HP laptop Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Will an SSD work in a laptop that doesn’t support AHCI mode?

Posted on September 10, 2021

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Question from Pete: I read your post about speeding up a PC by replacing the hard drive with an SSD. Thanks for such an awesome tip!

I ordered a Crucial 1TB SSD to go in my old HP DV7t-7000 laptop and it arrived today.

When I went to install it the instructions said to set the SATA port to AHCI mode in the BIOS settings. The problem is I couldn’t find a way to make that change in the BIOS.

I emailed HP tech support and asked them how to change to AHCI mode in the BIOS and they said I can’t because that setting is locked out in that machine.

My question is will an SSD not work with this laptop? [Read more…]

Review: 2020 HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop Computer

Posted on July 30, 2020

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

In times past, the typical budget and mid-range laptops came stuffed with cheap, inferior components that made for a frustratingly slow and inefficient computing experience. But times have changed.

Nowadays even many mid-range laptops offer plenty of speed and power at affordable prices.

I recently had the opportunity to check out a very affordable mid-range laptop from HP, and overall I believe it’s a great machine for the money.

The 2020 HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop Computer is an attractive, sleek looking laptop that has everything the typical user will need in order to surf the Internet, peruse Facebook and Twitter, watch videos on Youtube, send and receive email, use Microsoft Office and edit photos and videos with Photoshop and other hardware-intensive apps. [Read more…]

Review: HP 2019 14-CF0014DX 14″ Laptop

Posted on April 22, 2019

The new crop of 2019 laptops are here, and as expected there are a number of them to choose from.

The models that are getting the most attention are expensive business and gaming laptops, but there are several new general purpose laptops out there as well.

One case in point is the sleek new HP 2019 14-CF0014DX 14″ Laptop. (#ad)

This is a nice, compact laptop that’s about the perfect size for folks who travel frequently.

Its 14 inch screen is plenty large enough for easy viewing, yet the laptop itself is small enough to carry with you most anywhere. It’s also relatively light at about three pounds.

Before we get into too many details let’s take a quick look at the specs: [Read more…]

Review: 2018 Premium HP 17.3″ Business Flagship Laptop PC

Posted on February 20, 2018

The new year brought with it several new mid-range Windows 10 laptops, one of which is the 2018 Premium HP 17.3″ Business Flagship Laptop PC. (#ad)

I recently had a chance to check one of them out.

To be blunt, I ended up liking this laptop ok but it does have some serious downsides, which I’ll get to later.

Although this is being billed as a business laptop it would also make a decent general-purpose PC. I wouldn’t really recommend it for use as a gaming laptop at all, but it should perform fairly well at most other common computing tasks.

First, let’s take a look at the specs: [Read more…]

Review: HP Pavilion 17-e079nr Laptop

Posted on December 21, 2013

HP laptops have served me well over the years, and I’m always eager to check out the new models when they become available.

Today I’m going to be discussing the HP Pavilion 17-e079nr, a full-featured laptop that offers a lot of power and plenty of great features for the money.

The Pavilion 17-e079nr comes with a stunning 17.3 inch color display and an AMD A8 Quad Core CPU, which together make for an excellent user experience even when watching DVDs and playing games. You’ll also find the large screen quite enjoyable when surfing the Internet, checking email, and performing most any visually challenging task. [Read more…]