HP 6715B

HP 6715b (KE066ET#ABU) AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-62 , 15.4" WSXGA+ WVA, 2048MB (1 sodimm) +2GB upgrade, 250GB 5400rpm, DVD+/-RW DL. Paid £450 + £50 for 2GB memory upgrade - not inc £30 rebate.

Somewhat preliminary review, since have owned only short time...

Most striking feature of laptop is quality of display, which qualitatively has a very good black level (for an LCD), which combined with a good brightness level gives very good contrast, especially given it is a non-glossy display. Colours are also very good and well saturated. Horizontal viewing angles are pretty good with good contrast out to 45-60 degrees from normal. Vertical isn't as good,about +/- 20 degrees, but still about average to good compared to most laptops (why don't manufacturers concentrate more on improving vertical angles, rather than horizontal, since in usage your more likely to adjust your position vertically relative to screen!!). Bonus is that screen is SXGA+ (1680x1050), which means the large 15.4" feels even more roomy compared to many other laptops of same screen size of lower resolution. Back light also appears very even. Subjectively I would say that the viewing impression is similar to the screen on the current Mac Book pro when I viewed one in a high street shop, except viewing angles aren't quite as good.

Loaded 32-bit Vista, which seems to run pretty well with extra 2GB dimm (4GB in total) and full UI bells & whistles (i.e. with Aero - in case your interested Windows viewing experience is Processor 4.8, Memory 5.9, Graphics 3.1, Gaming Graphics 3.0, Primary Harddisk 5.2). Total recognised ram is about 3GB, because of inherent memory address limit for 32-bit, & since currently near 1 GB is allocated to shared graphics (not sure if this means more than 3Gb can be used at sacrifice of graphics, when needed). Shared graphics probably mean this laptop is probably not suitable for hardcore gaming. A note regarding memory upgrade - I wanted to buy a 2GB upgrade that matched that supplied with the laptop, as much as possible - so opted for the official HP product EMM995AA (~ £50), which according to the pictures has 4 chips per side on the module -turns out both the upgrade and the module inside laptop have 8 chips per side. So a cheaper 3rd party (of good reputation) would be fine, as long as you know it has 8 chips per side.

Other points: Keyboard also has a very nice tactile feel to it, and doesn't feel plasticity. Keyboard doesn't flex indicating the solid build of the laptop. Sound is very good from speakers with very good tonality and good loudness compared to tinny sound from previous laptops I have owned. However, touch sensitive control for volume is bit baffling to use- a standard rotary dial would have been more sensible. Touch pad seems quite good once adjusted for personal taste and has right section for both scroll and coast options. Can't really comment on battery life as yet..

Overall, excellent laptop with great screen and a real bargain that seems suitable for multimedia/watching films, as well as business/everyday applications as originally designed.