HP Pavilion g series

First of all let me tell you all the specifications of the laptop.

GENERAL

• Screen Size- 14 inches
• Processor- AMD A4-3330MX APU (Dual Core Processor with 2200 Mhz)
• RAM- 2 gb RAM is installed (Total physical memory is actually 1.48 gb. PES settings shows 1.5 gb RAM.)
• Graphics- 512 mb AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6480G ‎(PS3.0/VS3.0)‎
• Hard Drive- 500 gb (around 460 gb available)
• Pre-installed OS- Windows 7 (Home Basic 64 bit) and Ubuntu
• Model- HP Pavilion g4 1303 AU (as printed on the box)
• MRP- ₹19,058 (as printed on the box)

CONNECTIVITY and OTHER SPECS

• Wifi
• Bluetooth
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• SD Card Slot
• HDMI port
• Networking Port
• External Monitor Port
• DVD Drive
• Webcam
• 2 Speakers

You can learn more about the specs @ flipkart.com

Flipkart HP G4-1303AU

REVIEW

The laptop is decent in terms of the hardware components. This laptop when sold in market does not come with pre-installed OS but UP government laptops come with two OS installed:

1. Windows 7 Home Basic- 64 bit
2. Ubuntu (Linux)

The battery lasts for around 2 hrs on slight heavy usage (software installing and video playing). The build quality looks good. However there's a poster attached on the laptop which doesn't look superb.

It comes with a boast of really important softwares. You get a free subscription of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional. Other softwares like Adobe Reader X, Adobe Flash, a bunch of softwares from hp and all the driver programs come pre-installed.

How can I be eligible for this scheme?

The answer to this is- you study hard in Class X and XII board examinations and secure good marks. Of course, UP Board students have the edge but students of other boards like CBSE and ICSE can also benefit from the scheme.

Receiving the Laptop

Laptops are generally distributed at a place which can accommodate the strength of 500-600 students (like the hall of a Drama Academy). The laptops are already kept on your seats. You just have to find your Seat No. The laptop box has a slip glued on it on which your name and the name of your school is printed. 

You should bring with you Class X and XII Marks Sheets and some patience.

GETTING STARTED

The first time you open up your laptop, a lot of windows will open up (mostly of hp softwares). Perhaps you have to install some and restart your computer.

You will have to install Microsoft Office 2010 using the Product Key Card on which "Do Not Discard" is printed in bold.

TROUBLES WHICH ARE GENERALLY FACED ON THIS LAPTOP

1. LOW RAM- The laptop has only 2 gb ram which is not enough to run Windows 7 smoothly. Your system is more likely to hang occasionally. A solution to this is to uninstall some applications like HP games (You can get better games like Call of Duty and Fifa 12 from the market), Cyberlink YouCam etc because you will perhaps never use these softwares. Also check which applications turn on automatically and slow down your system.
2. SCREEN FLICKERING- You might experience flickering of screen when running on battery power. I don't know how to fix this.
3. USER ACCOUNTS AND PASSWORDS- There are many user accounts already and password to each of them (ubuntu and Windows both) is uplcuser.
4. REMOVING LINUX (grub rescue issue)- Ubuntu takes up around 130 gb space of your system. Error messages keep popping out when you use Ubuntu. Windows partition C: will show only 324 gb space. I do not know the right right way of removing ubuntu. I had actually deleted the Ubuntu partition and the next time I booted my system, it crashed!!! Windows didn't boot up. I had to recover Windows using the DVDs which come along with the computer.
5. BIOS IMAGE OF MULAYAM YADAV AND AKHILESH YADAV- Don't you dare mess with the BIOS image or your computer will die.

VERDICT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This laptop is for sure a decent one. I recommend that you increase your RAM to at least 4 gb and then it will run much more smoothly.

If you want to recover your Windows, ONLY USE WINDOWS 7 DVD AND APPLICATION & DRIVER DVD.

Do not use Ubuntu DVD because you will perhaps never need it.

You should use the UPLC DVD after you've recovered your Windows, so that you can choose not to install some headaches which come with the laptop. Just install important softwares from UPLC DVD like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, MS Office etc.

GAMES ON THIS LAPTOP

You can run different games on this computer with decent performance. Games like NFS Most Wanted 1 and San Andreas Will run smoothly without any issue.

I've installed FIFA 12 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on my laptop and they run fine on low graphics settings. 

I also installed PES 12 and it said:

• CPU- OK
• RAM- Bad
• Graphics- Good

Enjoy!

(You can always google for minimum requirements of your favourite games and check whether your system can run them or not.) 

You can leave your queries and advices in the comments. Thank you!