HP 6910p usability review

After a few months of using the HP 6910p notebook, I am ready to share my thoughts on it.

This is the first new notebook I bought for myself. For many years, I favoured custom-built desktop PCs and bought only a few second-hand notebooks for family members. One reason of my despise for new notebooks was the inevitable Microsoft tax. This time, I went against my own principles, because this Vista-equipped notebook was selling for half of its market price. So, I am now an owner of an unused Windows license, and you bet I am not proud of it.

Back to the notebook, this is a 14.1" wide-screen machine, which I believe to be the ideal notebook size. The width is just enough to fit a full-sized keyboard, but it is still quite portable and weights just 2 kg.

The case is well-build and feels very solid, although it occasionnally cracks under the right hand while typing. The notebook has four big rubber legs under the case that are supposed to stabilize it, but they elevate the case over the table so much that it resonates with each keystroke when sitting on a wooden table, so I always put a mousepad or a thin magazine under it.

I have a matte 1280x800 screen, it is ok for programming but the brightness and colours are much worse than those of a 14.1" Dell Vostro 1400 which costs one third of the price of an HP 6910p.

The maximum battery life I could get is 3 hours, which is really a shame for a traveler's notebook. Moreover, HP provides only one battery type for this notebook, so there is no way to improve the battery life by buying a bigger battery.

HP recently introduced the so-called DuraKeys technology, which is essentially a rubberised coating on the keys. It is supposed to protect the keys from wearing off. That is, you are guaranteed that the keys will not look "shiny" and inscriptions will not wear off after a year of intensive use. Unfortunately, the same DuraKeys coating makes for the worst ever tactile impressions I had while using a notebook. The keys are wacky and feel like rubber balls rather than little stones under your hand. Fortunately, there is little flex, and overall, the keyboard would be as good as on ThinkPads, if they just could get rid of this DuraKeys coating.

P.S. Admins, do you mind moving this post to the notebook reviews section?

 

There are many battery options for this notebook. HP offers a 4 and 6-cell for this model as standard and you can purchase an additional travel battery of either 8 or 12 cell capacities which attaches to the bottom of the notebook.

 

Ah... not in my country, then. At least, their site in Belgium lists only a 6-cell battery.

But thanks for the hint.

 

The additional "travel" batteries are listed under accessories.

This below is the 12-cell one on the Belgium HP site, and you should be able to find them through resellers as well.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/be/fr/sm/WF06c/A1-329290-329223-329260-329260-1839591-1839593.html

Consider that those aren't exactly "normal" batteries, they are attached to the bottom which isn't to everyone's liking.

 

I am using the 6910p also, since October 2007. Dont see myself getting any other notebook other than the P series from HP. The 6930p is not available yet, but i dont need the CPU power of the new 6930p, will stick to the 6910p until i feel it's time to change.

My battery life is very bad if i increase the screen brightness, else i get about 2hrs++

 

I have pretty good battery life with mine...about 3 hours with full brightness and balanced power setting, little more with a dimmer screen. Although I am comparing it with my old school 2.8ghz P4 laptop that got maybe 1.5 hours so i'm happy. I am thinking about getting the battery that attaches to the bottom though for when i'm in class all day and work.

 

Hm... Now, the trackpoint has fallen off and does not sit anymore on the stick. I will probably glue it down, but that's a pity.