Who says you can't have it all? Get the essential elements that add to your productivity, not your budget. The HP 510 Notebook PC offers low-cost computing without compromising mobility.
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After a long and sad absence from ciao I am finally back online at home connected via my shiny new laptop, so what better object to wax lyrical about for my first review in ages than this funny old box of tricks that connects me in my living room to the whole wide world (or www to you…)
First of all, let me reassure you that I know hardly anything about computers. I'm quite good at using them, but have never been particularly interested in what goes on inside. However, as I'd decided to part with some hard earned cash in return for a laptop, I got a bit of impartial advice about the things one really ought to be acquainted with before walking into the comp shop, if only not to look like an idiot in front of the 14-year-old sales staff.
My personal requirements for buying a laptop were the following: I want to be able to use the internet, preferably with a wireless connection, I want to use Microsoft Office, I want to be able to cart my machine around the house so I can do something useful while watching the baby slowly destroy the house, I want something cheap. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to slay people in virtual reality, I listen to music on my old-fashioned CD player, and I watch films on telly. (You see I'm an old-fashioned girl at heart).
My impartial advisor suggested that I would probably get by with 512MB of RAM, but that 1GB would be even better. He reckoned that 60GB of hard drive would be a bottomless pit for my modest needs, and that all modern processors are fast enough for your average idiot so I didn't need to worry my pretty little head about processor speed. He advised me to get a DVD writer, as they are the way forward, even if he failed to convince me that watching DVDs on a weeny screen would be a pleasurable past time. He did his best to persuade me that floppy disk drives are so passé but it's pretty hard to teach this old dog new tricks.
So, down the old pc shop, the HP510 seemed to me to offer everything I wanted, wasn't expensive and is a brand I trust. It's nothing fancy, just a bog-standard notebook and is all right in the looks department. Here's the spec:
512RAM Pentium M processor 60GB hard drive Wireless connection 2.7kg 14.5" screen DVD Writer Windows XP Home edition pre-installed
all for the princely sum of about £410
The keyboard has a nice feel to it- not too spongy, not too hard. Because I bought mine in Bulgaria, the keyboard shows dual Latin and Cyrillic script, which is handy for me but certainly of no use to anybody reading this.
On getting my baby home, I followed the instructions given to me in the shop, mainly to keep on continuous charge for 12 hours and to create a recovery disk in case of disaster. The first step was easy- simple plug the thing in and check that the lamp is lit. Creating the recovery disk ought to have been easy, but I did experience a couple of glitches. HP kindly provides you with software for creating your recovery disk, (which is basically a copy of Windows XP and the few bits of software the machine comes with). You need either 2 blank DVDs or 11 CDRoms and just have to follow the instructions which pop up on the screen. I opted for the DVDs, but after inserting the 1st DVD and waiting about 40 minutes while some dubious chugging went on, I then got an error message without any help about what had gone wrong. I crossed my fingers, inserted another DVD and tried again, and this time all went smoothly. The whole process took just over an hour, then I was ready to go.
By far the best and most fun bit of this laptop is the wireless connectivity. This is because there is nothing in life I enjoy better than getting something for free, and with wireless I can connect via the café next door and they foot the bill. Truly marvellous! I find the signal a bit iffy at times, but that probably has more to do with the dodgy Bulgarian transmitters than anything else. There's a little square button next to the 'on' switch which you need to press in order to locate any wireless networks around you. It's that simple.
I suppose most laptops are much of a muchness really, and perhaps one thing that does differentiate them design-wise is the mouse. This one has a rectangular pad with small dot-shaped depressions which you just run your finger around. It's not as sensitive as I'd like and my hands are used to using a middle scroll button on a proper mouse and keeping doing strange things, but I suppose you get used to any kind of mouse with enough use.
The screen seemed a bit weird to me at first, as it is wide and low compared with previous laptops I've used, but different does not mean worse. Actually, it's quite neat for using Excel with lots of columns marching across the page.
If you're into playing video games then this isn't the laptop for you, as it would be far too slow. If, like me, you want a laptop for the more serious things in life and a bit of ciaoing thrown in for good measure, then you can't go far wrong with this model.
More details
Memory / capacity
Satisfactory
Ease of use
Very easy
Range of Extra Features
Satisfactory
Instruction manual
Satisfactory
Manufacturer Support
Excellent
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