HP 17-e016dx Pavilion – 17.3″ Laptop with AMD Quad Core

The HP 17-e016dx belongs to the Pavilion consumer notebook series. It represents a mid-range and affordable 17.3-inch laptop configuration, designed to replace older desktop PCs.

Besides the large display almost like on desktops, with this 400-dollar model you get a spacious keyboard and a desktop-like AMD processor with four cores. It’s the AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-5550M, running at up to 3.1GHz. Its speed is in the same class as the Intel i3-3120M and with them you get decent performance for routine daily tasks like web, office document creation, and multimedia playback up to 1080p quality. As an advantage, the AMD A8-5550M sports a batter integrated graphics processor – the Radeon HD 8550G, which enables some 3D gaming at modest settings.

The screen resolution is 1600 x 900 pixels, which is higher than 1366×768 on the 15.6-inch notebook in the same class, but it could have been higher, of course. Especially when we know some 15.6-inchers come with 1080p screens by default.

RAM amount of 4GB is sufficient for all normal computing tasks, and the supplied 750GB hard disk offers 50% more storage space than today’s average notebook HDD. There’s also a DVD burner built-in, besides stereo speakers and a 720p web camera. For connection to the outside world, the 17-e016dx uses 802.11n Wi-Fi and Ethernet LAN, which for some reason isn’t Gigabit 10/100/1000 but only slower 10/100. Two USB ports are at full 3.0 speed, while the remaining one USB is 2.0. For hooking up to HDTVs and monitors, the laptop provides HDMI and VGA connectors, while for reading and writing files from and to multimedia cards there’s a multi-format media card reader.

Outwardly, it’s apparent the HP 17-e016dx isn’t designed to be handled roughly, since it’s made of glossy black plastics. However, it doesn’t feel cheap and looks nice with its subtle dotted texture on it. The interior is in black color, while the sides and lid are silver-colored. Despite having a big screen, the notebook isn’t too bulky. It’s 1.3″ thick and weighs six pounds, whereas the ordinary 15.6-inchers have similar thickness and weigh slightly les than 5.5 lbs.

The spacious keyboard with isle-style keys accommodates a numeric pad on the right side of it. The trackpad consists of a rough touch surface and physical “mouse” buttons.

The large battery inside the laptop has six-cells, but you can’t expect it to last too long on a single charge because of the power consuming large LCD panel and a full voltage 35W processor.

Overall, the HP 17-e016dx Pavilion delivers a great value for your money, because of the big display, good processor, and even some gaming potential. The machine can be currently found only at Best Buy.

HP 17-e016dx Pavilion Specifications

• 17.3″ LED-backlit display, BrightView (glossy), 1600 x 900 resolution
• AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-5550M “Richland” 2.1GHz to 3.1GHz Accelerated Processor with Radeon HD 8550G integrated graphics and 4MB cache
• 4GB DDR3 RAM, expandable to 8GB, 2 DIMM slots
• 750GB SATA hard drive at 5400rpm
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW burner with double-layer support
• HP TrueVision Webcam with integrated digital microphone
• Stereo speakers with DTS Sound+ technology
• Full-size keyboard with numeric pad, multi-touch trackpad
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• 2 USB 3.0 ports and 1 USB 2.0 port, HDMI and VGA video outputs, multi-format digital media card reader
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery, Up to 7 hours and 30 minutes
• 16.5 x 10.5 x 1.29-inch dimensions
• Weight of 6 pounds
• Windows 8 OS
• 1-year limited hardware warranty support

This article was published on Sep 15, 2013 and updated on Nov 25, 2013. Initially, it was about the 17-e020dx model, but it was discontinued and replaced with 17-e016dx. They have same specifications.