Packs a Punch for a Great Price
Pros:
Screen, speed, lots of whistles and bells!
Cons:
Weight, battery life, a little cheap to the touch
The Bottom Line:
If you're on a budget and looking for a lot of computer, HP is a great solution
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
The HP6700 laptop, dollar for dollar, is a very good laptop. I bought mine at Costco and paid $899 on January 1, 2008. I've seen it slightly cheaper at other stores but I like Costco because of their return policy.
Out of the box, this is an impressive looking notebook. Closed, it has a laser etched black cover with a high gloss finish. It's just a little more than an inch thick and is probably on the heavier side for a laptop this size (15.1"). Open it up and it has everything! Webcam, microphone, Altec Lansing speakers and Cyberlink YouCam software that will have you generating video with sound for YouTube right away. I downloaded Skype and made a phone call within minutes. It also has a built-in fingerprint reader which is great for logging on to the computer.
It also has three USB ports, firewire, card reader (SD, MS/Pro, MMC and XP) wireless, PCMCIA, DVDRW and Ethernet. It also has S-video out, phone modem, video out, audio out and two headphone jacks (nice for two people to watch a movie). Finally, the HP expansion port.
Applications run pretty quick. As you probably already know, Vista sucks up almost a gig of RAM so having two is essential. The computer boots up in under 2 minutes. Microsoft Word pops up and is ready to go in under 3 seconds. I have not run any video intensive applications so I cannot comment. I do stream TV broadcast through my Slingbox and the picture is fantastic.
ONe thing tey got right was a little on/off switch on the touch-pad. My palm is always touching the pad and screwing things up so you can just turn it off to resolve the problem.
PROS
The screen is big and bright. It does have the reflective finish so it doesn't work great in high light settings but for indoor use, it's great. As noted above, the extras that are built in mean you don't have to go and add a bunch of things to the exterior of the laptop (like a webcam that takes up a USB port). The keyboard is full-size and is quick and responsive. The sound is good through the built-in speaker and great through my Bose QC3.
CONS
It's a bit heavy compared to Sony's 15" (but also $450 less). Battery life is not great. I get just over two hours offline and just under two online. The volume and DVD control keys are touch sensitive (like an ipod wheel. The volume takes too long to make adjustments and a good old analog wheel would have been just as good (but the keys light up in HP blue and look nice). Finally, the computer is ridden with the usual software upsells so there's a lot of stuff that's worth deleting (like the games that you get 2 free opens and then they ask for $20). The screen does not lock to the keyboard. I don't know if this is a new trend (I have a 12" Sony that is the same way) but I'm not a big fan.
I would recommend this laptop for anyone who is primarily using it as a desktop with portability (family, college student). If you are constantly on the go, this might not be the model for you because of the weight, size and HPs reputation for reliability (no problems yet!). But as noted, you get a lot of bang for your buck!
SPECS
Model - HP6700 Notebook PC.
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz (centrino)
RAM Memory - 2038 MB
System Type - 32-bit OS
Operating System - Windows Vista Home Premium
