HP 530 Core 2 Duo (HP 530)

Member Name: richooooo

Product:	HP 530
Date:	05/03/08 (836 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dual core,Cheap,Style

Disadvantages: Big,Charger Position

HP 530(Core 2 Duo version)

The specs of the laptop are as follows
Operating system - Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Basic 32

Processor - Intel® CoreTM Duo processor T2050 1.60 GHz 2 MB L2
cache 533 MHz front side bus.
Memory- 512 MB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 533-MHz with 667-MHz
Memory upgrade - Upgradeable to 2 GB maximum

Hard drives - 80 GB 5400 rpm SATA
Optical Drives - DVD/CD-RW combo - DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Double Layer

Display size - 15.4-inch WXGA Brightview
Graphics cards - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with up to 224 MB shared system

Network - Intel 82562GT 10/100 Network Connection
Wireless - Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG; Broadcom 802.11 b/g

For the price i paid for this laptop i got more than i barganed for,the screen is excellent with the Brightview technology,A DVD Writer and 80gb Sata Hard Drive all for just £350 from ebuyer.

First thing i noticed when i opened the box was the size of the laptop it is quite and quite heavy, It came preloaded with windows vista basic edition all i needed to do was enter what username i wanted.

The main things th HP have done wrong is they have only put 512 DDR2 in to this laptop and i think that this is not enough for windows vista to run smoothly,would be ok for Windows Xp .After a few days i upgraded the memory of the laptop to 2gb ddr2 this is very easy and was cheap only £30. After i did this the laptop was perfect.

The touch pad is made from the same plastic the case and i think it is very good.The Graphics are Intel GMA 950 with a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800 will handles videos ok but will not be enough for games.The wireless on the laptop works about 80metres away from my router which is excellent range i would say. If the 530 had more connections on it such as memory card reader i think it would be perfect but you get what you pay for i suppose.

After testing the DVD Writer i found that it failed a lot of times using Nero Express it also failed using the HP Backup Software,Worked perfect when tryiing to copy music disk.The Lid on my laptop has got 2 scratches after only 2 month of using.One more problem i have found with this laptop is that the power cable is in the wrong place always seems to be in the way.

i would reccomend getting this laptop if you are on a tight budget and if you are not botherd about the size of the laptop(would reccomend Ram Upgrade).

Also the laptop lid seems to scratch or chip easily i have alredy got 2 scratches on it on the lid of the laptop going to have to buy a LapJack Cover for it

Summary: Perfect for a person on a tight budget

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