ProBook 4320s reviews?

Hello one and all,

Anyone have any thoughts/impressions on the ProBook 4320s? I've scoured the web trying to find reviews on the laptop, but I've come up with no luck.

 

No ...

But if it helps laptopmag recently performed a review on the 4720s.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-probook-4720s.aspx

 

That's actually great. I tried looking up other models of the same product line there too, but the 4720s didn't come up?

Thanks a bunch.

 

Here are some opinions I wrote and others wrote on another website. Kinda just copied and pasted in no particular order.

I played some 1080p mkv and the cpu usage is near zero.
OTA HD (1080i MPEG2), same thing...very low cpu usage.

Thanks again, I did the 64-bit reinstall uneventfully on the 280GB partition.
RAM usage is now <30%, boot up is less than 45s. Everything is all good after Windows 7 update which included the Intel HD graphics driver update.

So far pretty happy with the purchase. Bootup is extremely fast at under 40 secs to a loaded IE browser. The laptop is bigger and heavier than a MacBook pro but not by much. Build quality is excellent. Multitouch touchpad is a nice feature. All 1080p mkv files and YouTube HD 1080p movies play smoothly.
For a total of $804 this laptop is a great deal

First time using a laptop with Atheros wifi card and hands down beats the intel cards I have in my old laptops.

After getting used to the keyboard, it's quite comfortable to type with.
Still have to constantly remind myself to not rest my left hand on the mouse pad...

One minor issue I have is the use of GOM player. For some reason, GOM player doesn't work 100% with windows 7 64 bit. It plays all my files but one annoying thing is that it would randomly just stutter. Looked online and people have reported this problem. Again.. it work 99% of the time but that 1% time it stutters is enough to ruin the movie for me. BTW, I have tried different codecs and combos of codecs, all of them have a stutter when GOM player is used. So, now have to use WMP which is fine but lacks the functions and options in GOM. Anyone know if possible to reconfigure the hotkeys in WMP so spacebar becomes play/pause button? I am aware of the FN and f11 HP quick button but usually when watching movie, room is dim so hate looking around for the two buttons, would be much easier if I can just hit on the spacebar.

One laptop that comes close is the Asus UV30 but it doesn't come with a dvd drive. True, I don't use the dvd drive as much as I used to before usb drives became popular but it is something I use weekly. Also, you never know when you are on the road and a business partner provides documents on a dvd disk. Rather have a dvd drive then carry around an external dvd drive.

I was using a 15" HP laptop before this and even though this 13" laptop is bigger than your average 13", the weight and form factor difference btw my two laptops was enough to make me give up the 15" and stick with the 13".

I used Acronis Disk Director Suite to delete and merge my partitions together. I had a bootup acronis disk so didn't need to go through windows.

A feature that I like so far is the Display Power Saving Technology. Basically when on battery, depending on the colors the screen is displaying, the LED will automatically brighten or dim to adjust to the colors. Some may find this annoying when viewing a webpage but I seem to like this feature.

I think nowadays with competition and the types of materials being used and on top of that how the product is handled by the user, most of the time regardless of the price, any laptop has a chance of being a lemon or not work well down the road. I have seen cheap laptops last for many years and expensive ones break down within a year.

I think HP could have made the touchpad smaller. I find myself resting my left hand on it and when I use my right hand to move the mouse, it doesn't register the clicks or movement because the left palm is affecting it.
The bezel is thick around the display but I actually don't mind it because I can close/open the screen without leaving fingerprints on the display.

I was able to use the webcam without installing any of the HP software, just installed the HP webcam driver from the disk.

Using this laptop for about an hour now and at about 30% brightness, battery shows about 2.5-3 hours remaining.


I'm very happy with the purchase, I haven't experienced any problems. First thing I did was install the 64-bit Win 7 Pro disc. Very nice because it gives you a completely clean installation. Throw in the driver and applications disc, and everything works perfect. Plus you can pick and choose what you install, so thus far, I haven't added almost any of the bloatware, HP security apps, etc

I haven't noticed the fan (or HD) noise that the other poster mentioned. I am typing on it right now, and muted the television and I could still hear the fan of the rear projection TV and nothing from the laptop. I had to bring the notebook up to my ear to hear the fan noise.

The case and build quality is top notch. It's in a completely different class compared to my previous HP Pavilion DV 17". Absolutely no keyboard flex, palm rests are rock solid. When you close the lid, you can flex the outside aluminum case a bit, but nothing noteworthy, the notebook feels super solid. The case and colour also look very nice. The keyboard is great.

