HP G42, a good choice

The HP G42 has a good configuration, high performance, sleek design and good heat dissipation ability, though a bit thick and the hard drive has a low reading speed.

The HP G42 has a similar design to the Compaq CQ42 model, but the G42 is slightly more advanced by HP with some minor changes in product design and configuration.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 1
HP G42. (Photo: Tuan Hung).

The G42 version was tested and also one of the models sold in Vietnam. Machine equipped with 14-inch LED screen resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and hardware configuration including Intel Core i5-460M processor with speed of 2.53 GHz, DDR3 2GB RAM memory, ATI Mobility graphics card Radeon HD 5470 1GB VRAM memory, 500GB hard drive and optical drive read DVD.

G42 has size 342 x 228 x 36.5 mm weighing 2.2 kg with 6 cell battery included. The machine has no operating system preinstalled.

The above version of HP G42 is sold in Vietnam with reference price of VND 16,090,000 (excluding VAT).

Here are some general reviews, details about this model (click on each section to see details).

Design, keyboard, touchpad

Design

HP G42, a good choice Picture 2
HP G42 has a luxurious embossed design. (Photo: Tuan Hung).

One of the G42's strengths and attractions is design. Carrying many influences from the early Envy and unibody-inspired designs, G42 gives users simplicity, youthfulness but still very luxurious.

The top of the embossing engraving machine makes the user feel "clean" due to the lack of fingerprint adhesion and easy cleaning when needed. The HP logo in the lower corner also adds elegance to the machine's elegance.

However, the G42 still has a disadvantage that is quite thick (up to 36.5 mm). This also causes a heavier feeling for the handler compared to the weight of only 2.2 kg including the battery.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 3
Right next to .

HP G42, a good choice Picture 4
. left edge.

HP G42 fully equipped with connections such as VGA, HDMI, LAN, USB, microphone, headphone, card reader on the left and Kensington keys, power jack, USB and optical drive on the right. However, the high speed eSATA data connection port does not appear on this model.

Keyboard, touchpad

Not using a fairly popular chiclet design lately, but the G42's keyboard is considered to be quite good thanks to its fullsize size, reasonable key distance and good bounce. However, the first time when manipulating, users will have to get used to feeling a bit "loose hands" due to the slight bounce of the keys slightly and not explicitly brought about.

Another advantage of this keyboard is the size of the large navigation keys, equivalent to normal keys, so it feels very comfortable to use.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 5
G42 has a good keyboard.

The inside and also include a keyboard with a textured design that seamlessly floats like the outside to help keep the hands from being slippery when used. The operations used on the device are also smooth with a little delay. However, the two mouse buttons feel a bit heavy when pressed.

Screen, performance.

Screen

HP G42, a good choice Picture 6
HP G42 equipped with 14 inch screen size.

G42 is equipped with 14-inch LED screen with a resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels. Similar to the type of mirror screens that are mostly used in laptops recently, G42 displays images and colors clearly, in detail but suffers from an " inherent " disadvantage of being shadowed and viewing angles being captured. narrow when used outdoors or with a strong light source behind the machine.

Performance performance

The tested G42 version has a hardware configuration including Intel Core i5-460M processor with a speed of 2.53 GHz, 2GB DDR3 RAM memory, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card with 1GB VRAM memory, and a capacitive hard drive 500GB volume and optical drive read DVD burner.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 7
Scoring with Windows Experience Index system.

With hardware like this, this model reached 3.3 points (taking the low point clicked due to graphics capabilities for Windows Aero) when dotted with Windows Experience Index system on Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit operating system. On a scale of detail, microprocessor reached 6.8 points, RAM memory was 5.5 points while graphics capability was 3.3 points and game graphics reached 5.4 points.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 8
The machine reached 4,169 points with 3DMark06.

Using the 3DMark06 grading program to test graphics power, the HP G42 scored 4,169 points. The score is very good and suitable for the majority of business needs with universal graphics applications.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 9
Overall scoring machine with PCMark Vantage program.

If using PCMark Vantage program (the version used for 64 bits operating system) to evaluate the overall machine, the machine only achieved 5,295 points.

Meanwhile, thanks to the accompanying graphics card, G42 can play PES 2011 that requires decent graphics (High graphics settings) with an average speed of 45 frames per second.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 10
Test results of the hard drive with the program HD Tune Pro 4.6.

Testing the read speed of a 500GB hard drive has an average reading speed of 53.8 MB per second, which is lower than the average of over 60 MB per second in today's popular laptops.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 11
Evaluate microprocessor with the latest Cinebench R11.5 program.

Continue using the latest Cinebench R11.5 program to evaluate Intel Core i5-460M processor. A fairly powerful processor for laptops with a range of VND 16 million has a graphics card included.

Sound, heat sink, battery life.

Radiators

The most interesting thing about G42 is the heat dissipation capability. Despite many complaints for HP models, G42 has a good cooling system. In addition to the radiator cavity at the left edge as usual, this model also has an air intake fan on the bottom edge that increases the heat escape capacity of the machine.

Therefore, when using the device such as surfing the web, listening to music or watching movies, the device is not too hot and can still be used on two legs. The upper part is also slightly warm but still within acceptable levels.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 12
Exhaust fan on the bottom of the machine.

Battery life

HP G42 is equipped with 6 cell battery included. To fully charge this battery while still in use, users need approximately 3 hours of battery life from 7%.

Experimental open Firefox loads 10 web pages and automatically reloads every 15 minutes, opens an online music player page and gives continuous playback, using headphones instead of the speakerphone and leaving the volume level at 70%. 50% light for the machine to run until it turns itself off (to 5%), this time reaches 1 hour 57 minutes.

HP G42, a good choice Picture 13
Use the Battery Mark 1.1 Imtac program to measure battery life until the device turns itself off.

While testing the device to run a standard 720p HD movie and play it back continuously until it is off, turn off the Wi-Fi connection, use a headset instead of the speaker and put it at a volume of 70% (negative Windows Media Player program bar to 100%), 50% brightness for the device to run until it turns itself off (with 5% battery level), this time reaches 2 hours 11 minutes.

The test numbers show that the device has an average battery life, comparable to the test results in many other popular laptops.

Sound

HP G42, a good choice Picture 14
HP G42 for good sound quality.

GP G42 uses Altec Lansing loudspeaker system to sound quite clear, clear with treble sound, though the bass is not really good but compared to the range of money and many other laptops, the G42 is really suitable for fish entertainment needs. multiply, especially in the space below 25 m ² .

Compare with some other models.

HP G42 Dell Inspiron 14R model Acer Aspire 4745G Screen14 inch14 inch14 inchChipIntel Core i5-460M speed 2.53 GHzIntel Core i5-450M speed 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 - 430M speed 2.26 GhzRAM2GB DDR32GB DDR33GB DDR3 Graphics Radeon Mobility HD 5470ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470ATI Radeon HD 5470 Hard Drive500 GB320GB320GPort connected 3 USB 2.0 ports, card reader, VGA, HDMI.2 USB 2.0 port, USB / eSATA combo, card reader, VGA, HDMI.3 USB 2.0 port, reader card, VGA, HDMI. Weight 2,2 kg2,39 kg2,2 kg