Compaq Armada 7770DMT review

Compaq's choice of a beige colouring for the high-end Armada 7000 range gives the notebooks a distinctive look, but it can make it difficult to tell different models in the range apart. At first glance, the Armada 7700 looks identical to the Armada 7350MT (reviewed issue 39, p172). In fact it's a very different beast indeed.

The Armada 7700 feels extremely sturdy, with a thick plastic casing to protect the notebook from wear and tear. If you're used to using a modern notebook, you might find the lack of palmrest a little strange. The notebook isn't ultra-slim, so typing for long periods without suitable support can prove uncomfortable, although the situation is eased by two fold-out feet which raise the notebook to a more usable angle.

The keyboard itself is extremely good, with a layout similar to that of a conventional desktop keyboard, including a separate cursor pad and page navigation keys. Like the Armada 7350MT, the 7700 also boasts four user-definable function buttons, which can be employed for launching often-used applications or documents. The keys have a nice, clicky feel and a surprisingly deep travel for a notebook keyboard.

Compaq has chosen a trackpoint for pointer control, with a small blue nib between the G, H and B keys. It's comfortable and accurate, and preferable to some unresponsive touchpads. All the usual ports, including the audio sockets, are at the back of the notebook, and the power supply is built into the body of the machine. This adds to the weight, but it also adds to convenience by cutting down on the bulk that needs to be carried.

The Armada follows the conventional modular design in terms of batteries and drives. The lithium ion battery fits into a compartment on the left side of the case, while the removable hard drive slots into the front, next to a multibay compartment which can fit either the 20-speed CD-ROM drive or a floppy-drive.

The screen is a 12.1in TFT model, capable of running at a resolution of 800 x 600 in 16-bit colour. It's bright with a fine level of contrast and respectable clarity. and it's powered by S3's Aurora 64V+ chipset with 2Mb of EDO RAM.

The Armada 7700 comes equipped with a 3.2Gb EIDE hard drive. While no business applications came pre-loaded, Compaq has clearly put a lot of thought into the support software including Symantec's Just Connect communications suite and Compaq's own diagnostics and intelligent manageability software, giving Compaq bonus points when it comes to reducing that all-important total cost of ownership.

No-one could accuse the Armada 7700 of being ill-equipped. Along with the CD-ROM drive you also get 16-bit audio courtesy of an ESS-1878 chipset, output through a set of speakers on either side of the display. The sound is slightly tinny, but it should prove sufficient for most presentations. A 33.6K modem is also built into the side.

The review Armada came with Compaq's ArmadaStation. The notebook slots into this desktop-expansion case and gains another multibay and another half-height 5.25in bay which can accept other standard IDE devices. You can also fit two expansion cards; either PCI or ISA. With the Armada locked in, a monitor placed on top and a keyboard and mouse plugged in, your Armada is converted to a desktop PC, with all that added functionality. If you don't spend all your time on the move, it's great.

The Armada 7770DMT shares the same security features as last month's 7350MT, including the screw-lockable catches for the memory, hard disk and multibay compartments. Power management is closely integrated into the OS and can be found in Power Properties in the Windows Control Panel. The Armada can power down the hard drive and the PC Card slots when power runs low and can also save unsaved information to disk and hibernate if necessary. Battery life closely matches the quoted two to three hours in normal use, but with heavy use of the CD-ROM drive, you can find the warning lights flashing before one hour is out.