The good: Extremely affordable; good keyboard; reasonable performance.

The bad: Short on connectors and expansion options; no clasp between lid and screen sections; oddly located touchpad.

The bottom line: The HP Compaq 6720s is a budget business laptop that could fit the bill if you don't need serious CPU or graphics power, and are likely to spend most of your time in the office rather than on the road.

Read full review of the HP Compaq 6720s »

By Sandra Vogel
Feb 12, 2008

HP's Compaq 6720s is definitely at the 'budget' end of the laptop market. Part of the company's Balanced Mobility range, the 6720s comes in three versions: We looked at the least expensive £379 model, while the other two cost £435 and £489 respectively. The most obvious questions to ask about the 6720s is: What has been omitted to meet the price point, and how usable is it as a portable business workhorse?

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

This is a mid-sized laptop with a footprint 358 by 32 by 267mm. It weighs a not insubstantial 2.5kg.

The slate-grey lid section and the black base are not held together with a secure clasp. If you intend to carry this laptop, you'll need to ensure that it's stowed separately from pens and other items that could work their way between the two sections and damage the screen. Elsewhere, HP has managed to put a little effort into the design, despite the system's entry-level status.

The hinges for the lid are recessed within the back of the chassis so that the base of the lid swivels down towards the desk when you open the laptop. Although this has no practical benefit that we can discern, it's distinctive.

Above the keyboard, embedded in an area that also contains the speakers, is the on/off switch, which has a pale blue backlight when the laptop is on. To its left is a wireless on/off button that glows deep blue when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are active.

The power connector is on the left edge of the system. This has a light that glows orange for most of the battery charge cycle, changing to blue for the final 10 per cent or so and switching off when full capacity is reached. A pale blue light by the Caps Lock key glows when its function is activated.

The screen measures 15.4 inches across the diagonal, and has a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels. The screen is sharp and clear, and has a matte finish rather than a reflective coating. This means that you should be able to work in reasonable comfort with a light source behind you--near an office window, for example.

The keyboard does not quite stretch the full width of the available area, but the keys themselves are large and we had no problem touch-typing. The number row is topped by a row of two-thirds-height function keys.

The touchpad is positioned centrally on the wrist-rest area, which means it's slightly offset to the right in relation to the spacebar and QWERTY keys. If your typing style means that your hands brush the wrist-rest area when you're working, you may find that the touchpad falls under your right hand, causing unintented cursor movement.

The touchpad incorporates a scroll zone on its right vertical side. To use it, you simply run a finger along it to scroll through documents, Web pages and so on.

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