HP Compaq 6720s User Review

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The HP Compaq 6720s is HP’s latest 15.4&quot; widescreen notebook featuring the new 800FSB Core 2 Duo CPU. It sports a 15.4&quot; WXGA BrightView screen, onboard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and weighs about 2.5Kgs. It's targeted at the business market as a budget notebook.

HP Compaq 6720s Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5470 1.60GHz , 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
• Hard Drive: 120GB SATA (5400RPM), HP DriveGuard
• Screen: 15.4&quot; WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800)
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• RAM: 1 x 1024MB DDR2
• Optical Drive: 8x DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Lightscribe
• Battery: 6-cell lithium-ion (47 Watt/hour)
• Wireless: Intel Wireless LAN 802,11a/b/g MOW2, mini-PCI card, Bluetooth
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA, stereo microphone in, stereo headphone/line out, power connector, RJ-11/modem, RJ-45/Ethernet,
• Slots: ExpressCard/54 slot, Secure Digital (SD) slot
• Dimensions: 1.27 in (at front) x 14.1 in x 10.5 in / 32.3 mm (at front) x 358 mm x 266.8 mm
• Weight: 2.5Kgs (5.5 lbs)

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Reasons for Buying

My trusty old Dell Latitude C610 was not sufficient for everyday use anymore. I carry my notebook with me everyday to my university so I was looking for a light notebook. When I heard a new HP commercial on the radio about the 6720s for only €599 (excl VAT) I got interested. It turned out this notebook had everything I needed including low weight and a very friendly price tag.

Where and How Purchased

I bought the 6720s at www.obcs.nl for 666.81 including taxes and shipping. This was a very good deal for me as I got everything I wanted at a very friendly price.

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Build &amp; Design

The 6720s looks and feels pretty solid. It's not really a consumer notebook thus is has no extra bells and whistles for media playback like a remote control or media buttons. It's made out of black and grey plastic and fits perfectly on my lap. There is enough space to rest your palms on while typing and it feels very solid (the screen can be twisted a little however). You really need to push hard on the lid in order for the ripples to appear.

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Screen

The 15.4&quot; screen has a Samsung panel (LTN154X3-L01) with a 1280x800 resolution and comes with a reflective BrightView coating. My 6720s did not have any dead pixels and I could not see any signs of backlight bleeding. The picture is very crisp and clear. The viewing angle from left and right are very good. This is one of the best screens I have ever seen on a laptop. If you are considering buying this notebook you should really purchase one with BrightView.

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Speakers

The speakers are a bit of a let down. True, business users rarely need high quality sound but HP snuck a big mono speaker into this one. The soundcard is a Soundmax Digital HD Audio but it does not feature any digital outputs, only headphones and microphone. The speakers are above the keyboard, so if you close the lid then the screen is blocking the speaker. My advice: buy headphones or connect your external speakers.

Processor and Performance

The Core 2 Duo T5470 is the slowest of the new 800MHz FSB CPU’s but it's still really fast. The Intel Speedstep Technology changes the multiplier from 6x to 8x in order to maintain maximum performance and maximum battery time. The only thing this processor lacks compared to its faster brothers is a higher frequency, 2MB cache and Vanderpool Technology (hardware accelerated virtualisation). Windows Vista boot up time from the BIOS to the Windows logon screen is about 32 seconds. The hard disk is a Hitachi HTS541612J9SA00 which means it’s a 120GB SATA drive at 5400RPM with 8MB cache. Windows feels really snappy despite only 1GB of RAM but with one open slot I think I will upgrade to 2GB soon. I don’t play games on it but with integrated X3100 graphics you shouldn’t expect very much.

Benchmarks:

Benchmarked with Super Pi, HD Tune and Everest.

