HP Compaq nx7300 Review

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HP nx7300 Review

by Mladen Djordjevic, Serbia

HP nx7300 running Kubuntu Linux (view large image)

The HP Compaq nx7300 represents the latest available notebook in the HP nx series. The nx7300 is a Core 2 Duo budget laptop with a 15.4” widescreen display. Although it doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary, design simplicity and solid build quality make it a formidable contender in the sub $1,100 price range. Obviously, HP with this models targets students and small businesses with a tight budget. Configurations vary greatly, you can get anything from a Celeron M up to a Core 2 Duo T7200 processor.

The configuration of the reviewed HP nx7300 is as follows:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66 Ghz
• OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
• Hard Drive: Toshiba 120 GB 5400 rpm
• RAM: 2 GB DDRII SDRAM (667MHz) (2x1GB), max 4 GB
• Screen: 15.4” WXGA (1280x800) BrightView (glossy) display
• Graphics: Intel GMA950
• Optical Drive: multi-format DVD/CD burner
• Wireless: Intel 3945 Pro 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth
• Dimensions: 30mm  x 357mm x 260mm
• Weight: 2.54kg
• Battery: 6 cell (43Wh)

Reasons for buying:

I was looking for a reliable laptop, mainly for software development.  It needed to have a good price-to-value ratio and good connectivity options. This is my second laptop, as I was previously the proud owner of a Dell e1505. In my decision process I also considered the Toshiba M100-221, Acer 5633 and Asus F3T.  The Acer had poor battery life, the Asus an AMD processor I didn’t want and the Toshiba was too small at 14.1”. 

Where and How Purchased:

This laptop was bought at the local computer store for 950 Euros + 120 Euros for a 1GB memory upgrade. It has a 1-year limited warranty. I think I got a good deal, because in Serbia online shopping is still in an early phase of development, so internet coupons and discounts are in the very, very distant future. In the U.S. and certain other countries it can be purchased from HP.com online.

Build &amp; Design:

HP nx7300 running Windows (view large image)

The design is very similar to other laptops in the nx series. It will not win any beauty pageants, or turn the heads of your classmates. It is very simple and modest (personally, I like this kind of design).  The entire laptop is black, except the lid cover, which is a dark gray. There are speakers situated on both sides of the keyboard, so they don't ruin your typing experience.  The main exhaust is on the left side so the hot air won't bother you when you use an external USB mouse (if you are right handed that is). Overall, the HP engineers did a god job with the functionality and practical implementation in designing the laptop.  The nx7300 is very thin and light considering its screen size. Don't let its size fool you though, the build quality is great, a big step forward from my previous Dell e1505. It is made of sturdy, solid plastic, and it gives a feeling of sturdiness. The LCD is well protected and doesn't ripple when the lid is firmly pressed. The hinges seem sturdy and well damped.

HP nx7300 lid (view large image)

Screen:

(view large image)

The HP nx7300 has a 15.4” WXGA (1280x800) BrightView screen. I didn't expect too much from the screen, so I was very surprised by how bright it was. The colors are very crisp and vivid. However, I was a little bit disappointed with viewing angles. The horizontal viewing angle is acceptable, but the vertical angles are very poor. Even with a small augmentation of angle the colors distort really fast.

The resolution of 1280x800 is more convenient for a 14.1” display, the sweet spot for 15.4” is 1440x900 in my opinion.

The Screen has light leakage all over the place, but surprisingly this is unnoticeable when I am doing regular work and can only really be seen on an all black background.  The glossy display is ideal for indoor use when watching movies on it, but it is practically useless for outdoors or places with a strong light source behind you due to the amount of reflection.

Speakers:

The speakers are acceptable for everyday use. This is no multimedia notebook, so don't expect too much out of them. The sound is crisp, but lacks volume. I use an external Logitech X230 speaker set when watching DVD's.

Processor and Performance:

Although this laptop is equipped with a basic 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor it is very fast due to the 2 GB of RAM (667 MHZ) on board. It is noticeably faster than my desktop Athlon XP2000+ system. So far I haven’t managed to give it a task that takes a long time to process. However, in my line of work you don't have any CPU intensive applications. Provided the hard disk spins at 5400 rpm, with 2GB of RAM and a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo you’ll have good overall performance.

