HP G002AX / G009AX Laptop [Honest review, Benchmarks] [AMD Beema A8 6140, 4GB, 1TB, 2GB 8570m]

HP G002AX / G009AX Laptop [Honest review, Benchmarks] [AMD Beema A8 6140, 4GB, 1TB, 2GB 8570m]

This Ganesh Festival, I was looking forward to a new Cheap laptop as I gave away my existing laptop (Acer 5560 AMD A6-3400M llano) to my sister. I was longing for a Full fledged AMD kaveri with dual graphics setup , however AMD is getting a bit long in the tooth due to repeated delays. Anyways the new tech comes late in India compared to the west. Understanding that I wont get AMD kaveri for atleast 6 months or more, I pounced upon a cheap little stop-gap laptop that gets the work done.

HP G002AX / G009AX are same but 009AX misses out the Windows 8.1.








Design and Looks-
HP is making some of the worst designs I've ever seen recently and this laptop is no exception.

>The power and HDD LEDs are off to side rather than upfront.

>There is no Basic LED indicator for Num Lock!!

>NO VGA PORT! This is unacceptable
After saving a few bucks on laptop I have to spend Rs.1100 on Adapters and cables. (HDMI converter)

>Whole laptop is made like single piece and Upgrading the HDD , RAM or even CMOS battery needs one to Rip out the Keyboard, Back cover, Top cover, then Motherboard and what not!! Yuk!

>Gloss Gloss Gloss! As if HP found a cheap stash of Gloss paint and they were simply spraying it everywhere they can. Gloss around the Touch pad means Fingerprints and Scratches galore!

>Only one Combo Headphone/Mic port. So those using old fashioned headsets will need to buy new ones.

Really HP?Why did you do this?



Now for some good things,
Laptop is slimmer than you'd expect. The Sparkling Black finish looks good (when its clean), Somewhat like a Granite top.
The Caps lock key has a small indicator built onto the key itself. My Samsung and Acer both missed these. There is a WIFI LED built onto the key as well. There is again a Yellow LED for Mute. A small LED near charging port is also present (yellow when charging, White when charged). Oh how I love these tiny lights!

There are a row of function keys with the Fn key combo and also include Media player controls and volume. These keys work directly without pressing FN by default. There is a Card reader upfront.
The touchpad is extra large and supports gestures which actually work.

Display-
Oh How bored I am with these 1336x768 screens! Even my Rs.16k cellphone now has FULL HD display with IPS quality. The Display is glossy and generic quality.
However keeping in Mind the low price and Low end graphics chips, Half HD display should be OK OK. There’s a 720p webcam (with indicator LED) and Mic above the display for those Skype calls.

Performance-
Performance is Snappy and boot-up is fast. Running multiple applications alongside poses no problems at all. I am running a dual screen configuration and I can surf and play on both screens no problem.

The RAM is only 3GB in reality which maybe limiting in the future. Worst part its, RAM is non-Upgradeable so you're stuck for a lifetime. There is only one RAM slot. However the GPU 8570M has its dedicated 2GB RAM so its atleast not eating away the Main RAM. However the Inbuilt Radeon R5 seems to be eating about 1GB of main ram. AMD is known to Heavily prefer Graphic rather than x86 performance, This psychology is shown in 3GB main RAM, 3GB Graphics RAM!!

The AMD A8 6410 Beema CPU performs closely to the A10 7300 ULV Which is a kaveri 19W part. Cheers! Compare here-
AMD A-Series A8-6410 Notebook Processor - NotebookCheck.net Tech
AMD Kaveri A10-7300 Notebook Processor - NotebookCheck.net Tech

Comparision with an intel i5 15w part yields strange results-
Intel Core i5 4200U Notebook Processor - NotebookCheck.net Tech

The Intel i5 is better in Geekbench and Cienebench. However intel badly looses on all 3d mark scores (like 4~5 times poor) And about 10 times poor in X264 marks.

The AMD Beema A8 6410 also manages to beat an Intel i5 35W CPU is most benchmarks-
Intel Core i5 2415M Notebook Processor - NotebookCheck.net Tech

















Gaming-
The ATI 8570M is a well known Mid-range performer. It plays older games at full quality and new games at medium or High. The 8570m is based on modern 28nm GCN architecture just like R7 series.

