Product Description

For those who want to connect and manage everyday computing tasks with an elegantly minimalist notebook, the HP G60 series Notebook PC delivers balanced mainstream performance at a great value. Powered by Intel processor and graphics technologies, the G60 includes essential features to enhance your PC experience and life. Watch full-screen HD TV and movies with the 15.6-Inch diagonal display’s 16:9 aspect ratio. Enjoy your photos and videos on HD TVs with the HDMI port (cable sold separately). Enter data quickly with the numeric keypad. Look good on the go with award-winning, high-gloss HP Imprint finish. Get online more quickly with Windows 7 and high-speed wireless LAN. Create personalized, silkscreen-quality DVD and CD labels with LightScribe. Chat face to face with the HP Webcam and mix it up with YouCam’s fun special effects.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26 in Personal Computers
• Brand: Hewlett-Packard
• Model: VM084UA#ABA
• Dimensions: 9.40 pounds
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz
• Memory: 3GB SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 320GB
• Processors: 2
• Display size: 15.6

Features

• 2.1GHz Intel Pentium T4300 Processor (1 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
• 3 GB DDR2 RAM (2 Dimm), Max supported 4 GB
• 320GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive, LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 15.6" Diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Display (1366x768)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, *Up to 3.75 Hours of Battery Life

From the Manufacturer

IDEAL FOR Everyday value. Count on simple productivity and enjoy entertainment in high-definition with a mid-size notebook PC. Edit photos and videos easily, plus enter data quickly using the numeric keypad.

SPECIFICATIONS

Processor 2.10GHz Intel® Pentium™ Processor T4300 (Dual Core) Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit Memory (RAM) 3GB DDR2 Display 15.6" Diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView Display (1366 x 768) Hard Drive 320GB (7200RPM) SATA Optical Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support Wireless Intel WiFi Link 1000BGN Graphics Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (shared) with up to 1309MB total available graphics memory Battery 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery; Up to 3.75 hours battery life* Weight & Dimensions (w x d x h) 6.57lbs; 14.88" x 9.9" x 1.38"/1.72"

FEATURES

LightScribe Technology Burn labels directly onto CDs and DVDs Built-in HP Webcam Video chat live 5-in-1 Digital Media Reader Transfer photos from digital cameras without using cables INCLUDED

Customer Reviews

Good value for the money
I purchased the HP G60-237NR notebook PC in February for less than 550.00. This laptop has all the features and ports I needed. I have had good customer service from HP when I had questions. I have Vista and we bought this same laptop for my Mom last month at Amazon with the new Windows7. I would recommend this laptop for the average user. I use it for email, shopping the web, MS application software, Skype, LinkedIn, DVD play, and watching Hulu tv over the web. The volume was not loud enough to watch a DVD movie while on vacation in our RV so I bought small external speakers to plug in at a cost of less than $30.00.

Nice entry-level to mid-range laptop
I'm quite happy with the laptop as-shipped. The packing was good, and the laptop arrived in good condition. It comes with a little pad of paper, some other misc junk, and a cloth for polishing the case. The shiny case, by the way, is one of two drawbacks. It looks pretty with most surfaces being shiny, but the glossy black cover constantly has fingerprints (and palm prints) on it. A positive to the shiny surface is that it's relatively easy to peel off all of the NASCAR-level of sponsor labels. The other drawback to this laptop is that it doesn't have built-in Bluetooth. Seriously. It has a Wireless N interface - which I'm pretty sure wasn't even an approved standard when this was made - but no Bluetooth? Oh well. I had a Kensington Bluetooth adapter which is one of those little ones that you leave in a USB port, and it works well (under both Linux and Windows 7).

That leads me to the good things. Ubuntu 9.10 installed on this machine with no problems. The volume keys and hardware graphics acceleration work fine, and multiple monitors (using the internal LCD and an external display) work out of the box. The button to disable the trackpad and the wireless disable button both work under Ubuntu (as do the corresponding LEDs). The indicator LEDs for things like caps lock, num lock, the trackpad, and the wireless all blend into the laptop nicely. Wired and wireless (B and G, at least) both work properly. NTFS resizing also worked fine. The machine is fairly fast with both operating systems, though the 5400 RPM drive does hamper application start-up time. Graphics performance is very good for business applications; I don't play games on a general purpose computer, though, so my standards may be lower than people who would spend more on a video card than I did on this whole laptop. I like the track pad pretty well, and the laptop feels reasonably sturdy. I haven't tried the built-in HDMI output or media card readers under either OS yet. I'm assuming they'll both work; I'll post a follow-up if one fails. For the record, I would be willing to trade HDMI for Bluetooth as well. :)

The only other thing of note is the keyboard layout. There is an "end" key shared with the number 1 on the number pad, and another end above the number pad (sharing the scroll lock / sys req button). I'm fond of the "shift+end" (and shift+home) keyboard shortcuts to select everything from the cursor to the end (or beginning) of the line. However, pressing "shift" and the closer "end" key actually makes the keyboard type a 1. That's minor, but it does annoy me.

Speaking of minor annoyances - no Windows install media is shipped (I'll bet a CD costs less than the paper notepad and microfiber cloth HP chose to bundle). You can create a set of install disks if you want using an included tool, though (only single-sided supported by the tool, even though there's a dual-layer burner here); make sure you do that before you wipe Windows off of the machine to install Linux. :) If nothing else, it's easier to sell your license if you have media to go with it. ;)

Overall, if I could get another one of these at the same price I bought this one for (a Black Friday deal, with a couple of other discounts including the current rebate deal) I would not hesitate to do so. Yeah, I spent most of this review griping about little things, but the main good things are already patently obvious. The CPU and memory included are very good, the drive capacity is good (despite being slower than a 7200 RPM drive), the screen quality is excellent, and the sound is good for a laptop. Windows 7 doesn't suck as much as Windows has in the past, and the Linux support on this device is very good.

Very happy with purchase for home
Bought this laptop on Black Friday. Works great, easy setup. Battery life is good-to-great. 15.5" is a good screen size -- almost considered 17.5" until saw it and realized it's a huge monster that would never work on an airplane. Hard drive is sufficient size. Really like the HDMI port to watch DVDs or Internet video on our flatscreen TV. Seems to be one of the best laptops on the market today. Wish the ctrl and fcn keys were switched and there was a clearer indicator that the NUM Lock and CAPS Lock are on/off.