Review: Star Wars ™ Special Edition Laptop by HP

I’ve had the pleasure of taking HP’s Star Wars ™ Special Edition Laptop for a spin over the past few days, and as a big Star Wars fan, I’ve really been enjoying it. This laptop is a wonderful machine, with lots of great details. HP really has gone above and beyond to make this a full Star Wars experience. It’s much more than a normal laptop with a Star Wars skin applied to it. 

This laptop has so many nice little detailed touches that make it a really great part of any Star Wars fan’s arsenal. The high quality finish —which is not just a skin—is distinctive and will really stand out among all those other laptops in the crowd, yet do so in a refined way. I even love the touch of making the touchpad reminiscent of a Star Wars targeting computer; yet another example of the sheer commitment HP had when giving this laptop superior nerd-cred with some hardcore Easter egg details throughout the design.

Packaging

I don’t often talk about packaging but with this laptop I’m going to have to because it stands out so much. Right away you’ll notice the beautiful box the laptop comes packed in. It has a great image of Darth Vader, with Kylo Ren on the laptop screen below him, showing how the characters are aligned.

What could it mean? We’ll only really know once we see the new movies. It definitely isn’t your usual boring laptop box, and you may find yourself keeping this one. Open it up and you’ll find a smaller magnetically sealed Darth Vader box that holds all the laptop’s cables, with the laptop itself securely held in place with foam inserts that appear to be shaped like Darth Vader’s imperial TIE fighter from A New Hope. I really love this touch because it tells you right away how much Star Wars love HP has put in to this package. It isn’t just a laptop with Star Wars branding. This laptop is a complete Star Wars experience in and of itself!

Hardware

The laptop itself has a tapered design featuring Darth Vader on the lid’s outside, and a Storm Trooper on the inside, as well as other Star Wars graphical elements hidden throughout the battle worn design. It’s a very slick package. The keyboard is fantastic with a very Sith-like red glow.

Working on this machine felt like powering up the Death Star laser. All of this is powered by a sixth generation 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-6200U dual-core processor, 12GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch Full-HD display showcasing a NVIDIA GeForce 940M graphics card.

The machine also comes equipped with a 1TB hard drive, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, a SuperMulti DVD burner and more. It even has Bang & Olufsen dual custom-tuned speakers for fantastic sound.

Software

The Star Wars experience goes beyond the hardware and packaging.

HP’s Star Wars ™ Special Edition Laptop also comes loaded with a lot of Star Wars content ready to go.

It is preloaded with Star Wars Command Center, Star Wars photo galleries, a Marvel Comics Star Wars book, Star Wars wallpapers, Star Wars screensavers, Star Wars sound effects, behind the scenes Star Wars video content, and they’ve even gone so far as to turn your Recycle Bin into a Death Star! You also get a 1 year subscription to Fandor.

All of that is running on Windows 10 Home for the latest computing experience.

Performance

The overall performance of this laptop left me with no complaints whatsoever. The 15.6-inch screen supports a solid 1920×1080 resolution with snappy graphical performance. It has plenty of ports to satisfy my I/O needs, including HDMI output. I found I had plenty of power to help me get through my day-to-day work and entertainment tasks while the 12GB of RAM made multitasking a breeze. As a day-to-day workhorse, this machine certainly fits the bill. With the dedicated NVIDIA graphics it even has enough muscle to support some PC gaming while on the go.

Laptop Sleeve

If you’re a big collector you should also consider the matching laptop sleeve that is available for purchase separately. You can get it online only at Bestbuy.ca and is a perfect companion for this machine. It has graphics that complement the laptop but instead of featuring Darth Vader, the sleeve showcases a classic Imperial Storm Trooper.

Impressions

Overall I’m a huge fan of this offering.

If you’re a Star Wars fan and in the market for a new PC then this should be at the top of your list. It’s a very solid laptop even without all the Star Wars love it has been given. It has plenty of horsepower for your work and entertainment computing needs, has decent mobility, and is generally very well designed. The Star Wars theme has been applied in a very premium way with a beautiful finish, intricate design, attention to discrete design detail elements, and with all the fantastic Star Wars content that it comes preloaded with, You’ll be enjoying it before you even open up that collectible box it comes packed in. Often when people think about movie tie-ins they don’t expect much quality but this laptop will change your mind. It is both a great laptop, and a great piece of collectible Star Wars memorabilia.

The HP Star Wars ™ Special Edition Laptop ought to be an instant hit with any Star Wars fan. It has it all, from solid performance, to distinctive and detailed styling, and enough amazing Star Wars content preloaded to entertain for hours on end. If you know anybody in to Star Wars at all, then you can’t go wrong steering them to this incredible package from HP that lets them really feel the power of the dark side. I suppose the only caveat I can offer is if you really aren’t a fan of the Dark Side at all, then that might be a turnoff. Sorry Jedi and Rebel scum but this machine is Dark Side through and through. From the Death Star styling, to the images of Darth Vader and Storm Troopers, and even with the ominous red glow of the keyboard.