HP Pavilion g4 Series
The HP Pavilion g4 has a simple low-profile design with a semi-professional exterior. Its back and the keyboard tray are covered in glossy plastic. It actually looks nice and standard but is a fingerprint magnet. The screen and the deck have black frame which makes it look bigger than it actually is. The interior design isn’t all that bad for the selling price but that stays there because it’s as boring as the laptops that were made three years back. It weighs and measures pretty much the same as most of the midrange 14-inch laptops out there. We can’t say it is perfect for carrying around but it isn’t impossible despite it not being a ultrabook.
Although the HP Pavillion g4 isn’t equipped with a chiclet style keyboard, its keys are semi-raised. Typing with this keyboard is surprisingly comfortable and it doesn’t make much sound as well. The volume and media keys don’t require the Fn button to be pressed simultaneously. This is a welcoming function and we like it. The multitouch touchpad shares the same material as the palm rest but is textured in a grid just like it is in many of HP’s laptops. The buttons beneath on the other hand are well built and feels intact.
It is hard to judge a display for a laptop in this category but we have to say that it falls slightly below average. The glossy panel reflects an unbearable amount of light when used outdoors. Probably the best part about this laptop is its connectivity. It is equipped with all necessary ports unlike most laptops these days. This combined with its low selling price, sort of makes it a perfect choice for a budget user but the problem is the Pavillion g4 feels cheap when used. Although they’ve tried to disguise its cheapness properly, when using, it manages to show off its real price. The fan makes a heavy blowing sound when it gets hot and heat isn’t channelled out properly. It also lacks the performance that is needed for a 14-inch laptop. The 1.9 GHz AMD Dual-Core A4-3300M processor definitely can’t match the performance of the Intel i3 processor. Apart from that, the short battery life and small hard drive size just kills that little media functionality that it could offer with its great Altec lancing speakers.
Processor: AMD A-Series A4-3300M, Intel Core i3 2330M, Intel Core i3 2350M, Intel Core i3 370M, Intel Core i5 2410MGraphics Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 6480G, AMD Radeon HD 7670M, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics, Intel HD Graphics 3000
Display: 14.00 inch
Weight: 2.1kg, 2.2kg
Price: 400, 600 euro
Average of 4 scores (from 7 reviews)
HP Pavilion g4-1117nr
Specifications
Notebook: HP Pavilion g4-1117nrProcessor: Intel Core i3 370M
Graphics Adapter: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics
Display: 14.00 inch, 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixels
Weight: 2.1kg
Price: 600 euro
Links: HP homepage Pavilion g4 (Series) Pavilion g4-1117nr (Model)
Pricecompare
Reviews
Source: PC Mag Archive.org version
Inside, this mobile rig can handle 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Not to mention that its WiFi-ready with an 802.11 b/g/n network adapter, and is Bluetooth compatible. For the audiophiles, this HP laptop comes with SRS surround sound through Altec-Lansing speakers. And while the Pavilion g4t uses integrated graphics, courtesy of Intel's 2nd Generation Core processors, it has 1GB of video memory to back them up. All of these features come available through 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 05/18/2011
HP Pavilion g4-1018tu
Specifications
Notebook: HP Pavilion g4-1018tuProcessor: Intel Core i5 2410M
Graphics Adapter: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Display: 14.00 inch, 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixels
Weight: 2.1kg
Price: 600 euro
Links: HP homepage Pavilion g4 (Series) Pavilion g4-1018tu (Model)
Pricecompare
Foreign Reviews
Source: IT.com.cn zh-CN→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 06/03/2011
HP Pavilion g4-1215dx
Specifications
Notebook: HP Pavilion g4-1215dxProcessor: AMD A-Series A4-3300M
Graphics Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 6480G
Display: 14.00 inch, 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixels
Weight: 2.1kg
Price: 400 euro
Links: HP homepage Pavilion g4 (Series) Pavilion g4-1215dx (Model)
Pricecompare
Average Score:
Reviews
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
Bargain hunters who don't have a lot of computing demands beyond surfing the web, checking e-mail, some multimedia streaming, and light productivity/office tasks will find a lot to like in the HP Pavilion g4. With an attractive design, a spacious keyboard, and SRS Labs-backed stereo speakers producing solid sound, it certainly has a lot going for it. If longer battery life is particularly important to you, you might want to consider the Pavilion dm4t instead. But the Pavilion g4's extremely aggressive pricing makes a good case for mainstream users with low-key requirements. At $379, it just can't be beat.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/14/2011
