HP Pavilion G60-445dx

Editors' note: This review is part of our 2009 Retail Laptop and Desktop Back-to-School roundup, covering specific fixed configurations of popular systems that can be found in retail stores.

The HP Pavilion G60-445dx should look familiar--that's because we reviewed a similar (and similarly named) dual-core HP Pavilion in our winter roundup, the HP Pavilion G60-235dx. Admittedly, that one came with an Intel T4200 Dual-Core processor. The G60-445dx also comes with a dual-core processor, but by AMD (the dual-core Turion X2), as well as Nvidia GeForce 8200M graphics (replacing the 235dx's Intel GMA 4500MHD). It also has a slightly larger 16-inch screen, as opposed to the 235dx's 15.6-inch. But other than that, you're getting a nearly identical product for $50 less. And that product, amid a landscape of increasingly more affordable Core 2 Duo laptops, is decidedly mediocre.

There's not much point in going into tremendous detail over the G60-445dx's outer appearances, for two reasons: it's not a looker, and the look's been done before. In fact, the HP Presario CQ60-417DX in our back-to-school retail roundup uses the same chassis. On both systems, we liked the good-feeling tapered keyboard and glossy, indented touch pad, Unfortunately, the bulky laptop's just boring to look at. The black keyboard, surrounded by silver plastic, is at least inoffensive, but it's just not a machine to show off in public (which isn't necessarily unusual for a $550 laptop).

Other than a power and Wi-Fi on/off button, every other control, including volume, is executed with function/number commands on the keyboard. Dedicated volume buttons, at the least, we would have gladly swapped for the big Wi-Fi button.

A glossy 16-inch 1,366x768-pixel resolution LCD 16:9 screen is set in the middle of its matte black plastic lid, and sits under an included Webcam (the cheaper Compaq CQ60-417DX didn't have a Webcam). It's a nice large screen (even if it could be brighter and crisper), and it has a standard resolution for inexpensive mainstream laptops; but 1080p HD video content won't look its best. Speaker volume and clarity is sufficient, but not outstanding.

While HDMI-out is included on the G60-445dx, there's a notable omission of Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and an ExpressCard slot. We've let such omissions slide in budget laptops in previous roundups, but with Netbooks starting to throw in some of these features, it's getting harder to forgive. The hard-drive capacity and included RAM, at 320GB and 3GB, is at least more generous.

What we find less forgivable is the swapping out of the already mediocre T4200 Intel Dual-Core processor for an AMD Turion X2, which performed even worse in our benchmark tests. For 50 dollars' savings over the previous version, you're absorbing a performance hit, which negates the savings in our opinion. It performed the worst overall out of all the budget retail laptops in this category.