Runs Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and UBUNTU 11.04 x64 beautifully. I updated some drivers Directly from Intel and Realtek. The drivers for the wireless Ralink RT5390 are available for UBUNTU, just Google it and you will find guides to make them work.
Very low power usage. On idle I measured 18 watts with my power meter.
Great options for the Touchpad. Make sure to practice the two-finger scroll etc. in the Control panel so you get used to it.
DVD burner is fast -I made backups of some movies/CDs to test out. DVDfab and IMGburn worked fine.
VGA, HDMI, USBs and others All comfortable to use and well positioned
Media card reader was able to read my 32 GB SDHC card with no problems very fast transfers too.
HP Webcam is great and works very well in Skype, AIM, Windows Live messenger and others
Keyboard is very comfortable and allows you to type fast. Function keys allow for extra functionality
Very light and easy to carry for a huge 17.3" laptop
Cons: The battery life stated is not very accurate (4 hours and 45 minutes). I tested this and it was closer to 3 hours during regular web browsing.
Some bloatware but not much! Way less then most brand new laptops I have worked with.
Devices:
Hitachi HTS547564A9E384
Intel(R) HD Graphics
hp_CDDVDW_TS-L633J
Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller
HP Webcam-101
Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
Ralink RT5390 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 370 @ 2.40GHz
IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
Intel(R) Display Audio
Intel(R) Management Engine Interface
Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port
Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller
I bought this laptop for an oportunity, i had a HP dm3, for 1 year and months, which was an excelent machine, then i saw this one, with 17.3 inch screen, which is phenomenal. I sold the dm3, to get this one, and in less than a week i am already using a brand new laptop for almost the same price, I only invested $100, to upgrade to this one. Everything is great enormous screen, excelent audio, way better than the dm3, double the size of the hard drive, excelent processor, not a hardcore like the i7, but quite good.
Also the Numeric Keyboard, great! its a great deal for the price, and a very big computer if you are into it, it doesn't weights too much, but its not a machine por portablilty, at least extensive portability. Its for, home or work use, quite comfortable in every aspect. The only thing i was dissapointed is the finish, the dm3 was quite classy with metal like case, and this one, is quite standard, way better tan a usual toshiba, but not as fancy as my last laptop. But nothing i can not get used to, at least for the amazing price. I bought it at $529.99. If it is still cheap buy it.
Adding: Excelent and extremly fast shipping, asked for it on thurday with free shipping, and on monday i had it in my hands. In Guatemala!! Central America.... Amazon has never shipped this fast. EXCELENT!
Buy HP g7-1150us Notebook PC (Grey) Now
This is an amazing amount of computer for the money. If you shop around you can find it for $499 and that makes it a real bargain. I could nitpick some items such as the bloatware but if that contributed to the lower cost then no problem as most of it is relatively easy to remove. It does not come with any documentation or backup OS discs. But I didn't need any to get it working and setup with FF5. It sets itself up with the only thing you will need to provide is the Wireless Network key so it can access it.
The 17.3 inch screen is outstanding, bright with vivid colors.
I bought if for 2 reasons, the HDMI output and the webcam. What I really like is that I can just plug an HDMI cable into my HD TV and it starts working completely automatic. I don't have to do anything. I watched a couple shows that are only available online (cannot be streamed to TV via ROKU) and now I can watch them on the big screen.
The webcam though only has a max resolution of 640x480, not much in this age of HD but it will work for what I need for now. It also needs a lot of light before you can see the color. If my test of videophoning works then I will probably look for a much better resolution camera.
Another interesting feature that is left out of most of the specs that I have looked at is that this laptop is supposed to be DLNA certified. I believe that means this laptop can stream video and music to a DLNA device such as a ROKU. I haven't tried it yet but when and if it works, I will update this review.
Overall, this is an excellent value.
Read Best Reviews of HP g7-1150us Notebook PC (Grey) Here
This laptop is amazing for the amount of money I spent! I haven't bought a laptop in a few years, so forgive me if my pros are a bit obvious. :)
Pros:
*10-key pad (I'm a teacher and imputing grades is so much easier with it; also if you do budgets of any kind it's a must)
*Sturdy yet light weight
*Screen--bright and vivid colors, exceptionally clear
*Start up and shut down is very fast
*Fast internet downloads and website uploads (the i3 core is great for multi-tasking)
*Lots of new games
*Things are much easier to find on this than my last laptop (for example: something in the control panel)
*Large screen is helpful--I'm a bit near-sighted, and on this screen when I zoom in, I don't lose my view of the whole page
*Screen brightness and speaker volume controls are easily accesible on the keyboard
*When you open a new tab on the internet, the screen shows you your 10 most used websites, so you can simply click one of those instead of typing in the web address (very convenient for someone like me who usually only goes to the same 5-10 websites)
Con:
*The touch-pad doesn't stay off. You have to turn it off every time you turn on the computer. I use wireless mice and I never want the touch-pad on because I tend to accidentally move the cursor...but I have to turn it off with every start up.
This is my 5th HP laptop and I'm very glad I made this purchase.
Update: 11/20/11 Still going strong. :)
Want HP g7-1150us Notebook PC (Grey) Discount?
Might as well get through the negative points first.
I can't understand HP's decision to put in such a weak integrated graphics (Intel HD) with a processor that can handle something better. Certainly an i3 is considered a low-tier processor, but it's stronger than my previous laptop's, yet my previous laptop, a Dell, came with a much better graphics card. This laptop is not made for gaming at all. Do pay attention before you purchase it if that's what you're looking for, because it essentially cannot run games that are even a tad graphics-intensive produced roughly after 2008.
The hard drive storage capacity is closer to 600 GB than 640 GB, and the computer does come with a little bloatware that you can easily shove out of the way or uninstall. I know some others have said the keyboard is very comfortable, but I find myself mis-hitting keys on this one. Maybe it takes some time to get used to.
Another small thing that bugged me was that HP overrides the function keys' usual behavior with its own, and you have to hold down the fn key to use them when you first get it. You can change this in the BIOS setup, though, so not really a big deal.
Now to the good things.
It plays movies in delicious 1080p pretty well. Screen is 1600 x 900, which is a convenient size for art-related endeavors. It's also pleasantly bright.
Despite its problem with gaming in terms of the gfx card, the processor can handle a surprisingly nice amount of programs. I run a small server on it for friends, have Chrome and an IRC client going, and can also throw Photoshop CS5 (which doesn't lag for once) and watch a movie through MPC-HC on top of those. Granted, that shouldn't be very taxing, but it's a testament to how this laptop performs just fine regardless of its bargain price.
Networking-wise, it's excellent. This might have more to do with Windows 7 than the laptop itself, but there was a problematic wireless access point where I was staying, and while the Vista computer kept trying to connect to that particular one, this laptop found another nearby point with weaker signal that worked.
And...it's attractive and has a nice touchpad. Also barely generates any heat, though maybe I should tax it more before saying so.
Some assorted other things of note:
3 USB ports.
Clear webcam
Headphone + Mic jack on the side
Very bright screen, large range of adjustment
Fast booting up, fast shutting down
It's treated me well so far.
I feel the need to tell the world NOT TO BUY THIS LAPTOP! I bought this Toshiba last year at Best Buy. For the first 6 months I thought I found a gem since I got it on sale for only 399. Well it's a year later and the hard drive is toast, I can only use it in safemode, The keyboard is all messed up. It randomly will go back tot he word you just wrote and write over it. Hard to explain but lets just say it does not work. Awful Laptop. The sound is awful as well. So if you want a laptop for 6months this is for you, but after 6 months its done