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: CNet Archive.org version
If you're going to make a budget laptop, you'd better get your price right. Budget shoppers take note: the extremely aggressively priced HP Pavilion g4-1215dx is a worthwhile laptop pick for those who want a basic cheap computer. It's hard to find a decent laptop for less--and we've seen lesser laptops that cost more.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/08/2011
Rating: Total score: 70% performance: 70% mobility: 70%
Foreign Reviews
Source: Computer Magazin DE→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 12/05/2011
HP Pavilion g4-1226nr
Specifications
Notebook: HP Pavilion g4-1226nrProcessor: Intel Core i3 2330M
Graphics Adapter: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Display: 14.00 inch, 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixels
Weight: 2.1kg
Price: 600 euro
Links: HP homepage Pavilion g4 (Series) Pavilion g4-1226nr (Model)
Pricecompare
Average Score:
Reviews
Source: Comp Reviews Archive.org version
Than main advantage that the HP Pavilion g4-1226nr brings over other laptops under $600 is a smaller and more compact design that doesn't drop features such as a standard DVD drive. In terms of performance and features, it is pretty much inline with most 15-inch laptops in the same price. It does feature Bluetooth support for wireless peripherals which is nice but the smaller size means that it lacks a numeric keypad.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/25/2011
Rating: Total score: 60%
HP Pavilion g4-2034tx
Specifications
Notebook: HP Pavilion g4-2034txProcessor: Intel Core i3 2350M
Graphics Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 7670M
Display: 14.00 inch, 16:9, 1366 x 768 pixels
Weight: 2.2kg
Links: HP homepage Pavilion g4 (Series) Pavilion g4-2034tx (Model)
Pricecompare
Average Score:
Foreign Reviews
Source: Notegear KO→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 06/12/2012
Rating: Total score: 91%
Comment
HP: Founded in 1939, the US company is a major server and printer manufacturer and one of the leading IT companies in the world. Until 2015, the company was called Hewlett-Packard Company. After a split, the computer division was renamed HP Inc.
In 2023, HP had an approximate market share of 22% of global PC sales, making it number 2 after Lenovo.
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics: Onboard graphics card that is built in the new Arrandale CPUs (Core i3 / i5 / i7 Dual Cores). Depending on the model and Turbo Boost, the GMA HD is clocked between 166 and 766 MHz.
Intel HD Graphics 3000: Integrated graphics card in the Intel Sandy Bridge processors (Core ix-2xxx). The HD 3000 is the faster (internally GT2 called) version with 12 Execution Units (EUs).
AMD Radeon HD 6480G: Integrated processor graphics card (in the A4-Series of Llano APUs) without dedicated graphics memory and only 240 of the 400 shader cores. Beware, the version in the 3305M only features 160 shader cores but at a higher core clock.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
AMD Radeon HD 7670M: Renamed Radeon HD 6650M and therefore still produced in 40nm.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i3:
370M: The Core i3-370M is a fast clocked Core i3. The TurboBoost, AES, VTd, and Trusted Execution functions are deactivated in the i3-series. Therefore, it always clocks with max. 2.4 GHz (of course Speedstep is included). Thanks to Hyperthreading, 4 threads can be processed simultaneously. An integrated graphics card (GMA HD) and a DDR3 memory controller are also included in the package.
2330M:
Dual-core processor based on the Sandy Bridge architecture with an integrated graphics card and dual-channel DDR3 memory controller. The CPU is clocked at 2.2 GHz and features the Turbo Boost 2.0 only for the graphics card (650/1100MHz).
2350M:
Dual-core processor based on the Sandy Bridge architecture with an integrated graphics card and dual-channel DDR3 memory controller. The CPU is clocked at 2.3 GHz and features the Turbo Boost 2.0 only for the graphics card.
Intel Core i5:
2410M:
Dual-core processor based on the Sandy Bridge architecture with an integrated graphics card and dual-channel DDR3 memory controller. The CPU is clocked at 2.3 GHz (Turbo Boost 2.6-2.9 GHz) and the GPU at 650 (1200 MHz Turbo).
AMD A-Series:
A4-3300M: Llano dual-core APU clocked at 1.9-2.5 GHz (TurboCore) featuring an integrated Radeon 6480G (240 cores, 444MHz) graphics card.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
14.00:
14 inch display size represents a middle ground between the small subnotebook formats and the screens of the standard 15 inch laptops.
The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, provides good resolutions with usable detail sizes, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact.
In the past, 14-inch devices were very rare, but now they are the standard for laptops after the 15-inchers.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
No weight comment found (one expected)!
75.25%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.