Long gone are the days when we had to choose between the convenience of a laptop and the speed of a desktop computer.
Many modern laptops are plenty fast enough to run even the most demanding software without bogging down under load. And some models even out-perform most desktop PCs.
I recently had the opportunity to check out one such machine…
The 2018 High Performance HP 17.3″ Laptop (#ad) comes packed with plenty of power for running your favorite applications, streaming HD video and more, all at a price that would have been unheard of just a year or two ago.
Here’s a quick look at the specs:
- 17.3″ diagonal HD+ SVA BrightView WLED-backlit (1600 x 900) Display
- 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7500U Processor (2.7 GHz, turbo boost up to 3.5 GHz, 4 MB cache)
- 8 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM
- Intel HD Graphics 620 with up to 4160 MB total video RAM with 1 HDMI port
- 2TB SATA hard drive
- SuperMulti DVD Burner
- 802.11a/c Wi-Fi
- 1 USB 3.1 port and 2 USB 2.0 ports
- Bluetooth
- HD Audio with stereo speakers
- Multi-format SD media card reader
- Front-facing webcam with integrated digital microphone
- Up to 7.5 hours battery life
- Windows 10 Home Edition
As you can see, this laptop has most everything you’ll need for general purpose computing at speeds that won’t slow you down, even when doing some serious multi-tasking.
The first thing I noticed about this laptop was the super-fast bootup. After the initial setup was complete, subsequent bootups had me looking at the Windows desktop much faster than what I had expected given that it’s booting off a 5400RPM spinning hard drive instead of an SSD.
The next thing I noticed was the brightness and clarity of the huge 17.3 inch screen. Again, my expectations had been a little low given the screen’s maximum 1600 x 900 resolution, but I was actually pleasantly surprised once I saw it in action.
Overall, I was quite impressed with this laptop, but I did find it a bit on the heavy side. However, I suppose a little over 5 pounds isn’t all that bad for a 17.3 inch laptop that includes everything that’s packed into this one.
Applications like Photoshop and VSDC Free Video Editor ran very smoothly once loaded.
While large applications don’t take forever to load even from this slow hard drive, replacing it with an SSD would really remove a moderate bottleneck from this machine.
-buBottom line: If you’re looking for a powerful laptop at a price that won’t break the bank, I believe this one deserves serious consideration.
Just be aware that it isn’t a lightweight (in any sense of the word) and an SSD upgrade would be strongly recommended in order to truly take advantage of this laptop’s otherwise powerful hardware.
Click here (#ad) to read more about the 2018 High Performance HP 17.3″ Laptop at Amazon.
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