I have had this HP Pavilion XH485 for almost exactly a year now. It is my first non-Mac as well as my first laptop. The two drawbacks that took me completely by surprise were:
1. This laptop creates an enormous amount of heat. No kiddiing, when I used it in my lap, I actually got small blistering burns.
2. It's not really portable. I only use it plugged into the wall. The battery works for about 30 minutes unplugged. Then - without any warning - the computer dies and you lose anything you may have been working on.
The commercials that show Mom working at the beach while her kids play are totally misleading.
That's right -- the more capable the processor, the more heat, although the new Pentium 4 Mobile processors will run slower (thus producing less heat) when the machine is battery powered. Plug in the power cable and they crank up the processing power.
Of course, you improve battery performance by reducing the output of your screen. Why would you want to bring your computer to the beach with all that sand and wind and salt? Especially, an expensive mobile workstation. That is the place for a more robust, sealed computing device.
The heat issue really is for the whole category of high-performance notebooks. These machines are "mobile" rather than portable. They can produce a lot of heat. The recent Apple PowerBooks run a lot cooler thanks to the latest, cooler-running PowerPC G4s.
Laptop Drawbacks
I have had this HP Pavilion XH485 for almost exactly a year now. It is my first non-Mac as well as my first laptop. The two drawbacks that took me completely by surprise were:
1. This laptop creates an enormous amount of heat. No kiddiing, when I used it in my lap, I actually got small blistering burns.
2. It's not really portable. I only use it plugged into the wall. The battery works for about 30 minutes unplugged. Then - without any warning - the computer dies and you lose anything you may have been working on.
The commercials that show Mom working at the beach while her kids play are totally misleading.
The author responds
That's right -- the more capable the processor, the more heat, although the new Pentium 4 Mobile processors will run slower (thus producing less heat) when the machine is battery powered. Plug in the power cable and they crank up the processing power.
Of course, you improve battery performance by reducing the output of your screen. Why would you want to bring your computer to the beach with all that sand and wind and salt? Especially, an expensive mobile workstation. That is the place for a more robust, sealed computing device.
The heat issue really is for the whole category of high-performance notebooks. These machines are "mobile" rather than portable. They can produce a lot of heat. The recent Apple PowerBooks run a lot cooler thanks to the latest, cooler-running PowerPC G4s.
David Morgenstern