The GPU comes with it own 2GB DDR3 memory clocked at 900Mhz and core clocked at 644Mhz (wrongy mentioned as 850MHZ GPU/1000Mhz MEM on internet) It comes with 256 Shaders (wrongly said 384 shaders on net) As the AMD shader cores are weaker than Nvidia, I would call them more like 90~120 Nvidia shaders. That Puts the performance more in Range of GT630( Desktop) or even 9800M GT (laptop)
In modern terms, the GPU is equal to R7 M260- (laptop DDR3 model)
AMD Radeon R7 M260 compare AMD Radeon HD 8570M GPU

NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT - NotebookCheck.net Tech

Most of the Modern games can be enjoyed at highest settings on 720p resolution-
Crysis 2
COD 4, COD MW2, COD MW3, COD black ops
Split second
battlefield bad company 2
Battlefield 3
Left 4 dead 1 & 2
Sniper ghost warrior
NEED for speed (All series)


Still decent for the Price and power consumption. One Strange thing, The inbuilt R5 GPU is also about 80% as good as dedicated 8570m (See Aquamark3 for detailed observation). This can be a good or bad thing depending on the way you look at it.

Unfortunately, the GPU cannot enable Dual graphics with the Stock BEEMA R5 128 Shaders as the GPU is a few generations older. Had the HP put in a compatible R5 Model, we could benefit increased framerate. That's like HP has a Old stock of outdated GPUs and they just want to get rid of them. But I'm not cringing due to low prices.

Aquamark score-


Crysis on 8570M, Highest settings.


Crysis on Onboad R5 (power saving)








Accessories-
There are no accessories supplied. Not even a Driver CD. Everything needs to be downloaded (over 1.5 GB) from the HP website (3G rates have just increased) and even then there can be issues. I remember when buying a new laptop 5 years ago means a box or two, full of accessories and over a dozen CDs! Look how the companies are cutting corners. A CD costs what today? 10 rupees?

Ports & Ergonomics-
The laptop comes with the usual bandwagon of HDMI, and USB ports. There are No E-Sata or Express card slots. NO VGA PORT. There are only 3 usb ports out of which only ONE has USB 3.0 Speeds. I would have expected all ports to be 3.0 Speeds for such a large notebook. The USB 3.0 Copy speeds are 65~70 MB/s

For the good things, We have full size keypad with numeric inputs (these are the norm anyways), But arrow keys are too small.

Speakers actually had me stunned. These are among the best speakers in laptop. Total Thumbs up!

HEAT-
Thanks to the Low power 15W AMD BEEMA CPU, During surfing, the laptop stays cool at about 31~45.C. However gaming is totally another story.
After half Hour of COD MW3, I saw temperatures of 76.C on Pirifom Speccy. There is a single fan at the bottom for cooling. I will Strictly suggest going for a Laptop Stand (with fans) when gaming.

Battery-
The laptop comes with only 4 cell battery which is a tad small for large laptop. Usual 6 cell would have done better. However due to low Consumption AMD BEEMA 15w CPU, it still gets about 3 hours. Another cost cutting by HP. One great thing is AMD power play, that allows you to set your CPU max speed anywhere from 1 Ghz to 2 Ghz on battery mode. It really works and saves battery.

However gaming is only 1 Hr on Battery.

Software-
I simply hate Windows 8. Its a disaster. This time Microsoft screwed even more than they did with Vista. Thankfully with some Free tools I am able to attain start menu and classic shell. I may try to get back to windows 7, however the internet is full of driver complaints and various horrors. I think Microsoft paid HP to NOT support windows 7 at all.

Windows 8 misses on the beautiful glass AERO effects that vista introduced. So I will say that windows 8 looks more like “classic mode, No transparency” theme of windows 7. Also windows 8 has done away with neat desktop gadgets. I will have to bring them back somehow. Doing all of this (Transparency,Gadgets, Classic shell) needs third party apps that sap performance



HP comes with its own share of Bloatware and trial ware. I will suggest un-installing these and creating a System Image (Clone) for safeguard of basic windows OS.

Unwillingly, I would STRONGLY suggest you get G002AX with ready windows as Installing your own OS is a horror story with poor driver support and other issues. Price difference is minor.



