An Excellent Choice for Individuals and Business Users Alike
Written: Feb 01 '05 (Updated Feb 01 '05)
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Pros: Lightweight, versatile, expandable.
Cons: Placement of USB and SD Media Card slot; dull display.
The Bottom Line: This laptops outstanding overall features and functionality make The HP Compaq nc6000 is an excellent choice for individuals and businesses alike.
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| vemartin's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Compaq Business Notebook nc6000 (D... |
Our inventory of laptop computers, though still functional, is getting old and a little road weary. We issue most of them to senior level executives to carry with them at all times; the remainder are in a pool of machines we loan out to those individuals going on travel for days or weeks at a time. All of the laptops are configured for email and network access via VPN. We have a mixture of fifteen IBM, Quantex and Micron (MPC) machines, and at the end of last year I was tasked with researching and recommending replacements for the older computers; I narrowed my choice to two companies, MPC and Hewlett Packard, or HP.
In selecting the new laptop—thirteen in all—I was given a minimum standard that frankly wasn’t that hard to meet in today’s competitive business laptop market. First and foremost was price; the company didn’t want to pay above the mid-teens for each machine. Second the computers had to have a DVD/CD-RW drive, USB 2.0, a built-in LAN port, built-in modem, a large hard drive, at least 512MB of memory, and a 14.1 SXGA screen (in the interest of size and portability). After much deliberation the winner was the HP Compaq nc6000 business notebook.
Product Description (from HP Product literature): The HP Compaq nc6000 is stylishly designed with the mobile professional in mind. It features a bright 14-inch display, versatile MultiBay, and up to 5 hours of battery life with the standard 6-cell battery to allow ease of use on the road…[A]ll of these features are wrapped-up in a durable magnesium and composite design with weight starting at 5.03 pounds and 1.3-inch thin, making it ideal for travel and demanding mobile environments. The HP Compaq nc6000 is designed to fit seamlessly into an IT environment as part of HP's complete corporate notebook offering. Common software image, docking solutions, MultiBay devices and accessories make the HP Compaq nc6000 easy-to- deploy and easy-to-use, while keeping the total cost of ownership low.
I order the laptops configured as follows:
Processor: Intel Pentium M Processor @ 1.7GHz;
Screen: 14.1" TFT SXGA active matrix display (1024 x 768);
Memory: 512MB PC2700 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, Max 2.0 GB;
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 4X AGP graphics controller with 32 MB or 64 MB DDR SDRAM;
Removable Storage: 24x DVD/CD-RW multifunction drive in Multibay;
Fixed Storage: 40GB 5400 RPM Hard drive;
NIC: 10/100 Ethernet;
Modem: V.92/56K Modem;
Ports: 1x Parallel printer port; 1x Serial Port; 2x USB 2.0 ports; 1x SVGA; 1x SD Media Card Reader; 2x Type II PC Card (PCMCIA) slots; 1x S-Video out; 1x Expansion Slot to mate with a Port Replicator.
OS: Windows XP Professional SP2.
The first thing I noticed about the black with silver highlighted HP Compaq nc6000 is its weight; these babies are light and modular, but still house a full sized keyboard with both a pointing stick and a touch pad. With the small battery installed, the HP Compaq nc6000 weighs in at some 5.7 pounds.
Body
As I stated above the body of the HP Compaq nc6000 is a very attractive black with brushed silver highlights around the keyboard. On the front of the unit are two Premier Sound 16 bit stereo speakers. On the far left there are buttons for increasing and decreasing the volume and another button that will allow you to mute the speakers. To the left of these button is an IR transceiver. Finally, between the two speakers is a silver button for releasing the display. LED’s for the CD-Rom access, hard drive, battery, power, and wireless sit above the left speaker.
On the right side of the laptop, near the front, sits the six-cell battery. Also there are two PC card slots, and right below them is a port which will accept SD Media cards only. Finally, on this side of the HP Compaq nc6000 is a modem port and universal Kensington lock port.
On the left side of the HP Compaq nc6000 sits the Multibay which in our case houses a combination DVD/CD-RW drive, but can also house a 3.5” floppy, DVD+RW; 24x/10x/24x/8x DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive; 8x DVD-ROM or 24x CD-ROM Drive. The removable hard drive sits to the left of the Multibay, and headphone out and microphone jacks sit to the left of the HHD.
On the back of the HP Compaq nc6000 starting from left to right are the A/C adapter input, a standard Serial and parallel port, S-Video out, SVGA port, LAN port, and two USB 2.0 ports, while on the bottom of the unit is an expansion port for connecting the HP Compaq nc6000 to two available Port Replicators. Finally, there are two release latches for the battery and Multibay, while screws will release the hard drive and underneath the keyboard.
As mentioned above the keyboard is full sized affair. At the top of the keyboard are four keys including the power, wireless on/off, quick lock, and presentation. There is a hardware wireless on/off switch is for Bluetooth and 802.11a/g connections, but we had those items disabled on theses machines for security reasons. The LED on the front of the laptop will glow blue when the wireless and Bluetooth are activated.
