Best Buy laptop deals for the week (11/6-11/12): 14-inch $529.99 Dell and $349.99 HP
Posted on 06. Nov, 2011 by Albert Madison in Laptops, Laptops
The Pewter HP Pavilion g4-1215dx is available on special all week at Best Buy.
Best Buy has revealed their laptop computer deals for the week of 11/6 through 11/12. This weeks deals include two 14.0″ notebooks that come from two different PC giants in Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP). The Dell Inspiron 14R laptop is the more expensive option with its Core i3 and 640GB hard drive at $529.99, but the cheaper $349.99 HP Pavilion g4 laptop is lighter and features AMD’s Vision technology.
The Peacock Blue Dell 14.0″ Laptop.
The Dell Inspiron 14R (I14RN-1364PBL) laptop computer being sold for $529.99 on special at Best Buy this week is powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Core i3-2330M dual-core CPU, Intel HD Graphics 3000, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The Dell Inspiron 14R is your average affordable laptop computer in many respects thanks to those main specifications.
The Dell Inspiron 14R’s smaller 14.0″ display does differentiate the notebook from other similarly specced machines, but the 1366×768 resolution on its LED back-lit display does a good job disqualifying the unique display size (1366×768 is the most common resolution at the moment for new notebooks).
Other features included with the $530 Dell Inspiron 14R include a 640GB 5400RPM hard disk drive, a 1.0MP webcam, a Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW optical drive, Built-in 100/1000 Ethernet LAN, built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth, a 6-cell lithium-ion battery that’s estimated at up to 5 hours 32 minutes of working battery life. Despite the smaller 14.0″ display the Dell Inspiron 14R still weights 5 lbs. and measures 1.2″ in thickness.
As for the ports provided with the Inspiron 14R you’ll are well taken care of going into the future. There are HDMI and VGA output ports, so you can connect to old projectors or new HD displays. The Inspiron 14R offered features a total of three USB ports; one is USB 3.0 (a lot faster than USB 2.0 and eSATA for data transfer); one is USB 2.0; one is a USB 2.0/eSATA combo port. Lastly there is a multi-format card reader on the left-hand side of the Inspiron 14R notebook (most of the ports are on the left-hand side of the laptop).
HP Pavilion g4 with AMD Vision technology.
The 14.0″ HP Pavilion g4 (g4-1215dx) is more affordable than the Dell with a $349.99 price tag this week at Best Buy, but that’s not going to be it’s only advantage over the Dell before I’m done describing this machine.
Boasting a 14.0″ 1366×768 resolution LED back-lit display the HP Pavilion g4 isn’t really any different from the Dell as far as displays are concerned. With both the HP and Dell you’re only getting the standard run-of-the-mill TN-display that offers only mediocre viewing angles and less than pro-class color reproduction –however for non-pro users the displays on either model will be adequate.
The differences between the HP and Dell 14.0″ laptops starts to come out when you look at either models processor and graphics specifications. The HP employs AMD’s latest Llano APU technology for a full AMD Vision computing experience, meanwhile the Dell uses the latest dual-core Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 processor from Intel with the latest gen. of Intel HD Graphics.
The dual-core AMD A4-3300M CPU and AMD Radeon HD 6480G integrated GPU make the APU for the HP Pavilion g4 offered this week by Best Buy. Compared to the Intel Core i3 in the more expensive Dell the processor power offered in the HP isn’t up to par, but for graphics the AMD Radeon HD graphics blow the Intel HD Graphics 3000 in the Dell out of the water.
Now for general computing tasks either laptop will give you about the same performance, but if you want to play some 3D PC games the AMD Radeon HD graphics in the HP will be a better choice –keep in mind the AMD Radeon HD 6480G GPU is only going to be able to handle smooth play only select titles with lowered detail settings.
In other specifications match-ups the HP matches the Dell for the most part.
The HP features 4GB of DDR3 RAM like the Dell. Hard disk storage is limited to only 320GB at 5400RPM on the HP, the Dell has 640GB or double the storage. There is no double-layer support offered by the multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive in the HP like the Dell offers. Both the HP and Dell feature both the built-in 100/1000 Ethernet LAN, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth. A webcam with a microphone are included with the HP like in the Dell. Also similar to the Dell the HP comes equipped with a 6-cell battery but the HP is rated at up to 6 hours and 30 minutes of operating life which is higher than the Dell by 98 minutes, the HP is more efficient thanks to the AMD APU. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is offered pre-installed on the HP and Dell alike.
The ports offered on the HP Pavilion g4 are not as varied as on the Dell Inspiron 14R. On the HP you get three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and VGA output, audio jacks for headphone and microphone, RJ-45 Ethernet LAN is included, and there is a multi-format card reader built-in. The Dell features eSATA and USB 3.0 which the cheaper HP doesn’t offer those modern connectors.
However unlike the 14.0″ Dell the 14.0″ HP Pavilion g4 is lighter than five pounds. According to Best Buy the HP Pavilion g4-1215dx weights 4.68lbs. and measures 1.4″ thick. Furthermore unlike the Peacock Blue Dell Inspiron 14R the HP Pavilion g4 features a more low-key color in Pewter (Dark Silver/Grey).
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