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The budget segment of the laptop  market is a crowded one. To get the attention of buyers and establish a foothold in this market, a laptop has to stand out by offering a winning combination of affordability and functionality. In this case, HP is tasked to strike a balance that’s acceptable to the most number of consumers. It’s not easy to accomplish because buyers vary greatly in their preferences.

 

The Hewlett Packard 550 Laptop is geared towards the user who seeks an attractive combo of low price, portability and useful features. The HP 550 meets this set of criteria head on and it is no surprise that many users give it a higher than average rating. Gamers, though, would be happier with better featured models as the HP 550’s GMA X3100 graphics chip is limited to the most basic of games.

 

SPECS	AVAILABLE OPTIONS
CPU	Intel Celeron 550 (2.00GHz, 533-MHz FSB, 1-MB L2 cache)1GB 1 DIMM160GB 5400rpm	Intel Core Duo T5670 (1.80GHz, 800-MHz FSB, 2-MB L2 cache)2GB 1 DIMM250GB 5400rpmBluetooth
RAM	1 MB	2 MB
Screen Size	15.4 inch	15.4 inch
Operating System	Windows Vista® Home Basic	Windows Vista® Business
Battery Life	Under 3 hours	Under 3 hours
Graphics	Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100	Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100

 

PROS

Users rate the HP 550’s price as one of its strongest attractions along with its portability and ease of use. Techradar, in its review of this product, noted “When it comes to performance, the HP 550 is overshadowed by the competition in terms of speed, but this is a far more accomplished laptop when it comes to sheer ease of use.” Ciao.co.uk, in its review, also praised its style noting “The laptop’s exterior is stylish but keeps a low profile (finished in gun metal) it looks like the serious deal.”

 

 CONS

Some users found the following going against the HP 550: one speaker and not in stereo; the ventilation fan is a bit loud and, all ports are found on the left side (USB, Ethernet, modem, Express-Card, etc.). Some users also prefer using Windows XP instead of the pre-installed Vista.

 

CONCLUSION

The HP 550 is a run-of-the-mill budget laptop. What we like about it is that it is reasonably priced, easy to use and has all the basic features an average user requires. It is sturdy enough not to give you a panic attack when traveling or commuting and its design is tasteful and doesn’t give away that it is what is – a budget laptop.

Related posts:

1. HP 6510B COMPAQ – Review
2. HP Compaq 610 – Review
3. HP ELITEBOOK 8530w – Review

Tags: budget laptop, HP, laptop review

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 am and is filed under HP, and is tagged with budget laptop, HP, laptop review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.