The *Best* Value for a Laptop (IMHO)
Written: Jan 04 '02 (Updated Jan 04 '02)
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Pros: Inexpensive, 14.1" Screen, DVD-ROM, 24/7 Support
Cons: A bit heavy, somewhat outdated
The Bottom Line: Excellent for a travelling professional or a student. Features make it a great value for the money. My experience with it had been great and I would recommend it
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| mishchenko's Full Review: HP Pavilion Duron 900MHz / 10GB / 256MB / 14.1" TF... |
HP N5415 is an excellent laptop for the price (NOTE: the price I listed is what I paid after a 20% discount coupon and the $100 mail-in rebate from HP). It flat out beats the competition in its category in terms of value - the only other Duron laptop that comes close is the Compaq Presario 700 model.
Hardware Specs:
Speed:
N5415 comes with a 900 MHz AMD Duron processor and 256MB of RAM. This should be more than enough to satisfy even the more power-hungry mobile users. Personally, I plan to expand the RAM to 512MB eventually but it suits me just fine for now.
Display:
The 14.1" TFT screen is perhaps this laptop's best feature - it is bright and sharp and has more viewable area than a typical 15" monitor. The maximum resolution is 1024x768 and the maximum color depth is 32bit.
Storage:
The 10GB hard drive is a bit of a disappointment. Frankly, I was disappointed to find that they use 10GB drives in N5415 when 20GB ones are only ~$50 more. Once again, I am planning to expand this as well (a 40GB external FireWire solution would do the trick). The 8x DVD-ROM drive is a pleasure. Movie playback is crisp and enjoyable.
Networking:
Other features of note include a built-in 56K modem and a 10/100 Ethernet NIC. These two perform quite well - I've had the chance to use both dialup Internet and a high-speed ADSL connection with this laptop and the networking hardware does its job properly.
Battery:
The included battery can take about 2.5 hours of standalone use (this time goes down a lot if you're playing music or DVD disks). It recharges whenever the PC is plugged into a power outlet. Of course, there is a battery indicator on the taskbar to inform you of its status.
Keyboard and mouse:
The keyboard seems a little cramped at first but is very solid and is supposedly spill-resistant - I have yet to test this claim :) The mouse touchpad feels very natural and is very customizable - its corners can be set up as clickable "zones" to perform all kinds of actions or macros. There are the standard left/right buttons immediately below the touchpad along with a scroll button. Only the right-click button is necessary however as all other actions can be performed with the touchpad itself. There is also a convenient button that turns the touchpad off entirely (for instance, if you plan to type for an extended period of time, this can be very handy). Above the keyboard, there is a large and easily accessible sleep button to bring the PC in and out of energy-saving Standby mode. It is framed by four buttons that can be set to run whatever you want them to.
Sound:
The sound is quite nice. Aside from the pleasantly sounding front-panel PolkAudio speakers, there's a conveniently-located headphone jack, a small microphone above the keyboard and an external microphone input jack at the back.
Ports:
The ports included are modem, Ethernet, audio (as mentioned above), 2 PCMCIA, floppy drive, 2 USB, composite TV-out (I found this to work great for DVD movies and presentations), external VGA monitor port, paraller printer port, serial port, and a PS/2 port for connecting an external keyboard or mouse. These ports make the computer quite expandable and flexible - for instance, I plan to use the PCMCIA slots to add FireWire capability.
Included Software:
This computer comes with Windows XP Home Edition pre-installed and ready to go. XP is probably the best Windows so far and it's a breeze to use and almost crash-free. Of course, it's still MS Windows so don't get your hopes up too much. Other included software is Microsoft Works (I wiped this immediately and replaced it with Office), MusicMatch Jukebox and Microsoft Money. Some 3D games are also included but they are pretty bad and not recommended. HP also includes some nice online features like 100 free MP3 downloads from eMusic.com and a free yearly subscription to Encarta Encyclopedia Online Deluxe.
Technical Support:
HP provides 24/7 tech support with this laptop (at least as long as it's under warranty, I suppose). This works quite well and their phone support reps are generally helpful and the queue times are much better than other companies'. HP's tech support is very good. Interestingly enough, you can also run diagnostic tests on your PC and convert them to support tickets (in the event of a hardware problem). Another interesting support feature is HP's Instant Support -- you put in a question and an "expert" soon picks it up and answers it (all online).
Downsides: Very few downsides could be found with this system. Weighing in at around 7lbs with the battery in, it's a bit on the heavy side. Furthermore, it could use a longer-lasting battery. Another bone to pick is the fact that this laptop may be considered by some to be a little outdated (there are plenty of 15" 1GHz+ laptop models out there, but they're in a whole different price category).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 950
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: 801-900
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
mishchenko
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Location: Vancouver, Canada
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
As seen in my reviews, I am into technology, sports, culture, entertainment and more.
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