Product Reviews

This is essentially a slightly upgraded replacement of the Labs-winning nx9005 (see issue 109). HP has replaced the Athlon XP-M 2000+ with a 2400+ and upped the 30GB hard disk to 40GB; there's still the nippy combo drive for backup and archiving if necessary. The main boost, however, is in 2D performance, with a rise from 0.90 in its previous version to a more contemporary 1.10.

Not a lot else has changed, but, for the most part, that's no bad thing. It retains the same sturdy and smart chassis, along with the same expandability. There's no infrared port, but you get practically everything else, including serial and parallel ports and even a floppy drive. The USB 1.1 ports are disappointing for external storage or media streaming, but there's a four-pin FireWire should you need the speed. It's a shame wireless networking support is lacking, unlike on the BenQ above, but at this price we'd

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expect a few compromises. The nx9005's 15in screen sticks to 1,024 x 768 as opposed to the more standard 1,400 x 1,050, which is still enough to get some meaningful work done and, with its good definition, you won't be peering at the screen. Viewing angles could be better, but we've no complaint about contrast or brightness.

ATi's 64MB shared graphics will scupper any serious 3D gaming urges, though, as all but the oldest 3D games will sputter along. At least you'll have no problems back at work, as the keyboard is surprisingly pleasant to use. You'll have to type quite firmly to get the words out, but it's comfortable once you're used to it. The layout isn't bad either, with separated cursor keys and dedicated page-navigation keys, all of which are a good size, so even hard-core touch-typists won't be frustrated. There's a little too much give into the chassis, but there are notebooks costing twice this much that suffer more.

Low-cost chassis are invariably large and, at 41mm high, the nx9005 is a struggle to fit into a bag. You won't forget it's with you either, weighing in at a portly 3.3kg. Battery life is a bit of a letdown too, with our light-use battery test lasting for less than three hours and the intensive test not quite an hour and a half.

This is still a good-value notebook, but the BenQ Joybook 5000U manages to cram all the benefits of Centrino technology into a lighter chassis for the same price, and thus denies the HP a place on the A List.