HP nc6230 Review (pics, specs)

by Paul Sisson

The Hewlet Packard nc6230 is more tool than toy. This is not the kind of bling bling notebook you see people conspicuously flaunting at your local Starbucks.

HP nc6230 (view larger image)

It appears the HP 6200 series is meant to compete directly with IBM/Lenovo's Thinkpad T series of business-class notebooks. I purchased the 6230 after returning the HP nc6220 which I used for one month. The two models are identical, except the 6230 has a stand-alone graphics card and a larger hard drive for only $150 more.

I bought my HP nc6230 directly from Hewlet Packard's small business Web site. It was configured with the following specs:

• Intel 1.8 gigahertz Pentium M processor
• 512 mb ram
• 60 gig 5,400 rpm hard drive
• Intel 2200 pro b/g wireless networking card
• Broadcom 1 gigabit integrated Ethernet card
• 56k modem
• ATI x300 64 mb graphics card
• 14-inch XGA screen (1024x768)
• CDRW/DVD ROM drive (24x)
• Weight: 5.2 lbs
• Dimensions: 12.4 x 10.1 x 1.04 -1.3 in
• Three-year HP warranty.
• The system cost $1,449 before tax and included free shipping.

Why I bought the nc6230

I had a few basic considerations in mind when I went laptop shopping. My system needed to cost ~$1,500, have a Pentium M processor, weigh about five pounds, have at least a three-year warranty, a 14-inch screen and a full-size high-quality keyboard. My new notebook will usually be used at home, but will need to be portable for trips and for some fieldwork associated with my job as a full-time working journalist.

After considering the spectrum of available thin and light notebooks from Asus to Toshiba, I narrowed my search to three: The HP, Dell's new D610 business class machine and the Thinkpad T series. After reading every review I could find on all three, I opted for the HP because it seemed to offer solid build quality and up-to-date specs for less money than the IBM models. Specifically a comparably-equipped Thinkpad T-42 cost $392 more and a T-43 cost about $500 more. Those prices were from Lenovo's Web site. A T-42 could have been had from a third party Web site for about $1,500, but with only a one-year warranty. Dell's D610 cost about $75 less than the HP, but it seemed the HP's build quality was a bit sturdier.

General impressions

As I type this review the notebook feels rock solid under my fingertips and is well balanced in my lap. Opening and closing the system is a pleasantly silent experience, with none of the creaks, groans or flexing associated with cheapness.

The nc6230 is clad in a combination of metal and plastic. The screen is wrapped in a dark grey metal case while the bottom half of the notebook is matching metal on the top plane and plastic on the sides and bottom. In addition to the Synaptics track pad there is also a eraser-style pointer with its own pair of dedicated right and left buttons.

HP nc6230 screen (view larger image)

The screen seems well designed and renders photos and text crisply and with good contrast. HP also includes an ambient light sensor to dynamically control screen brightness. This feature is designed to improve battery life, and it seems to do a decent job of detecting ambient light and adjusting screen brightness accordingly, though sometimes I wish it would give me a little more luminance. Luckily there is a function key that can toggle this feature on and off.

Audio performance is about what I expected from a business notebook. It plays music well, but we're not talking surround sound here.

Overall this laptop's fit and finish is sturdy and subtle. Sure, the case is more muted than others, and some may find it bland. But I prefer a functional design without the silver plastic look that has taken over most notebook design these days.

Performance

Overall the system seems to respond immediately to my instructions, whether it's opening a web browser or loading a photo for editing. I have not yet had any blue screens and boot up is about 30 seconds. Shutdown can sometimes take a bit longer, and I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it's the 5,400 rpm hard drive? The ATI X300 graphics card seems decent for a notebook. I could play Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Need For Speed Underground 2 at full resolution without noticeable pauses. The 3D graphics engine scored 713 3dmarks in Futuremark.