Display
I was under whelmed by the 14.1” display. HP advertises it as bright, its not. The display is instead rather dull, and florescent light makes the situation worse. The display is certainly not idea for viewing DVD’s, but adequate for editing or composing files. The internal XGA display is capable of a maximum resolution of 1024x768 at (16M colors), while the SXGA+ is capable of 1400x1050 resolution at (16M colors). The external video card, the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 4X AGP graphics controller works well with the external 19” flat screen monitor we mated each laptop with. Of course you can toggle between the internal and external monitor via function keys. I have noticed that there is a sharp and very notable difference between the two displays; the external shows more color and depth.
Speaking of the external video, it is capable of the following resolutions: 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, or 1600 x 1200 with (up to 100-Hz refresh rate dependent upon monitor capability, resolution and color depth settings.
Processor
At first glance you might think that you are getting less performance with the Pentium M (Mobile) processor then you might expect. After all, other Pentium 4 class processors are clocking in at speeds in excess of 3.06GHz.
But the Pentium 4-M utilizing the Northwood core is not as power efficient as Intel hoped it would be, so the company developed the Pentium M specifically for the mobile computer platform. The Pentium M original CPU utilizes the best of both the Pentium III-M and Pentium 4-M. The Pentium M is essentially a high performance Pentium III-M processor with more cache; e.g. 32KB\b vs. 16Kb L1 and 1024Kb vs. 512Kb, L2 cache. While on the other hand the Pentium M utilizes some features of the Pentium 4, namely Netburst micro-architecture, the SSE2 instruction set, and a 400MHz bus speed, but at a lower CPU frequency thereby lowering overall CPU temperature and voltage utilization. This translates directly into lower battery consumption. Also, the Pentium M uses more transistors then either the Pentium III-M or Pentium 4-M; e.g. 77 million, compared to 44 million for the P-M and 55 million for the P4-M.
The Pentium M is available from Intel in two form factors: Micro-FCPGA (Pin Grid Array) and Micro-FCBGA (Ball Grid Array), and xix models are available, ranging from 1.1Ghz – 1.6Ghz with voltages from 0.844v minimum to 1.484v maximum.
In areas of performance the Pentium M bested or equals the Pentium 4-M running at 2.4GHz, but not as fast as a Pentium 4-M running at 3.06Ghz. But in running the HP Compaq nc6000 I have noticed that the computer runs a lot cooler then all of the Pentium 4-M machines I have worked with, and consequently it runs a lot quieter while out performing comparably equipped Pentium 4-M laptops at this price-point.
Hard Drive
I decided to go with the standard 40GB 5400 rpm hard drive in order to hold down costs. Some high end laptops now come with 7200 rpm hard drives, and the HP Compaq nc6000 can be ordered with a 60GB 7200 rpm drive. Other hard drives include a 30GB 4200 rpm, 60GB 5400 rpm, and 80GB rpm. The hard drive in the HP Compaq nc6000 is designed to be removed; a screw on the bottom of the unit has to be removed in order to slide it out.
Ports
I would have preferred to have the USB 2.0 ports on the side of the unit, as it is they are stacked one on top of the other on the back of the unit. This placement will make it somewhat difficult to use two devices at once. And I would have preferred more ports, but then again there are always USB hubs. The included Secure Digital (SD) media slot’s placement underneath the PC Card slots is ill considered in my opinion. Any use of the PC Card slots would probably make inserting and extracting a small SD Card problematic, if not impossible without first removing what every card might be in the slot.
The included S-Video Out port is a nice touch, the serial port is old school, but I can see the need for a parallel port.
Battery
The standard battery is a 6-cell Lithium-Ion; an 8-cell Lithium-Ion battery is also available. I tested HP’s claim of up to six hours; in my tests the HP Compaq nc6000 lasted just shy of 6 hours 15 minutes including viewing a DVD and listening to some music clips. Not lab controlled, but real world; I was very impressed, and any road-warrior can feel comfortable taking this laptop on a long plane, or train ride. A second 8-cell Lithium-Ion battery can be placed in the Multibay.
Port Replicators
HP offers two types of Port Replicators; standard and advanced. Both models, like the AC adapters, are compatible with previous models of the nc6000, as well as others in the Compaq nc and nx lines. I opted for the Advanced Port Replicator upon which the HP Compaq nc6000 can be placed and interfaced with the expansion port on the bottom of the unit. The plan is to replace some desktop computer with the HP Compaq nc6000.
The Advanced Port Replicator is fitted with 3 USB 2.0 ports, SVGA port, Gigabit NIC port, keyboard, and mouse. Also includes two integrated MultiBays for extra access to MultiBay devices.
Conclusion
Overall I am very satisfied with my choice of the HP Compaq nc6000 business class notebook computer. The HP Compaq nc6000 gives us an excellent balance of portability (lightweight), performance, and best in class features. The seriously long battery life makes this unit ideal for the businessman on the go who spends a lot of time on the road without access to AC. The included wireless/Bluetooth functionality really notches up the versatility of the HP Compaq nc6000. After all wireless is really starting to proliferate everywhere, and you never know where one might finds oneself and in need of Internet/Email access.
The above features and functionality make The HP Compaq nc6000 is an excellent choice for individuals and businesses alike.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1200.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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vemartin
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Member: Vincent
Location: Aurora, IL
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