HP Pavilion 17-e118dx Cheap Big-Screen Laptop

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The HP Pavilion 17-e118dx is a large 17.3-inch affordable laptop computer, based on the AMD A8-4500M processor and 4GB of RAM, which are good enough for your daily web and office tasks, as well as multimedia playback. The spacious display has a resolution of 1600×900 pixels, which is an ordinary one for a 17.3-incher. Data storage space is generous 750GB instead of usual 500GB. This laptop is made of plastics and has a keyboard with numeric pad. The 17-e118dx weighs in at 6 pounds so it is obviously rather a desktop replacement laptop than a travel companion. It’s 1.3-inch thick. The interior of the chassis is glossy black with dotted pattern. The lid is silver-colored.

The included A8 processor is from the previous generation of AMD CPUs, which is less power efficient than the latest A8 and some handy laptop features are missing such as keyboard backlight. But, the 17-e118dx offers enough for your buck and is probably the best-priced budget-class 17.3-incher on the market at the time of this writing.

Left ports on 17-e118dx

Lid of HP 17-e118dx

Note: The 17-e118dx is the same as the older 17-e113dx, which is discontinued now.

Specifications of the HP Pavilion 17-e118dx

Here are the specs of the HP Pavilion 17-e118dx with descriptions of its features. For comparison against other laptops, you can use the "Compare Specs" button.

Brand HP
Screen Size 17.3-inch

The 17.3-inch screen diagonal means the laptop's display is a large one in comparison to screens of the most laptops.
Screen Resolution 1600x900 pixels HD+

This screen resolution is commonly found on the budget-class 17.3" laptops. It doesn't enable image sharpness and space on the screen of Full HD or higher resolutions.
Touchscreen No

This laptop doesn't support touchscreen input.
Other Display Specs TN type

Displays based on the old TN technology lack wide viewing angles you can find on IPS screens. The colors may look washed out or inverted at certain viewing angles.
Processor (CPU) AMD A8-4500M quad-core 1.9-2.8GHz 4MB cache (User Benchmark CPU score: 24)
Graphics (GPU) AMD Radeon HD 7640G integrated graphics (User Benchmark GPU score: 4)
System Memory (RAM) Size 4GB RAM

4GB is a small RAM size for computing in 2023. For smooth operation of a laptop during everyday tasks, at least 8GB is recommended.
Data Storage 750GB HDD

This is an excellent capacity, but HDD is a slow type of storage.
DVD Optical Drive DVD writer
Keyboard & Input Non-backlit keyboard with dedicated number pad

The keyboard has a separate numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard, but it has no keyboard backlight.

Touchpad with separate physical click buttons

The touchpad features physical left and right click buttons, as opposed to click buttons integrated into the touchpad surface.
Speakers & Audio Stereo speakers

As usual, the device features a pair of built-in stereo speakers.
Camera Front-facing web camera

Laptops usually feature a frontal webcam located on the display bezel. This laptop is no exception.
Wi-Fi Wireless 802.11N

802.11N is an old Wi-Fi standard, precursor of the 802.11AC and the latest 802.11AX with improved data transfer speeds and connectivity. 802.11N is rarely used in modern laptops.
Ethernet Network Port Yes

This laptop has an Ethernet LAN port for wired internet and networking connectivity.
USB Ports 2 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0

A total of three full-size Type A USB ports.
Video Output Ports 1 x HDMI + 1 x VGA

HDMI is a widely used digital video output port. You can find HDMI-in ports on most computer monitors and TVs. VGA is an old analog type of video connectivity used on older computers, monitors, TVs, and projectors.
Media Card Reader SD card reader

The laptop has a slot for full-size SD memory cards, used in many digital cameras. You can also use microSD cards with a card adapter.
Battery 6-Cell
Weight 7 pounds
Height 1.3"
Width 16.5"
Depth 10.5"
Windows Version Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 is eligible for free upgrade to Windows 10 Home. Check Windows.com for more info.
Warranty 1-year

A typical laptop warranty.

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User Reviews and Q&A on the HP Pavilion 17-e118dx

Below you can read and submit user reviews, questions, and answers about the laptop. Thank you for your contribution.

Current rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  1. Noah Seals

    Its a very good laptop I just can’t get the hdmi to switch 🙁

  2. 5 out of 5

    Gabriel

    This is a 5 star rating with a “but” or two. First, this is my first HP and my first AMD, thus I have nothing to compare it to regarding my observations. Overall this is both the least expensive and highest performing laptop I’ve owned, in a field of 9. Clearly AMD processors do not have the performance of Intel’s, but apparently within AMD-land this one is a high performer. Maybe some kudos also go to Windows 8.1, for which I stay on the “desktop” side, that is, I don’t use the “market/modern apps/tiles” as they are alternately referred to.

    I have found all operations fast and smooth, memory management excellent, sleep and wake function crisply, the computer runs cool (thus the fan runs a lot, but is quiet) and it has the best keyboard I’ve had. The trackpad also has as great feel, a textured one. By the way, I don’t play games, rather I bought this AMD because of the overall package at a smokin’ $369.

    Now for my 2 issues. The big issue, for which I am working with HP to figure out and resolve, is that certain operations overly tax the processor, causing it to run high, such as opening many applications, and running some common ones like any videochat client (Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook videochat). This is mostly not a critical issue, but I have seen the processor hang out between 80 and 100 % while using Google Hangouts. The other issue is that the display has a washed-out look. It is very sharp in terms of resolution, but the contrast is off, and attempting to manually adjust the contrast, whether increasing or decreasing, makes it worse. It isn’t terrible, just apparent.

    Overall I am very happy, maybe elated with this laptop, and imagine that others priced about $200 will be comparable.

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