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Artwork: Rick Rizner, Chris Manners
Compaq Compaq nx9420
- Spec Navigator
- Processor
- Memory
- Display
- Storage
- Battery
- Dimensions
- Other Features
- Networking
- Multimedia
- Software
- Interface Connections
- Included Devices
Storage
| Total HD Size | 80 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | DVD±R DL/DVD±RW |
| Removable Optical Drive | No |
| Slots |
|
| Number of Media Slots | 4 |
| PC Card Slots | Yes |
Battery
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Standard Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Type of Batteries | Lithium ion |
| Vendor Rated Battery life | 334 |
Networking
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Included network card | Gigabit ethernet |
| Modem Type | V.92 |
| Wireless LAN Type | 802.11a/g |
Multimedia
| Video chipset | ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 |
| Installed video memory | 256 MB |
| Video integration | Integrated |
Software
| Included Software | HP configurationsecurity utilities |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Laptops »
Pros
Great WorldBench performance
Cons
Smallish hard drive
Bottom Line
This mobile workstation offers top performance and better-than-average battery life.
HP Compaq nx9420
Compaq nx9420 Review, by Carla Thornton April 17, 2006
HP's new flagship business portable has a 17-inch WXGA screen and weighs 7.4 pounds, so it ranks among the lightest notebooks in its category. If no other surface is available, the HP Compaq nx9420 feels perfectly comfortable perched on your lap, huge screen and all.
The nx9420's keyboard is terrific: Its mouse buttons are extremely comfortable because of their soft texture and ability to depress deeply. The separate numerical keypad is topped by a button that handily launches the Windows calculator.
The notebook's battery life is above average at 3 hours, and its speed is excellent. Equipped with the fastest of Intel's new dual processing chips (the 2.16-GHz Core Duo T2600) and 1GB of RAM, the nx9420 earned a WorldBench 5 score of 101, one of the highest marks we've ever recorded for a portable.
The nx9420's design is as elegant as its charcoal-colored case, with pale but readily discernible icons stenciled on top of the case to identify side connections, and with a plastic bottom sleeve to hold your business card.
Our $2399 (as of March 27, 2006) review unit included a smallish 80GB hard drive (100GB is the largest size available), a fixed DVD burner, a FireWire port, four USB ports, a front-mounted seven-in-one memory card slot, and a SmartCard reader. The nx9420 lacks the great sound and music buttons of the notebook it replaces, the 2-pounds-heavier Compaq nx9600. It also omits the nx9600's side connection for HP's xb2000 docking station with stereo speakers (though it does work with a different HP docking station that offers a modular bay and an ExpressCard slot.)
Still, with its superb combination of weight and a big screen, the nx9420 will probably soon have its own loyal fans among on-the-go professionals who need a great presentation notebook.
For several hundred dollars more, you can buy "business protection services" from HP; these include such things as the company's HP Smart Desktop Management Service (for protecting multivendor networked offices with data backup and restore), Symantec Anti-Virus software, patch management, and health checks. You can also get an extended warranty featuring accidental damage protection, including pickup, fix, and delivery and covering spills, drops, and so on.
Carla Thornton
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
-
80
-
73
-
77
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Laptops
80
52
67
66
Performance
| ACD Systems ACDSee | 567 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 311 |
| Adobe Premiere | 422 |
| Ahead Nero | 620 |
| Battery Life (Office Applications) | 3:34 |
| Discreet 3ds Max DirectX | 274 |
| Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL | 357 |
| Doom 3, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 44.03 |
| Far Cry, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 92.16 |
| Microsoft Office XP | 575 |
| Mozilla | 371 |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | 481 |
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Roxio VideoWave | 259 |
| Windows Media Encoder | 279 |
| WinZip | 411 |
| World Bench 5 Score | 101 |
| World Bench 5 Word Score | Very Good |
WorldBench Tests
| Multitasking | 444 |
User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Compaq Compaq nx9420
3 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 3 reviews
-
Reviewed by: buimanh
Duration of ownership: 10 Days
Overall: I WANT TO SEND VIET NAM
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Reviewed by: FlameoutAlchemist
Duration of ownership: 7 Months
Strengths: This is an extrememly flexible computer. Not only does it offer excellent capabilities as an office-tyle computer to do job and school related work, but it is designed to let you do both comfortably with the wide screen and expansive layout. When you add an extra GB of memory, like mine has, this computer is also an excellent portable gaming machine. The main CPU has three vents that allow the heated airr off of it to escape in at leat two directions, no matter how the computer is physically sitting. Strangely enough, when I ran a straight-through Cat5e cable between my NX9420 and another classmate's notebook, the NICs on both computers strangely lit up and were communicating.... The Personal Secure Drive option isa great way for me to encrypt files and store them securely on the computer. Use it all the time and haven't heard anyone claiming to have cracked the encryption.
Weaknesses: Compaq's hidden partition, which is supposed to allow for the user to resotre it to factory default configs without the need for discs, has never worked the two times I've needed it. Sometimes the left-sdie USB ports, when I plug my mouse or any other USB device in, locks up the entire system. The two main RAM modules are not located together; one is underneath the keyboard and the other is behind an easy-access panel on the underside of the computer. When I purchased the computer, the extra memory was not factory-installed, and the noises of the seals breaking when I was removing the keyboard to install the new modules I was seriously thinking that I was breaking the darn thing. I never throught that I would miss the media buttons that are common on other laptops, but I think I'd rather have a 'play' button versus the 'presentation mode' button that's currently available.
Overall: Overall I'm very impressed with this laptop. Compaq has made a piece of hardware that is capable of doing exactly what I want it to do - Be a versatile compter that can let me play my games, get my homework done, and act as my portable tech aid on computer repair calls, and it does all three of these functions very well. The dual core processor helps it play games like Guild Wars with excellent framerates and load times. I'd recommend this computer for people who are looking for a laptop that is scalable and upgradeable, one that will last 3-4 years without becoming seriously outdated. The $400 laptops from Wal-Mart may be more affordable initally, but the money you pay for this is made up in quality, reliability, and convenience, all three of which you sacrifice with cheaper models, just so that you can claim to have a laptop.
-
Reviewed by: tunesterutd
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
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