Not only does the 8730w look smart, but the build quality is also very good. The brushed aluminium finish is scratch-resistant and the screen hinges feel reassuringly solid, as does the keyboard. The screen section does flex slightly, but it's a good centimetre thick and should withstand all but the most determined ill-treatment. Finally, there's a sturdy mechanism to keep the lid firmly attached to the system unit when the clamshell is closed up.
Features
As befits a workstation-class system, the 8730w has a top-notch set of components inside. The processor in our FU471ET review model is a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600, which has 6MB of Level 2 cache and a 1,066MHz front-side bus. The chipset is Intel's PM45 Express.
Although HP's Web site lists the FU471ET as coming with 4GB of RAM as standard (expandable to 8GB in total), our review sample had 3GB. Our review unit also came with Windows XP Professional installed, although the standard OS is Vista Business (with an XP downgrade option). You can also specify SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 if required.
The graphics processor, naturally, is a discrete affair, in the shape of Nvidia's Quadro FX 2700M. This has 512MB of dedicated video memory and comes with a fully featured control panel that includes a drop-down menu of 3D settings for a wide range of certified third-party applications. Other models in the 8730w range step the GPU up to the Quadro FX 3700M with 1GB of video RAM.
For storage there's a fast (7,200rpm) 320GB Seagate Momentus hard drive, protected against bumps and shocks by HP's 3D DriveGuard system. If you need more capacity, you can replace the optical drive -- a LightScribe double-layer multi-format DVD rewriter -- with another hard drive: HP sells a 5,400rpm 250GB drive for around £205.
Intel's WiFi Link 5300, which supports 802.11a/b/g and draft-n Wi-Fi, looks after wireless networking, and Bluetooth 2.0 is also present for short-range wireless connectivity. Wired networking is handled by Intel's Gigabit Ethernet module, and there's even a 56Kbps modem, although it's unlikely to see much use these days.
There's plenty of room on this system for ports and connectors, and HP doesn't stint. There are four USB ports, for example, plus a combined USB/eSATA port. The USB/eSATA port and three of the USB ports are on the right-hand side, along with the optical drive and the Ethernet and modem ports.
The left-hand side has a combined ExpressCard/54 and Smart Card slot at the front, followed by a USB port, a 4-pin FireWire port, VGA and HDMI ports, and the power input. The fascia carries the audio jacks and a multi-format flash card reader. The lack of dual-link DVI-out is the only possible niggle: if you need this, you'll have to invest in one of HP's optional docking stations.
The li-ion battery, which occupies most of the back, is a hefty eight-cell, 73Wh unit. Additional battery options for those who need to maximise mains-free uptime include a 52Wh, extended-life battery (around £90) and a 95Wh, ultra-capacity battery (around £160). The power brick, incidentally, is a distinctly hefty 150W unit.
Performance
It should be no surprise to hear that the 8730w is a nippy laptop, given its 2.8GHz dual-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, discrete Quadro FX 2700M graphics and fast 7,200rpm hard disk. We ran PassMark Software's PerformanceTest 7.0 and got an overall score of 913.8. By way of comparison, a Lenovo ThinkPad W500 (2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, Vista) in Passmark's comparison database scored 879.6.
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