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Compaq's newest thin-and-light notebook, the feature-packed Evo N410c, takes battery capability to a new level; this 3.5-pound wonder can hold an amazing four cells at once. But besides burly battery capacity and some other unique features--including the silver MultiPort in the lid for 802.11b (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth modules--the Evo N410c isn't entirely on the cutting edge. Its 1.2GHz Pentium III-M processor, 256MB of memory, 40GB hard drive, and 12.1-inch display can't touch the specs of bigger notebooks. But these components provide plenty of oomph for a road warrior's typical tasks and don't cost an arm and a leg. And for a few more bucks, you can grab the optional Mobile Expansion Unit--a docking station with two swappable drive bays--to make for a more desktoplike experience. All told, the Evo N410c is a smart choice for corporations looking to outfit traveling employees, even though its ValueWatch rating is only average. From the moment you set eyes on it, you'll know that the Evo N410c looks different. But until you spend a few minutes examining this tiny notebook, you won't be able to tell how versatile it really is.
A raised, silver bump called the MultiPort runs down the right side of the N410c's black lid. Lift the silver cover along this ridge, and you'll find a built-in, USB-based wireless-connection port. The port supports optional 802.11b (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth modules, each of which cost $129 extra and are easy to install by unscrewing the cover, inserting the module, then replacing the screws. This easy-to-access setup will also make it simpler to migrate to future wireless standards, according to Compaq.
Even with the MultiPort, the Evo manages to keep trim at 10.5 by 9.5 by 0.9 inches and 3.5 pounds. However, you should count on this Evo to weigh another 0.75 pounds with the AC adapter.
For such a thin system, Compaq was able to stuff the N410c's case full of ports and slots. The right edge contains jacks for headphones, a microphone, USB, IrDA, a 56Kbps modem, and Ethernet, as well as one Type II PC Card slot. The opposite side features a VGA slot, another USB port, and a Kensington lock slot, while the front edge offers two volume-control buttons. Finally, the back edge includes parallel and serial ports as well as a NTSC/PAL video out. The Evo lacks a FireWire port, but its fast USB 2.0 connections make up for the absence. Plus, you can increase your Evo's ports with its versatile Mobile Expansion Unit (see the Features section of this review for more).
Ports aside, the Evo N410c's bright screen measures an acceptable 12.1 inches with a default 1,024x768-pixel resolution. This notebook's exceptionally comfortable keyboard is nice and wide, with decent-sized keys and an inverted-T cursor pad that is thankfully separated from the rest of the keys. This sort of layout prevents your right pinkie from hitting the up arrow when it really seeks the Shift button. The system also comes with a touchpad, which is planted comfortably in the middle of the wrist rest. Under the touchpad are two slightly small mouse buttons, along with a dedicated scroll button for quick trips through documents or Web pages. Four convenient, programmable application quick-launch buttons lie above the keyboard's upper-right corner.
There is a multitude of ways that you can configure the Evo N410c. You won't find internal, swappable drive bays on the notebook itself, but you can get them with either the optional $79 MultiBay or the $199 Mobile Expansion Unit. The MultiBay isn't much larger than the drives themselves and acts as a typical external drive connected via a cable. The bigger Mobile Expansion Unit, on the other hand, snaps onto the notebook's bottom and comes with two internal bays that house a range of optional optical drives, including CD ($99), DVD ($219), CD-RW ($249), and DVD/CD-RW combo ($299). The bays also hold a floppy drive ($69) and various-sized second hard drives. If you're a power collector, you can fill both bays with extra batteries at $184 a pop.
You can also attach yet another, tube-shaped extra battery to the back edge of the laptop itself for a grand total of four batteries at once. If you're keeping score at home, that includes the primary battery, two more in the Mobile Expansion Unit, and the extra cell on the back, all of which add up to a possible 10 hours of life, according to Compaq. The tube-shaped batteries come in two sizes: 14.8-volt, 1.96mAh for $179, and 14.4-volt, 2.7mAh for $219.
The Mobile Expansion Unit is also a port replicator, offering extra ports for parallel, serial, VGA, USB, and analog audio-in and -out, as well as two PS/2 slots. While the expansion unit and its complimentary components aren't cheap, companies that already have Evo notebooks or Compaq Armada E- and M-series laptops can save a few bucks by interchanging drives and batteries.
The Evo N410c offers a limited number of configuration options. You can choose a Pentium III-M processor running at either 1GHz or 1.2GHz; a 4,200rpm hard drive at 20GB or 30GB; and 133MHz SDRAM between 256MB and 1,024MB. The screen size and the graphics chip are limited to just one choice each: a 12.1-inch, active-matrix display with a default resolution of 1,024x768, and an ATI Mobility Radeon chip with 16MB of 266MHz DDR SDRAM.
