I use laptops mostly at home so I enjoy having a larger screen for media consumption and work related, MS Office related tasks. But having a laptop lets us move it from room to room and take it on the go when wanted. This is also my 4th HP and my previous ones had AMD chips also. They performed well without any hiccups or failures ever. So my personal go to choice for a laptop is HP. I also like their customer service. I have always been able to get someone on the line at any time with virtually no wait.
For the computer itself its construction is very well done overall, but a few things stand out as exceptional. The screen is very high quality: videos and movies look great. There is nice depth to it, good contrast and clarity. My wife and I loved looking at videos we had shot and Netflix/Amazon movies are a treat. Next I have always liked HP laptop keyboards and this one is no exception. The 17 inch screen allows for a full keyboard with full sized keys. The keys are relatively flat but raised just enough and they have a nice cushioned feel to them. The mouse pad on Windows 8 computers is even more important than before. HP made this one have a nice textured feel that provides a nice grip and feel to it. There are a number of Windows 8 related functions you do on the mouse pad such as swipe right and left and zoom in and out and the mouse pad works well on them. Also of note is a very fast card reader: Really Fast. I personally have never had a faster one. I had 400 photos on a card I inserted many of them in the 5 to 7 meg range and it downloaded them in a minute or so.
Now to Windows 8. I am baffled by the negative responses on non-touch screen laptops. Especially as it is very easy to get to a `desktop' view that mimics a Windows 7 environment pretty closely. In any case when you start off you will have what Microsoft calls the `start' screen. This is in what I think of as 'Tablet View'. A series of `Apps' are displayed. Some of these are actually Apps you would have on your tablet or smart phone. Others take you to `traditional' windows programs such as Word or PowerPoint. You can get out of the `tablet view' by clicking on the desktop `App'. Now the start menu is gone. If you put the mouse in the top right corner it brings up search and some other `charms'. You also have the files icon pinned to the task bar so you can get to my computer easy. Strangely it is not easy to shut down or restart. But a quick search of the web showed that hitting the windows key and I gets you to the power option. Windows 8 easily let me create a control panel `App' so I click on that and go straight to control panel.
I have found Windows 8 to add another layer of enjoyment after figuring some things out. I use my tablet a lot and both enjoy and take for granted the great visuals and ease of use of Apps. Well you get that same user friendliness now on your computer for Apps that work with Windows 8 as true Apps. And then when you want it, a more traditional desktop environment for non-App programs like Word.
I downloaded and installed Office 2010 Professional Plus and it has worked picture perfect and the Apps I have downloaded so far have worked great as well. And you have easier access to pictures, videos, all the items you use a home laptop for easier than before via the `Apps'. Just give yourself a couple of hours and use the getting started with Windows 8 app or searching for information on the Internet to help you along. I couldn't find the desktop App for instance as sometimes the lettering on apps is small, but once I did knowing you have a more familiar option lets you explore the `Tablet view' more and enjoy it more.
I haven't drained the battery yet and I will update it when I do on battery life, but it has been going down pretty slowly for a 17 inch computer. The webcam is also very good, the best pre-installed one I have used. Programs start up very fast. The computer itself starts up fairly start after a full shut down and closes very fast when shut down is chosen. At times some programs have been a little slow though. But the specs here are for a value oriented computer. And from a value and enjoyment perspective the 2220 delivers. I personally feel most people will enjoy Windows 8 on a non-touchscreen laptop. And HP took that into account with the 2220 giving a very good mouse pad and keyboard which makes working with Windows 8 just that much more enjoyable. Don't forget the Windows key-I combo, the ability to switch to desktop mode, and the charms you get to by putting the cursor over to the top right. Bottom line good value for a family computer, especially one used mostly at home where a smaller/lighter size is less of a concern.This would be an even better computer if it had shipped with Windows 7. Make sure your software and printers can handle Windows 8 before you buy. My HP OfficeJet will not even work with this new unit.
This laptop, or at least the one I received, has very good WiFi range. The LED screen comes up to your programmed brightness level right away, instead of starting off dim, like many LCD laptops. Button and control placement are good, with volume, brightness, mute, etc. available with just one key-press. This was a Christmas present for my 12 yr old. Battery life is better than stated.
Buy HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
I've been pretty happy with this laptop so far.Physical appearance: It's a bit large and on the heavy side for a laptop, but it's a 17.3" so that's to be expected. The design is very good and I was very happy that all of the obnoxious "Look at my awesome hardware!" NASCAR-style stickers were easily removed to make a more sleek appearance (save the HP logo on the back of the screen). It's a lot thinner than I expected, but again, this is not a Macbook Air. Only about an inch and a half thick means it should be an easy fit in most cases or bags compared to other models.
