Hello everyone! 
I received my nc8000 today
! After the Sager 8890 that unfortunately had a banding screen, I decided to purchase the HP nc8000 because it had almost everything I needed: power, good graphic card, and a 3-spindle design.
Shipping was faster than I expected, since it was supposed to arrive on Friday. I am currently typing this post on it and am very happy with it so far. In my opinion, after a day of usage, it is a keeper! On to the review...
** Reviewed computer
** Compaq nc8000 ** (that's what written on it, but it's also called hp nc8000)
- Dothan 1.7GHz
- SXGA+ screen, WVA
- ATI 9600 Pro with 128Mb of VRAM
- 1024Mb of RAM
- Two SMART 5400rpm 60Gb hard disks (3-spindle rocks!)
- DVD+RW
- Wireless a+b+g
- Bluetooth (don't need it, but it's not expensive)
** Pre-shipping
HP took a long time to ship this laptop. Due date was mid-May, and it arrived almost a month later their previewed date. Not good. However, I can't complain too much about it, because the Dothan was released not far after I ordered, and after 6 (six) phone calls, I was able to switch my order get a Dothan instead of a Banias. Yahoo! I wanted to have 7200rpm disks instead of 5400rpm, but they are only available for the nw8000, and I didn't want to pay the extra cash to get the FireGL card.
** The computer itself
It looks smaller than it actually is. Perhaps the design, since the box has curved angles. Build quality is really good, but it isn't stellar. A few adjustements are a bit wacky, the latch button looks cheap (but apparently isn't); the case is sturdy and well thought, though. It is black (really black, not dark grey) and the keyboard is surrounded with grey magnesium, so-so assembled. The modular bay (top right) seems solid and well done. The nc8000 is also ather light, lighter than expected, considering what's in it. The DVD tray (on the left) is solid and doesn't exhibit any flex. The heat sinks are on the left and above the keyboard.
There are no small trap doors to protect I/O ports, which is obviously not a good idea (no protection against dust). The Firewire port is on the back of the computer, very near the DC port; it is a small annoyance because you cannot plug it eyes closed, but this is only a concern if you plug & unplug Firewire often. USB ports are on the right of Firewire; unfortunately, there are only two of them, which is tight.
** Strong points
- The speed. I didn't benchmark my nc8000 yet with adequate tools, but per my own internal ratings (the only that really count, in the end!), this laptop is very fast. The graphic card packs enough punch to deal with all available games, and the hard disks are fast and silent. The Dothan looks like an impressive processor, and performance-wise I don't really see any major difference with the Sager 3.4GHz I briefly had. Boots in just a few seconds, loads apps in just a few secs. To give you an idea, loading IE is nearly instantaneous, and loading Photoshop 7 takes five seconds. Warcraft III is absolutely gorgeous and there's absolutely no chopiness at all in 1400x1050, max quality; a single-player map in the campaign loads in less than 5 seconds. I have no idea how to get the fps *blushes* - let me know how I can do it (I thought there was a shortcut but apparently there isn't) and I'll tell you what are the fps.
- The equipment.The nc8000 has everything you need right out of the box, absolutely everything. DVD+RW, two hard disks, Firewire, Wireless... You have nothing to add. Pour, chill and serve!
- The silence & the heat. As expected with a Pentium M computer, the nc8000 is relatively silent, since the fan is off or at low speed most of the time. The fan has several "levels", which means that unless you're at full load, all you'll hear is a low humming noise or no noise at all, depending on the CPU load. To sum it up, noise level is not stellar, but it's good, considering the fan often kicks in - albeit at a very low speed. I'm used to complete silence, but hey, this isn't bad. And I can probably get something completely silent by downgrading processor speed if needed. But the nc8000 is not only relatively silent, it runs fairly cool. It runs around 46°C-53°C most of the time. Even under heavy loads, it's not going to be much hotter than this - and on heavy load, it makes less noise than most laptops. The case itself gets slightly hot, especially on the right part where the hard disks are, but once again, you'll find it to be less hot than most laptops available on the market. What's nice is that there are temp meters available: the CPU, the graphic cards, and the hard disks (yes, the modular hard disk also has a temp captor).
- The keyboard. It's as good as advertised; it's pleasant to use, and exhibits NO flex whatsoever. It's relatively silent, has large
keys, and comes with 2 Alt & Ctrl keys (nice!). You truly can't do much better than that. It comes with a trackpoint; I don't use the trackpoint, but you can completely disable it, so it's really not a problem. There's a BIOS option to swap Fn and Ctrl if you're not used to the 'new' layout. The keyboard also comes with three buttons; "Quick-Lock" (very convenient), "Enable/Disable Bluetooth" (again, very convenient), "Presentation" (not useful for me). There are no quick-launch buttons, which is a good thing as I had those on my two previous computers and never used them.
