The HP ProBook 4515s (£369 inc. VAT) strikes an effective balance between power and mobility and proves a success despite minor flaws.
While the 2.5kg chassis quite wide, the use of lightweight plastic means it isn't very heavy. If the size doesn't put you off, you can work quite comfortably on the move, thanks to the excellent 205-minute battery life.
While build quality is suitably sturdy for most use, it has a slightly low-quality feel to it and lacks the resilience we'd like to see in a business machine. Glossy plastics are used on the lid and throughout the user interface, and are quickly covered by smudges and fingerprints, requiring regular cleaning.
The 15.6-inch panel's 16:9 aspect ratio is ideal for watching movies, and multi-tasking. Images are sharp and bright, but colour and contrast are weak, making the screen often appear washed out.
Unlike its rivals, the keyboard uses a so-called isolation design, whereby each key protrudes through a hole in the chassis. This provides plenty of space between the keys and typing is always comfortable. The board rattles very slightly when typing, however.
Unusually, this laptop uses an AMD processor and a dedicated graphics card. The CPU provides very basic performance, so don't expect to multi-task with any degree of speed. Conversely, the GPU is powerful enough for photo and video editing and also playing HD videos.
Storage is average at 160GB, but it will still hold large quantities of files. Data can also be saved to CDs, DVDs and memory cards via the DVD rewriter and 5-in-1 card reader.
Extra features
Where this laptop really stands out is its excellent extra features. The DVD drive provides full LightScribe functionality. This allows you to burn images and text directly on to the surface of compatible discs, providing an easy and tidy way to catalogue your discs with style.
The hard drive features 3D DriveGuard technology to protect your data. Should the laptop be dropped, the disk automatically parks its heads to prevent scratching the disk's surface. Finally, an integrated camera is fitted above the screen for live video-conferencing.
Overall, the ProBook 4515s is a feature-packed and highly usable laptop. Its mixed performance and low-quality build mean that it's not ideal for intensive use, but for an affordable, fully-featured business laptop, it's a great choice.
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Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
ahearter
November 23rd 2011
2. it's also a batter product,this is a bettery for it---hp probook 4515s battery
http://www.adapterstore.com.au/6600mah-hp-probook-4515s-9cell-laptop-battery-p-176014.html
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alainfrance
September 8th 2010
1. I've been owning one of these beasts for a while. My opinion follows.
Pros: keyboard needs some time to get used to, but I came to like it after all. One grief though: the size of the left shift key on my french keyboard. It's way too small. This might not apply to other keyboard layouts though. Battery capacity is above average, that's a real plus. It's a very quiet and cool machine with no cooling vents at bottom (a major drawback on some machines). HP has put a quite decent DVD drive in this one unlike the **** drives found in the Elitebook series). CPU and graphics performance is quite OK to me (I do some gaming but not the most recent games - I have the variant with the discrete GPU). Wifi reception is good too (catches weak signals reliably). It's surprisingly light compared to other notebooks of similar size/specs I've used. The webcam is OK, nothing to wake up for but it does the job. So are the loudspeakers for a more business-oriented machine. I've heard much worse.
Cons: the LCD panel, although (almost too) bright and sharp indeed, has a *very* poor contrast and colors are not accurate. It can become quite annoying when watching movies with dark scenes. Black is never quite black despite every combination of brightness/contrast setting I've tried. I've also seen panels offering much better viewing angles. I'd say this one is below average overall. The all-shiny-black finish case and lid is a nightmare for people who care for cleanliness (finger stains) and it doesn't look shock or scratch-resistant indeed. I would not recommend it for careless people who carry their computers a lot. The power brick is too big and heavy.
I've found a bargain offer at 399 euros for it and at that price it's really a good buy.
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