The HP Pavilion g6 is a straightforward, solid all-purpose laptop for a good price.
The HP Pavilion g6 is exactly what you'd expect for its starting price of around £300: bland. While there's absolutely nothing exciting about this machine, it does what it's supposed to do, and does it well: The chassis is simple yet sturdy, the keyboard and trackpad are well-designed, and the performance is just around average.
Our review model, at an RRP of £540, costs a bit more than the bare-bones version of the HP Pavilion g6. That price gets you the latest-generation Intel Core i3-380M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, and a 5400-rpm, 500GB hard drive. Our review model also comes preinstalled with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium and features a built-in Webcam, a microphone, and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. In our WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the g6 received a score of 101, which is on the low side of average for laptops in this class.
The HP Pavilion g6 is surprisingly attractive, considering its price point. Don't get me wrong - it still looks and feels like a budget machine. But its minimalist form and rounded edges lend it an air of style that most budget laptops lack. The lid is a shiny, solid-gray plastic that bends slightly in the middle if you put any weight on it. A small, brushed-metal HP logo is on the bottom left corner, and the edges are smooth and rounded. The underside of the chassis is your typical matte black plastic, with two Altec Lansing speakers located on the front, just under the keyboard.
The interior of the HP Pavilion g6 laptop is simple, with a smooth black plastic border around the silver keyboard and wristpad area. A slightly depressed border is also around the matte-black island-style keyboard. The trackpad is just a textured area directly on the wristpad, with two separate silver buttons below it. The HP Pavilion g6 weighs about 2.55kg, and measures 374x245x30.5mm.
Port-wise, the HP Pavilion g6 is typical for its class. On the right side, you'll find a VGA port, an ethernet port, and two USB 2.0 ports - plus an HDMI port and a SD/MMC card reader, both nice touches. The left side is dominated mostly by the tray-loading DVD-RW drive with LightScribe, but HP manages to squeeze in an additional USB 2.0 port along with a Kensington lock slot.
The HP Pavilion g6's full-size keyboard is quiet and comfortable to type on. The keyboard itself is a pseudo-island-style affair, and the keys have flat tops and are wider on the bottoms. The keys are evenly spaced and offer good tactile feedback. The keys move a little too much as you press down, but overall the g6 still offers one of the best typing experiences I've had on a budget notebook.
The trackpad is also impressive, considering it's just a square of textured plastic on the wristpad area. I'm usually not a fan of textured trackpads (I prefer indented ones), because they usually don't work as well as their counterparts. However, the HP Pavilion g6's trackpad is extremely responsive, and the discrete mouse buttons are large and easy to press. The trackpad has no scrolling area, because HP has built in multitouch support.
Unfortunately, multitouch gestures work sluggishly at best.
The HP Pavilion g6's 15.6-inch LED-backlit display has a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. The glossy screen is nicely bright and has good image quality, so long as you're sitting directly in front of it. Off-axis viewing is poor, and the glossy screen throws back a lot of reflections if you happen to be in direct or bright light. Speaker quality is pretty good (perhaps not as rich as you might like), and the Altec Lansing speakers are loud enough to fill a medium-sized room.
Since the HP Pavilion g6 features a second-generation Intel processor, it also comes with integrated Intel HD graphics. Casual video playback is good on the g6, but it's not exactly a gaming computer. In our Unreal Tournament 3 graphics tests, the g6 managed an unplayable frame rate of just 16.8 frames per second (highest quality, 1024-by-768-pixel resolution).
The HP Pavilion g6's WorldBench 6 score of 101 is pretty average for its category. So you're not getting a closet gaming machine, but this laptop will support everyday use just fine.
