MaximumPC 2006 06

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

70 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2006

H

ewlett-Packard certainly isn’t

known for making high-end gaming

notebooks, but the company does

know its way around corporate configs.

This nc6320 has everything we love in a

notebook—including Intel’s popular Core

Duo dual-core mobile CPU—but uses a

technology so outdated we dare not speak

its name. OK, we’ll say it: onboard video —a

parts choice that makes 3D gaming literally

impossible. To compensate for this slap

in the face to common decency, the rig

comes loaded with Verizon’s high-speed

EVDO wireless broadband connectivity. The

technology works too, making this an ultra-

powerful, highly portable notebook.

HP crafted the laptop to withstand the

hazards of the open road. Its shell is made

of magnesium-alloy to withstand any

bumps and bruises it

might encounter, and

a layer of Mylar below

the keyboard pro-

tects the notebook’s

vitals from becoming

scrambled by spilled

coffee or some other

errant beverage. There

are even little rubber

bumpers surround-

ing the keyboard to

keep the 15-inch LCD

screen from touching

the keys when you

shut the lid. We don’t

see this feature enough on laptops—it’s

definitely welcome.

The embedded EVDO wireless broad-

band is easily the most notable—and

coolest—feature of the nc6320. It works

through Verizon’s network, and made it a

breeze to log onto the web from anywhere

in San Francisco. (Verizon claims the ser-

vice is available in every large metropolitan

area in the U.S., but make sure your city is

covered before taking the plunge). Users

connect to the Internet by simply open-

ing up the Wireless Connections window,

selecting the Verizon network, and logging

on. Is it a fast connection? Heck yeah. We

consistently experienced a strong signal

and fast downloads. In fact, for simple

web browsing, the connection felt just as

fast as the cable modem we use at home,

although our actual throughput for large

downloads was around 40KB/s. The EVDO

service costs $60 a month, but if you

don’t want to pony up the cash there’s the

option of using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technol-

ogy, both of which are integrated.

For paranoid types, there’s a built-

in biometric fingerprint scanner. It’s

purely optional, and is tied to the Trusted

Platform Module (TPM) on the Intel chip-

set. Using these two systems in tandem,

your fingerprint basically acts as the key

to your computer. A registered fingerprint

gains entrance, while intruders are denied.

The notebook’s 15-inch screen is

small, but impressive. Images are bright

and sharp at the 1400x1050 native resolu-

tion. But as we mentioned before, the

integrated Intel graphics are strictly 2D.

As for battery life, we got three and a half

hours of continuous use surfing the web,

but only 90 minutes while playing games

(of course, with the onboard graphics, you

won’t be doing much of that). The included

speakers are simply sufficient.

The nc6320 isn’t perfect, but it comes

close—for non-gamers. It’s plenty powerful

and the wireless options are impressive. We

also love its lithe six-pound carry weight,

the security features, and its durable chas-

sis. Sure, it would be nice to have the option

to fire up a game now and then, but this is

nonetheless a capable and useful machine

that has “road warrior” written all over it.

—MICHELE FOLEY

HP nc6320

Damn near perfect for everything except games

HP’s nc6320 notebook is the first laptop we’ve seen with

Verizon’s EVDO wireless broadband. We could connect to

it anywhere in San Francisco.

$1,800, http://www.hp.com

HP NC6320

LAPTOP

Lots of wireless options,

durable design, and hefty

security.

RUNNING LAPS^8

So-so speakers; it can’t do

gaming; 5,400rpm drive.

UNDER THE HOOD

BRAINS

BEAUTY

92 min

4,889

686 sec

394 sec

27.6 mb/sec

49.1 fps

518

382

27.9

4.2 (-91.45%)

96

BENCHMARKS

Premiere Pro

ZERO POINT SCORES

Photoshop CS

HD T ach

Doom 3

3DM ark 05

Portable Gaming

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Our zero point is a Dell Inspiron XPS, with a 2.13GHz Pentium M, 1GB of DDR2/533 RAM, and a GeForce Go 6800 Ultra.

555 (-88.65%)

VIDEO Intel Graphics Media Accelerator

950 (128MB shared system

memory)

DISPLAY 15-inch (1400x1050@32-bit)

AUDIO CHIP 16-bit Sound Blaster integrated

LAP WEIGHT 6 lbs, 1 oz

CARRY WEIGHT 6 lbs, 14 oz

CPU 2GHz Intel Core Duo T2500

RAM 1GB DDR667

LAN Broadcom Gigabit, EVDO,

802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth,

modem

HARD DRIVE Toshiba 80GB, 5,400rpm,

SATA

OPTICAL TSST TS-L532 M

BOOT: 44 sec. DOWN: 40 sec.