I had read other Probook's have limited viewing angles. On the horizontal plane (left and right) it seems to be pretty good. On the vertical plane, I would say I have noticed the viewing angles are not that great as well. Regardless, you need to set the angle of the screen at some pretty extreme and impractical working angles to make the screen less viewable (but even still, workable). It's a matte screen, so it lacks the enhanced contrast of a "brightview" type display, but I am sitting by a very bright window that would have caused me to move to a different location with my previous HP. Not the case with this one, I can see perfectly in bright, high light situations.

720p/1080p: My first test was with YouTube. 720p no prob. 1080p....very slight skipping, hard to perceive, but if you go back and forth between 720 and 1080 you do notice the 720 just looks silky smooth compared to the 1080. This was a bit of a concern.

So I downloaded a bunch of 1080p samples (Starwars x264, Microsoft's WMV samples etc). They all played perfectly, no problems. So that was a relief. Anyone else compare the Youtube 1080 vs 720?

The ClickPad mousepad was also new to me. Turned out just fine. The entire pad, including the button areas are sensitive to touch, so for a small notebook, it's a reasonably large touchpad area. It might not be as sensitive as my last notebook (HP DV series), but again, it's not an issue or anything, just something I noted. Neat feature is double tap in the top left corner and a little orange dot lights up on the corner and the pad is now inactive.

I will try out some 1080p out to a HDTV tonight via HDMI and report back.

It seems to run much cooler sitting on my lap compared my previous HP DV. The fan seems far more efficient at pumping heat out of the left side.

Any questions, just ask. Overall, I couldn't be happier. It's alot like I expected, and feels like a really solid, high quality machine.

 

Thanks for the review. Very useful !! There aren´t any expert ones on the net yet. What I´m probly most concerned with is the general noise of the laptop. I know it´s relative, but would you say it runs quiet most of the time ?
Thanks
BTW. Your laptop came withprocesorem Intel Core i3-350M and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 ?

 

I went to checkout the 4320s in the store. I found the touchpad really annoying, it would jump around. The buttons are not seperate from the touchpad as well. It's really too bad, I wonder if HP will update drivers or something to address the touchpad.

 

Question - what is the true weight of the 4320s? And what retail stores carry probooks?

thanks.

 

the 4320s is very quiet.

I found the touchpad works well, doesn't jump on me.

 

Hello,

I have HP ProBook 4320s (2gb ram/250 gb hdd). Windows 7 Ultimate, antivirus ESET NOD.
I am generally satisfied with it, but have one issue that bothers me - 2-3 times a day notebook overloads randomly. No excess heating, no error messages. Notebook usually switched on all the time (from battery or AC)
Any suggestions? / Thanks

P.S.
Besides, HDMI port does not work under Windows 7

 

Besides, HDMI port does not work under Windows 7

Edited:
problem solved after Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD was installed

 

After I close the notebook and open it after 10 secs - I have to restart it again - hybernation not working.

 

I bought this notebook a week or so ago and can't fault it except for the battery life. I seem to be maxing out at 2.5hrs. I bought it after reading the review for the 17 inch model and seeing it had a battery life of over 4 hours and presumed the smaller model would be similar but it's not

Can you get a larger battery for it? If not it looks like I might have to return it because battery life was pretty much top priority for me.

 

Could someone else confirm battery life is 2.5 hrs please

agreed, that's not good enough

 

Hi. This laptop is high on my list, but I´m disappointed with the battery life you mention. Under what sort of usage scenario did you get 2.5hrs ?
Thanks

 

Questions for brucele.

1. For the Win 7 64 bit install, did you use a 64 bit disk that came with the laptop?
2. Where did you get the 64 bit audio driver? I notice that there is a 32 bit Win 7 driver, but no 64 bit audio driver on the HP site for the ProBook 7x20s series.

 

how is the battery of this laptop????? does it get over 4-5 hours at least ????

 

Does it have overheating problems like Dell 3300 or Toshiba r630?

 

Does anyone know the height at the front and back, or can someone who owns this laptop measure it for me? I cannot find it in any local store. The website says 2.7 cm, but I isn't specified wether this is measured at the front or the back. And it looks way higher at the back on pictures I've seen... (please also tell if you've measured it with the ledlid closed or opened)

Since this is the only laptop for a reasonable price which meets my demands (i3/i5, sufficient battery life, 13,3", sim-card slot for 3g/umts internet, matte screen) I would really like to know everything about it before I order it online. And there are still not many reviews about it, so I still don't know if it's too bulky or not.

(Yes I've already looked at the Toshiba R700, but only the pricier models include the sim-card slot, and I've tested out the keyboard this morning, and it's really below the average quality, so for that price I expect a decent keyboard)

 

Guess ur luckey to get 2.5 hrs of batt backup cause mine doesn't last more than 2 hrs. Its a pity...
HP moreover is always trying to justify with 2 hrs to be adequate.