HP Pavilion g6z

The HP Pavilion g6z starts at a wallet friendly $429.99 on HP.com and comes with an AMD Fusion processor that is geared towards being power and battery life friendly yet still offering ample performance for everyday tasks. The HP g6z we have under review comes with the base level AMD A4-3305M processor. It’s a pre-built configuration with model number g6-1d60us and was purchased from Staples.com for $380 during a sale event. For around $400 the g6z has a lot to like, though isn’t perfect of course, we’ll cover the ups and downs in this review.
The g6z being reviewed has the following specs:

Processor: AMD Dual Core A4-3305M 1.90 GHz
Screen: 15.6-inch (1366 x 768) glossy finish
Memory: 4GB DDR3 RAM
Storage: 640GB HD 5400RPM
Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD burner
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6480G
Dimensions: 14.72″ (L) x 9.65″ (W) x 1.20″
Ports and Slots: 3 USB 2.0; 1 HDMI; 1 VGA (15-pin); 1 RJ -45 (LAN); 1 Headphone-out; 1 Microphone-in, Ethernet, SD card reader
Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth
Weight: 5.22lbs
Battery: 6-cell 47WHr Lithium-Ion battery
Warranty: 1-year

Design and Build

The design of the g6z would fit well in a minimalistic room, that’s a nice way of saying it’s pretty Spartan looking! Then again, the Apple MacBook Pro uses a basic clean design and it certainly has worked to attract buyers.
The g6z is built with a plastic casing, no fancy aluminum or metal like you get with higher priced laptops. However, the case is quite strong despite the use of plastic, the palm rests and other important structural areas are firm with no flex. The hinges for the screen are durable and quite rigid, meaning there’s minimal wobble of the screen if you’re on a bumpy plane or train ride – though I wouldn’t recommend taking this on a plane to use as it’s rather large.

Screen

The HP g6z has a 15.6” screen with 1366 x 768 resolution. The screen finish is glossy, which helps to make colors pop but also creates the problem of having reflections on the screen when you’re in a brightly lit room or have a window directly behind you. At the top of the screen is a built-in web camera that has a 0.3MP resolution, a rather low resolution, but it works well in lower light situations which is really more important.
The screen viewing angles are typical of other laptops, that meaning this is not an Apple iPad type screen (IPS) in which you can view it from any angle and get the same colors. Rather, as you tilt the screen forward or back the colors tend to change, the best viewing angle on a laptop is straight on. Not many laptops offer an IPS style screen and you certainly don’t get a premium type screen such as in this $400 price category. I think most people will be pleased with the glossy screen on the g6z, it makes colors vibrant and pop nicely for movie watching.

The resolution for the g6z maxes out at 1366 x 768, that at least gives you the ability to watch 720p HD video, though that falls far short of the 1080p high resolution quality some movie buffs and screen junkies prefer. Again, at this price range the 1366 x 768 resolution is standard and what you would see in any competing laptop.

Conclusion

The HP g6z is a solid entry in the world of $400 budget laptops. Many people own multiple computers simply because everyone in a household needs access to their own computer, I can see the HP g6z as being a popular “around the house” laptop that a family can share or the kids can use as their own. I don’t recommend the g6z to business people that will be travelling a lot, it’s too big and not really built to be shoved in a bag and given the abuse it would receive being shoved in a luggage compartment of an airplane. The build quality of the g6z is decent, but it’s not rugged. The g6z performance is just fine for typical user needs, though it’s not going to be up to snuff for demanding users that play a lot of games, use demanding software or run a ton of applications at the same time. Overall the g6z has a pleasantly surprising quality for the price, so long as your expectations aren’t too high for a laptop of this price it will suffice for general computing needs with flying colors.