SuperPi benchmark results:

Notebook	Time
HP Compaq 6720s (1.60GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 15s
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52)	2m 05s
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T2400)	59s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 02s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba A100 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s
HP dv5000z (2.0GHz Sempron 3300+)	2m 02s

HDTune:

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Everest:

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Heat and Noise

One thing that struck me was the lack of heat. After working a few hours on it only the hard disk got a little hot. The bottom was only a little bit hot at the location of the CPU and chipset. The surface and keyboard did not get hot. When the AC adapter is plugged in the notebook tends to keep running at maximum (1.6GHz) speed. While typing this review the fan was spinning on low speed but was never too loud for a quiet workplace. At high speed the fan is noticeable but not too loud.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

As this is my first widescreen laptop it took me a little while to get used to the wide touchpad. The touchpad is from Synaptics with printed scrollzone on the right and it feels really good. The buttons beneath the touchpad feel a bit cheap and need very little force to press. I guess this is personal but I would rather have sturdy buttons so I don’t accidentally click on them. The keyboard flexes a little in the middle but it didn’t disturb me as it types just fine. There are no dedicated media or volume control buttons, volume can be controlled by pressing Fn and F11 or F12. There is just one extra button to control wireless/Bluetooth. More than enough for me.

Input and Output Ports

Input and output is somewhat standard. There are three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, power, VGA and modem ports on the left side. The front sports a SD/MMC cardreader and headphones/microphone connectors. Above the USB ports there is one ExpressCard slot with dustcover. On the right side there is a hole for a Kensington lock. Too bad there are no FireWire or TV-out ports.

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Left side view. (view large image)

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Rear view. (view large image)

Wireless

The Wireless LAN is driven by the Intel 3945ABG. This Wireless LAN card does not need an introduction and does exactly what it's meant to do. It also comes with Bluetooth. Windows Vista had no problem recognizing the Bluetooth device out-of-the-box so no extra drivers were necessary. As you might expect there is no infrared port on this notebook. But hey, who uses that these days?

Battery

HP estimates that the battery lasts about 4.5 hours. After a few tries believe that this estimate is quite right. I have not yet completely drained the battery, only for about 50 percent. I’m quite happy with it and 4.5 hours should be enough for me and when its not I just have to find a power outlet as the adapter is light enough to carry around with me.

Operating System and Software

I personally can't stand the standard installation from any manufacturer. They always seem to cram it full with all their tools, trial versions of antivirus software and other bloatware I don’t need. The 6720s was no exception. It took about one hour before I could finally enter Windows Vista and do something. I had to sit through an entirely automated system backup of the harddrive which took a long time. As there were no disks provided in the box you were supposed to make your own copies of your installation. I quickly reinstalled Windows Vista Basic from scratch with minimal HP tools in order to keep my system clean. Now Windows Vista feels a lot snappier and cleaner. Too bad they didn’t include a Windows Vista disk.

Customer Support

No experience with customer support. There is a one year warranty and it was possible to upgrade. There are several so called &quot;Carepacks,&quot; each with different covering, duration and costs.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a laptop without any bells and whistles with low weight and a friendly pricetag then the HP Compaq 6720s is for you. If you want to play new games at a high resolution then this is not what you are looking for. I would totally recommend it to my fellow students as they always seem low on cash and shouldn’t be playing games at your university anyway.

Pros

• Excellent screen
• Long battery time
• Great multitasking
• Great value for money
• Well designed
• SD/MMC cardreader
• Stays cool

Cons

• Standard installation full of bloatware
• No recovery/Vista disks
• No FireWire/TV-out/DVI/HDMI
• Mono speaker
• Issues with Windows XP

 

Nice review.

That's an especially light weight for a 15.4" laptop.

 

Great review, thanks!

Nice to hear that the build quality is good. I didn't think it'd be so good with such a low-end model. I like the styling of it also. Too bad there's lots of bloatware--which is quite surprising on this model, considering it's aimed at the business market. However, I'm glad you got Vista to run well with only 1Gb RAM. There have been others at my school that downloaded Vista Business through MSDNAA, and they say it runs just fine on our laptops (we all have the same laptop here), which only shipped with 1Gb RAM.

This looks like a perfect laptop if all you do is Office and surf the Internet.

Great point, but you know how we students are; we always need a break from our homework every now and play some CS, WoW, C&C3, SCII, and other games! A notebook should do just as good of a job at work as it does at play! But you're absolutely right: having a notebook that can play some more serious games is more likely to distract from homework. Then again, for me, the Internet is enough to distract me from doing my homework, so it doesn't really matter in my case.

