HP Compaq Business Notebook Nx7000

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Very fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Excellent
Robustness & Durability	Excellent
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Beautiful large screen, fast processor, Radeon 9200 Graphics Chip, Nice Loud Speakers, wonderful keyboard, USB 2 . 0 for faster transfer, large Harddisk, Touchpad Off switch, WiFi, SD card reader .
Disadvantages:	Battery Life .  Power cord placement, Only one pc card slot, Unavailability of bluetooth internal chip .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have owned this computer for around 4 months and have had no major problems with it as yet. The screen is wonderful. I primarily wanted a laptop to allow photographic manipulation "on the road" The large screen is a plus when it comes to any sort of creative editing, from web design and graphics, to viewing large spreadsheets and word processed files.

For a laptop computer with such a screen, the X1000 remains portable due to it's fairly lightweight shell and thinness. It certainly lives up to it's moniker "slim and light."

As far as expansion goes, the X1000 is very well equipped; the 3x USB 2.0 ports and mini firewire, mean sending huge amounts of data to my 40 gig video jukebox and 60 gig external drive is quick and easy. The simgle PC card slot is less limiting than one might first imagine, as the PC is already equiped with CDWR, an SD card reader, WiFi and USB 2.0. Mine is continually filled by a compact flash adapter, which allows extrememly easy file transfer from my Canon Camera.

The CDWR works well, and at 24 speed, will happily fill a CD in around 3 minutes. The 802b WiFi is also more than adequate. It seems to struggle a little with a certain "budget" ADSL router, however, if you purchase a decent brand of WiFi router, you should have no problems. Surfing the internet wirelessly from anywhere in the house really is a liberating experience, and worth buying a WiFi equipped laptop and ADSL for that alone.

One very nice albeit simle feature the X1000 has, is an off switch for the Touchpad. Situated just below the spacebar, this effectively eliminates the problem other laptops have where the cursor seems to jump around as you accidentally brush the pad whilst typing.

HP / Compaq keyboards have always been a joy on which to type and this model is no exception. It's sturdy, with a positive feedback on each key, without it being too noisy. The width of the wrist area is wider than most, which allows the user to rest comfortably without the lower arm hanging painfully off the corner. This allows for hours of very comfortable typing, with any pressure spread evenly along the ergonomically curved front edge. Combined with the huge bright screen, this laptop allows extended comfortable use. Perfect for long hours of business use, trying to churn out pages of documents before the deadline at sunrise.

I am extremely impressed with the Radeon 9200 64meg graphics. The computer will play any new 3D intensive game with the utmost ease. It's Direct X 9 compatible, and any games look amazing on the large screen. DVD's also run beautifully, especially those shot in Wide Screen. The sound from the internal speakers is fine for a laptop, and more than enough to enjoy a film or two, however when I plugged a simple 2.1 config speaker system in and played Freelancer, the whole room shook. Wow! The X1000 multimedia capabilities really are incredible.

The only gripes I have with this computer are on the subject of power supply. The battery on my machine does NOT last for the advertised 5 hours. I have never managed to squeeze more than 3 hours of use from my machine, even with all the power saving functions turned on, WiFi off, the processer running at 500 mhz and the screen on the darkest setting. This isn't a major issue though and is only to be expected from a machine of this size and power. Most machines half this size only run a 3 hour battery anyway - so it can't really be held as a negative for this model. The other oddity is the position of the power cord socket. The power cord plugs into the right hand side of the computer. This means that the straight power pin (not an L shape, which would make more sense) gets in the way of the mouse if the laptop is used on a small work surface. It's odd, and a problem that could be easily rectified if HP had decided to ship the unit with an L shaped plug (or if the battery lasted the stated 5 hours!)

All in all though - minor gripes aside, this is a wonderful machine. It's great for the graphic artist, number cruncher or 3D game player. It will allow you to watch movies without having to squint, work for hours without giving you wrist ache, and certainly increase productivity if used for business.

As far as a desktop replacement goes, I have yet to feel the need for for a fully fledged desktop, even when pushing it to it's limits and have certainly been glad of the machines portability.