Here are a few benchmarks covering overall system performance:

Notebook	Time to Calculate Pi to 2 Million Digits
HP nc6230 (1.86 GHzAlviso Pentium M)	1m 40s
IBM ThinkPadX41(1.50 GHzAlviso Pentium M)	2m 02s
Dell Latitude X1 (1.1 GHz ULV Pentium M)	2m 40s
IBM ThinkPad T43(1.86 GHzAlviso Pentium M)	1m 45s
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 (1.73 GHz Alviso Pentium M)	1m 48s
IBM ThinkPad T41 (1.6GHz Banias Pentium M)	2m 23s
Compaq R3000T (Celeron 2.8GHz)	3m 3s
Dell Inspiron 600m(1.6 GHz Dothan Pentium M)	2m 10s
Dell Inspiron 8600 (1.7GHz Banias Pentium M)	2m 28s

[/TD]

Futuremark PCMark04 Scores
	Dell LatitudeD410 (2.0 GHz)	HP nc6230(1.86 GHz)
Multithreaded Test 1 / File Compression	3.8MB/s	3.37 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 1 / File Encryption	29.21MB/s	24.41 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / File Decompression	25.28MB/s	1696.87 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / Image Processing	11.78MPixels/s	55.27 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / Virus Scanning	1889.02 MB/s	1349.58MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / Grammar Check	3.0KB/s	-
File Decryption	58.7MB/s	55.27MB/s
Audio Conversion	2684.73KB/s	-
Web Page Rendering	6.01Pages/s	4.72 Pages/s
DivX Video Compression	54.23FPS	50.95 FPS
Physics Calculation and 3D	93.54FPS	-
Graphics Memory - 64 Lines	373.98FPS	829.17
Futuremark 3DMark05 Scores
3DMark Score	1923DMarks	-
CPU Score	1762CPUMarks	-
Gaming Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon	0.8FPS	-
GT2 - Firefly Forest	0.5FPS	-
GT3 - Canyon Flight	1.0FPS	-
CPU Tests
CPU Test 1	1.1FPS	-
CPU Test 2	1.3FPS	-

HD Tune Benchmarks
Minimum Transfer Rate	16.0 MB/sec
Maximum Transfer Rate	34.2 MB/sec
Average Transfer Rate	27.7 MB/sec
Acess Time	18.1 ms
Burst Rate	60.1 MB/sec
CPU Usage	6.1%

Wireless performance and other I/O

This notebook comes with the same Intel 2200 b/g wireless card that many other manufacturers use. When I first purchased the nc6220 I noticed that the wireless signal constantly fluctuated, sometimes dropping so low that it disconnected from the access point. I also frequently got unacceptable levels of packet loss and some programs, like the Skype Internet telephony program, crashed the wireless connection.

When I returned the 6220 and purchased the 6230, I hoped the new card would not have the same problems. But it did. HP tech support was absolutely no help. However, after doing a fair amount of Web research, I found that Intel has released a new beta driver which has completely fixed the problem. The wireless card now works flawlessly.

I still do not understand why HP would ship this notebook with a crappy wireless driver.

Left side view of HP nc6230 (view larger image)

Right side view of HP nc6230 (view larger image)

This laptop has three USB 2.0 ports but no fire wire. It also has a serial port, a standard PC card slot and a SD memory card slot as well. All the ports seem to work well and are well located on the right and left sides of the notebook. There is no parallel port which does not bother me at all. There is also an infrared port though my model does not have Bluetooth which is available as an option.

HP also included an SVideo out port which I have used to play several movies on my television with no problems.

Keyboard and Touchpad

HP nc6230 keyboard and touchpad (view larger image)

The keyboard is one of my favorite aspects of this laptop. The keys have a slightly textured feel and perfect key travel and spacing. I find I can type full speed on this keyboard with no problems. Likewise the touchpad has a similar textured feel and seems to be very accurate. The separate pointer is a nice touch as well, though I find I do not use it as much as I thought I would. Mouse buttons are well located.

