HP Compaq 6730b review
in Laptops
Verdict
It's business as usual for the HP Compaq 6730b, but despite a fine overall performance it just falls short of excellence.
Review Date: 30 Apr 2009
Reviewed By: Sasha Muller
Price when reviewed: £642 (£738 inc VAT)
Overall Rating
Features & Design
Value for Money
Performance
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Part Code | GB987ET |
| Review Date | 30 Apr 2009 |
| Price ex VAT | £642 |
| Price inc VAT | £738 |
| Overall rating |
|
| Features & Design |
|
| Value for Money |
|
| Performance |
|
| Warranty | |
|---|---|
| Warranty | 1yr collect and return |
| Physical specifications | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 357 x 264 x 44mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 2.660kg |
| Travelling weight | 3.2kg |
| Processor and memory | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel GM45 |
| RAM capacity | 2.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR2 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 1 |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 |
| Screen and video | |
|---|---|
| Screen size | 15.4in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,280 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 800 |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800 |
| Graphics chipset | Intel GMA X4500HD |
| Graphics card RAM | 64MB |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 0 |
| S-Video outputs | 1 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 0 |
| Drives | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 160GB |
| Spindle speed | 5,400RPM |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 |
| Hard disk | Toshiba MK1652GSX |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer |
| Optical drive | TSSTcorp TS-L633L |
| Battery capacity | 5,100mAh |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 |
| Networking | |
|---|---|
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
|
| 802.11b support |
|
| 802.11g support |
|
| 802.11 draft-n support |
|
| Integrated 3G adapter |
|
| Other Features | |
|---|---|
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
|
| Wireless key-combination switch |
|
| Modem |
|
| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 1 |
| PC Card slots | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 4 |
| FireWire ports | 1 |
| PS/2 mouse port |
|
| 9-pin serial ports | 0 |
| Parallel ports | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 2 |
| SD card reader |
|
| Memory Stick reader |
|
| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
|
| Smart Media reader |
|
| Compact Flash reader |
|
| xD-card reader |
|
| Pointing device type | Touchpad |
| Audio chipset | SoundMAX HD Audio |
| Speaker location | Front edge |
| Hardware volume control? |
|
| Integrated microphone? |
|
| Integrated webcam? |
|
| TPM |
|
| Fingerprint reader |
|
| Smartcard reader |
|
| Operating system and software | |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business |
| OS family | Windows Vista |
| Recovery method | Recovery partition |
| Software supplied | Windows XP downgrade discs |
| Battery and performance tests | |
|---|---|
| Battery life, light use | 334 |
| Battery life, heavy use | 88 |
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.08 |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 5fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low |
From around the web
User comments
Don't Buy HP or Compaq if you want reliability
You have to own a PC for a while to be able to judge how good it is.
This HP offering is poor, reliability especially bad, not primarily because of the hardware but because the abysmal HP software that is shipped with the PCs.
HP Connection Manager is a disaster and on my daughter's Compaq I have had to remove the software. The panel drivers are equally as problematical - frequently requiring an uncontrolled power down when the entire PC locks up.
By DaiHard on 1 Jul 2010 
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