X

HP Compaq nx9420 Notebook

HP Compaq nx9420 Notebook

Justin Jaffe Managing editor
Justin Jaffe is the Managing Editor for CNET Money. He has more than 20 years of experience publishing books, articles and research on finance and technology for Wired, IDC and others. He is the coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015), which reveals how financial services companies take advantage of customers -- and how to protect yourself. He graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, spent 10 years in San Francisco and now lives in Portland, Maine.
Expertise Credit cards, Loans, Banking, Mortgages, Taxes, Cryptocurrency, Insurance, Investing. Credentials
  • Coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015)
Justin Jaffe

Though plenty of 17-inch wide-screen laptops are on the market, the HP Compaq nx9420 is the only one of them from a major vendor that's designed specifically for large business and enterprise deployment. Starting at approximately $1,399, the nx9420 is a bit pricier than HP's consumer-focused siblings (the Pavilion dv8000 starts at $999), but it's also considerably more powerful. The base configuration features a 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 processor, 512MB of fast 533MHz RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card with 256MB memory, an 80GB hard drive spinning at 5,400rpm, and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. Higher-end configurations include Intel Core Duo processors in speeds up to 2.16GHz, up to 4GB of RAM, 100GB hard drives (with a 100GB, 7,200rpm option), and DVD burners.

Our $2,399 nx9420 test unit was configured with some high-end components: a top-of-the-line 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T2600 processor; 1GB of DDR2 RAM (1x1024); an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 GPU with 256MB of VRAM; and an 80GB, 5,400rpm hard drive. We were impressed with its performance and pleased with its corporate-level security features. For all the details, read our full review of the HP Compaq nx9420.