HP Compaq nx7400 DT7200 EN review

Jonathan Bray October 7, 2009

£823

Price when reviewed

HP has been Dell’s main rival for PC Pro’s business notebook crown for more than a year now. Both companies were top of this category in the A List until this issue, and we were expecting another close-fought battle this month. However, HP, along with several other manufacturers, has leapfrogged Dell.

There are several reasons for this. The ergonomics, for instance, of the nx7400 are superior to the Dell’s. The light yet positive action of the keyboard makes it a pleasure to use. And although the touchpad is a little on the small side, it’s accurate, and the buttons are both easy to locate and press.

The 15.4in screen is also superb. While not quite as accomplished as the Acer TravelMate or Lenovo 3000 N100’s, the glossy finish and high contrast of the 1,280 x 800 TFT mean it’s a joy to use.

Even though it isn’t as portable as the Dell – which is by far the lightest and smallest in this Labs – it has a fairly close travelling weight of 3.05kg. And it makes up for the bulk in a big way with a longer-lasting battery. Its 4,800mAh unit lasted 2hrs 52mins in our intensive-use test and well over four hours under light use. This isn’t the longest we’ve ever seen, but enough to put others in the shade here.

The specification is decent too, with a 120GB hard disk offering a huge amount of storage, Intel’s fast 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 1GB of DDR2 RAM providing the horsepower, and Intel’s GMA 950 integrated graphics chipset handling visuals. It’s enough to push the nx7400 to second place in the speed rankings, just behind the Sony VAIO VGN-BX396VP.

Perhaps the nx7400’s biggest weakness is its lack of added security and relatively miserly standard warranty. There’s no fingerprint reader, TPM chip or smart card reader and the warranty is a basic one-year, collect-and-return affair. You can upgrade the latter to a three-year on-site next-business-day warranty for a reasonable £140, however.

Despite these niggles, the HP nx7400 still offers an excellent all-round package. And its excellent ergonomics, reasonable price and great performance all combine to send the competition packing this month.