HP's latest business laptop, the thin-and-light Compaq 6910p, seems poised to woo corporate users away from their ThinkPads. It offers many of the same features as the Lenovo ThinkPad T61, including Intel's latest Centrino Duo platform, enterprise-level security via a Trusted Platform Module, and optional WWAN -- at a significantly lower price. The AU$3,199 Compaq 6910p also competes with the similarly configured Dell Latitude D630, making it a good choice for corporate users who need the latest business-friendly features at an affordable price.

The HP Compaq 6910p features the boxy shape and subdued grey and black colour scheme found across HP's business laptop line. Its solid construction and sturdy display hinges will no doubt appeal to IT buyers who want their laptops to last for the long haul. Its dimensions are fairly typical for a thin and light laptop and virtually identical to those of the Dell Latitude D630. The Compaq 6910p's 2.3 kilogram weight falls in the middle of the range for the thin and light category, making it an eminently portable machine on its own. Unfortunately, its half kilogram AC adaptor brings its overall weight to a level that, while still manageable, is less than ideal for frequent travel.

The roomy keyboard on the HP Compaq 6910p, though not full size, lets you pound out lengthy documents without cramping your fingers. For navigation, HP offers both a pointing stick and a touch pad, each with its own comfortable, rubberised mouse buttons. To the lower right of the keyboard, there's a tiny fingerprint reader, which frees you from having to remember your Windows and Web passwords. Above the keyboard sits a row of light touch buttons that should look familiar to anyone acquainted with HP's Pavilion laptops. In addition to a mute button and volume controls, there are buttons to launch HP's configuration tools, turn the wireless radios on and off, and adjust display settings for presentations. While the similar light touch controls on Pavilion models make an annoying beeping noise that has to be manually shut off, the buttons on the HP Compaq 6910p are blissfully silent.

The well thought out design extends to the laptop's 14.1-inch wide-screen display, which you can customise with either HP's BrightView glossy finish or an antiglare finish. While the BrightView promises to make colours pop, it's also prone to distracting reflections; the antiglare finish (which our review unit had) makes it easier to work on spreadsheets and documents for long periods of time without straining your eyes. With a native resolution of 1,280x800, text and icons looked crisp without being too small, and video looked sharp, though the colour was somewhat washed out on our display.

The HP Compaq 6910p includes most of the ports and connections we expect on a thin and light laptop, plus a few business-friendly extras. Specifically, the laptop piles on corporate level security measures, including not only a fingerprint reader but also a smart-card slot and an internal Trusted Platform Module. The Compaq 6910p also provides every possible networking connection: Gigabit Ethernet, 56Kbps modem, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi, and your choice of EV-DO or HSDPA WWAN. We were pleasantly surprised by the laptop's stereo speakers, which were rich and clear at all but the highest volumes. About the only thing we'd wish to add to the Compaq 6910p is an ExpressCard slot.

On CNET's performance benchmarks the HP Compaq 6910p fell toward the back of a pack of similarly configured thin-and-light laptops. Its performance was matched or bested by the Lenovo ThinkPad T61, the Dell Latitude D630, and the Fujitsu LifeBook A6030. One key exception: the Compaq 6910p finished well ahead of the Dell -- but still behind the others -- on our Multimedia multitasking test. Still, any current Centrino Duo laptop, including the HP Compaq 6910p, will be able to easily handle the Web surfing, document editing, and productivity work that compose the bulk of office tasks. Heavy multitaskers and data crunchers might get a slight power boost from the ThinkPad T61 or the LifeBook A6030, but the HP Compaq 6910p will provide plenty of performance oomph for most users.

On our resource-intensive DVD battery drain tests, the HP Compaq 6910p lasted a fairly average two hours, seven minutes, which was five minutes longer than the Fujitsu LifeBook A6030 but 20 minutes shorter than the ThinkPad T61. The Dell Latitude D630's extended-capacity battery outlasted them all, clocking in at four hours, 45 minutes. Our DVD battery drain test is especially gruelling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use. Power-hungry users can get a little more juice from HP's extended-capacity battery, available for AU$195 on the company's site, or an ultra-capacity battery for AU$345.

Note that these results are from a 2.0GHz system -- HP Australia now sells the 6910p in either a 1.8GHz or 2.4GHz configuration, so results may scale accordingly.

Multimedia multitasking test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

In seconds

HP Pavilion dv2500t

995 

Fujitsu LifeBook A6030

1,003 

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

1,042 

HP Compaq 6910p

1,052 

Dell Latitude D630

1,145 

Adobe Photoshop CS2 image-processing test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

In seconds

HP Pavilion dv2500t

250 

Dell Latitude D630

259 

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

262 

Fujitsu LifeBook A6030

272 

HP Compaq 6910p

293 

Apple iTunes encoding test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

In seconds

Dell Latitude D630

192 

HP Pavilion dv2500t

201 

HP Compaq 6910p

202 

Fujitsu LifeBook A6030

203 

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

206 

DVD battery drain test
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

In minutes

Dell Latitude D630

285 

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

149 

HP Compaq 6910p

127 

Fujitsu LifeBook A6030

122 

HP Pavilion dv2500t

99 

System configurations:

Dell Latitude D630
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 384MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 120GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Fujitsu LifeBook A6030
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 120GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm

HP Compaq 6910p
Windows Vista Business; 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo T7100; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X2300; 100GB 7,200rpm

HP Pavilion dv2500t
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 64MB Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS; 160GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Lenovo ThinkPad T61
Windows Vista Business; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 100GB Seagate 7,200rpm