[Review] HP 14-DK1004DX: A No-Frills Laptop that Just Works

For those who have been thrown into the world of working from home, laptops aren't an exciting gadget they can't wait to buy but rather a necessity that needs to be covered, a problem that needs to be solved. 

This particular crowd isn't looking for a state of the art machine with specs they will never use but rather a simple and cost-effective laptop that gets the job done, no more, no less. For these people, HP has launched a compelling yet simple laptop that goes by the name of HP 14-DK1004DX.

In this review of the HP 14-DK1004DX, we will discover everything there is to know about this laptop so that you may figure out if it's the device you need or if you should take your money elsewhere.

Table of contents

1. Design and display overview
2. Key components and performance
3. Graphics & Battery life
4. Connectivity options
5. Verdict

A design that lacks innovation

When it comes to the design of the HP 14-DK1004DX there's not that much to say. HP's engineers didn't really rack their brains when working on the design. It's pretty much the same design we've seen on most entry-level laptops for the past 5 years with no sign of innovation be it on the keyboard, the typing experience, the display, nor the trackpad. 

In that regard, if you're looking to purchase something that has more of "an edge" we'd recommend the Acer Aspire 5 A515-55-378V reviewed recently at a slightly higher price range yet a far more advanced set of specs that includes a Full HD display and a backlit keyboard.

Going back to the subject of our review, the display has a 14-inch diagonal and a rather underwhelming resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. 

The keyboard adopts the chiclet format that results in a comfortable day to day typing experience and it should be pointed out that this laptop features a standard key travel distance which means you won't feel like you're typing on a screen.

Finally, while the 14-DK1004DX takes on the 14-inch format, we appreciate the fact that it's a pretty lightweight device managing just 3.24 pounds.

What about performance?

While it's true that HP clearly didn't put much thought into the design of this entry-level laptop, it more than makes up for this when you look under the hood. Specifically, we've got an AMD Athlon Silver 3050U dual-core processor that clocks in at a base speed of 2.2 GHz and can manage up to 3.2 GHz when push comes to shove.

If you come from an Intel background then you should know that this CPU is similar to the 10th generation Intel Core i3 10110Y processor. 

That means it's a good processor for everything from editing spreadsheets to surfing the web and chatting with friends or coworkers through Zoom. Basically, it's the go-to processor for domestic computing without being overkill.

Add to this processor 4 GB of DDR4 RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage and you can clearly see that this laptop was designed with productivity in mind. 

That said, while 4 GB might be ok for those who are not intensive multitaskers, if you would wish to expand the memory on the HP 14-DK1004DX we would assume that you could, at the very least, upgrade the RAM to an additional 4 GB making a total of 8 GB which is the sweet spot for most consumers. At least this is what we expect considering other models within its lineup do have this possibility. 

However, as many customers have already attested, the laptop performs well either way since it doesn't have a lot of bloatware that would affect the RAM so, as long as you're not looking to work with 7 tabs at a time you should be safe with the 4 GB of RAM.

What's the deal with battery life? Is the HP 14-DK1004DX good for gaming?

When it comes to battery life, most laptop manufacturers have made great strides and HP is no exception. 

With a 3-cell lithium battery we can expect the HP 14-DK1004DX to deliver between 4 and 7 hours worth of battery life with mixed usage. 

HP has remained silent about this particular model but judging by its low-consuming processor and battery capacity as well as the customer reviews our educated guess would be along those lines, not more because otherwise HP would be quick to bring it up and no less because otherwise everyone who bought it would also be quick to bring it up.

As far as gaming is concerned this is by no means a gaming laptop. Between the 4 GB of RAM and integrated AMD Radeon graphics you should not expect to play high-end games on this laptop nor do any professional-grade video/picture editing for that matter.

Connectivity

As far as connectivity is concerned, HP's latest laptop is able to accommodate most user's demands. Specifically, we've got a couple of USB Type A (3.0) ports, a single USB Type C port (also 3.0), HDMI output, audio jack, and an SD card reader which we appreciate as it's not that common these days.

There's also WiFi 5 connectivity (previously known as 802.11 ac protocol) and Bluetooth support. Obviously, there's no DVD reader and, oddly enough, there's no ethernet port that actually surprised us as it's a fairly common input port for laptops within its price range.

Verdict: Is it worth your money?

The HP 14-DK1004DX reviewed here today is a decent enough laptop. Sure enough, it won't please the most demanding users and it will definitely fall short for gamers who are looking for a device with a dedicated graphics card and a Full HD display. However, for people looking to buy a student laptop or a laptop to work from home then this is a pretty good value proposition from HP when you consider the price we pay for it.