- The three-spindle design. This is a huge asset for me. You have two hard disks & a DVD+RW in a single box. What's more, the modular bay is extremely easy-to-use, and is hot-swappable. Insert a disk, and it's recognized immediately. Kind of like a server rack. Very cool and works well!
- The speakers. The speakers are really very good for their category. Nothing crazy, but they have decent power and bass.
- The solidity. The computer feels sturdy, solid, and reliable. No real "cheap" parts. Only time will tell, though, how good it really is.
** Mixed feelings
- The screen. What's good: it's superb, very sharp, bright, evenly illuminated, has excellent viewing angles, vertical and horizontal, no ghosting at all, and color's well balanced. Banding is extremely limited. Now, the bad part for me is the resolution. It's a little small; I have tweaked the dpi, and it sure is better, but it's still a little small. Digital pictures look absolutely gorgeous on it. What's not good: most Internet content looks so very small or otherwise poor-quality if I enlarge; that is because there are more pixels to display, so compression is more visible. This is normal behavior, but I consider it a downgrade from my XGA resolution that displayed everything, from high-res to low-res, fine. Some text is also really small and can't be enlarged. But what sucks even more is that any resolution other than native looks positively horrible on this screen that is obviously not too good at interpolating. Now, don't get me wrong -- the screen by itself is very good, it's the resolution that - in my opinion - is just too high for a 15". I wonder if taking the SXGA+ was the right choice, but I think I must get used to it, so we'll see in a few days.
- The looks. For me it's not a concern, though I'll admit if you want something that will make your friends gasp in awe and in envy, this is not a laptop for you. I absolutely love the discreet, modern, non-sleek look: it's not as ugly as a no-brand laptop and it's not as pretty as a PowerBook. It truly looks like a business notebook, solid and reliable. Clearly, though, HP's first concern wasn't to make it stand out of the crowd. It's not thin at all, since when opened, it's over 1.15" thick. I'm perfectly fine with that. I love big 15" laptops. This one looks modern but is not ostentatious; fine with me!
** Weak points
- The trackpad. It's not as bad as some people said - it's fast enough, and comes with all advanced functions you'd expect. What is to be revised is the size (it's too small and the trackpad has a round shape which is extremely unconvenient), and the buttons (noisy and hard to click). Once again, you get used to it, but it's less-than-average. You'll need a mouse for heavy usage.
- DVD playback. Image is degraded and looks heavily compressed (even when viewed non full-screen), while my old XGA screen didn't exhibit such behavior. Is it normal behavior for a SXGA+ screen? I hope it's not normal. I briefly thought that the video card might be defective (scary), as it occurred with one user on the forum, but when I come to think of it, games play perfectly and without artifact so far, so it must be something else. Is there a magic setting I overlooked?
- Umm... Well, I'm actually surprised, but it's about all I can think about. Don't worry though, I'll eventually find some more weak points
** Misc
- The nc8000 has a SD reader: tried it and works like a charm.
- There are no front Lecture/Pause/Stop... keys. I'm not sure if this is an asset or a problem. It annoyed me as much as it was useful on my older laptop.
- The status lights are missing a CPU load indicator in my opinion (my old laptop had that, and it was EXTREMELY useful); and I'm not sure why HP decided to put them on the bottom right. Placing them above the keyboard would have been far more convenient. Same goes for the Mute/Vol Up-Down keys. Plus, I'd appreciate visual feedback when I press Vol + or Vol -.
- Standby works as expected: about 2-3 seconds to standby and to resume. Also, some reviewers complained about the hibernation's speed: hibernation works fine on my unit, about 15 seconds to hibernate/resume, which is decent considering there's 1Gb of RAM to cache. (The Sager 8890 I had worked the same, if not slower.)
In short, I give it a 7.8/10 so far. This computer might not be adequate for everyone, but it has exactly the features I was looking for, so I'd say it's a good buy.
Well, that is about all!
I will update the review if I find anything new worth sharing. Hope you like it! Let me know what you thought about the review, and if you have any comments or questions!
-- Robin, typing on his new nc8000
I received my nc8000 today
! After the Sager 8890 that unfortunately had a banding screen, I decided to purchase the HP nc8000 because it had almost everything I needed: power, good graphic card, and a 3-spindle design.Shipping was faster than I expected, since it was supposed to arrive on Friday. I am currently typing this post on it and am very happy with it so far. In my opinion, after a day of usage, it is a keeper! On to the review...
** Reviewed computer
** Compaq nc8000 ** (that's what written on it, but it's also called hp nc8000)
- Dothan 1.7GHz
- SXGA+ screen, WVA
- ATI 9600 Pro with 128Mb of VRAM
- 1024Mb of RAM
- Two SMART 5400rpm 60Gb hard disks (3-spindle rocks!)
- DVD+RW
- Wireless a+b+g
- Bluetooth (don't need it, but it's not expensive)
** Pre-shipping
HP took a long time to ship this laptop. Due date was mid-May, and it arrived almost a month later their previewed date. Not good. However, I can't complain too much about it, because the Dothan was released not far after I ordered, and after 6 (six) phone calls, I was able to switch my order get a Dothan instead of a Banias. Yahoo! I wanted to have 7200rpm disks instead of 5400rpm, but they are only available for the nw8000, and I didn't want to pay the extra cash to get the FireGL card.
** The computer itself
It looks smaller than it actually is. Perhaps the design, since the box has curved angles. Build quality is really good, but it isn't stellar. A few adjustements are a bit wacky, the latch button looks cheap (but apparently isn't); the case is sturdy and well thought, though. It is black (really black, not dark grey) and the keyboard is surrounded with grey magnesium, so-so assembled. The modular bay (top right) seems solid and well done. The nc8000 is also ather light, lighter than expected, considering what's in it. The DVD tray (on the left) is solid and doesn't exhibit any flex. The heat sinks are on the left and above the keyboard.
There are no small trap doors to protect I/O ports, which is obviously not a good idea (no protection against dust). The Firewire port is on the back of the computer, very near the DC port; it is a small annoyance because you cannot plug it eyes closed, but this is only a concern if you plug & unplug Firewire often. USB ports are on the right of Firewire; unfortunately, there are only two of them, which is tight.
** Strong points
- The speed. I didn't benchmark my nc8000 yet with adequate tools, but per my own internal ratings (the only that really count, in the end!), this laptop is very fast. The graphic card packs enough punch to deal with all available games, and the hard disks are fast and silent. The Dothan looks like an impressive processor, and performance-wise I don't really see any major difference with the Sager 3.4GHz I briefly had. Boots in just a few seconds, loads apps in just a few secs. To give you an idea, loading IE is nearly instantaneous, and loading Photoshop 7 takes five seconds. Warcraft III is absolutely gorgeous and there's absolutely no chopiness at all in 1400x1050, max quality; a single-player map in the campaign loads in less than 5 seconds. I have no idea how to get the fps *blushes* - let me know how I can do it (I thought there was a shortcut but apparently there isn't) and I'll tell you what are the fps.
- The equipment.The nc8000 has everything you need right out of the box, absolutely everything. DVD+RW, two hard disks, Firewire, Wireless... You have nothing to add. Pour, chill and serve!
- The silence & the heat. As expected with a Pentium M computer, the nc8000 is relatively silent, since the fan is off or at low speed most of the time. The fan has several "levels", which means that unless you're at full load, all you'll hear is a low humming noise or no noise at all, depending on the CPU load. To sum it up, noise level is not stellar, but it's good, considering the fan often kicks in - albeit at a very low speed. I'm used to complete silence, but hey, this isn't bad. And I can probably get something completely silent by downgrading processor speed if needed. But the nc8000 is not only relatively silent, it runs fairly cool. It runs around 46°C-53°C most of the time. Even under heavy loads, it's not going to be much hotter than this - and on heavy load, it makes less noise than most laptops. The case itself gets slightly hot, especially on the right part where the hard disks are, but once again, you'll find it to be less hot than most laptops available on the market. What's nice is that there are temp meters available: the CPU, the graphic cards, and the hard disks (yes, the modular hard disk also has a temp captor).
- The keyboard. It's as good as advertised; it's pleasant to use, and exhibits NO flex whatsoever. It's relatively silent, has large
keys, and comes with 2 Alt & Ctrl keys (nice!). You truly can't do much better than that. It comes with a trackpoint; I don't use the trackpoint, but you can completely disable it, so it's really not a problem. There's a BIOS option to swap Fn and Ctrl if you're not used to the 'new' layout. The keyboard also comes with three buttons; "Quick-Lock" (very convenient), "Enable/Disable Bluetooth" (again, very convenient), "Presentation" (not useful for me). There are no quick-launch buttons, which is a good thing as I had those on my two previous computers and never used them.
