Cheap Yet Powerful: HP G60 Laptop Review
As most of you know, my job at PC Authorities is to write daily articles relating to PCs and the technology industry. I wanted to venture away from that today to give you a personal review on a laptop I purchased, the HP G60.
It’s not a brand new laptop and I’m sure there are a ton of reviews already written on the HP G60 but I felt it was important to write about it. Why? In this economy, the last thing anyone wants to do is spend $2,000 on a new computer. In fact, Microsoft just launched a new campaign touting how inexpensive PCs are now versus Macs and I couldn’t agree more.
We were looking for a standard laptop that is powerful yet wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg and I’m proud to say we found one with HP. The HP G60 is $600 (you can even find it cheaper than that at some retailers) and comes with a 2 Ghz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 processor. The laptop has a whopping 360gb hard drive (which is more than enough for the typical PC user), a DVD/CD RW+ Optical Drive and a multi-card reader embedded in the laptop (perfect for those who use a digital camera). There are plenty of USB ports and obviously an Ethernet port as well. It’s also equipped with a built-in 802.11n wireless card.
The HP G60’s best feature, in my un-expert opinion, is the beautiful and large screen. It’s a 16″ glossy screen which is not standard for most laptops and if you’re happy with a big screen, you will love this one.
If you’re in the market for a great laptop that can do anything an average PC user will need, this is the laptop for you. I’m very pleased with this purchase and I’m happy I’m now an HP fan.
@Juliet – Try running a memory test to see if the RAM is okay. That is one of the possible causes of random shut downs. In Windows 7 you can use the Memory Diagnostics Tool, but in all versions of Windows you can use the third party memtest86 program.
And did you check if there are any errors in the Device Manager?
I have an HP G60 and have been having problems with random shutdowns. Usually when I’m in the middle of working. It’s getting worse and is very frustrating. Can’t find a solution anywhere. Battery fully charged, vents clean, using on a hard surface…
WHAT A MACHINE, I LIKE IT.
@marife lorenzo – You can try reinstalling or updating the touchpad drivers, and also have a look at the mouse settings in the Control Panel. There are settings that can enhance the pointer precision, as well as the speed.
If you are using an external (usb) mouse, depending on the mouse type, there could be a different driver or software for it. Microsoft mice for example use the IntelliPoint software.
my husband laptop is hpg60 his problem is regarding his mouse arrow, the mouse arrow moves anywhere even if is not move by the mouse, how can he fix it? is there any problem with the pc or the mouse?pls help us fix it and how to do it?
Just found this article and did some checking on pricss a number of months after the original article and found the price for a new G60 to now be under $500. The attractive aspect of HP laptops in my opinion is the display quality and support from HP. I am off to find a refurbished G60 for a second laptop!
Nice little review. Can you tell me how are the graphics while playing games?
PS: Im thinking of getting it.:)
Anne,
If you know how to get into your router (typically, open Internet Explorer, then type 192.128.0.1 (or something similar) and it will allow you to log in to your router’s main menu (that comes with your cable or DSL service). Anyways, there should be options for you to change your wireless router’s channels. We did that once and have never had an issue with wireless problems on the G60. Basically, the issue we were having was “interference” between other people’s routers in the apt building, so we changed our wireless router’s channel to a different number and now it’s strong as ever.
Hope this helps or attempts to help answer what I think you’re trying to ask…
Jeff
@Anne Reynolds – Not sure if and when Jeff will be able to respond, but let me see if I can help. One thing you can try is to limit the wireless support in the properties of the wireless network card in the device manager. By default the setting will allow b/g/n support, but if you know what you are using you can set it to g only for example. That can help improve on such problems.
Btw, what OS are you running on it, Windows XP or Vista (or other)?
Jeff,
I have this laptop also, and by and large have been pleased. I have had some wireless issues while running undocked, and have downloaded a couple of recommended HP drivers in an attempt to fix this issue (intermittent loss of connection). Have you had any similar issues?
Best,
Anne