The first time I unboxed the HP ProBook 4321s, I immediately noticed how ‘boxy’ the form factor of this particular laptop. At 2.2 kg (2.7 kg with charger), this is not a travel friendly laptop. I can see myself hauling this on one of those executive laptop bags on wheels designed primarily for those preferring to carry a 15” or 17” laptop.
The HP ProBook uses a 13.3” LED screen with backlight with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels. The screen brightness and energy efficiency is very good. HP was right to avoid using glossy glass panel that essentially produces more glare making it very difficult to use outdoors.
As a business laptop, the 4321s comes standard with stereo speakers, built-in mic, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, GigE port, Bluetooth. 2MP web camera, 56k modem, three USB ports and a combo e-SATA/USB port, HDMI and standard VGA outputs, an ExpressCard slot, and a media card reader. Almost everything you’d want from a business laptop.
HP picked up a few things from the competition (which is a good thing – why reinvent the wheel?). The keyboard follows the growing popularity of Chiclet-like keyboards (Sony and Apple resurrected what was once upon a time the most loathed keyboard design). HP also made the keyboard spill resistant.
WHAT I LIKE
The use of brushed metal chassis may be in line with giving this series a business feel but I’d recommend wearing gloves when handling the case as it’s a fingerprint magnet. HP included a bevy of software to help maximize the use of this laptop, including a three different security options: customized security code, fingerprint and face recognition.
WHAT I DON’T LIKE
One of the few things I disliked about the Lenovo Thinkpad X200 is the lack of a trackpad. The successor, the X201s may have included a trackpad but the size makes it utterly useless to comfortably work with. HP provided a slightly more generous ClickPad with gestures support but I found the overall experience so difficult that I put out my trusty Logitech mouse to use throughout the duration of the review. If you have a chance, try it out first before making your decision to buy. Navigation is an important aspect of the overall experience so if the ClickPad doesn’t work for you, you might want to look at another model. I was surprised that my daughter shared her dislike for the ProBook 4321s’ clickpad.
The left-half of the base of the laptop can get really hot. So be wary about setting this on your laptop for longer than a few minutes. It can get really uncomfortable very quickly.
The ProBook comes with a 90-watt charger. This is a big chucky brick that dwarfs the 65W adapter that came with my Lenovo Thinkpad X201s. Both heat very quickly when plugged in so I can’t, for the life of me, understand why HP would want to throw in a brick for the charger. For the record, the ProBook I am reviewing uses a Core i3 processor whereas the Thinkpad X201 comes with a Core i7 processor. So tell me why the ProBook requires a 90-watt charger while the more powerful Thinkpad only needs a 65-watt charger to power it?
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Wikipedia defines a couch potato as a slang term for a person who spends most of his or her free time sitting or lying on a couch. You can read more about the history of the term here. The modern home has an average of one TV, a VCR, stereo, and a DVD player. And with the convergence of broadband, TV and computing, the multimedia home entertainment system is gaining ground. In all of this convenience lives one constant – the remote. Each appliance comes with a specially built remote that showcases the basic and unique features of the appliance.
But all good things must come to an end. The most used appliance naturally means higher wear and tear on the remote control. In my case, the remote for the TV in the living room is due for a replacement… and because it’s a really old model, a replacement remote is expensive.
For a couple of years now I’ve been thinking about replacing all the remotes with one universal remote control. It just made sense, why keep five or more controls if you can have one that does everything? Most remotes use infrared to control the appliance.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, founded CL 9. to create a remote control that could operate multiple electronic devices. The CORE unit (Controller Of Remote Equipment) was unique in that it could ‘learn’ remote signals from different devices. It had the ability to perform specific or multiple functions at various times with its built-in clock. It was the first remote control that could be linked to a computer and loaded with updated software code as needed.
Which brings me to our review of the week – the Logitech Harmony 900. This unit comes from a long line of Harmony universal remote controls offered by Logitech.
The build of the Harmony 900 is solid. Charging is almost child-proof. But everything else after that is something else.
The box includes the Harmony 900, a charger cradle, two chargers, a central RF to IR blaster, and with two mini IR blasters. This is a radio frequency (RF) device. The blasters are meant to be used where the appliances to be controlled are behind a cabinet. Setup is a simple plug the master blaster (reminds me of the Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome character – Master Blaster) and the two mini blasters. The complicated technology of synching these blasters to the remote itself is all done by the software.
Speaking of software, all the intelligence that goes into the Harmony 900 is by way of software… the Logitech Harmony Remote Software (currently version 7.7.0). The Remote unit itself is very solid to the feel. It feels like one of those weapons common to Sci-Fi flicks. I’m not going to do an exhaustive recap of the process I went through to test this unit. I tested it on two different systems. One is a simple Sharp TV-vcr console. The more complex system included a Panasonic 29″ TV hooked up to a cable TV decorder, and a Pioneer DVD player-recorder.
The product manager for the Logitech Harmony series told me it took him a couple of hours to make the proper setup. To be honest, two days of trying to get my Sharp TV to recognize the remote was frustrating the ‘hell’ out of me.
Suffice to say that it was only when I had the technical support person walk me through the process that I began to realize just how tedious it is to teach the Harmony 900 how a particular remote control controls an appliance. For the Sharp TV-vcr, it took us all of an hour to get the basics done right. Thereafter it took me another hour to teach the Harmony 900 additional features of the TV-vcr that were controlled by its proprietary remote. (more…)
As a business laptop, the 4321s comes standard with stereo speakers, built-in mic, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, GigE port, Bluetooth. 2MP web camera, 56k modem, three USB ports and a combo e-SATA/USB port, HDMI and standard VGA outputs, an ExpressCard slot, and a media card reader. Almost everything you’d want from a business laptop.
HP picked up a few things from the competition (which is a good thing – why reinvent the wheel?). The keyboard follows the growing popularity of Chiclet-like keyboards (Sony and Apple resurrected what was once upon a time the most loathed keyboard design). HP also made the keyboard spill resistant.
One of the few things I disliked about the Lenovo Thinkpad X200 is the lack of a trackpad. The successor, the X201s may have included a trackpad but the size makes it utterly useless to comfortably work with. HP provided a slightly more generous ClickPad with gestures support but I found the overall experience so difficult that I put out my trusty Logitech mouse to use throughout the duration of the review. If you have a chance, try it out first before making your decision to buy. Navigation is an important aspect of the overall experience so if the ClickPad doesn’t work for you, you might want to look at another model. I was surprised that my daughter shared her dislike for the ProBook 4321s’ clickpad.
In My Humble Opinion 