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With the large crisp and sharp 15.4 inch screen the size has to be large and given that the 3.1 kilos weight is not that exceptional. It is 36x25x3.5cm and this includes a DVD/CD-RW drive. As with most of the more recent notebooks there is no floppy drive but you do get a built in SD/MMC card port as well as a PCMCIA slot.

A quick tour around the outside of the unit has microphone input and headphone out on the front with the SD/MMC port. The left side has the DVD/CD-RW drive and the PCMCIA slot. The right side has an infra red port, AC input and Kensington lock port while the rear of the unit has external monitor port, PS/2 mouse port, a total of three USB2 ports, LAN and modem ports, parallel port and just for good measure a mini (4 pin) FireWire port. Certainly this notebook is as fully equipped as most desktops. The only thing I noted missing is a serial port.

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I was somewhat surprised to find the notebook has only 256MB ram, however in my tests this proved adequate. Should you want more memory, unscrew a cover on the base and a standard RAM socket lies beneath ready to receive more memory.

Just for once I will not be ranting about lack of battery life, in normal use I consistently got around 210 minutes with normal settings. By that I mean contrast and brightness were not dimmed greatly as soon as you run from batteries.

Not a great deal in the way of software with a copy of Microsoft Works being the only real addition. I was a little surprised to find that Windows XP Home edition being the operating system. On reading the .PDF files it appears that Word, Works Suite, AutoRoute, Money and Picture It! are also supplied but they were not on my test machine. Roxio CD/DVD software was installed as was software for DVD viewing. A 60 day free update to Symantec Anti Virus is also supplied.

The Pavilion range is marketed through Dixons Group, Staples, Comet and John Lewis stores so perhaps the market is for the Home user who needs occasional trips. As yet I have not mentioned the built in Wireless Lan. The excellent battery life is down to Intel Centrino low power chip technology with the mobile 1.4GHz chip.

There is a built in Radeon 9200 graphics chip so gaming users should not be disappointed. However with today’s bloatware I have some niggles about the size of the 30GB hard disc. There are two Harman/Kardon speakers one each side of the 87 key keyboard. In front of this is an 11cm strip to rest your wrists on and an excellent trackpad with the two standard mouse buttons in front. An area on the right side of the trackpad allows mouse wheel properties. I have seen it advertised at www.comet.co.uk for £949 with free delivery.

Link : http://www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng/consumer/notebooks/pavilion/dx682e.html