HP Compaq EVO N1015V Notebook Computer

WHAT'S HOT: Compaq's low-budget Evo N1015v scrapes the bottom in terms of notebook pricing, but it doesn't scrimp on features. For a reasonable $899, the N1015v delivers a roomy-enough 13.3-inch screen and 20GB hard drive. Anyone who needs a good travel notebook or who likes to lounge on the patio away from an outlet would be thrilled with this configuration's near-4-hour battery life. Its performance, meanwhile, would be welcome at any price: Driven by its 1.2-GHz mobile Athlon XP 1400+ processor, this N1015v turned in a PC WorldBench 4 score of 90--putting it only about 10 percent behind the average 2-GHz Pentium 4-M notebook we've tested.

WHAT'S NOT: The N1015v doesn't come with productivity software. You can get Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition or Office XP Professional from the HP Web site for an additional cost ($426 or $513, respectively). The microphone and headphone ports are on the back, and the lid release could be easier to press.

WHAT ELSE: Similar in appearance to its higher-end Evo siblings, the N1015v is a square black notebook with matte-silver accents. The comfortable keyboard sports shortcut buttons that you can program with an infinite number of schemes (for instance, one for home and another for the office). A four-way scroll button lets you move pages horizontally as well as vertically, and volume buttons at the keyboard's top allow you to reduce or increase the notebook's strong stereo audio quickly and smoothly.

Instead of awkwardly releasing from the bottom, as batteries on many other notebooks do, the N1015v's battery slides out of the right side. The hard drive and memory slots are just as easy to reach. The N1015v's main concessions to price are its fixed drives, which are located on opposite sides of the case, and its inclusion of a 16X-24X CD-ROM drive instead of a higher-end DVD-ROM or DVD/CD-RW combination drive. And though the N1015v has all the traditional notebook connections (most of which are on the back beneath a protective cover), you won't find too many cutting-edge connections, such as a FireWire port or a Secure Digital card slot. The N1015v does, however, include a TV-out port, and you can add a $99 Multiport 802.11b wireless networking module to its lid (as you can on higher-end Evos). The bulk of this notebook's documentation comes in the form of an Acrobat manual, which is easier to search through than a print manual.

UPSHOT: The Evo N1015v, plenty fast and well appointed for mainstream home and office users, merits attention in the sub-$1000 category. But most buyers will need to add a productivity package, and there are plenty of cheaper software options than those that HP offers on its Web site.