HP ProBook 4730s

High quality, great desktop replacement – I needed more screen real estate for the (writing) that I was doing and wanted a little more power too. This machine at the price caught my eye, and after some indecision, I went for it and have not regretted it at all. From what I can gather, this is a business machine, not a gaming or graphic designer's machine, so it ought to prioritize durability and functionality over outright CPU speed.

Featuring a core-i5 processor, 17.3" matt screen, 500 GB hard drive, and an ATI-based graphics card, it ticked all the boxes that needed ticking and at the price, I think it offers an awful lot. It has a DVD burner, not a Blu-Ray reader/burner

Construction features aluminium on the lid and keyboard fascia, and is quite a smart-looking device. The lid has very little flex and overall I'd describe it as "solid".

One review I have read criticized the machine for a stuttering track pad and screen quality. I have found neither to be true: the track pad works very smoothly and consistently, and the blacks look to be quite... well, black! They are deep and rich, and I don't think that is just restricted to mine. Other colours also seem to display very well. The lack of reflections off the screen is very welcome. Resolution is 1600 x 900, not full high definition.

For all its size it is marginally lighter than my previous laptop, but still is a little heavy in my lap. I have a wheeled notebook case so transport is rarely by lifting.

The keyboard permits quite rapid typing, and the keys have a very good, positive feel to them. They are not backlit, which is something I wish I could have had. However, I still prefer the wonderful lightness of touch that my Acer offered.

There is a USB3 port, but no eSATA, and it has bluetooth, HDMI, wired ethernet (gigabit), plus 3 USB 2 ports. There is even a PCMCIA expansion slot. There is a fingerprint reader that works very well, and other security includes face recognition from the webcam (a flaky, gimmicky thing at best). Want to encrypt your disk? Go for it with HP's included software.

Battery life seems to be quite good, and I am currently getting 4+ hours with wireless and bluetooth activated. My previous laptop would give me less than 2 hours with similar use.

HP includes 32-bit and 64-bit disks for the Win 7 OS, plus the swag of other applications on a third disk. This is a rarity, as most will preinstall (as HP does) and OS and just include a recovery partition (again, HP does this too but you get the option doing a complete wipe of the HD), plus enormous amounts of bloatware.

Overall, it is very nice to use and looks set to deliver long and good service.

Shortcomings? I always want more power and battery life, but doubling both over my previous laptop makes it hard to quibble. I will add one other shortcoming: the speakers are very poor. I listened to music on them just recently, and there is almost no bass, giving the sound a tinny aspect. They can get very loud though. There is only one hard drive bay. Construction, features, included disks, battery life, screen, keyboard Very little, for the price. Screen is not full HD. Speakers are sub-standard