The Evo N410c ships with no office suites or extra applications, which is typical for a corporate notebook since most companies already own software site licenses. But the system does include Compaq's remote-manageability program, Intelligent Manageability, which conveniently allows IS managers to keep tabs on your notebook's vitals when you're away from home base.
The Compaq Evo N410c is a thin-and-light notebook with great mobile application performance and battery life. With its 1.2GHz Pentium III-M CPU, 256MB of RAM, and 4,200rpm hard drive, it scored higher than competing thin-and-light systems when CNET Labs ran MobileMark2002. The Evo beat the similarly configured IBM ThinkPad X30 by a small amount and crushed the 933MHz Gateway 200 by a significant margin.
System configurations:
Compaq Evo N410c
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 256MB SDRAM 133MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 16MB; Hitachi DK23DA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
Gateway 200
Windows XP Professional; 933MHz Intel Pentium III-M, 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel 82830M graphics controller 32MB (8MB shared); Toshiba MK2018GAP 20GB 4,200rpm
IBM ThinkPad X30
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel Extreme graphics controller-0 48MB (8MB shared); Hitachi DK23EA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
The Evo N410c's 14.4-volt, 2,700mAh primary battery kept it running for an impressive 229 minutes, just 10 minutes less than the ThinkPad X30, which has a 10.8-volt, 4,400mAh cell. (CNET Labs did not test the Evo's multitude of secondary batteries.) Unsurpisingly, the Gateway's smaller 7.4-volt, 3,600mAh battery came in last.
To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002, an industry-standard benchmark. MobileMark measures both applications performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications: Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0.
System configurations:
Compaq Evo N410c
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 256MB SDRAM 133MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 16MB; Hitachi DK23DA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
Gateway 200
Windows XP Professional; 933MHz Intel Pentium III-M, 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel 82830M graphics controller 32MB (8MB shared); Toshiba MK2018GAP 20GB 4,200rpm
IBM ThinkPad X30
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel Extreme graphics controller-0 48MB (8MB shared); Hitachi DK23EA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
HP's approach to service and support is a mixed bag. On one hand, the company offers a three-year parts-and-labor warranty with all Evo N410cs, which we applaud. On the other hand, Compaq doesn't provide any options for extending service longer than three years. (Other vendors offer up to five years.) The only variations on the three-year plan are your choice of return-to-depot repair, onsite service, and accidental-damage coverage. Toll-free, 24/7 phone support lasts for the length of the warranty.
Compaq also puts all the documentation that you need on its handy Product Reference Library CD, which cuts down on the paper trail. In addition, the company includes some helpful hard-copy manuals with the system, such as the Getting Started guide to familiarizing yourself with the Evo N410c's system and features. Compaq's online support is average, offering a FAQ database and e-mail tech support but no useful user forums or real-time chat sessions with the product-support department.
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 The silver MultiPort on the Evo's lid. |
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Even with the MultiPort, the Evo manages to keep trim at 10.5 by 9.5 by 0.9 inches and 3.5 pounds. However, you should count on this Evo to weigh another 0.75 pounds with the AC adapter.
For such a thin system, Compaq was able to stuff the N410c's case full of ports and slots. The right edge contains jacks for headphones, a microphone, USB, IrDA, a 56Kbps modem, and Ethernet, as well as one Type II PC Card slot. The opposite side features a VGA slot, another USB port, and a Kensington lock slot, while the front edge offers two volume-control buttons. Finally, the back edge includes parallel and serial ports as well as a NTSC/PAL video out. The Evo lacks a FireWire port, but its fast USB 2.0 connections make up for the absence. Plus, you can increase your Evo's ports with its versatile Mobile Expansion Unit (see the Features section of this review for more).
 The ports on the right side. |
 Touchpad and mouse buttons. |
Ports aside, the Evo N410c's bright screen measures an acceptable 12.1 inches with a default 1,024x768-pixel resolution. This notebook's exceptionally comfortable keyboard is nice and wide, with decent-sized keys and an inverted-T cursor pad that is thankfully separated from the rest of the keys. This sort of layout prevents your right pinkie from hitting the up arrow when it really seeks the Shift button. The system also comes with a touchpad, which is planted comfortably in the middle of the wrist rest. Under the touchpad are two slightly small mouse buttons, along with a dedicated scroll button for quick trips through documents or Web pages. Four convenient, programmable application quick-launch buttons lie above the keyboard's upper-right corner.
