Notebook Hunter

For $776 the HP Pavilion dv6-3205tx is a very good value-for-money basic notebook. An Intel Core i5-460M (2.53GHz) is one of the faster Intel Core i5s available and it won’t break a sweat running most demanding computing tasks. And when it does run into something harder, it has Turbo Boost, a function which allows the processor to ramp up speed temporarily to get over a processing hump. As a basic notebook, it has onboard graphics, which won't play serious PC games, but still make casual games perfectly playable (this is all about to change with the arrival of the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs).

The specs are otherwise well-rounded, including a large 500GB hard drive and average 4GB of RAM. A 15.6in (1,366x768 resolution) screen will be fine for all kinds of work or tasks like watching HD movies. The dimensions of the HP 3205tx are 36mm thickness, 245mm depth, and 378mm width. It weighs 2.51kg, so while not hugely portable you can still carry it around with you.

By not including a dedicated graphics card, the HP Pavilion dv6-3205tx is a lot cheaper than similarly specced Core i5 allrounder notebooks. This does mean you won’t be playing the latest games, but when using a notebook for business or Uni work it’s not something that’s necessary. For $776 this is a very powerful basic notebook for a very good price.

See the HP Pavilion dv6-3205tx in the Notebook Hunter database here.

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