HP G61-320US 15.6-Inch Black/Silver Laptop - Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

by HP

Product Details

• Item Weight: 8.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002ONCDJM
• Item model number: VM352UA#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,528 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 18, 2009

Product Description

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 2.00GHz AMD Athlon™II Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs M300 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 250GB (7200RPM) SATA Optical Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support Wireless 802.11b/g WLAN Graphics Card ATI Radeon™ HD 4200 Graphics with 128MB Display Cache Memory AMD M880G with 128MB GDDR2 (sideport memory) Battery 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery; Up to 4.25 hours battery life* Weight & Dimensions (w x d x h) 5.90lbs; 14.89" x 9.93" x 1.38"/1.62"

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

Product Description

For those who want to connect and manage everyday computing tasks with an elegantly minimalist notebook, the HP G61 series Notebook PC delivers balanced mainstream performance at a great value. Powered by AMD processor and ATI graphics technologies, the G61 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great starter laptop, November 27, 2009

By 

Brian A. Tuftee (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HP G61-320US 15.6-Inch Black/Silver Laptop - Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

Just ordered the HP G61-320US laptop from Amazon a few weeks ago, and I'm quite pleased with the overall quality of the machine. I think it's a great starter laptop, it runs Windows 7 smoothly, boots quickly, and seems to have plenty of processing power. This is not a gaming laptop, of course, but it's great for internet usage, word processing, etc. I've found that the touchpad is quite responsive and easy to use, and the keyboard has a nice layout. The separate numberpad is a nice feature. Having only limited experience with laptops (from using them at work), I can say that this one is the best I've used yet.

The laptop does come with the expected trial software, bloatware, etc... all it really took was about one good evening to get everything set up, update Windows 7 with the latest releases, remove some of the annoying preinstalled HP software. Also, the laptop comes with a utility to create system restore DVDs, you should run it right away. The majority of the setup time was spent creating those backup DVDs - it's a very simple, user-friendly process, but it takes time for the software to build the DVD images and burn them.

I specifically waited for Windows 7 to come out to buy this laptop, and I'm glad I did, things are running very smooth. Setup of other features (like wireless networking) was pretty easy, owing to the Windows 7 interface. This machine comes with 3 GB of RAM, which seems more than adequate. Can upgrade to 4GB if desired, but so far I see no reason to do so, the laptop runs smoothly.

The viewing angle on the screen is good, but not great, however the overall picture quality is high, and the images are sharp. Not much else to review on this laptop - adequate number of USB ports (2 right, 1 left), and I haven't used the SVGA or HDMI video output yet, so I don't know how well that works. Digital card reader worked just fine to read the SD cards out of my camera. The headphone and mic jacks are on the front underside of the laptop, which is a good access point. The laptop doesn't seem to get very hot, the built-in cooling seems more than adequate.

The only real con I can think of is the perhaps slightly undersized hard drive, I would have preferred 320 GB or larger, but honestly, since I'm not going to load a ton of software on here, and I have a desktop that can serve as a media center for DVDs and music, I'm not sure the smaller HD size will end up being a real downer. Also, battery life is OK but not great, but then again, I don't think anyone is ever really satisfied with the battery life of any laptop! I find that I can get a about 2.5 hours of casual surfing, and maybe 90 minutes for playing DVDs. Don't expect to watch an entire movie without being plugged in.

In all, I think this is a great starter laptop, or for that matter, a good upgrade if your old laptop is showing its age. Windows 7 is a pretty slick operating system, with lots of features that I'm still discovering.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars $50 Rebate Available until 2010, November 17, 2009

By 

B. Hooper "Christian first" (Little Rock, AR.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HP G61-320US 15.6-Inch Black/Silver Laptop - Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

[...]
This laptop is probably too big for much carrying around, but if you are like me and just want a laptop for home use and occasionaly travel, this is a great deal. It is great for watching videos.
I also like the windows 7 that this has, although some of the windows features take some getting use to.
The key board is really great, numberical key pad plus the key stroke is light. The speakers are not as loud as I would like, but have ordered a separate speaker system for $12 so that really is not a problem. I have had this for less than a week, but so far I really like it, much nicer than my old compaq that was stolen.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye, Apple! Looks like HP G60-533CL at Costo, December 27, 2009

By 

G&LStratMan (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP G61-320US 15.6-Inch Black/Silver Laptop - Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

After a more than 5 year hiatus spend in the Apple camp, I'm back to a PC. I've had 3 Apples in that time and am a heavy user - daily, work, part-time professor and graduate student. Apple's couldn't stand up to my heavy, daily use. Period. The last straw was the screen on my 17" going bad, and Apple not covering it under AppleCare.

Having gone OUT OF MY WAY for 5 years to use Apple i.e., buying Parallels to run QuickBooks (QB for Mac is a hassle for most accountants, so they require QB for PCs), I've decided to put Apple on the shelf. They are over-priced, of no better build quality (Made in China), and are more hassle to use than they're benefit.

I found the HP to be of good build quality, Windows 7 looks good (much better than XP), and the HP screen is beautiful. I like the 10-key number layout on the keyboard as well. Although I never had Vista, Windows 7 didn't appear loaded with bloatware. I replaced Norton with AVG and may remove some games and junk at a later time.

I paid $599 + tax for this machine at Costco, valuing the premium price paid for Costco's fabulous warranty and return policy.