The keyboard is quite comfortable to use, although it's slightly rattly when you type on it. Interestingly, you can swap around the Ctrl and Fn keys in the BIOS, although as far as I'm concerned HP has already put them the right way round. The touchpad is responsive and quite comfortable to use and the buttons don't need excessive force to press. Above the keyboard is a set of buttons to launch HP's Info Center software, enable and disable the WLAN adaptor, switch the screen to presentation mode, and adjust and mute the volume.

Finally, just below the keyboard on the right-hand side of the wrist-rest is a swipe scanner that allows you to use your fingerprint instead of a password to log in to Windows. The HP ProtectTools Security Manager software manages the task and lets you use the same approach for other passwords, such as those used to access network servers and websites.

At 2.75kg this isn’t the heaviest of 15in laptops, but it’s still rather weighty if you’re doing a lot of travelling.

The good news for the nomad, however, is the battery life, timed at nine minutes short of three hours in the standard MobileMark 2005 test. The DVD playback test yielded two hours 26 minutes, not breath-taking, but the nx6125 wasn’t made for watching DVDs on. The performance numbers are pretty good as well, both in MobileMark 2005 and PCMark 2005, although it’s by no means the fastest notebook I’ve tested. The integrated graphics drags down the score to a degree and this is also apparent in 3DMark 05 which scored a mere 505, even with the full 128MB allocated to graphics.

Verdict

The HP Compaq nx6125 EK159ET is a thoroughly decent laptop, with no major downsides, though it has some minor limitations. Yes, ThinkPad wannabe, although it is much more than just a cheap rip-off - it's well made, and offers a solid feature set and the reassurance of the HP brand. At £817 it's quite affordable and it’s the model I would go for out of HP's current range. ®

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