Keep in mind also that I didn't have a choice when I purchased my nw8440; everyone at my school was forced to purchase the exact same laptop package from my school. I must say, they are quite capable of playing some of the latest games with the X1600-based FireGL V5200 card. Which, for my major, is beyond overkill; but for what I like to do in my free time...well, that's another story. lol .

 

Thanks for the nice review!

My only real concern is the price, "666"!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

 

Thanks for a helpful review.

Did you check the weight? 2.5kg is light for a 15.4" budget notebook. Also, 4.5 hours battery time is impressive for 15.4" with a 6 cell battery. It would be good if you could do a full rundown test under light load (eg typing / web browsing) and a usable display brightness.

John

 

Thanks for the review.

I`m going to buy this notebook with FreeDos and I would like to install there 64-bit version of Vista. But I haven`t found any drivers for this OS yet. Do you think that HP will support(or will release) drivers for 64-bit Vista??

Please excuse my English, but I`m from the Czech Republic.
Thank you for your answer..

 

Yes I double checked the weight. And while surfing the web and a bit of word processing on 75% brightness with wireless enabled the battery time is really about 4.5 hours. You might not be able to watch YouTube 4.5 hours though, because the flash movies give a higher load.

On the support page there are drivers for 64-bit Vista. I never tried it but 32-bit Vista recognized a lot of devices out-of-the-box. Which means you only need drivers for a few devices. I thought it was the NIC, modem and graphics card.

 

Good review. IMO the only thing I would probably add as a con to this notebook would be the location of the ports. All of them are on the left and whats with the power plug doing in the center. This pic shows how messy it can look....
http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=26580

 

I`m probably blind, but I can`t find 64-bit drivers on the support page... There are only 32 bit drivers.... Here is the link I found http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...eId=321957&prodSeriesId=3442832&lang=en&cc=us

 

Yes the location of the ports do look a bit awkward. I wish the usb ports were placed higher for better corded mouse usage. Oh well...

Oops, no you are not blind, I am. HP has no drivers for 64 bit Vista on their website. I read 64 bit somewhere, probably on the tech specs page. But a lot of devices are recognized out-of-the-box anyway. Only a few were missing and they are found on Intel's website (NIC, Graphics) too. Only the modem might be a problem.

 

One more "pro", it's green!

 

thx for the review, i liked the good specification with the friendly price !

I am a graphic designer, i use adobe CS3 (photoshop, After Effects, illustrator, flash), do you think this laptop is good for me ?

the screen is brightview, is brightview like the glossy macbookpro screen or it is like the matte one ?
I do not want reflective screen, since i'm going to work and study in a an environment where there are lot of lights ! is the screen reflective or not?

 

The screen is reflective so you might want to look for one without.

 

Hi,

I'm planning to buy this laptop but with 2 gb ram, what is your Vista performance index? and i will also want to play DVDs and some divx.. how do they play?

Thanks!

 

Got this notebook. Have the antiglare version of the screen without the Brightview (not confirmed, but since the screen is dull compared to my Vostro with trulife).

Also the Keyboard feels pretty cheap.

Also, how do I know if my screen is Brightview or not? Just for confirming?

 

Thanks for the seriously good and detailed review. I read it and I bought the laptop based on your review. But there is two critical things you failed to mention.

First, its very tricky to install Windows XP on this computer and even if you succeed there will be problem with the drivers, especially the LAN driver.

Second, and even bigger problem is monitor flickering. It is very serious because even HP is not offering solution for this. Namely, the monitor is flickering on random when you touch it, pass by it or even type on your keyboard.

Until now there is NO know way to stop, this except install some other OS (the problem is gone on Vista or K/Ubuntu).

This is happening on every HP 6720s if you install XP.
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1175219
(one guy even bought 14 laptops and he is having the same problem on all of them).

So, if you have a solution for this please post it here, or on the thread from the link. And if you don't have, it will be useful if you post this warning in your review.

Thank you,
Ljupco

 

Beware to buy this laptop if you are planning to use XP, currently it doesn't work properly under XP, there is a failure (almost sure on the vga driver) that makes the screen flicker with every little vibration (even cd-rom is enough). It is very annoying and currently there is no solution available.
I bought two of them and they did exactly the same as soon as you install intel's vga driver.

