HP Pavilion N5470

WHAT'S NOT: The N5470 needs twice as much RAM to perform about the same as the average Pentium III-1000 notebook (as well as to keep up with the only other Athlon 4-1000-based system we've tested so far, the Compaq Presario 1200).

Although fetching, with a bluish-gray case, a silver lid, and black hinges, the N5470 is a tad heavy at 7.7 pounds without the adapter and almost 2 inches thick. It lacks a docking connection--which makes it a poor desktop replacement--and unlike other Pavilion models, it does not allow access to storage. That means you'll have to ship the entire notebook to a service center in case of hard-drive failure. Maximum screen resolution is 1024 by 768 pixels, which is skimpy for a 15-inch display these days.

WHAT ELSE: Well appointed overall, the N5470 offers a fixed floppy drive on the left and the fixed combination optical drive on the right, with two USB ports on the rear. The keyboard felt a little shallow to us, but it's nicely laid out with generously sized command keys and a separate scroll toggle located between the mouse buttons. The N5470's battery lasted 3.1 hours in our tests, an average length of time for a laptop these days. Documentation is minimal, however: It's limited to a setup card and a slender printed Startup Guide.

UPSHOT: The 7.7-pound HP Pavilion N5470 is far from lithe, but its new AMD Mobile Athlon 4-1000 processor provides near-Pentium III-1000 performance and holds the price down to around $2000, which is impressive for a portable with a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive.