HP Pavilion 17-f001dx 17.3-Incher with AMD A8 CPU & 750GB HDD

If you’re in the market for an inexpensive 17.3-inch desktop replacement notebook PC, the HP Pavilion 17-f001dx is a good buying choice right off the bat. The main selling point is the price tag of $380, alongside the generous display size. An excellent pricing considering the 17-f001dx isn’t just an entry-level machine. Besides the mid-range AMD A8-6410 processor and standardly-sized 4GB of RAM memory, which are both sufficient for completing the daily tasks of the average user, the notebook sports a larger than usual hard drive of 750GB instead of 500GB.

The CPU has four cores, but overall it doesn’t surpass the popular dual-core Intel Core i3 series. If you regularly edit large video and photo files, i.e. you’re a video producer or a photographer, you should get at least dual-core i5 or i7 and preferably the significantly faster quad-core i7. As for gaming, the Radeon R5-series graphics integrated in the CPU itself allows playing popular MMORPG games on medium settings and resolutions fluidly, while for the graphics power-hungry first person shooters you’ll have to put details and resolution on minimum.

Features-wise, the mainstream Windows-based 17.3-inchers don’t differ much. They usually have spacious keyboards, displays with 1600×900 resolution, built-in optical drives, and a wide selection of networking and connectivity features. HP’s 17-f001dx is not an exception. Besides a chiclet-style keyboard with numeric pad, 900p screen without touch input support, and DVD writer, the laptop has Wi-Fi and LAN network interfaces, three USBs, a media card reader, and HDMI video port. The audio system consists of two speakers, while for video chat services a 720p web camera is provided.

The components are encased in a sleek and stylish chassis made of plastics. The finish sports a linear texture with horizontal brushed design, so it resembles metal materials. The interior is darker gray, while the lid is silverish. Thickness of the laptop is 1.1″ which is actually quite thin for a 17.3-inch notebook. The weight of 6.2 pounds certainly isn’t adequate for totting the laptop around much, but for a laptop of this size it’s a light one.

HP’s 17-f001dx has a 41Whr battery unit. The PC maker hasn’t provided info on battery life. Given this is a big-screen machine with mid-range CPU power efficiency and mediocre battery capacity, you can’t expect wonders in this aspect. All factors combined, we assume the battery life lasts around four hours.

Thankfully, the battery is user removable. On the other hand, the bottom cover doesn’t provide an easy access to components, so the notebook isn’t upgrade-friendly.

By the way, if you have stumbled upon the 17-f004dx model from the same Pavilion 17 series selling for $120 more, the 17-f001dx is definitely a better choice. For the higher price, the f004dx configuration only brings larger RAM amount of 6GB, which doesn’t affect performance of common programs and Windows in normal use. Furthermore, its processor is from the previous AMD A-series generation with a greater power draw and very similar performance to the newer A8-6410.

If you have the means, it’s reasonable to invest in a premium laptop such as the HP Envy m7 with 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, a top-of-the-line Intel i7 chip, and keyboard backlight, but keep in mind that for the price of one of these you can get two HP Pavilion 17-f001dx units.