HP 14-BS033TX Laptop Review : Part 1. Purchase, First Impressions, Get Ready for Use.

Part 2 of the Review is here (Link)  - Soft Ware with More to come
Part 3 of Review (Link) - Getting use to computer

Buying the laptop is easy, setting it up and transferring over all the data from the old devise is a chore

Purchase:

After shopping around various Brick and Mortar Store and Internet Shops including HP own on line store, I decided on getting it from one of those huge discount computer stores that offer fair pricing at par with the HP online store, (Not the cheapest) but with 2 very important points that others do not offer

• No Additional Charges for use of Credit Card
• Installment Plan ( I went for a 12 months ,zero interest plan)

The Shop I choose, (contact me if you want to know which), has this facilities, and shopping there was a brisk, efficient and friendly, I was like in there for less the 10 minutes before coming out with the devise.  

The Laptop: The laptop comes in a box with padding, 2 different type of power cord, (UK and a two pin (I think)) and a power brick which is suppose to be multi voltage capable. HP throw in a Compact Backpack and the Store gave a Umbrella with the purchase.

My Impressions :

Appearance : In spite its plastic constructions, full of ports including a VGA connector, Dvd drive, the laptop is pretty slim thanks to its thin cover / LCD panel, almost like others more expensive metal hybrids in the market, the Matt Jet Black looks beautiful, no finger prints, but there a tendency to pick up some skin oil on its surface.

Construction :

The computer its pretty well made, I feel that its Robust, (does not flex much / for normal use !), the ports well fitted and not too close to each other, the Hinges are not too stiff, and move well and easy, just right in my opinion.

Cons : The indicators lights are at the side, HDD is on the right lower, while the Power is on the left upper, as such you have to go look for them not being visible, not user friendly in my opinion.

Performance : Comparing this i3 with a Atom, it can feel sluggish on start up / opening an app, this may be due to the fact that this laptop use a HDD only, and not a HDD and a SSD of 32gb, starting an app the 2nd time around is fast. Why can't manufacturers add in a SSD to normal laptops? Cost?  Don't think it will cost that much.  - After Starting up performance was adequate.  

The Back Pack : looks seriously business like despite its fabric covering, in terms of size it is adequate just for the Laptop with the power brick, cord , and some needed items like pens, cds, cords, etc but if you want a bag where you can bring along more items like some files, books and such, you will have to look for a bigger bag, which is a pity, the bag given looks smart and very suitable. Further more organization compartments are required.

HP Backpack Front

HP Backpack Back

HP Backpack Front compartment

HP Backpack Main Compartment Side Pocket

Laptop Pocket

 Laptop Requirement

What that can fit in, beside the laptop

Decisions:

OpenOffice 4.1.3, I decided to go with out Microsoft Office for the moment, and infect typing this using Open Office provided which in fact like a old version of MS Office. A try out MS Office is already bundle in. I may decide to get a product key as Open Office seem to be without a reliable spell checker, at least I do not know how to get it to function, dispite checking its help and on the net, some auto corrections seems to work.  

HDD:

The 500 gb HDD was partition in to 3 parts Drive C : Programs & Software came to 46gb, that 197gb free for more programs, Drive D : Recovery is 12.7gb size with 1.54 gb free, and a drive E : with 207 GB total.

Software : that came with the laptop include the OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, Chrome, Firefox, CC Clean, Keeper Password Manager etc, as well as a mix of utility application, games and Microsoft and HP Application thrown in as well. (will be trying to uninstall some)

My advice is, first time you are using this, get to a place with decent wifi and have plenty of time, so you can do all the updating that required and go throgh the Get Started App which will turn into the Tips Application after getting internet connection, lucky I noted down all the applications as after running Getting Started, I exited and when I came back it disappeared, but then the Tips App appeared. (do connect to wifi first)

Getting Started (No Not the App)

Signin :

So the store have already configure a local account to sign in with out password, as I have already a Microsoft account, I went to ( Windows Key – Setting – Accounts ) and sign in using my MS Account, which immediately override the local account, (That after I enable the local account password feature)

I then set up another account for other guests to use my lap top (in Account – Family and other Ppl – Other Ppl - (+) Other Ppl, - I dont have this person sign it information (bottom) - add user without microsoft account – (bottom) )

After this its time to check on the updates (Windows Key – Setting – Update) which will show you the updates available and status of the down load, It should auto update, but be prepared to take some time.

To verify your computer is of the spec that you have purchase, is (Windows Key – Setting System - (go to Bottom) About) and if you have a graphic card (mouse over any place with out icon, right click ) you should see your graphic card there. Click on in for further

Next step is to transfer all the data from my old hybrid (approx 114gb to transfer over) which found a home at the E drive .

My suggestion then is to go through the Tips Apps or Get Started

I also have to uninstall Chrome and reinstall it as it claims to be out of date and cannot auto update.

Flash did an auto update. So on to 
Part 2 of the Review is here (Link)  - Soft Ware with More to come

Part 3 of Review (Link) - Getting use to computer