Benchmarks-

Aquamark 3-
nvidia 7600go , Intel C2D @ 2Ghz 4GB DDR2 (dual channel) laptop- (on power)
gfx 4275
cpu 4891
tot 29749 fps 29.75

HP AMD A8 6410 @ 2Ghz , AMD 8570M (This machine on Power)
GFX 6153
CPU 8430
tot. 45084 fps 45.08

HP AMD A8 6410 @ 2Ghz , AMD R5 Onboard (Forced Power saving Graphics, On Power)
gpx 5538
CPU 7988
tot.41123 fps 41.12

HP AMD A8 6410 @ 1 Ghz , AMD R5 Onboard (This machine on Battery)
GFX 3507
CPU 4282
Tot 24886, Fps 24.89

_________________________________________
Everest ultimate v5 benchmark -
nvidia 7600go , Intel C2D @ 2Ghz, 4GB DDR2 (dual channel) laptop-

mem read- 4073mbs
mem write 3034
latency- 99.2nz

CPU queen 6471
CPU aes 5876
fpu julia- 1355
fpu mandel 634
fpu sinjulia 751

HP AMD A8 6410, AMD 8570M (This machine On power)
mem read- 6606
mem write-3960
latency- 114.5ns

CPU queen- 9045
aes- 149609 ??
fpu Julia- 1194
fpu mandel 7636 ??
fpu sinjulia 1847



UT 2003 Default benchmark (This machine on power)
Flyby-180 FPS, Botmatch 63 Fps

Aida64 benchmarks- (AMD A8 on power)-



















Overclocking-
I tried various OC apps like K10Stat, Brazos tweaker, MSI afterburner, Saphire TriXX , AMD overdrive etc. Unfortunately, None of the Apps could recognize either CPU or GPU properly on this machine. Heck! only Piriform speccy was able to get correct specs and temperature readings. Not even GPU-z works. Overclocking is Impossible on this machine.


Price- Brought for mere 31k during Ganesh festive offer. Windows included.


Verdict- Great AMD A8 hardware that is marred by Stupid HP designs and puzzling windows 8! If you are looking for the cheapest AMD laptop that can do daily job and game a little, this is Okay.

The Specs-
OVERVIEW
Brand HP
Type Notebook
Series G Series
Utility Gaming
Color Sparkling Black
Model Number 15-g002ax (G8D84PA)

PROCESSOR
Processor Name AMD APU A8
Variant 6410
Processor Brand AMD
Clock Speed 2 GHz with Turbo Boost Upto 2.4 GHz
Cache 2 MB

MEMORY
Memory Slots 1 (Unused Slot - 0)
RAM 4 GB DDR3

STORAGE
Hard Disk Capacity 1 TB
RPM 5400
Hardware Interface SATA

OPTICAL DISK DRIVE
Read/Write Speed 8x
Optical Drive SuperMulti DVD Drive with Dual Layer Support

PLATFORM
Operating System Windows 8.1
Architecture 64 bit

DISPLAY
Screen Size 15.6 inch
Resolution 1366 x 768 Pixels
Screen Type HD BrightView LED Backlit Wide Screen Display

GRAPHICS
Dedicated Graphics Memory Type DDR3
Dedicated Graphics Memory Capacity 2 GB
Graphic Processor AMD Radeon HD 8570M

KEYBOARD/INPUT
Integrated Camera HP TrueVision HD Webcam - 1280 x 720 by 24 frames
Pointer Device Touchpad with Windows 8 Multi-touch Gesture Support
Keyboard Full-size Textured Island Style Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

AUDIO
Internal Mic Single Digital Microphone
Speakers Dual Speakers
Sound Effect HD Audio

COMMUNICATION
Ethernet Integrated 10/100 BaseT
Wireless LAN Integrated 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth v4.0

POWER & BATTERY
Power Supply 65 W AC Adapter
Standard Battery 4 cell

PORTS/SLOTS
USB Port/S 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0
RJ45 LAN Yes
HDMI Port Yes, v1.4 HDMI Port with HDCP Support
NO VGA PORT.
Multi Card Slot 3-in-1 Card Reader
Other Ports 1 x Headphone Out / Microphone-in Combo Jack

SECURITY
Lock Port Kensington Lock Slot

Size & Weight
Weight 2.23 kg
Dimension(W*D*H) 377.952 x 259.08 x 25.4 mm
Color Sparkling Black

WARRANTY DETAILS
Warranty Period 1 Year HP India Onsite Warranty

Links-
Snapdeal,
http://www.snapdeal.com/product/hp-15g002ax-notebook-apu-quad/1710445692#ReviewHeader

Acer 5560-
Acer 5560 Honest Review, Overclocking and Gaming (AMD APU A6, AMD 6520G,4GB DDR3, 500GB)

samsung review-
Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR3, 500GB)

Tags-
Laptop,Review,Gaming,performance,AMD

 

Today I had a nice long session playing COD 5 WAW on battery. I am blown away at the Tiny Onboard APU. A Comfortable 30FPS on Onboard R5 6410 Graphics, 4x AA, 16x AF, 720p
The GPU 1 and Mem 1 (8570M dGPU) is totally turned off

Amazing performance with just 128 Shaders.