HP OmniBook 500

Notebook PCs have come a long way since the days when you'd be forgiven for thinking you had a slim desktop on your lap. The notebook PC has increasingly become a symbol of corporate status and these days style takes an almost equal footing with performance and portability. The OmniBook 500 is the latest ultra-portable notebook from HP, boasting a strong feature set and sleek styling, vying to offer power and credibility on the move.

HP offers the OmniBook 500 in a variety of configurations, ranging from the entry-level model, featuring a 500MHz Intel Celeron processor with 64Mb of RAM and a 7Gb hard disk, to the higher-end Pentium III models such as this one.

The docking station was also supplied for review and this can be purchased separately for around £450. This provides a removable floppy disk and 24-speed CD-ROM. Both these drive bays can be hot-swapped with other devices such as a DVD-ROM or Zip 100 drive. Also contained within the docking station are stereo speakers and separate controls for CD-audio, which allow the machine to be used as a CD player even when the notebook is switched off.

Supporting the Pentium III/600 processor is an impressive set of components, with 128Mb of SDRAM and a generous 20Gb hard disk catering for most users' needs. The graphics subsystem is also well specified, thanks to the 8Mb Rage Mobility-M graphics from ATi. This comfortably supports the 12.1in TFT's native resolution of 1,024 x 768, and by using an external monitor it can drive the OmniBook 500 to an impressive maximum resolution of 1,600 x 1,200. The screen itself is sharply focused in XGA, with satisfactory viewing angles and an even brightness when viewed from the optimal position. The lid casing also feels solid and will protect the screen, providing you don't expose it to undue amounts of stress.

Without the docking station, the OmniBook 500 provides two USB ports, one of which can be connected to an optional external floppy. In addition, there's a D-SUB output, a single Type II PC Card slot on the right-hand side, plus connectors for the V.90 modem and 10/100BaseTX Ethernet adaptor. The docking station replicates the sockets found on the notebook and adds keyboard and mouse connections, S-Video TV-out and serial and parallel ports. The docking station also provides a Kensington lock to secure the notebook to the docking station, and there's a second lock on the rear of the notebook itself to provide effective security against theft.

The keyboard provides plenty of travel and the trackpoint works smoothly with the buttons comfortably placed. The only real flaw to the design is the loose lid catch, although this is something that HP has already identified and aims to rectify for the final production model.

The OmniBook 500's excellent design is mirrored aesthetically and the machine is very stylish, both when docked and separated. I was particularly impressed by the striking blue hard disk and power-activation lights, which will certainly go some way towards providing that corporate superiority factor.

Being a prototype model, it would be unfair to expect performance to be up to the level of the production model. However, the OmniBook 500 defied convention in this respect. The overall 2D score of 1.82 makes the OmniBook 500 a powerful machine. The IBM ThinkPad X20 (reviewed issue 74, p173), also featured a Pentium III/600 processor, but only scored 1.62 overall, illustrating the potential on offer from this slender machine. The OmniBook 500 also offers basic 3D functionality, with a 3DMark2000 score of 728 at a resolution of 1,024 x 768 in 16-bit colour. Given that performance is likely to increase when the final production model is released, the OmniBook 500 promises to be an ultra portable with plenty of punch.