add in my less than satisfactory personal experience with the product a little over a month later, for that see added comment:
Click Here to see more reviews about: HP G56-122US Notebook PC Laptop 15.6-Inch Widescreen High Definition LED Laptop, Black Imprint Finish, AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P340 2.20GHz Processor, 3 GB DDR3 Memory, 320 GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium, Up to 4 hours battery life
15.6-inch Diagonal High-Definition HP LED BrightView Display (1366 x 768), AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P340 2.20GHz Processor, AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics,3 GB DDR3 System Memory (2 DIMM) (expandable up to 8GB), 320 GB 5400 rpm Hard Disk Drive, Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit), Integrated Web Camera and Microphone,LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer Support, 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN, External Ports: 3 USB 2.0; 1 Ethernet; 1 VGA 15-pin D-sub,6-Cell 47WHr Lithium-Ion Battery with up to 4 hours of battery life, 65W AC Adapter.
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