Laptop Review: HP ProBook 4720s

Laptops designed to push desktops off the desk have come a long way from the behemoths of bygone times. A case in point: the HP ProBook 4720s ($1,025 as tested), a slick black beauty that can actually be used comfortably in a lap.

While 6.6 pounds may not sound light to some minds, it's positively airy compared to the old 10- to 14-pound desktop replacements of yore. Granted, you can't shrink the dimensions of a laptop much if you're going to build one with a 17.3-inch display -- the HP is 16.2 inches wide by 10.5 inches long -- but it's only 1.1 inch thick at its front edge, which together with its "expresso" brushed aluminum finish gives the 4720s a sleek appearance that belies its dimensions, as well as improving its durability.

Another departure from the bad-boy days of luggables is battery life. During the Jurassic Age of desktop substitutes, battery life was laughable. If a unit managed 90 minutes, it was a cause for celebration. That didn't matter too much, though, because it was expected that the power-hungry units wouldn't be traveling too far away from a wall socket. That's not the case today. Our review unit had an eight-cell, 73WHr lithium-ion battery. HP rates the juice stick at six hours, and it delivered on that promise.

Damn the Viruses, Full Speed Ahead

Setting up the HP is very simple. That's because it doesn't have a lot of the slop that's typical on a new computer. In fact, the only icon on our system's desktop was the Recycle Bin. There wasn't even a trial version of an antivirus suite, something you'll want to get right away, unless you feel comfortable navigating the treacherous waters of the Internet with Microsoft's Windows Defender.

Connecting to my home network with the 4720s was a bit problematic; it refused to do so a number of times. After running Windows 7's troubleshooting routine, which couldn't find any problems, a connection was mysteriously made and everything worked fine. The ProBook comes with Windows 7 Professional (32-bit), but can be downgraded to Win XP if desired.

Under the hood is Intel's Core i5-430M, a 2.26GHz dual-core processor with 3MB of L3 cache. The chip runs at a sprightly pace and can handle most common office functions without a hiccup. Nor is it overwhelmed by multimedia functions such as video and photo editing, thanks in part to a little help from an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4350 Series graphics adapter with 512MB of dedicated display memory.

The ProBook's lowest Windows Experience Index subscore was 4.5 on the operating system's 7.9-point scale, for Windows Aero desktop performance. Other subscores were more impressive, such as 5.9 apiece for 3D graphics performance and hard disk data transfer rate, 6.2 for the CPU, and 6.4 for the speedy system memory (4GB of 1333MHz DDR3).

Lots of Screen Room

Although many keyboard jocks want to save real estate on their desktops and other areas adjoining their work area, they 'd like to do so without relinquishing display size. While the HP's 17.3-inch LCD is no substitute for a 24-inch desktop monitor, it does provide a wide canvas on which to operate.

The anti-glare LCD is bright -- 200 nits -- vivid -- a contrast ratio of 400:1 -- and sharp -- our review unit had the upscale LCD with a resolution of 1,600 by 900 pixels. The viewing angle, though, is a little narrow -- plus or minus 30 degrees on the horizontal and plus or minus 10 degrees on the vertical -- which is especially noticeable when viewing DVD movies on the screen.

In addition to its built-in display, the 4720s has a VGA port that supports resolutions up to 2,048 by 1,536 at 75Hz and lower resolutions at up to 100Hz. What's more, it has an HDMI port for plugging in a high-definition display at a maximum resolution of 1,920 by 1,080, as well as support for seven-channel audio, though cables for these ports aren't included.

An advantage to having to build a box to accommodate a 17-inch display is that you don't have to skimp on your keyboard. The 4720s has a full-sized, spill-resistant QWERTY layout with all keys appropriately sized and a full-sized numeric keypad. Dedicated keys for Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn are located above the numeric pad.

All the function keys do double duty with an assist from the Fn key located to the left of the spacebar. Pressing Fn and F2 or F3, for instance, controls screen brightness; F7 through F12 provide audio volume and media player controls; and F5 and F6 are special HP functions called QuickWeb and QuickLook. They act as shortcuts, available without booting Windows when the computer's turned off, for launching a Web browser and for viewing and responding to e-mail and adding calendar appointments and to-do tasks to your Microsoft Outlook file.

Buttonless Touchpad

The touchpad for the 4720s is a one-piece affair. There are lines at the bottom of the pad to delineate areas to press to simulate the left and right buttons of a mouse, but no actual buttons. That can be initially be disconcerting. What's more, the area within the lines is "live"; dragging a finger across the area moves the cursor. Not being able to feel for buttons was very irritating at first, but eventually I got used to the setup.

I also found the touchpad's placement awkward: It's located below the spacebar. On a notebook without a numeric keypad, that location is fine because it's in the center of the deck. On a unit like the 4720s, though, it locates the touchpad off center. Since I'm used to finding the pad in the center of the palm rest, this off-kilter arrangement was unsettling.

Our review unit had a 500GB SATA II hard drive running at 7,200 rpm. To protect the drive, HP mounts it directly to the notebook frame. That reduces shock to the unit. It also uses three-axis digital motion detection with intelligent sensitivity to protect the drive from shocks and knocks while in use and an accelerometer to suspend data transfer and park the drive when sudden motion is detected.

New Spins on Security

No notebook would be complete without a battery of I/O ports, and the 4720s is no exception. It has three USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port; stereo microphone and headphone/line-out jacks; an Ethernet port; an ExpressCard/34 slot; and a media card reader. A modem jack is optional.

By the way, the ProBook's speakers are some of the finest that I've heard in a notebook.

As a business machine, the 4720s offers some interesting security twists. In addition to the optional fingerprint reader, its built-in Webcam can be used to do facial recognition log-ins. Forget your password? There's an alternative log-in system that lets you set up three questions that you can answer in lieu of using a password. The software preload also includes tools for encrypting the unit's hard drive and "sanitizing" the disk of information so it cannot be recovered.

The base price for a Core i3-based ProBook 4720s is $925; our Core i5 review configuration sells for $1,025. At either price, if you're thinking of making your next desktop a laptop, this muscle machine is worth a tryout.