Comments
Taras said: Pretty good comfortable quick with new Windows 8
Richard said: Had mine for less than two years - in that time the hard drive has failed twice - it overheats - and now is throwing the dreaded blue screen of death every other day never will I buy HP again - especially since their support is total crap and they dont care about the fact that I rely on this for my work Rubbish - complete rubbish My old Acer on the other hand was the same price and still running like a dream despite being dropped a number of times Why do we fall for the big brands are better rubbish every time Joke all the way Steer clear of HP I will be
Binyo 0393 said: Can we play video game like Call of duty NFS Most Wanted 2 fifa etc
Lewisjack254 said: I recently bought this laptop i had a dell inspiron 1545 with windows 7 and was amazing for pc games when i recieved the g6 i thought that it wouldnt be that good but i opened it up turned on and as soon as i started i never looked back this laptop is great for begginners and advanced people The price isnt cheap most budget laptops are 200 pound this one is so good idrecommend it to anyone thats my opinion
Roystoneldridge said: keeps diconecting from my wifi
BreShiE said: People dont listen to all these below replies if youre thinking about getting the g6 I have aHP Pavilion g6 with an AMD quad core 15GHz processor8GB RAM750GB HDD and I am very happy with it All of these people stating that theyre having major hardware problems are most likely because they fail to treat their machine properly A computer cant stay alive by itself you have to take care of it Within the first two weeks of having my g6 the fan broke this was because I constantly had the exit hole for the heat blocked and it wasnt able to get rid of the air But within a week of me not blocking the fan it fixed itself and I havent had a single problem since
Alex_2212 said: I bought my Laptop In August 2011 in Argos and I started getting problems in November but I thought it might be due to University Halls Internet but I emailed them in December as well as HP with a complaint but after being university for 8 monthsI was very busy with Essays and Work HP sent me recovery disks which I used and it restored the laptop to factory settings It did not work I contacted Argos again in May when I was home from Uni and asked for A Repair and they forwarded me to HP and I told them I was still receiving the same problem lagging in many programs and just generally slow and as time progressed it got slower HP took the laptop in for repaired it and replaced the hard drive after a few days the problem started to occur again as well a speaker was producing distorted noise and there were screws missing from the machine after the first repair So again I contacted HP about those the problem and they told me to run scans it passed all of them but still the problem occurred so they took is back in for repair for the 2nd time The Lagging Issue still occurred So they said as a good will gesture they will send me and 4gb Ram My laptop already a 4gb Ram would then be 8gb Ram so I waited 2 weeks for this Ram put it in myself and it keeps knocking off I ring HP to find that my laptop can only run off 4gb and I had been misinformed So HP took it back for the 3rd time Altogether being without my laptop for 6 weeks I get it back and the same day I am still getting the same problem and they say there is no fault with the machine when there clearly is otherwise I would not be sending it back what do i do can i get a refund or replacement if they are not finding a fault even though there is one
Abdul said: i bought this laptop 5 months ago hardly used it I am having an issue with touchpad it keeps stuttering and sometimes it stops working completely i just found left click has snapped from inside so quality of housing is not good at all I wouldnt recommend anyone to buy tihs laptop
Mik said: have hp pavilion 6g cant get either of my cameras to import photos to laptop seems to be nowhere on pc for photos plenty of mensions in instructions re printers can anyone help have no trouble with my aspire tower tried to download drivers for both cameras but no successam coming to the conclusion hp is not all it is supposed to boMike
Staz83 said: I cant turn off scroll lock Can anyone help And also how does the num lock function work Plz help lol
Andysaunders66 said: Just an update about my g6 now my wifi has packed in and ime having to use a cable from my internet box The best place for my 1yr old laptop is in the skip going back to my good old and reliable pc goodbye to hp g6 pavilion rubbish
Speedking said: had this laptop for ages and it works perfectly except for one of the speakers exploding while playing my speedcore also my trackpad is working perfect after the anti-lean was disabled but despite the problems its still a good laptop
Listening said: Using a new one now and really missing my Dell Its a budget machine yes the scrolling track pad doesnt work at all blah blah get what you pay for
Andrea said: I wouldnt recommend it to anyone Battery broke within a year of having it so cant use it anywhere if its not plugged in may as well have bought a desktop It often overheats and has crashed 3 times I have had to send it away for repairs each time something to do with the display driver apparently it seems to be a common problem with this computer as Ive read many complaints online about this and now every time it has been on for a little while it and has warmed up it comes up with these weird horizontal lines all over the screen and I cant do anything meaning I have to turn it off and cant turn it on again for another 20-30 mins Very annoying Would never ever buy an HP laptop again
Paulayres310 said: how do i activate my keyon my g6 note this is my other pc please help
Andysaunders66 said: bought my pavilion g6 and within 3 months the keyboard packed in phoned helpline and tec support after totally resetting computer they sent me a new keyboard no instrucions ever since takes on average 2 goes to start up properly over 10 minutes to log off sometimes sound doesnt work and fails to download programmes sorry to say what a waste of my hard earned money
Vtsboi said: Does ur mouse stop
Dylanprudom said: todayIgot thiscomputerfor 399 at pc world The gaming graphics are good enough to play most games on medium settings It can play Skyrim well and I will be getting assassins creed revelations for my bday soon and it should be able to play that It is good at multitasking and Irecommendit if you want to buy it
Nicole said: Bought my laptop in December 2011 and within less a month it started saying disk read error i nearly lost all my data because of this laptop HPs contact lines areappalling and the fact they dont have a num lock key in sight is ridiculous if anyone knows where it is please tell me its driving me insane Im never buying an HP product again im very disappointed with this laptop 400 down the drain and the shop wont take it back neither so im stuck with this However it does have advantages so i wont fault it completely just wish they made it 100xs better tbh
Stella said: Ive not even tried running the laptop yet but I am going to return it on the basis that it is a very cheap build The whole keyboard compresses when you press downa key Try it for yourself in a shop Not impressed at all