Benchmarks:

PCMark05 System Results Comparison

PCMark05 tests the system performance as a whole:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
HP nx7300 (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	3,017 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, Nvidia Go 7400)	4,124 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,994 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FE590 (1.83GHz Core Duo, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,427 PCMarks

 

Super Pi Comparison Results

Super Pi forces the processor to calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy and gives an idea of the processor speed and performance:

Notebook	Time
HP Compaq nx7300 (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 21s
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 22s
LG S1 (2.16 GHz Core Duo)	1m 11s
Dell Inspiron e1505 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba Satellite M100 (2.00GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s

 

Heat and Noise:

This is a very quiet laptop. Apart from startup fan noise, you will rarely have the opportunity to hear it. All the heat dissipates on the bottom side of laptop, so your hands won't be sweaty as you type. It doesn't get too hot so it's comfortable to use it on your lap. The only thing that generates some noise is the DVD-RW drive. Although it is not the loudest drive on the market, it can be a little bit annoying.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

(view large image)

The keyboard is a key feature for this laptop. It is very solid and has quick response time.  In a word it is “fantastic”. Every key provides firm feedback and feels individual, so there is no flex at all. There are 4 extra buttons on the keyboard (Wireless/Bluetooth switch, Mute, Volume up and Volume down).  The Enter button is double sized, which is a good thing, however I would like to see the left Shift button to be a little bit wider.  The touchpad is ok for basic use and the mouse buttons below it are made of rubber which is a cool thing.  Overall the keyboard and touchpad experience is quite impressive.

Input and Output Ports:

The nx7300 has a standard business palette of ports:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports (1 on the left, 2 on the right)
• PCMCIA card slot (left side)
• FireWirePort (left side)
• Monitor out port (rear side)
• Modem port (left side)
• Ethernet LAN port (left side)
• Microphone jack(right side)
• Headphone line-out (right side)
• Power jack (rear side)
• Kensington lock (left side)

The nx7300 unfortunately lacks a memory card reader.

Front view of nx7300 (view large image)

Left side view of nx7300 (view large image)

Right side view of nx7300 (view large image)

Rear view of nx7300 (view large image)

Wireless:

The included Intel 3945 Pro wireless card works without any problems in both Windows and Linux.

Battery :

The HP nx7300 has a 6-cell (43Wh) high capacity battery which gives it about 3h 45min in word processing tasks with low brightness. If you want to watch DVD's it will give you approximately 2 hours.

Operating System and Software:

You can order the nx7300 with Free Dos, Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional. Mine came with Windows XP Home edition.  The included software consisted of 30-days of Norton Antivirus, Intervideo WinDVD, and a bunch of HP security software. HP doesn't provide you with recovery disks, but there is a provided application that allows you to burn them. I haven't managed to test all of the supplied programs, because I prefer the Linux Kubuntu OS over Windows, and use it as my default system.

Customer Support:

I haven't had a chance to use customer support. The laptop comes with a 1 year limited warranty. You can buy an HP care pack that extends your warranty for one more year.

Conclusion:

If you are a student looking for a reliable, sturdy laptop for things such as software development or just word processing or if you have a tight budget and don't want to bother about Linux compatibility, then look no further, the HP nx7300 will provide you the best bang for the buck. However, be prepared to say goodbye to your gaming collection, because there are slim chances you'll playing any of them. In that case you may want to look for some notebook with a dedicated graphic card solution.

Pros:

• Great build quality
• Excellent keyboard
• Stays cool and quiet under normal use
• Good computing performance in non-3D applications
• Bright display
• Solid battery life

Cons:

• Poor vertical viewing angles
• No dedicated graphic option
• Questionable design
• No memory card reader

 

Good review! I like this notebook for its excellent build quality and low price.

 

When you can get a business built notebook for a good price and reliable warranty it's hard to go wrong. Looks like a great deal and thanks for the review of the nx7300!

 

Yes thanks for this review, this notebook looks like a great business class computer for someone on a budget.

 

Nice review, the design seems really sophisticated for the low price.

 

Greetings,

I own "this" notebook more than a half year now, so I throw here my longer-time experiences. You can ask any question you want, my notebook faced "hell times" under my hands with 100% reliability to this day which is great.
I thought I throw its review here some time ago (with 30 images taken and resting) but I, being the busiest man in the eastern Europe, am short of something I can't buy, e.g. time
Saturday is a nice day, got some )

The HP nx7300 is an "updated" model of HP nx7400. The only relevant thing of the "update" was the removal of HP Dock port (located at the bottom of a nx7400 notebook) which I didn't use anyway. They are the same notebooks (nx7400=nx7300), although HP official statement says that nx7300 has removed internal magnesium chassis that nx7400 has, but that's not true (IMHO). Both do not have it. If there is any other change, please let me know, I doubt there is...

