HP Pavilion 17-f004dx 17.3 inch Laptop Review

HP Pavilion 17-f004dx 17.3 inch Laptop Review

17.3" HP Pavilion 17-f004dx
via Amazon



HP Pavilion 17-f004dx is a solid and powerful 17.3 inch desktop replacement laptop with a HD+ 1600x900 pixel resolution display, Beats Audio, a quad core AMD A10 series processor, generous amounts of storage space and memory for multitasking smoothly- overall good performance for daily tasks at home or office. This being a certified refurbished product, you’re getting a pretty decent laptop deal at a much reduced price- with no wear or tear, comes with original accessories and a 90 day warranty by the manufacturer.

HP Pavilion 17-f004dx has the 2013 release quad core AMD A10-5745M accelerated processor (4MB of L2 cache) at 2.1GHz base speed (up to 2.9GHz with turbo) that can be compared to some older Intel i3 processors in performance, 6GB DDR3L SDRAM for better multitasking, 750GB hard drive at 5400rpm rotating speed that is 50% more space than what laptops at this price level have (and with HP ProtectSmart) and Windows 8.1 operating system. With a Passmark benchmark score of 2815 on the day of this review, this AMD CPU with this size memory can handle usual daily tasks efficiently, casual gaming, some multimedia editing and run software like Adobe Photoshop and has a TDP- Thermal Design Power of 25 watts.

17.3 inch diagonal HD+ BrightView WLED backlit non-touch display with 1600×900 pixel resolution that is good enough for this size display at this price range, better than the regular high definition so you can watch videos more comfortably or work with larger image files, although not as sharp as a Full HD screen with IPS feature (this one has a TN display with OK viewing angles, not up to 178 degrees like IPS). The integrated graphics card is the AMD Radeon HD 8610G with up to 3200MB memory that compares to Intel HD 4600 for overall performance- faster than HD 4400 so you can play games like Minecraft with acceptable frame rates but at low resolutions and settings and with newer games you get much lower frame rates. Sound quality is all right via the dual stereo speakers with Beats Audio and you can always connect the laptop to your large screen HDTV with a good quality HDMI cable using the HDMI output provided and experience better resolution and sound on even larger screen. It includes a TrueVision HD webcam with a built-in dual-array digital microphone for live chats with friends and family.

HP Pavilion 17-f004dx 17.3 inch Laptop Review
Natural silver with ash silver cover HP texture-linear finish solid plastic chassis but with brushed metal like palmrest, elegant and stylish 2014 design HP Pavilion 17-f004dx weighs 6.23 pounds with measurements of 10.98 x 16.51 x 1.09 inches- is more of a desktop replacement than a portable laptop (not lightweight, large screen so no compact size but about 0.2 inches thinner than the previous version). The 4-cell battery should give you up to 4 hours on a single charge. It has a non-backlit but full size island style keyboard with 10-key numpad on the right and a one piece touchpad without the separate left and right click buttons. There is no Bluetooth (you’ll need a low cost USB dongle) or a VGA port but a Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, 10/100 Mbps Base-T Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector, 802.11bgn 1x1 high speed wireless, Multiformat digital media reader that supports Secure Digital format, a combo Audio jack and a 720p webcam with built-in dual array microphone.

Conclusion: HP Pavilion 17-f004dx J6U79UA is a great value 17.3 inch laptop that offers quite a bit for such a budget price (being certified and refurbished but with no wear and tear and probably no visible signs of previous use). In its elegant and kind of premium looking package, you can expect decent solid overall performance from its quad core A10 processor that compares to some Intel i3’s and 6GB RAM for smooth multitasking. There is no backlit keyboard, no Full HD screen (but a HD+), no Bluetooth (you can get a Bluetooth USB dongle very cheaply with the purchase of this PC- given that you’re saving quite a bit of money on the laptop itself) and the operating system is Windows 8.1 but this has nothing to do with the hardware of the PC and Windows 8 is often a short learning curve. AMD Radeon HD 8610G integrated graphics is a capable one for general gaming- will let you play almost all games- for example World of Tanks at low to medium settings but the latest games at lower settings and frame rates. You can’t go wrong with this 17 inch desktop replacement HP Pavilion if you’re looking for a fast and relatively powerful computer to use for home entertainment or work stuff as long as this work doesn’t involve heavy multimedia editing or running advanced engineering software.

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