Good luck

 

Thanks for a helpful review.
I’m from Belarus. In Russian sites I didn’t find any reviews about 6720s.
I've a question 2 RickHornes.
I heart hp Compaq series have light detector (ex. HP Compaq nc6220 and HP Compaq nx9420 ). Have Hp 6720s it? Do you play on it the Stalker?
And how much does it coast in your country? (ex. In Belarus lowest price HP 6720s with similar configuration about 1150$)

 

I'm sorry for the late reply. I have had some personal issues that made me completely forget answering this topic.

When I wrote this review I only tested it with Vista. When I installed Windows XP a few weeks later I noticed some serious problems. Some of them are already mentioned here. The problems and (if possible) solutions are:

NIC does not work under XP: ( solved with BIOS update)

This NIC is detected when you install the driver but networking is impossible. The NIC is unable to get a DHCP address or if you use a static IP nothing is pingable. This issue was solved with BIOS update F.03 (I guess). The most current BIOS is F.09.

No harddisk found during Windows XP install: ( solved with disabling SATA Native mode in BIOS or slipstreaming Intel AHCI driver with the XP installation disc. Changing after installation is complete is also possible)

This is a tricky one. SATA Native mode (AHCI) is said to increase performance and increase battery life because there is no emulation to legacy IDE. I don't know if this is true but the HDD is SATA so it would seem logical that Windows XP sees it as a SATA HDD.

I always use my trusty Pendrive with floppy partition to install additional drivers (press F6 when prompted during Windows XP install). This did not work with the 6720s. That left me with two options: Slipstream Intel AHCI driver with the installation disc or disable SATA Native mode. The first option might be a bit to hard for the average Joe (a guide from TACKtech can be found here). Disabling SATA Native mode is easier and it's possible to install the driver after the installation is complete. Note: Installing the driver after the installation is complete is optional! I take no responsibility whatsoever if you kill your Windows XP installation with this. You need to manually update your Intel IDE controller to "Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller", restart and enable SATA Native mode. The driver can be found at the download center from Intel.

Screen flickering while running Windows XP: (No known solution)

This problem only occurs while running Windows XP. This problem is completely random but very annoying. The screen goes dark for a brief moment several times and you can hear the sound stuttering. With every new BIOS release people hope for the solution, but even with F.09 there is no fix. This problem does not occur while running Vista or Ubuntu.

The 6720s does not have a light detector. You need to manually adjust brightness settings with the keyboard. (If running XP: install HP Quick launch buttons driver first).

I do not play games on it but I'm quite sure S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does not run well on it. The 6720s only has a very light X3100 GPU.

The configuration I have costs around €600 now in the Netherlands. Prices may vary depending on the configuration.

I don't know about the Performance Index because I'm not running Vista on it now. DVD's, DivX, XviD, H264 and other HD material plays very well. It might depend on the decoder you use.

 

Is the weight you have on here the hp spec or one you measured?

Thanks

 

Nice review!
Does this notebook have an integrated microphone? I found some misleading information about it, and for me the built-in microphone an important feature as I use Skype for calling.

 

No built-in mic.

The HP spec and my own measure are about the same. In Kgs.

 

Hello everyone. I just read that BETA F.09 solves the flickering problem as many poeple report. Kindly check this out & report back. http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...47626+1205654982910+28353475&threadId=1175219

 

Been using my 6720s for 6 months now. Fairly content but some major flaws still niggle me.
First disappointment was the keyboard - The right side has enough boing to annoy; tightening up the 3 keyboard screws didn't help either.
Second gripe is another design issue - In my first transit trip the screen had a line across it from where it was meeting the raised ridge between the keyboard and mouse pad. Not good. I have since carried a cloth over the keyboard when hinged shut but it would only take another clothless trip to leave a permanent mark across the screen, much akin to glasses whose legs fold onto the lens leaving a 'blindspot'.
Vista was sucking the life from the system for a start (T7250/1gb) but after installing another 1gb, she sprang back to life.
Pros
Affordable
Will-kitted for business and student applications
Nice solid screen hinges (trumped by the Dell XPS though)

Cons
Poorly prepped keyboard
Screen can be marked simply by closing the lid
Only 3 USB ports - Needs 4 for it's intended business purposes

Alternatives? I've had a serious look at the Sony Vaio VGN-NR21Z/T for it's 4 ports, fast processor, 3GB as standard (are any other PC suppliers taking note here - VISTA SUCKS RAM!!) and the Dell XPS M1530 for its luscious looks alone! (The light grey keyboard is a deal breaker for me though).[/FONT]

Hope that helps

 

I think this is a good notebook for the price.

