HP Compaq Business Notebook nx6125 (HP Compaq Business Notebook Nx6125)

Member Name: soundsexciting

Product:	HP Compaq Business Notebook Nx6125
Date:	07/11/05 (1494 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, light, inexpensive, fingerprint sensor

Disadvantages: 512mb RAM with 128 of that devoted to graphics card, no infrared

Laptops are a pretty boring subject to write a review about.
We all know what they do, so what makes this one special.

Well first let me quickly run through the specs so that you know what we're dealing with here.

It weighs in at just under 3kg which is not bad at all for a laptop/notebook. Mind you HP call it a notebook which I would disagree with. There are Sony VIAO's out there that are real notebooks. This baby however is bigger than what I could consider to be a notebook so I'm going to refer to it as a laptop.
I do a fair amount of travel on business and this machine is just about right for long distance travel to far away countries. The last thing you want is to lug around a fat heavy laptop along with your luggage at airports.

It comes with a standard 15 TFT screen capable of supporting a max 1600x1200 resolution with 32-bit colour. No antiglare filter but the screen is actually quite bright and apart from when used in direct sunlight I've not had a problem reading it.

It uses the AMD 64bit Turion processor which is unusual for HP/Compaq as they have only ever used Intel in the past. In fact I'm pretty certain this is the first time they've gone for AMD. Its probably one of the reasons why its cheap (£650) and the reason why you get rather good performance from it. I'll come to that later.

By the way if you look at the specs that I'm listing and compare them with the specs listed for this machine one different websites, you'll find a number of major differences. e.g. some websites show this as using the 3100+ Sempron processor which is different to my machine) I'm not sure if they have got the wrong specs or whether there are a number of versions of this machine but I'm going by the specification of the actual machine that I have.

It comes with a DVD read/writer using the DVD-R/RW format. (Again CIAO show this differently as using the DVD+R/RW format). It has 3 USB 2.0 ports, 2 PCIMA slots, a memory card reader that reads SD Memory Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, SmartMedia Card and xD-Picture Cards.
It has an Ethernet Card, built in WiFi supporting the 802.11g/b standards. Oh and stereo speakers, keyboard, touchpad. The usual stuff.

Theres a fast Seagate 60Gb harddrive and 512Mb SDRAM along with a 256k cache. The one downside of this is that 128 of the 512Mb is used by the video card leaving just 384Mb for the applications. The RAM used by the video card is configurable down to 64Mb but to take full advantage of the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 card you need to leave it at 128Mb otherwise video intensive applications such as Photoshop or DVD applications or games will run very, very slowly. Believe me I've tried. :(

So what makes it special. Well theres the 64-bit Turion processor for starters. This is the only serious rival to Intel's Pentium-M processor and it is powerful enough for a laptop to give decent performance without the price tag associated with Intel.

The integrated fingerprint reader is just absolutely great and a godsend. The bundled software HP's 'Credential Manager' allows you to link your fingerprints to all sorts of passwords to applications and websites and also to the machine itself. So logging into the machine or logging into your email or bank simply requires a swipe of your finger on the small scanner and you log in. It allows you to record all 10 fingers and thumbs in case you cut yourself and it really does work. I've tried using fingers of all sorts of friends and relatives and not once has it allowed any unauthorised person access. It also means that you don't have to keep remembering passwords because once stored your fingerprint is what gives you access. The only downside to this is that you get used to it pretty quickly and once you're on a machine that doesn't use biometrics you suddenly find that you can't access a website because you've gotten used to not having to remember passwords.

The built in WiFi is activated by the press of a button above the funtion keys. At work this allows me to take my PC away from my desk and network connection to meeting rooms where there is no network connection. At home it allows me to listen to the music stored on my Philips WACS700 HiFi because the standards used by the two devices are compatible.
I'm able to take my laptop into my garden and walk about 100ft before I lose the signal from my HiFi.

The laptop even has built-in Bluetooth which is pretty handy for linking your phone (in my case Samsung D500) to the machine.

In terms of the kinds of applications you can run, well it comes with Windows XP preloaded and InterVideo. I've also got Microsoft Office on it, Paintshop Pro, Brothers in Arms (PC Game). All of these run smoothly on it. Brothers in Arms had a little problem with hesitant graphics but this was overcome by reducing the in-game video quality settings down one notch.

The battery is stated as being able to last 3.75 hours. I've managed to get 3 hours from it quite easily but that might be because when I take the power cable out, the screen brightness automatically reduces to conserve battery life but I always put the brightness back up again manually. Battery consumption increases dramatically however when Wifi and/or Bluetooth is swtiched on but this is understandable.

In terms of looks its not all that great. Its a dark grey colour but it does give you a feeling of robustness. It certainly doesn't feel cheap.

Things that could improve it are
1) More memory (or dedicated memory for the Graphics Card)
2) Infrared port.

All in all this is a well above average laptop at a reasonable price that will appeal to both small businesses and domestic users.

Summary: Good laptop for small businesses and individuals

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