My review : HP Pavilion 15-n209TX Laptop


Quick specs

  • 4th Gen Ci5
  • 4GB RAM
  • 1TB HDD
  • Windows 8.1
  • 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 740 M
  • Price : Around 50,000 INR
I had been using this laptop for more than 2 weeks now and I share below my experience with this.

PROS

  • The device is superb in terms of looks. It's very thin compared to the competitors from Dell. Equivalent Dell models are bulkier than this.
  • It's got a 15.6-inch HD BrightView LED Backlit screen with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The display is very vibrant and looks fantastic in Performance mode.
  • Sound quality is exceptionally good. The speakers use DTS+ technology and  are provided as a single row just in front of the keyboard. It's loud and the sound is crystal clear.
  • The 4th Gen. core i5 is a silent performer. It produces minimum heat even on prolonged usage. You don't have to worry about the lower bound clock frequency. It's got turbo boost and locks into higher frequencies when situation demands.
  • The boot is lighting fast. It boots up in less than 6 seconds. If it takes longer, it's because Windows updates are set to automatic. It should be like this once you set into 'manual'.
  • The 4 GB RAM is quite sufficient. It'll be almost below 40% most of the times. I do little video editing and it performs fairly well. You may require higher amount of RAM if you work with huge files in Photoshop or something.
  • When it comes to gaming, it's got an NVIDIA GeForce 740M which is an outstanding performer. There should be no problems with heavy graphics games. I have tested Assassin's Creed 4 and it runs fairly well. The frame rate is very satisfactory. Also there's Intel HD graphics under the hood to support the 740M. This is what this machine is designed for and it carries out that task very decently.
  • One of the best features of this laptop is the feel of the keyboard. The keys have got sufficient gap between each other and the keyboard as a whole is very wide. Keys are smooth and responsive. Truly it's an inspiration to type. It's the very reason why I am typing all this long novel. You can see it, my last 3 posts (including this one) were long articles.
  • The touch-pad is highly responsive. My pointer often get displaced when I move my hand over the touch-pad.
  • The never ending 1 TB hard drive is more than enough for most storage requirements.
  • It has 2 USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port. The 3.0 port support speeds upto 25 MB/sec and on 2.0 you get speeds up to 19 MB/sec (with a USB 2.0 pen drive) I haven't tested a USB 3.0 pen drive yet.
  • It comes out of the box with the latest Windows 8.1 Single language. So, you don't have to update. Of course Windows 7 is better than 8, we have to admit it.
  • HP laptops are known for over heating issues. But new models come with 'HP CoolSense' technology and remains cooler than the laptops of many of my friends that I have seen. On continuous gaming, the left side of the laptop gets heated. This is where the Graphics card is located. Heat is a little high with heavy graphics games. I use a cooling pad for gaming. This reduces heat very significantly. It is recommended if you play heavy graphics games for prolonged periods of time.
  • Continuous gaming doesn't heat up the battery at all. So, gaming doesn't destroy your battery.

CONS


  • It's got a snow white color. White color is likely to get dirty easily. But as far as the surface isn't of matte finish, dirt doesn't adhere to it. So, I hope I won't have much problems with that. I didn't have to clean it till today. By the way, just think dust particles are better visible in white background or black?
  • The keyboard isn't backlit. It's not much of a drawback. It's very rare that you type in full darkness. But, light from the screen is quite enough to see the keys clearly.
  • We don't get more than 1 and half hours of battery backup for continuous gaming. But there's a solution. Charge the battery to 100% and don't disconnect the charger. Just play your games. Recently I seen a post from 'GSM Arena' titled 'Phone charging myths'. They say that there's no problem with using the phone while it's charging. As far as Laptop batteries are Lithium-Ion batteries it should apply to them too. Since your battery is 100%, no more charge is accepted by the battery and the net effect should be the laptop running on external supply.(I hope) So, that's an efficient solution.
This is all my experience till now. Will try to update and add more. :)

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