HP 2000-2d11dx – Decent Intel i3-Based Laptop for $350

The HP 2000-2d11dx is a 15.6-inch laptop model from Hewlett-Packard’s affordable plastics-cladded 2000 series. It is oriented toward budget-minded users who still don’t want to make big compromises in terms of performance. For $350, it offers the 3rd Gen Intel Core i3-3110M dual-core processor, which is good of everyday tasks and works well with multiple programs running at the same time. To ensure flawless multitasking, the 2000-2d11dx also provides 4GB of RAM memory, which is a standard and satisfactory size. The included 500GB hard drive is also commonly sized and it’s accompanied by a DVD burner.

Regarding visuals, this laptop doesn’t stand out from the crowd. It has the usual 1366×768 screen resolution, which is approximately 720p, so if you want to watch movies in 1080p full HD on your laptop, you’ll have to look elsewhere and be ready to pay more.

For those who do accounting or other tasks involving lots of numbers, it’s worth noting that this model doesn’t have a dedicated numeric pad, as opposed to majority of 15.6-inch laptops. However, some users will like presence of physical click buttons below the trackpad, instead of those integrated in the trackpad surface.

For getting you online, the notebook uses either wireless or wired LAN connection. If you use video chat services like Skype, it’s good to know the system has a built-in 720p web camera. For audio, the machine includes a pair of speakers.

It interacts with USB devices and peripherals via three USB ports, which unfortunately aren’t 3.0. They’re all USB 2.0, so you won’t get fast IO speeds of the 3.0 standard. For video output, it has VGA and HDMI, while for media cards it provides a multi-format reader.

With its weight of 5.4 pounds and thickness of 1.4-inches, this model doesn’t get a lot of points on the portability front, so it’s rather a machine meant to sit on your desk most of the time. Official info on battery life is unknown, but it has a commonly sized 6-cell battery built in, so the run time will be an average one for the full-size laptop category. That’s probably about 4 hours with light web use.

Pre-loaded OS is Windows 8 and the whole package comes with a 1-year warranty.

Overall, the HP 2000-2d11dx is a fairly clunky system with a bland design, but it has enough power for all tasks an average user might throw at it, as well as an admirable feature set and an excellent price tag. You can get it at Best Buy. If style and thickness is a matter of concern for you but you don’t want to spend more than $350, we advise you to take a look at the Asus X501A-SI30403X with a similar CPU and feature set, minus optical disk drive.