The hero of today's review is the Hewlett Packard low-cost and quiet laptop for everyday and office use. The device has a 15-inch screen, the economical Seleron processor N2830, 2 GB RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. As a pre-installed operating system was chosen x64 "Windows" 8.1.
A rather modest price for a laptop of 14 thousand rubles is a good incentive to buy, despite the widespread savings at all levels of assembly line. We’ll try to determine if the company has gone too far with this very savings, and find out with what shortcomings the future laptop owner will have to put up with.
Design and build quality
Notebook HP 250 G3 is completely made of matte plastic, which does not collect fingerprints and does not slip, which is already good - the surface will not distract from work by asking for cleaning. The device has a small thickness of 2.8 cm and a relatively light weight of 2.15 kg, so carrying or transporting to the place of work should not cause problems.
The gaps between the individual parts of the laptop are almost invisible, but the build quality and structural strength did not exceed any special expectations from the budget device. At numerous forums and online stores dedicated to the HP 250 line, reviews are full of minor flaws: the cover is easy to pressure, self-service causes a number of problems - the bottom cannot be removed and there is no cover. All that the user can do on his own is just to replace the battery.
Interfaces
The HP 250 G3 laptop was clearly cheated by ports and it is not clear why, because there is more than enough space on the device. There is only one USB 3.0 standard port, two for 2.0, an outdated 100-megabit Internet module (modern models have been equipped with gigabit modules for three years already), a DVD drive and a card reader.
Two ports are responsible for video outputs - VGA and HDMI, coupled with a universal audio connector. The location is not very convenient - it is too close to the front edge of the device: the drive prevents the interfaces from moving on the right side, and the ventilation holes interfere with the left.
Communications
In addition to standard Internet protocols, the HP 250 laptop supports Wi-Fi wireless networks at 802.11 b / g / n and Bluetooth version four. The Ralink RT3290 series integrated module is responsible for all this. The connection works quite stably without any outstanding reception quality at a distance of no more than 10 meters from the router.
You should immediately warn Linux fans about possible problems with the Ralink module, which is not known for its best reputation because of its drivers for this OS. Bluetooth communication is too often interrupted and does not work correctly. Alternatively, you can choose any other laptop with modules from Intel, Broadcom or Qualcomm Atheros. With them, working on Linux will not cause any problems.
HP 250 Speakers
The characteristics of the speakers do not allow you to hear at least some bass, and the sound at the output is muted and flat. You can use local acoustics only to watch videos on YouTube, but otherwise it is better to give preference to third-party headphones or external speakers.
Input Devices
The device’s keyboard is flat and the keys are pressed too gently, and the navigation arrows are very critical and cause dissatisfaction of owners (only the HP 250 laptop is a problem). User reviews are full of bewilderment: why the up and down arrows occupy the space of one ordinary keyboard button. Of course, one can get used to this, but during work more than once you will have to remember the designers with an unkind word.
The touchpad has a sufficient working area and, oddly enough, for the budget model - it responds well to all multi-touch gestures and touches. For low-cost laptops, such a high-quality manipulator, if not uncommon, then certainly not the standard.
Screen
The device has a standard 15-inch screen with a matrix from LG and supports a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. The brightness of the HP 250 screen is only 207 Cd / m 2 and despite the matte finish, you will have to forget about working outdoors on a sunny day, an exception can be made unless on a cloudy day or in shady conditions.
The presence of a high black level of the order of 0.67 Cd / m 2 upsets, as a result, the palette seems grayish. The contrast level also does not shine with high indicators and is only 336: 1 due to which the image seems flat and faded.
Many people mistakenly believe that such indicators are acceptable for office work, but the worker sitting at the laptop will get tired much less if white is white, black is black, and the gamma of gray does not shine with blue light, and the screen resolution would not hurt to do more .
The HP 250 display does not meet these requirements, making you think about alternative options, especially since in this price range you can find models with high rates of screen scanning and gamma saturation.
It is sad that for many years now the manufacturer has not heard his consumer screaming about the need to completely redo the display. Many fans of the Windows operating system just because of problems with the screen are switching to really high-quality equipment in the person of Apple and its brainchild, MacWook, no longer hoping for a better situation.
Finally, we can add that the TN-matrix, as always, “pleased” with such a small viewing angle, which is already considered to be the norm. In order to show something to people sitting nearby, you will have to turn the device almost at a right angle, otherwise they will see a "mess" of inverted, distorted and dull colors. The problem is solved using the IPS-matrix, but such a pleasure can be seen in models more expensive than 30 thousand rubles.
Performance
Notebook HP 250 in addition to the configuration with the processor Seleron N2830 and 2 GB of RAM can be performed in a modification with the Pentium line N3530 with 4 GB of RAM. The difference between these two options is very noticeable, especially since the independent replacement of RAM, for lack of a special cover, requires a complete disassembly of the device, and the processor is soldered to the motherboard.
Therefore, if there is a desire to get a laptop more powerful, then it is better to immediately dwell on the configuration with the Pentium. The company has provided an even larger selection of capacities for the 250-line, such as Core i3 or Core i5, but this is a completely different price category (19 - 24 thousand rubles).
The built-in video card from HD Graphics on the BayTrail chipset will not cope with powerful graphics applications, so gaming leisure can be spent only on things like GTA: San Andreas or Counter Strike, but not at all more powerful.
Video lovers can watch any movie up to Full HD resolution, but with the Ultra technology there may be problems in the form of delays and insufficient optimization.
Summarizing
HP 250 can be bought for 14-15 thousand rubles, which automatically forgives the laptop many shortcomings. The performance of the device is acceptable and does not differ from its counterparts with BayTrail processors. What really annoys many users is the impossibility of independently replacing RAM or a hard drive, as well as the mediocre display characteristics along with the low battery life of the device in offline mode.
Working with the keyboard is generally comfortable (with the exception of navigation arrows) and is not much different from competing laptops. You can recommend a laptop to people who are aware of all the shortcomings of the model and are ready to come to terms with them, otherwise the advice is clear - it’s much better to save money on a better laptop.