It’s rare to find a business-focused laptop that elicits much actual excitement: cutting-edge technology and luxury extras aren’t generally at the top of the list when considering a suitable work machine. But the HP Compaq nc6400 still manages to cause a frisson of excitement when you realise exactly how good parts of it are.
There’s a feeling of quality that pervades the entire system. The keyboard is an unqualified success — a totally solid base makes typing quiet, ergonomic and stress-free, and the trackpad is equally tactile, with a stripe on the right-hand side to make scrolling through Web pages and text documents easier. There’s also a trackpoint embedded in the keyboard — useful for trains and planes when there’s less space available.
We love the screen as well. There’s no distracting gloss finish, and the resulting image is bright and clear. Our technical tests produced a near-flawless set of results. The panel itself is a 14.1in widescreen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 — just a little low for our liking, but still sufficient for most jobs, including photo editing, which benefits from the good colour handling and even backlighting.
Everything is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 CPU, paired with 512MB of RAM (we recommend matching our test unit by upgrading to 1GB). Each processor core runs at 1.83GHz, while the RAM is clocked at a healthy 667MHz. This robust specification powered the system to an overall benchmarks score of 1.09, which is excellent for a notebook and more than enough for word processing, email and virtually anything else you turn your hand to.
Unfortunately, The Core 2 SKUs of the nc6400 don’t come with fingerprint reader or a TPM while the lesser Core Duo models do. However, an integrated SmartCard reader is included, though this disparity needs to be addressed by HP asap.
The chassis is well put together. It doesn’t feel quite as robust as the A-Listed Dell Latitude D620, but we’d be perfectly happy rushing from a hotel to an airport with the system in a bag. The screen in particular feels well made and protected, and the lid will clearly withstand some pressure while on the go.
Battery life is also outstanding: 5hrs 42mins under light use, and 4hrs 8mins under intense use. While this isn’t a record, it’s still almost enough to go a full day without a charge, presuming you make occasional and savvy use of the suspend and hibernate modes.
Storage is sufficient. An 80GB hard disk is plenty for a Windows install and a comprehensive set of applications and documents, while the SD/MMC slot at the very front of the chassis will be useful for those with digital cameras. The optical drive supports dual-layer DVD writing. Our only other quibbles are that the three USB ports can feel limiting at times and that HP’s compatible 3-in-1 NAS Docking Station (which offers six extra USB 2 ports, a host of legacy ports (including PS/2) and a 160GB hard disk) isn’t available in Australia.
But is the nc6400 the best business laptop you can buy? Dell’s D620 is still incredibly compelling. It might not be quite as fast as the nc6400 (a 1.02 overall application benchmark score compared to 1.09), but it’s a touch slimmer, feels slightly better made and, although looks aren’t everything, a little more attractive. It also offers a higher screen resolution and around 40 minutes more light-use battery life. If you need the extra power, the HP is a good all-round choice, but the Dell just holds on to its slot at the top of the A List.