- The three-spindle design. This is a huge asset for me. You have two hard disks & a DVD+RW in a single box. What's more, the modular bay is extremely easy-to-use, and is hot-swappable. Insert a disk, and it's recognized immediately. Kind of like a server rack. Very cool and works well!
- The speakers. The speakers are really very good for their category. Nothing crazy, but they have decent power and bass.
- The solidity. The computer feels sturdy, solid, and reliable. No real "cheap" parts. Only time will tell, though, how good it really is.
** Mixed feelings
- The screen. What's good: it's superb, very sharp, bright, evenly illuminated, has excellent viewing angles, vertical and horizontal, no ghosting at all, and color's well balanced. Banding is extremely limited. Now, the bad part for me is the resolution. It's a little small; I have tweaked the dpi, and it sure is better, but it's still a little small. Digital pictures look absolutely gorgeous on it. What's not good: most Internet content looks so very small or otherwise poor-quality if I enlarge; that is because there are more pixels to display, so compression is more visible. This is normal behavior, but I consider it a downgrade from my XGA resolution that displayed everything, from high-res to low-res, fine. Some text is also really small and can't be enlarged. But what sucks even more is that any resolution other than native looks positively horrible on this screen that is obviously not too good at interpolating. Now, don't get me wrong -- the screen by itself is very good, it's the resolution that - in my opinion - is just too high for a 15". I wonder if taking the SXGA+ was the right choice, but I think I must get used to it, so we'll see in a few days.
- The looks. For me it's not a concern, though I'll admit if you want something that will make your friends gasp in awe and in envy, this is not a laptop for you. I absolutely love the discreet, modern, non-sleek
look: it's not as ugly as a no-brand laptop and it's not as pretty as a PowerBook. It truly looks like a business notebook, solid and reliable. Clearly, though, HP's first concern wasn't to make it stand out of the crowd. It's not thin at all, since when opened, it's over 1.15" thick. I'm perfectly fine with that. I love big 15" laptops. This one looks modern but is not ostentatious; fine with me!** Weak points
- The trackpad. It's not as bad as some people said - it's fast enough, and comes with all advanced functions you'd expect. What is to be revised is the size (it's too small and the trackpad has a round shape which is extremely unconvenient), and the buttons (noisy and hard to click). Once again, you get used to it, but it's less-than-average. You'll need a mouse for heavy usage.
- DVD playback. Image is degraded and looks heavily compressed (even when viewed non full-screen), while my old XGA screen didn't exhibit such behavior. Is it normal behavior for a SXGA+ screen? I hope it's not normal. I briefly thought that the video card might be defective (scary), as it occurred with one user on the forum, but when I come to think of it, games play perfectly and without artifact so far, so it must be something else. Is there a magic setting I overlooked?
- Umm... Well, I'm actually surprised, but it's about all I can think about. Don't worry though, I'll eventually find some more weak points
** Misc
- The nc8000 has a SD reader: tried it and works like a charm.
- There are no front Lecture/Pause/Stop... keys. I'm not sure if this is an asset or a problem. It annoyed me as much as it was useful on my older laptop.
- The status lights are missing a CPU load indicator in my opinion (my old laptop had that, and it was EXTREMELY useful); and I'm not sure why HP decided to put them on the bottom right. Placing them above the keyboard would have been far more convenient. Same goes for the Mute/Vol Up-Down keys. Plus, I'd appreciate visual feedback when I press Vol + or Vol -.
- Standby works as expected: about 2-3 seconds to standby and to resume. Also, some reviewers complained about the hibernation's speed: hibernation works fine on my unit, about 15 seconds to hibernate/resume, which is decent considering there's 1Gb of RAM to cache. (The Sager 8890 I had worked the same, if not slower.)
In short, I give it a 7.8/10 so far. This computer might not be adequate for everyone, but it has exactly the features I was looking for, so I'd say it's a good buy.
Well, that is about all!
I will update the review if I find anything new worth sharing. Hope you like it! Let me know what you thought about the review, and if you have any comments or questions!-- Robin, typing on his new nc8000
Seriously, I'm very happy with my purchase. To me, it's a better buy than the IBM. Now, for the screen size, it amounts to something rather easy: if you have tested SXGA+ and if you believe it is OK, then by all means get it. The screen is absolutely perfect and all people who saw it were extremely surprised by its quality, wide viewing angles and sharpness. By comparison, other screens look washed out and dull. It's really that good. 
No idea, but if you're looking for a solid laptop, Acer is not the way to go.
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