Battery

This is an area where the nc6230 seems to have taken some knocks compared to the competition. Reviews on Cnet and PCWorld both knock the notebook for comparatively short battery life compared to the IBM T series. I find I get more than three hours of regular use on the standard three-cell battery and have noticed that many of the comparable IBM reviews include a six-cell extended battery. The nc6230 scored a 1 hour 59 minute score on the battery eater torture test.

Software/OS

Standard stuff here. XP Pro with a restore CD and some generic CD recording software I quickly replaced with Nero. It also included Norton Antivirus.

Customer Support

I am of two minds here. I found the tech support to be quite ineffectual with the wireless problems I experienced and had to rely on Google and the notebookreviews.com forums to make it work. However, HP's small business center is another matter entirely. When I called to return the nc6220 I got through immediately and the person who handled the return was polite and extremely competent.

Pros:

• Price
• rock-solid build quality
• fast performance
• compact but full featured
• bright screen.

Cons:

• Less battery life than some others
• buggy wireless driver.

Conclusions:

This notebook perfectly meets my needs. It fits in my existing briefcase and has enough battery life to make me happy. The HP does not include some of the nice additional features that the Thinkpad does, but it also costs less. I guess I would consider the Thinkpad a BMW and the nc6230 a Volvo or a Volkswagen.

Pricing and Availability

 

Probably way too late to be asking a question on this, haha.

Does it have stereo speakers? Where are the speakers located?

 

Stereo speaker in front chassis

 

the nc6230 is a pretty good business laptop, but here's my observations using 4 (count 'em 4) over 2.5 years. I like the features, performance is pretty good, and it's in a solid lightweight package. But I had two of these go bad because of either a bad hard disk or disk controller, another went out due to a bad motherboard, and one more stopped working because of an unspecified software issue (probably OS, not firmware related, after re-imaging it seemed to work fine). the last one I used for a year made me realize the touchpad and screen hinge were both a little bit flimsy after medium use. the screen became a bit loose (tried to tighten said hinge, which worked for about 2 days) as did the touchpad.

FYI I'm a user who isn't especially hard on my notebook PC's, I use them to their capability but take pretty good care when they're in my possession.

never had too many problem with the wireless driver which was one of the complaints noted in the original review. the speakers / sound on the other hand basically suck and the placement is pretty poor in that if you're sitting or lying down while using it, your body or clothing is pretty much going to cover up or confine the speakers anyway. but it doesn't get that loud in general since the speakers are small and if you try to blast them the best they can do is supply a medium volume and sound "tinny". got headphones? good.

they have come up with some recent models that are part of the same line with minor improvements (add ons) but they're based on the same basic nc6230 design beyond that.

it's a fair value but the newer Dell business notebooks have caught my interest at this pricepoint and below, and warranty issues with HP has made me somewhat wary.

 

I noticed that the touchpad on my nw8440 is also a hair loose in the lower right corner. You can hear a hollow clicking sound when you tap at that corner.

The screen hinges, also, are a bit loose and wobbly, but they've been that way since the machine was brand new. It appears to be part of the design of the nw8440, because all of the other nw8440s I've used (all my classmates have the same notebook as I do), have the same issue with the hinges.

The only major "problem" I've had with my notebook is that I've been getting quite a few BSODs lately. I probably need to re-image my drive. Also, I'm on my 3rd power brick and second wall cord--all the others have failed.

I have to disagree with you on the current notebooks, though. HP no longer makes a business notebook with a 4:3 aspect-ratio screen. This means there can be no way that the current notebooks are based off the nc6230 chassis.

Even with all the issues I've had with my notebook, though, I would still get another HP. After all, the touchpad and the hinges are pretty minor issues in my book (my definition of a loose hinge is when the hinge can no longer hold the screen up on its own), and besides the power adapter, and windows (which isn't really the fault of the actual notebook hardware), it's been great.