My configuration is the same as in the review but with the Core SOLO CPU as one exception, and I hate Linux )
---------------------------------------------------------------

Without reading further, me after researching cca thousands of notebooks and using dozens of them can say, that this is the best notebook you can get for the low budget - contrary to the TABLE OF POPULARITY of some models here on notebookreview.com (my opinion only).

Being a great typist myself (coder&designer), the first thing I need in a notebook is keyboard. You wouldn't have this long "review" without it ;p

::: KEYBOARD :::

The keyboard in this model is the 3rd best on the whole market of notebooks, face with it. The only drawbacks of it I can think of are big CAPS LOCK (w/o space between A key) and smaller Left SHIFT key (only present on regional keyboards). Some may say about cheaper looking / cheaper made arrows keys. F-keys could also have more space between the above line of number keys, but all in all, after a week I could not return to my previous "Internet" Logitech keyboard I use in work, and didn't replace for 5 years.

From time to time, after half year of usage, I still accidentally press CAPS LOCK instead of A key, but happens less frequent this days if at all...(say 1/100 of time it was in the beginning).

To this day, only IBM Thinkpads have better keyboards (of infamous quality) and DELL Latitude models being the 2nd, both are priced twice the amount of this model (I bought my for 900 EUR). HP nx7300 keyboard is simply excellent, add to it the water spilling proof and almost-new-look after half-year of typing and you know what quality keyboard looks like (same keyboard is present on almost all HP Compaq models, with a bit better quality on nc-models etc...)

::: how I picked this notebook according to keyboard quality :::

Researching mainly through the budget models, I found Toshiba ones have really good sense of humor -> with layout of their keys something a MUST see - laughing...
AUSUS models didn't have the dedicated independent HOME-INSERT-DELETE key too, which is a MUST for anyone typing 60w/p like me ;p, but the layout was good...the quality questionable.

The most popular notebook on notebookreview here - HP Pavilion dv6000t, which I considered the 2nd choice (and my friend bought it 2 weeks ago), has HORRIBLE keyboard compared to this model. Pavilion keyboards are simply a JOKE, they flex too much, typing experience is horrible and layout isn't any good by any means. You can look on Pavilion review here, and blame the Internet (or author) for spreading BS about its keyboard (or display) sometimes...

To sum it up, ACER models were all out of choice the 1std day, after many bad experiences with them. Toshiba is "out" with its sick key placements, ASUS models do not have dedicated Insert blocks and SONY Vaio keyboards are only for Japanese, they look and type like computer game )

Last but not least, DELL Inspiron models being THE ONLY REAL competitor to this model, is worse in build quality and looks really childish compared to this "business like" design, which is already mentioned in the review.

Keyboard of nx7300 = THE argument!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

DISPLAY

One word -> BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! Face with it, I have to, every day

I am very sad to say it, this is THE ONLY DRAWBACK of this fabulous notebook. As a graphic designer from time to time, I will be VERY subjective here, as I use Trinitron CRTs with really vivid colors...
If I have any other choice on the market I would pick it up, but I didn't at the time. Compared to other TN-film technology LCDs out there, the screen is (below) average.

BUT compared to what display screen should look like...it is not.

IT DOES NOT HAVE YELLOW COLOR, face with it ))
Ok it does, but it is not this egg yellow, but this white-blurred-washed yellow, with bad angle you almost can't recognize HTTPS yellow line in URL bar in Firefox

Reading this review I laughed (again), "how colors are good". No, they are not, by any means.
Look on some S-IPS tech LCDs, or on any Trinitron CRT if you want to see COLORS.
Rating: 2.5/5 in notebook world (IBM/SONY is 5/5, DELL 4/5)
2/5 in a world of "real" display world...e.g. PCs.

There isn't any good notebook with great keyboard/display ratio, except very expensive Thinkpad models and expensive Lattitude models...
Now I have 2nd display connected to notebook when I am doing graphic, but in coding and other work I am 100% satisfied despite the washed out colors and angles.

Light leakage is visible, more than on other models, which is bad. A little leakage can be seen also from above, which is strange...

