Micro Express NP5240

WHAT'S HOT: The Micro Express NP5240 splurges on USB ports --four in all--which is helpful if you don't want to keep track of a USB hub. Other highlights include a fixed combination drive and a removable floppy drive, both located intuitively (at least for right-handers) on the right side of the case. The optical drive has a nice inset disc-eject button that's easy to find.

Performance smokes (almost literally - see What's Not) with a 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor, one of the few we've seen in a notebook (WinBook's new J4 also has one). With a PC WorldBench 4 score of 108, the NP5240 is about 13 percent faster than the average notebook equipped with a 1.8-GHz Pentium 4-M chip.

WHAT'S NOT: The 2.4-GHz desktop chip may boost performance, but in our tests it kept the NP5240's multiple fans humming and reduced battery life to 1.5 hours, about an hour shorter than the typical notebook equipped with a mobile Pentium 4-M processor. (You can help offset this by swapping the combo drive out for a secondary battery.)

The NP5240's three fans and Swiss-cheese case design, with air vents on the bottom, side, and back, do help reduce heat buildup. Gusts of warm air periodically blew out the side of our test unit, a sign that the fans were doing their job. But all the action was a little distracting and not very lap friendly.

The NP5240 weighs 9.3 pounds--10.9 pounds including its monstrous 1.5-pound AC adapter--and measures 2.5 inches thick at the hinges, counting a couple of built-in feet on the bottom. And finally, while we were fond of the keyboard overall, we found the wing-shaped mouse buttons difficult to hit. Our thumbs seemed to naturally fall frustratingly just below the narrow ends.

WHAT ELSE: A big metallic-blue- and silver unit, the NP5240 is a real head-turner. Because the laptop is so big, the keys are spaced comfortably, so it's also a great typing machine if you can avoid relying on the mouse buttons. Although they add to its bulkiness, the built-in feet provide a markedly comfortable tilt. The keyboard stands out, thanks to cool translucent black keys with easy-to-see white and yellow lettering and three dedicated shortcut buttons.

We liked most of the rest of the design, too. Except for a serial por-t, which is little used these days, the NP5240 features all the traditional notebook connections and then some, including the four USB ports, an S/PDIF connection for Dolby sound, a FireWire port, and an S-Video port. It does not, however, have a docking station port.

As an audio player, the NP5240 is a mixed bag. The built-in speakers, located above the keyboard, sound fairly decent, and a set of audio buttons with a dedicated power button and a small LCD turn the NP5240 into a standalone CD player. The well-placed controls sit on the lower front edge of the case, so they remain close at hand even when you close the screen. Only the volume buttons work when the notebook is booted, however, andunfortunately, the designers put the all-important headphones port on the back, where it's hard to reach.

Removing the hard drive or upgrading the memory requires some effort: To reach the hard drive you must first remove the floppy drive and one small screw. Accessing memory slots is a three-step process of pushing in a couple of latches at the top of the keyboard, peeling back the keyboard, and then removing a metal sheet held in by four small screws.

The NP5240's comprehensive print user's manual covers two different models, but does a good job of differentiating them to avoid confusion.

UPSHOT: Taken as a whole, the NP5240 makes a respectable desktop replacement for small businesses. However, you'll have to weigh the performance edge you get from the NP5240's desktop processor against distracting fan noise and relatively short battery life.

SUMMARY

Micro Express NP5240 PC WorldBench 4 score of 108, 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor, 512MB of DDR266 SDRAM, 512KB of L2 cache, Windows XP Professional, 15-inch active-matrix screen, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 40GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/8X/24X CD-RW combination drive, built-in V.90 modem and network interface, touchpad pointing device, 10.9-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord. Four-year parts and labor warranty; free 24-hour toll-free technical support. $2199 800/989-9900 www.microexpress.net