I use it for some notebook and I have to admit that the keyboard is nt bad.

Bu how if compared with Dell 1400/1500 and the more expensive HP 6510b ?

If Dell 1400 and 6720S had cost the same... which one would be to buy for an office/programming usage ?

 

Hi all,

I have some questions regarding this laptop.

First of all - is the HDD noisy only in my case? It makes too much noise in my opinion.
The other issue - again with HDD - it keeps reading/writing every second, which really annoys me. I'm running Vista Home Premium x86. I thougt it was vista indexer/superfetch, but I have already tried to disable almost every Windows services, and no change. (Linux/XP does not give me the reasons to play music loudier ).

But to sum up, the laptop is really OK. Except port locations, to wchich I still can't get used to, everything is all right. Battery is really OK, keyboard issue was fixed with a small piece of paper (it does not seem to stand out on the right side).

 

Which is the keyboard issue ?!?

And then... in terms of dsiplay and keyboard quality how do You consider Your notebook ?
Currently it has a good price and I'm wondering about to buy it...

 

The keyboard issue is - in my case, at least - like it wasn't screwed correctly, doesn't disturb in work, but I wanted to have everything perfectly fit.

Display is really OK, it's glass, but - for example, watching DVD's - is pleassure. You may see reflexes from light, though. Keyboard is quite comfortable, seems to be better than in my older HP nx7400. Typing is more smooth. It's the same as in HP Pavilions. Can't claim on anything.

As guys said before - the most disturbing things are 3 USBs in strange place and the power supply on the middle-left (I got used to it after a week or so).

If You would buy it - get a 2GB of RAM, Vista runs smooth then, in my case much faster than XP on nx7400.

 

But is it not more appropriate to install xp ?

 

Rick, I think everything is better on your new laptop except the keyboard.

Your old Dell has a clearly better keyboard layout (the right shift is fully sized, additional control keys above the keyboard (correct positions for pageup/pageup, home/end, insert/delete) which would make typing (especially code) much easier.

In the end the keyboard is one of the most important aspects of a serious user's laptop and as I've recently made the mistake of buying a laptop without minding the keyboard, I've promised to myself that my next laptop will have a keyboard like your old Dell...

 

Ive had a 6720s for work and Ive liked it so far. It has XP Pro and 3 GB of RAM on a T5870 processor. Not sure on battery life, since I havent pushed it. I can say that when being used as a desktop computer, its keyboard feels pretty comfortable and the keyboard seems good. Its main use at work is web browsing and composing/editing documents, so its not very taxing on the system. Overall Ive been pleased with it and I think it will accomplish what most users need, unless they are looking for a gaming platform. Its a good business machine and Id think it would be good for school as well.

M

 

My first laptop, and overall a very positive experience so far. Pity HP didn't pre-install Vista SP1, which took me a while to do, because the included graphics driver for the chipset was incompatible, and needed updating, although this was not on the HP update service.

The advertised battery life is a bit optimistic in my opinion: the most I've got so far has been 2h 30min, with reduced everything and no external devices. Probably because of the older Celeron, but I'm not too worried, still more than enough for me.

I bought my HP 6720s last week, together with an extra gig of RAM. Although both sticks and the 965 Express chipset are rated for 667MHz, the RAM is only working at 533MHz. The BIOS (F9) does not have an advanced section where this can be changed.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated

 

With a Celeron, the FSB is only 533MHz, so that is all that the RAM can run at.

 

Is it not possible to change the FSB/RAM multiplier to allow 667Mhz on the RAM with a 533MHz FSB?

 

Unfortunately not

 

Thanks for the swift replies.

Great thread, BTW