Disappointed with HP business laptop, considering a Thinkpad

[blommer]

Hi everyone, new to the forum. Around September last year I gave my old Dell 640m to my brother for school, anticipating I'd upgrade. Well something came up and I needed a portable computer immediately, so without a lot of research I got an Asus 1000ha. It is a very good, if not great, netbook. But I really wanted a sturdy, business-class laptop, so it was time to upgrade again.

I initially wanted a X200, but the expense and reviews about its screen turned me off. After some searching I found an HP nc2400 with Core Duo for about the same price I paid for my netbook. But I've been using the HP nc2400 for a while now and I'm kind of disappointed with it. I was really looking forward to the keyboard and point-stick, but they have both let me down. Although the keyboard is firm, a few of the keys will not register well if I strike them at a slight angle (such as the "G" key). Also, compared to my mother's T42, the point-stick is very difficult to use. I am also disappointed with its screen. I know it's not an LED-lit or IPS screen, but the light distribution is pretty poor and color is bad. It also seems a lot slower than my father's Lenovo 3000 C100 with 1.6ghz M solo processor. I'm guessing the hard drive is the bottleneck (4200rpm).

I guess what I'm asking is, has anybody used both an HP nc2400 and a X200 or X60/x61? Would it be worth the upgrade? Or is there another business class laptop that would be good? Thanks for any info!

[ZaZ]

I think from a performance aspect, they'll be much faster due to the regular hard drive and you're getting a full-fledged Core 2 Duo. The screen on the X200 is much brighter, though I don't image quality or viewing angles are much better. The ultranav is obviously second to none. Is that worth the cost? It's hard for me to say for you. If you really dislike you current setup, I would say yes.

[tomh009]

I have some limited experience on the nc2400, and much more on the X series.

There is no doubt that HP cut corners on the pointing stick implementation -- even after adjustments, it feels out of control, and not precise and predictable like a TrackPoint.

The performance is the other issue. With a 4200 rpm and a max of 2 GB, the CPU speed becomes irrelevant as you easily get disk-bound from the lack of memory (unless you're running a stripped-down XP), and then the disk throughput is slooooow. The X61/X61s and X200/X200s can handle 4GB+ of memory, and come with standard 2.5" disks, often with 7200 rpm as standard. Apart from the tablet models, the X200s will have the best screen of the bunch, with WXGA+ and LED backlighting.

As for other ones, the only other company that comes to mind that actually makes serious business-class laptops Panasonic. And unfortunately there are no pointing sticks there. (Maybe Toshiba, too -- have not looked at their product selection in a long time.)

[pianowizard]

I've owned an nc2400 and an X60s, and much preferred the former. It's true that the HP's 4200rpm HDD makes it slower than the X60s, but I liked the HP's higher resolution (30% more pixels than the X60s), its built-in optical drive, its slightly better build quality, and of course its lower price -- even the base price included 3 years of warranty. The HP's TN display is terrible, but so is the X60s'. The lousy trackpoint can be made much better by substituting the cap with one from a Thinkpad.

If you really want to replace the nc2400 with an equivalent Thinkpad, the X2** or the X3** would be a much better choice than the X6*, IMO.

[dr_st]

The lousy trackpoint can be made much better by substituting the cap with one from a Thinkpad.

That is true indeed, I've done so in the past on a different Compaq laptop, and tracking improved drastically. However, a few things that cannot be addressed by a simple cap swap are the placement and shape of the trackpoint buttons (I never tried the NC2400, but on some HP laptops, such as the 8510p/w, they are completely horribly placed, so clicking them becomes a chore), as well as the absence of the middle button used for scrolling, which is a very big deal once you get used to having it.

If you really want to replace the nc2400 with an equivalent Thinkpad, the X2** or the X3** would be a much better choice than the X6*, IMO.

Interesting opinion. Why? It's not like they don't have the same disadvantages you mentioned for the X6x (low resolution, no optical), and they are slower.

The only thing, IMO, that an X32 has over an X6x is good balance of weight and battery life with the 6-cell battery. Well, I also think it runs a bit cooler.

[blommer]

The pointing stick buttons on the nc2400 suffer from the same problem that some of the keyboard keys have: they won't register a click unless you hit them at right angle.

[pianowizard]

Why? It's not like they don't have the same disadvantages you mentioned for the X6x (low resolution, no optical), and they are slower.

I said X2** and X3**, not X2* and X3*. The resolution is either 1280x800 or 1440x900, and the X3** has an integrated optical drive. And the X200s is even lighter than the X60s. But some may find that things look too small on a 12.1" 1440x900 screen.

[dr_st]

Ah, I see now. Didn't look closely enough.

[pianowizard]

Ah, I see now. Didn't look closely enough.

I could have referred to those series as X20* and X30* to avoid ambiguity, but I really wanted to include all future models of these series (which will probably be X21*, X22*, etc.). That's because I'm pretty sure all of them will have higher res than 1024x768, and most if not all of the X3** will continue to have internal optical drives, i.e. better than the X6*.