There is a multitude of ways that you can configure the Evo N410c. You won't find internal, swappable drive bays on the notebook itself, but you can get them with either the optional $79 MultiBay or the $199 Mobile Expansion Unit. The MultiBay isn't much larger than the drives themselves and acts as a typical external drive connected via a cable. The bigger Mobile Expansion Unit, on the other hand, snaps onto the notebook's bottom and comes with two internal bays that house a range of optional optical drives, including CD ($99), DVD ($219), CD-RW ($249), and DVD/CD-RW combo ($299). The bays also hold a floppy drive ($69) and various-sized second hard drives. If you're a power collector, you can fill both bays with extra batteries at $184 a pop.
 The Evo N410c and the Mobile Expansion Unit. |
 The tube-shaped extra batteries. |
You can also attach yet another, tube-shaped extra battery to the back edge of the laptop itself for a grand total of four batteries at once. If you're keeping score at home, that includes the primary battery, two more in the Mobile Expansion Unit, and the extra cell on the back, all of which add up to a possible 10 hours of life, according to Compaq. The tube-shaped batteries come in two sizes: 14.8-volt, 1.96mAh for $179, and 14.4-volt, 2.7mAh for $219.
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 The front edge, with the laptop docked in the Mobile Expansion Unit. |
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The Evo N410c offers a limited number of configuration options. You can choose a Pentium III-M processor running at either 1GHz or 1.2GHz; a 4,200rpm hard drive at 20GB or 30GB; and 133MHz SDRAM between 256MB and 1,024MB. The screen size and the graphics chip are limited to just one choice each: a 12.1-inch, active-matrix display with a default resolution of 1,024x768, and an ATI Mobility Radeon chip with 16MB of 266MHz DDR SDRAM.
The Evo N410c ships with no office suites or extra applications, which is typical for a corporate notebook since most companies already own software site licenses. But the system does include Compaq's remote-manageability program, Intelligent Manageability, which conveniently allows IS managers to keep tabs on your notebook's vitals when you're away from home base.
The Compaq Evo N410c is a thin-and-light notebook with great mobile application performance and battery life. With its 1.2GHz Pentium III-M CPU, 256MB of RAM, and 4,200rpm hard drive, it scored higher than competing thin-and-light systems when CNET Labs ran MobileMark2002. The Evo beat the similarly configured IBM ThinkPad X30 by a small amount and crushed the 933MHz Gateway 200 by a significant margin.
Mobile application performance (Longer bars indicate faster performance)
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System configurations:
Compaq Evo N410c
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 256MB SDRAM 133MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 16MB; Hitachi DK23DA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
Gateway 200
Windows XP Professional; 933MHz Intel Pentium III-M, 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel 82830M graphics controller 32MB (8MB shared); Toshiba MK2018GAP 20GB 4,200rpm
IBM ThinkPad X30
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel Extreme graphics controller-0 48MB (8MB shared); Hitachi DK23EA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
The Evo N410c's 14.4-volt, 2,700mAh primary battery kept it running for an impressive 229 minutes, just 10 minutes less than the ThinkPad X30, which has a 10.8-volt, 4,400mAh cell. (CNET Labs did not test the Evo's multitude of secondary batteries.) Unsurpisingly, the Gateway's smaller 7.4-volt, 3,600mAh battery came in last.
Battery life (Longer bars indicate longer battery life)
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To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002, an industry-standard benchmark. MobileMark measures both applications performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications: Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0.
System configurations:
Compaq Evo N410c
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 256MB SDRAM 133MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 16MB; Hitachi DK23DA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
Gateway 200
Windows XP Professional; 933MHz Intel Pentium III-M, 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel 82830M graphics controller 32MB (8MB shared); Toshiba MK2018GAP 20GB 4,200rpm
IBM ThinkPad X30
Windows XP Professional; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium III-M; 248MB SDRAM 133MHz; Intel Extreme graphics controller-0 48MB (8MB shared); Hitachi DK23EA-40 40GB 4,200rpm
HP's approach to service and support is a mixed bag. On one hand, the company offers a three-year parts-and-labor warranty with all Evo N410cs, which we applaud. On the other hand, Compaq doesn't provide any options for extending service longer than three years. (Other vendors offer up to five years.) The only variations on the three-year plan are your choice of return-to-depot repair, onsite service, and accidental-damage coverage. Toll-free, 24/7 phone support lasts for the length of the warranty.
Compaq also puts all the documentation that you need on its handy Product Reference Library CD, which cuts down on the paper trail. In addition, the company includes some helpful hard-copy manuals with the system, such as the Getting Started guide to familiarizing yourself with the Evo N410c's system and features. Compaq's online support is average, offering a FAQ database and e-mail tech support but no useful user forums or real-time chat sessions with the product-support department.
