Sunday, March 18, 2012

Hewlett Packard ProBook 4430s Laptop Review

HP’s ProBook 4430s is the latest in the company’s line of affordable, well-equipped, not-terribly-exciting small business notebooks. It was designed to handle non-enterprise business tasks while having some media capabilities. Most business laptops see at least some personal use these days and the smaller the company the more likely the HP ProBook 4430s AC adapter will serve both purposes.
HP ProBook 4430s Specs:
  • Model Number XU013UT
  • Operating System – Windows® 7 Professional 64
  • Processor – Intel® Core™ i3-2310M (2.10 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
  • Graphics – Intel® HD Graphics 3000
  • Display – 14″ diagonal LED-backlit HD anti-glare (1366 x 768)
  • Hard Drive – 320 GB 7200 rpm SATA II
  • Optical Drive – DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe*
  • Memory – 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
  • WLAN – 802.11b/g/n WiFi
  • Webcam Module – 720p HD Webcam
  • Bluetooth module – Bluetooth 3.0 HS Combo
  • Fingerprint Reader – Yes
  • Battery – 6-cell 47 WHr
  • Adapter – 65W Smart AC adapter

If the brushed-aluminum-and-black, 4.5-pound 4430s were a bit thinner, it might turn even more heads. But going with the stocky profile enabled HP to include a DVD-RW drive. The rest of our $579 test unit's components were capable, though unspectacular: an Intel Core i3-2310M, 4GB of system memory, and a 7200-rpm, 320GB hard drive. The display is a 1366-by-768-resolution, 14-inch widescreen with exceptionally even backlighting.

For consumers, laptops such as the HP ProBook 4430s are a perfect example of this dilemma. Touting a 14-inch display and a starting price of $579 USD, the ProBook 4430s has its sights set towards budget-conscious business users who don’t want to be shortchanged on features or aesthetics. Can it pass the test? Read on to find out.

The biggest issue is the bloatware. You're going to want to do a reinstall right away (bcoz lots of HP unwanted software's)the other thing it has HDD with 4 Primary Partitions (Boot, C:drive, HP Recovery & HP Tools)means you are not able to shrink your C to create more logical partition and if you need more partitions you needs to reinstall and by using HP's restore partition you'll just end up right where you started. Going to contact HP support for getting installation media to reinstall my machine according as per my wish with Hard disk Partitions. Except this this HP HSTNN-LB2R battery is really fast and great.

The LED backlit display is very nice and bright. The system ships with a USB 3.0 port which we quickly put to use connecting a WD Portable 2TB Hard Drive.

You can find HP ProBook 4430s for about 570 USD for "beginners" set with 14" screen (1366X768) and Intel Core i3 processor (more expensive sets comes with i5 and i7 processors) "Beginners"set comes with integrated graphic card. You will find useful the HP ProtectTools security suite (works with fingerprint reader hard drive encryption). Also HD webcam of HP ProBook 4430s power adapter will help you vlog and make video calls with your business partners while listening music with SRS premium sound from Card Reader. After that you can connect your notepad to HD TV trough HDMI (also VGA port is included) port and watch some movie (you can find ProBook 4430s with BD-Rom or DVD-Rom, depends on price).

Although the ProBook 4430s has a few minor flaws, it's excellent considering the price. Remember, we're talking about a laptop with a second-gen Intel Core i3 processor that starts at just $579. Many consumer laptops at this same price have cheap plastic bodies with terrible glossy displays. This laptop is an entirely different and more refined beast.

In terms of connectivity, HP includes four USB 2.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, VGA-out, audio out/in ports and an SD memory card slot. Noticeably absent were both HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, which is a major disappointment as USB 3.0 is rapidly becoming the standard for new computers and HDMI is already standard. There is also Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11b/g/n wireless connectivity built-in. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional is the operating system that HP chooses for this computer, which again speaks to the business users but doesn't completely leave out the home users either.

This device is powered with 2.1GHz dual core Intel Core i3-2310M processor and 4GB RAM which make this device has a powerful productivity to handle your business tasks. By using Intel’s integrated Graphics, the ProBook is still good enough to handle most of any business application graphics and if you often work on multimedia presentations then you don’t have to be worried anymore because this ProBook 4330s handles those multimedia as well. We can say that this device graphics performance maybe not too good for professional graphics designers but you can still happy to know that this ProBook handle pretty good your business multimedia works. For power, the laptop using a 6 cell 47Wh HP ProBook 4430s battery and it lasted for 3 hours 31 minutes.

A score of 99 on WorldBench 6 is nothing to shout about--in either anguish or joy. It’s sufficent to get the job done but not much more--though subjectively the 4430s feels lively enough. Still, it's not for gamers: Frame rates in our tests reached the high 20s in frames per second--teasingly close to playable, but not really there. Video playback at any resolution is smooth. The sound is loud and clear, but it emphasizes the midrange when played through the laptop's speakers. We measured the HP HSTNN-LB2R battery life at 4 hours, 46 minutes, which isn't the best we've seen, but does beat several comparable units such as the Toshiba Satellite L755-S5258.

This laptop really lives up to its description: ultra portability without sacrificing performance. I'm posting this review after a two week of ownership. Good bright display, Awesome aluminum design, bluetooth and keyboard. Excellent hinges. Decent webcam and audio. Great HP EliteBook 8560w Mobile Workstation battery life (able to get backup upto 5 hours). Fast Sandy Bridge processor. USB 3.0 port removes the USB bottle neck from external devices. Great for external hard drives. 4 USB ports, more than usual in this form factor. Windows 7 Pro 64bit. The fan is quiet, and it won't set your lap on fire. Sturdy construction. Light and easy to manipulate with one hand. The biggest issue is the bloatware. You're going to want to do a reinstall right away (bcoz lots of HP unwanted software's)the other thing it has HDD with 4 Primary Partitions (Boot, C:drive, HP Recovery and HP Tools)means you are not able to shrink your C to create more logical partition.

In terms of security, HP included an interesting new feature in HP ProtectTools. Adding to the built-in encryption functions and biometric fingerprint scanner—turning a user’s fingerprint into a key to unlock the notebook—the ProBook 4430s also has a new facial recognition feature.

Work, meet, play. Create, stream, watch, listen and do more. This versatile, secure and stylish HP ProBook with a 14.0-inch diagonal HD display makes an impression in and out of the office.

The 4430s comes equipped with a 6-cell 47Wh battery. In our MobileMark 2011 battery-life test it lasted 3 hours 31 minutes. This actually beats out the Lenovo X1, which managed only 3:10 with its 40Wh HP ProBook 4430s battery, but other systems are better equipped for the road, like the Dell Vostro (9:37, 80Wh), which offers a battery twice as large and lasts three times as long.

The HP ProBook 4430s is a beautiful machine that has the build quality to back up the look and feel of the device. HP did a great job at making its lower end machines not feel like second class citizens. There are a few areas of improvement, notably the resolution, but overall, for the price of $649.00, this an excellent machine for business or even personal use.

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