Performance: The first thing you have to realize is that this is not a gaming laptop. I'm not a big PC gamer, but the video card on this specific model is very good but uses onboard memory, so it's not going to give you the same performance. It did outrank my custom-built desktop with a 2gig video card with dedicated memory in the Windows Experience score though, so it might be better than my guess. I've only used this for casual web browsing, video watching, and typical business tasks (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) and it's performed great with no lag. It even handled a visit to TVTropes (which means I had about 20 or 30 Firefox tabs open at once) without any significant performance degradation. If the 4GB of RAM isn't enough for you, though, be glad to know that the installed memory is a single chip, so you can easily buy a second stick to install. It can be a pain to find out exactly what memory to get, so I'll save you some time: DDR3-1600MHz PC3-12800. Only place I was able to find that was on page 20-something of the 107 page Maintenance and Service Guide, buried in a list of product codes for replacement parts for various bits and bobs like the CMOS battery.
Video: The screen looks great. It's got a good resolution for the size and videos look great on it. The screen's so big, though, that you might have problems getting the viewing angle right, causing the lower half of the screen to be too bright or the top half too dark. Best solution? Set the computer on the table when you're watching a movie, since you'll be far away anyway.
Battery Life: I'm going to be honest here, the battery life kind of sucks. Thankfully, the charging cable is small and light, so you don't have the massive brick you get with companies like Dell if you want to take it on a trip. I'm sure there's things I can do to extend the life, but it tends to get dangerously low on me after only 2 hours of constant use. Considering Amazon rates the battery life at 3.5 hours, this is about what I expected.
Keyboard and Touchpad: It's been a while since I've used a laptop, so this is taking some getting used to. I really like the touchpad. It's textured rather than smooth, so it's easy to figure out where it is without looking, and it gives you a textile indicator of how you're moving the cursor. It's also placed perfectly to allow you to type without accidentally sending the cursor all over the screen because your hand's on the touchpad. The keyboard itself, though, has a few annoying things. The layout's a bit odd, such as the Delete key being above the Backspace key. There's also no break between the Function keys either, so if you're a dedicated Ctrl-F4 browser like I am, it can get frustrating. The biggest annoyance, though is the rightmost shift key. It's actually half shift and half pause. What good is the pause key? It doesn't even do anything in most applications! So when you're typing, you find that half the attempts to write a capital letter doesn't work because you're on the pause key side of the key rather than the shift key side. I guess I'll get used to it eventually. Or I'll figure out a way to remap the keyboard, one.
Operating System: Okay, here's a sticking point for a lot of people I bet. I agree with you. Windows 8 sucks. The hard part? Getting Windows 7 on this thing. Even though I have a legitimate copy of Windows 7 with a legitimate product key, I couldn't get it installed because of protections built into the system against "malicious software". Thankfully, Linux users are great about sharing ways around blocking products like this. First, you have to go into the BIOS and disable "Secure Boot", then enable "Legacy Boot". This will stop the BIOS from hounding you every time you try to book from a DVD. Next, you have to completely remove ALL the partitions. Every single one. So if you don't know what you're doing, keep in mind that there is NO WAY TO RESTORE WINDOWS 8 TO YOUR COMPUTER AFTER THIS POINT unless you pay HP about $20 for a recovery disc set. Yes, it's really friggin' annoying. Anyway, after you delete all the partitions, you're ready to install your OS of choice. Now comes the final roadblock THERE ARE NO WINDOWS 7 DRIVERS FOR ALMOST ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM. When you install Windows 7, the only hardware that's going to work properly is the touchpad, keyboard, monitor (kind of, at a horrible resolution), sound card, and the wired ethernet port. No USB, no wifi, 800x600 resolution. HP does not have any drivers for Windows 7 available on their website. So you have to install the Windows 8 drivers. Then run the installation again. Then run it a third time in some cases for the driver to actually install. And that's just for the wifi and video card. You want the chipset drivers? Good friggin' luck. It took me three hours of searching to finally find that the chipset is specifically the AMD A70M chipset, and you're going to have trouble finding drivers for it. I had to use a third party website of dubious reputation to get some (always make sure your antivirus and adblockers are up, kids!) So after about six hours of banging my head against a brick wall, I was FINALLY able to get Windows 7 installed on the system. So it IS possible, just not for casual computer users.
Overall: Once I got the OS I wanted on the thing, it's pretty good. It looks great, feels great, and (aside from a few little quibbles) runs great. You're going to be hard pressed to find a 17.3" laptop in this price range. Trust me, I looked. If you're really concerned about any of the issues and want to pass, know that you're going to pay around $200 more for similar specs or you're going to be forced down to the 15.6" screen size. It's not the best laptop on the market, but it's the best value I've seen in the month I spent comparison shopping.
Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
Got exactly what I needed in a laptop at a great Cyber Monday price. Still look at the weekly adds of local store and glad that I got this one at the now sale prices of smaller and less featured laptops. The 17" screen and full size keyboard were the selling points for me as I have gotten way to used to my old desktop computer with big monitor.Want HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
Great price and the unit is great. Windows 8 has quite a learning curve and unit itself is more than needed for family member but larger keyboard and screen is just what the doctor ordered. No problems at all with the unit, setup was problem free.
2 comments:
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Samsung - Series 7 17.3" Geek Squad Certified Refurbished Laptop - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive (NP700Z7C)
Samsung - Ultrabook 13.3" Geek Squad Certified Refurbished Touch-Screen Laptop - 4GB Memory (NP540U3C)
Very nice. Hp products is the most attractive and affordable to buy.i am using one of hp product right now and its work perfect hp printer
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