HP Copy of the early Ts?

[schen]

I made 1 of semi-annual trip to look around at how "the other half lives", and of all things, the only thing to catch my eye (other than Macs), was an HP NC6220 "Business Notebook" You guys that have seen this thing, please let me know if I've lost my cookies, but it's like HP took the T2x design and made the next obvious progression instead of the T30 and 40s. It really looks like a ThinkPad and it even feels halfway decent for an HP.

Copy cat or a nod at good design... you decide.

[JaneL]

I have one. Use the search button above to see what I think about it.

[K. Eng]

It's clear to me that the nc6200 series is a knockoff of the T4x, but I think it is a pretty good knockoff.

I've seen and used the nc6230 up close. It's a pretty good machine with a solid keyboard, but the trackpoint system isn't quite as good as the ThinkPad. It also lacks some of the amenities of a ThinkPad, like the keyboard light, APS system, and scroll key. It does have some nice extras however, like an ambient light sensor (automatically controls panel brightness depending on lighting), SD card reader, and a battery that fits very well.

Overall I think the T series is sturdier, but the nc seems very precisely manufactured, more so than the T4x.

[schen]

Thanks Nonny. I read yours as well that of the other posters. It's pretty much what I thought. Design and execution is definitely not the same thing. The main thing that I've not been able to fully describe to people is the difference in feel between ThinkPads and all the others (particularly the keyboards). I'm tempted to give my nephew a call to find out if the company he works for (Arima) is the contractor on this piece. Apparently, Arima was Compaq's contractor for their more high end pieces. He told me that pretty quickly after HP took over, the new management started phasing out their contracted pieces in favor of cheaper designs produced by other companies. After spending some time with their later models, and reading what others like yourself have to say, it sounds like my nephew was pretty much right on the mark.