Notebooks for taking care of business

CALL them the Commodores and Falcons of the laptop world. Business notebooks sacrifice razzle dazzle for long-term reliability and real world grunt.

At least that's the theory. While you won't find flash graphics cards and Blu-ray players in the average business notebook, they do pack stuff that's workforce useful such as beefed up security through built-in fingerprint scanners and beefed-up chassis with reinforced hinges and mag alloy cages around vulnerable parts.

They also tend to pack multi-core processors rather than the anemic CPUs found in netbooks and bottom-end notebooks, as well as at least 2GB of memory for reasonable performance from the copy of Windows Vista Business often found on a commercial laptop's hard drive.

This week Tech Check takes a look at two notebooks that straddle the built-for-business market, the cheap and cheerful HP 6730b and the much more upmarket Lenovo ThinkPad T500.

HP 6730b

THE 6730b is HP's meat and potatoes business laptop but can still do a neat party trick to impress onlookers during meeting room laptop envy sessions.

Just pull out a set of keys and scrape them across the HP's display cover. Instead of nasty gouges, nothing much happens, thanks to a scratch resistant coating HP calls DuraFinish.

The stuff is also on the wrist rest. Push hard enough with a sharp object though and a very faint scratch will appear.

The tough finish is backed up by a mag alloy support around the case and the display hinges appear to be hefty enough to survive life on the road. We also liked the touch controls arrayed along the top of the keyboard for modulating such things as the speaker volume and wireless networking and the wide touchpad with its touch scroll sensor on the right for whipping through documents.

While the cost cutters appear to have been warned off the HP's plastics and case assembly they did get a say in the notebook's 15.4in widescreen display, which was a 1280 by 800 pixel number that looked fuzzy when compared to the Lenovo.

While the HP's graphics system consisted of Intel's cooking version 4 Series Express shared memory chipset, the unit still has more than enough muscle to run Vista with desktop apps and dabble in older games and mild multimedia manipulations.

SPECIFICATIONS
Features: Touch controls, 2GB RAM, 6-cell battery, scratch-proof finish, Windows Vista Business, weight 2.7kg
Price: $1199
More at: www.hp.com.au
Rating: 8/10

Lenovo ThinkPad T500

NO mere Ford Falcon, the review T500 was optioned up more like a Fairmont Ghia with a speedy 200 GB, 7200rpm hard drive, a nice long three-year warranty and a 9-cell battery.

There's also a SIM slot under the battery for hooking into 3G broadband networks.

Strangely, for a $2899 notebook, there was no integrated webcam, but the review T500 did sport an Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz processor, also known as the Centrino 2, as well as 2GB of memory to underpin Windows Vista Business.

Graphics come courtesy of a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650, which, combined with the dual core processor, give this buttoned down for business laptop enough power to sneak off for some serious game play.

Performance under Vista with normal desktop apps was brisk and responsive and the 1680 by 1050 pixel 15.4in widescreen, LED backlit display is a bright, crisp joy to behold.

The touchpad has no less than five buttons and the trademark ThinkPad thumbstick still sits in the middle of the nicely spaced keyboard with its pleasing action.

As well as the usual array of USB ports, a memory card reader and a gigabit ethernet port the Lenovo also has a high-def DisplayPort video output.

The IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad range has always had a reputation for being able to take a bit of a battering and the latest box should stand up well. While the angular design and matte black plastics look butch rather than beautiful, they are reasonably scratch resistant and the chassis incorporates a mag alloy roll cage around the notebook's vitals. There's also a shock sensor for the hard drive, smart enough to allow for travelling over rough roads and not switching off the drive.

SPECIFICATIONS
Features: (20823RM model) 3G SIM slot, 3-year warranty, 9-cell battery, 2GB RAM,Windows Vista Business, weight 2.9kg
Price: $2899
More at: www.lenovo.com.au
Rating: 8/10

CONCLUSION

FOR just over a grand, the HP 6730b impressed with its good-looking, scratch-resistant plastics, solid processor and memory performance and nifty touches like the touch controls for speaker volume.

At just over a grand, the only thing that would hold me back from buying the 6730b is the lo-res 1280 by 800 screen, although the HP can be optioned up with a better looking 1680 by 1050 pixel screen for more money.

The Lenovo was in another league to the HP on the performance front, but then it should be, given it's more than double the price. If I was after a battle-proof business laptop with enough grunt for a spot of weekend gaming and multimedia manipulation, then the Lenovo might score a space in my Crumpler bag, although I'd probably go for the slightly more mobile T400 edition.