And the most catastrophic thing on display are vertical angles, according to specifications they are only 50°(25/25), according to my specs, they are ZERO
I can't look on this screen without at least few parts of it being in other color, either you have light leakage visible on the bottom, or you are going to inverse colors on a top with bottom part looking good

GOOD THINGS

Display can be placed horizontally with keyboard, e.g. to 180 degrees, which is great and I used it many times (with rflipping the screen).
It is a fairly standard LCD after all, horizontal looking angles are really good (or acceptable) and "brightview displays" with glossy screen got its points...The reflections aren't as bad as written in the review, because the screen is really bright!
But maybe it is because we have this "autumn-winter" season here, I wonder how it will be in summer
-----------------------------

To sum it up, rather average screen (look on a review of HP Pavilion, saying something about amazing screen and it is almost the same as on this model, ah, Internet BS ). Better than on nx6xxx models as it is wide screen , better than on some ACER models or that other manufacters sometimes have, but worse than on Toshiba models or some ASUS models, much worse than on DELL models, and MUCH MUCH worse than IBM or SONY Vaio models...

After a half year I got to use it, it is 100% sufficient for work, reading Internet, or watching video clips from Youtube but it is not for the design, or real movie experiences...I MISS MY YELLOW color )

If HP could manage to at least make vertical viewing angles better, this model would be king of budget ones.
Because after all that is the only REAL drawback of this screen compared to competitors. The colors or light leakage etc, these problems are present on many other lines of notebooks of many other brands nowadays.

note:
Sorry for my display excesses above, but I had to said it. I couldn't read all the reviews here saying about "amazing screens" any more. Go to any studio and look how colors on display should look like...not washed!
Looking now on a display of my nx7400, everything seems "allright" in terms of colors...even the yellow is nice Because I am at home and not at work and can't compare...going to work I would return to this crusade blaming of HP cheap made LCDs...
But the verticals angles are really bad.

========================================

Display and keyboard are 80% of things I want from notebook, so to say the last 20%, they are stellar

My CORE SOLO nx7400 model is:

+ extremely cool, won't go hot no matter what I try, can't go hot..
+ extremely quiet, cooler runs from time to time quietly, but HD is not audible, I have to "hear" so quiet notebook yet
+ powerful, even CORE SOLO can do its work nicely...
+ Reliable, with big R, functioning 100% with win2003 installed an all the drivers, 7 day a week uptime...sleep mode works flawlessly etc
+ bluetooth 2.0, extremely cool drivers, working with restricted users, great options, great software, no mess...
+ 3 USB 2.0 ports on budget model are great, got Samsung 184M external writemaster and is working flawlessly on 16x speed...
+ Light and portable! YES, this 15,4 screen notebook is really one of the lightest models available, face with it more than 1kg lighter than my favs IBM Z61m
+ design and build, no matter where I am, I am not ashamed of its look...it doesn't look funny like some Vaios, childish like Inspiron, or sci-fi like ASUS..

- hard disk...is simply slow. 5400rpm is 5400rpm, I am thinking about buying Hitachi 7200 8MB cache disk, as I defragment once a week and it is still slow compared to its RAM/CPU...
- Optical drive looks and feel "cheaper", I burned cca 100CD/DVDs w/o a problem on it but it still looks like it gonna break up...or maybe my external writemaster looks so badly cool robust )

Would I buy it again?
YES, for 900EUR certainly...

My time is off, sorry for my English, the keyboard is excellent, but the translator in my head has its weakness )

 

is it me or is the "z" and "y" key from the keyboard picture located in the wrong place??? perhaps the user purposely switched the 2 keys for their own convenience? he dislikes QWERTY keyboard but prefers his custom QWERTZ keyboard?

btw i'm new here, hello too all

 

Have you ever heard of non-US keyboard layout?
This is YU layout. You see those funny characters instead of ; ' , . /.
It is not custom layout.

 

oh haha sry i didn't kno about that

 

Good review

One small question : You have mentioned that you had an E1505 before this. What made you upgrade (or perhaps downgrade ) to this HP?

 

Nothing.
It was stolen

 

Oh.. sorry to hear that

 

Hi. Nice review. I got it yesterday and it came with free dos. I insalled windows Xp pro but have problems with drivers. Can anyone help? I tried the drivers from www.hp.com but couldn't do anything. Thanx in advance.

 

Interestingly enough, the port layout and overall design looks a lot like my NC8430. I wonder if they really removed the magnesium frame or not. It'd take some work to redesign the frame without the magnesium and have the exact same layout, wouldn't it?

 

hi,
how i can change amount of video ram on this notebook?
thx

 

How do you like Kubuntu? I am installing Ubuntu as I write this. Does it come with all the widget like objects?