Keyboards (and some rants, sorry)

I'm faced with having to get a new laptop asap (my hp omnibook xt6050 just broke down almost exactly on its second birthday, guess I dropped it on the floor one too many times - it still has some life in it, but can't be moved at all or it dies, or sometimes it just dies anyway) and this is turning out to be a chore, mostly due to my generally unreasonable demands , and specifically my odd keyboard preferences.

I really really liked the keyboard on the xt6050, just the right size for my smallish hands, and generally not to stiff and not too soft (writing on desktop keyboards as I am doing now is a pain since I got used to my old friend).

I have tried to check out the current hp/compaq line but their website is quite offputting - why make it so damn hard to compare "consumer" and "business" notebooks?! (Very confusing with sometimes very different ranges being presented in different ways depending on which language/country site you look at too - extremely bad marketing imnsho - if I hadn't found this board to ask questions hp/compaq would already have been out of the running).

There seem to be a few current hp models that might fit my needs (nc4010, nc6000, nc 8000, nw 8000 is probably too expensive, as to nx7010 I don't need or want a widescreen) but the only models on display in shops that I have seen are the low-end pavilion zt5600 and presario 2100.

Both the pav zt5600 and the pres 2100 series seem to be equipped with the keyboard I love. Those murky hp-site gives very little inkling to what the keyboards on the nc4010, 6000 and 8000 are like.

For the pav and the pres it says it is "88 key full-size keyboard 5 one-touch buttons" (the keys might be full size, but the keyboard certainly isn't compared to a desktop or some of the laptops I have tested the last week, bad bad marketing again!) and for the nc models it says "Full-sized keyboard" or "100% keyboard" which makes me none the wiser.

So, anyone here have experience with the nc-line and its keyboards as compared to the old 6000 and the current pavilions and presarios?

Any other comments re hp's centrino/pentium M models?

I know my wants are a bit unusual - I'm a sometime writer/translator and I like to work with the laptop actually in my lap, so heat and noise are a big issue, hence my interest in centrino/PMs. I also have fairly small hands so small keyboards are nicer. Integrated wlan is a must - I'm never going back to trailing cables again! Bluetooth less so, usb-dongles are cheap and work well. Oh, and even before the xt6050 broke I had been thinking about getting a dvd-burner and something with a tv-out for my hobbies .

If it weren't for the noise/heat (and weight, too) factor I would already have bought some much cheaper "consumer" laptop with all the multimedia bells and whistles. Thing is I should actually *work* (even make money, too) on the thingy ;-).

Help, please.

 

I don't know where you've looked or maybe if its just the region, but all the stores around here best buy, circuit city, and staples all have a lot more models than that, zv5000 zt3000 ze4000 ze5000. None of them have the busieness model, but the keyboard will be the same on all of them along with the screen and mouse. The differences are cosmetic for the most part.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

Quikster wrote:
"I don't know where you've looked or maybe if its just the region,"

LOL, yeah - I'm in Finland, definately the region . From looking at those bad bad bad hp sites I can see that the selection of featured models is slightly different even between Finland, Sweden, Germany & the UK - it's possible to identify the common features & dig deeper for commonalities etc but it is a chore (fx. the nx 7010 is listed as current in FI and SE and as an older model in UK).

Quikster:
" None of them have the busieness model, but the keyboard will
be the same on all of them along with the screen and mouse."

But my problem is that when it comes to the specs *only* the business/corporate models (except for the nx7010) have all the features I want.

This is *so* maddening because the keyboard (&other buttons, I love the mute and the touchpad on/off) is the main thing hp have going for it in my book - the prices are pretty steep because the configurations (at least as marketed here) are way behind in terms of memory and HD space so I'd have to shell out extra for those.

BTW, anyone here have any experience / links to good reviews about the nc 4010 (and the other 4000 series?)? If I'll have to compromise on my wishlist I might as well go for something ultraportable and supplement with external opticals and whatnot.

When it comes to the 4000 series I'm especially interested in, besides keyboard, the touchstick (can you disable it, remove it? Is it useful?), the general build (will it scratch easily for instance) and of course ports and docking/port replicator possibilities.

Sorry to vent but I am still annoyed at hp websites and basic config of models (in this day and age having 256MB of memory as standard on most higher end models smells of rip off, not to mention the dvd burners being absent on most all models) - they certainly don't make it easy to want to buy a centrino/PM model.
If I didn't have doubts about the keyboard (more testing needed) I would probably already have ordered an Acer Travelmate 660 or 8003.

So HP enthusiasts, please help HP sell me on the idea of again getting a hp laptop [ ]