HP Compaq nc2400

HP’s first entry into ultraportable territory in more than a year doesn’t offer much in the way of flash or power. What the Compaq nc2400 provides is security, durability, and endurance, along with a budget-conscious price.

Unlike the sleek, shiny designs from the competition, HP’s Compaq nc2400 looks like a miniature version of nearly every other notebook in HP’s conservative, matte, all-charcoal business line. The six-cell battery included with our system puts the weight at only 3.6 pounds; it juts out an extra inch from the rear of the notebook.

The notebook’s 12.1-inch widescreen is a handy compact size for use in small spaces like airplanes, while assuring that there is enough room on the machine for a full-sized keyboard. HP offers a pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, with the right- and left-click buttons located directly below the space bar, but touchpad users will have to shop elsewhere.

The area below the keyboard is coated with HP’s in-mold lamination, which makes the surface resistant to scratches from fingernails and watches, and the normal wear and tear from resting your hands and wrists on the surface. Above the keyboard is a line of touch-sensitive buttons, including HP Info center, wireless on/off, mute, a long strip for volume adjustment, and presentation settings, which allow for quick display and power setting adjustments. The buttons are touch-sensitive and quite responsive to light taps.

Our test system came with a 1.2-GHz Intel Core Solo U1400 processor, the most powerful of the notebook’s three options. The processor racked up a paltry MobileMark 2005 Score of 142 with Wi-Fi off, more than ten points below the lowest scoring system in our ultraportable roundup last month. With the standard 512MB of RAM, don’t expect this machine to handle too many daunting tasks simultaneously.

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 notched a 3DMark03 score of 1,084, which means that, while you won’t be able to play power-hungry games like WarCraft, you can watch a DVD on a long plane ride. Make that two: the six-cell battery that’s part of this configuration lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes. You can upgrade to a nine-cell battery for $50 more, which should give you about nine hours of runtime.

The included optical drive can burn CDs and play DVDs, which puts the system above the handful of ultraportables that leave out the optical drive to shave off a fraction of a pound. If you want to be able to burn DVDs, it will cost you $50 extra.

With a magnesium frame, magnesium alloy casing, and a Mobile Data Protection 3D accelerometer to help protect the notebook’s hardware from impact, the nc2400 is a sturdy machine. The combination of HP’s ProtectTools, embedded TPM chip, and standard fingerprint scanner, and this is one secure ultraportable. Software-wise, the nc2400 is fairly bare-bones, with WinDVD, Sonic Digital Media Plus, and a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security included.

At $1,599, the HP Compaq nc2400 is one the least expensive sub-four pound notebooks you can buy, and while it lacks some bells and whistles, it has everything you need to get work done on the go. The faster, EV-DO-enabled Lenovo ThinkPad X60 remains our top choice among business-oriented ultraportables, but this machine is an affordable substitute.