HP&'S Turion 64 Notebook Combines Power With Lightweight Form

Hewlett-Packard&'s new nx6125 is the first notebook powered by an AMD Turion mobile processor—a 64-bit chip that can easily handle today&'s 32-bit applications as well as the 64-bit applications that will be popular in the future. That means solution providers can offer their customers a fully customizable notebook today that won&'t become obsolete anytime soon, for a price that actually seems too low for cutting-edge technology. The HP Compaq nx6125 is priced starting at $1,249.

Many mobile users won&'t travel with a heavy notebook, no matter how fast it runs. Fortunately, the HP Compaq nx6125 notebook is thin and light, weighing in at about 6 pounds with the optical drive installed, and measuring 12.9 inches wide by 1.2 inches high by 10.6 inches deep.

The sleek chassis houses a 15-inch XGA display with a native resolution of 1,024 x 768. The notebook can optionally be configured with a 15-inch SXGA+ widescreen display that offers a native resolution of 1,400 x 1,050. In either case, the display is driven by an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon X300 that supports up to 128 Mbytes of allocated system memory.

Finished in black and gray, an in-mold lamination process gives the notebook&'s exterior a scratch-resistant finish that is designed to look new for a long time. HP&'s Panel Protection System should help prevent the display from getting scuffed and scratched. Should this notebook be stolen or lost, an integrated biometric fingerprint sensor prevents unauthorized users from getting at the data.

The HP Compaq nx6125 is powered by a 2GHz AMD Turion 64 mobile processor with a 1-Mbyte L2 cache. Turion features HyperTransport Technology, which is a high-speed, low-latency, point-to-point link designed to increase the communication speed between sections of the computer circuitry.

The AMD Turion 64 also offers enhanced virus protection. When used with Windows XP Service Pack 2, the enhanced virus-protection provides extra security at the platform level to help prevent the spread of malicious viruses transported by e-mail, instant-messaging applications and Web downloads. The enhanced virus protection is also supported within Linux, Solaris and BSD Unix.

The processor also uses AMD&'s PowerNow Technology, which extends battery life by throttling down performance under normal operating conditions and kicking into high gear when an application requires it. AMD Turion 64 processors are available in speeds ranging from 1.6GHz (the MT-28) to 2.2GHz (the ML-40); the 2.2GHz notebooks cost $525 each in 1,000-unit quantities.

The sample unit of the HP Compaq nx6125 came with 512 Mbytes of 333MHz DDR SDRAM, upgradable to 2,048 Mbytes. It also came with a 60-Gbyte hard drive, although other drives are available. The LightScribe 8X DVD+/-RW Double Layer do-everything optical drive can even “burn” a label onto the top surface of a disc.

Connectivity features include Broadcom 802.11a/b/g wireless, Gigabit Ethernet, one PC Card slot, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire port and S-video TV out.

There are three levels in HP&'s PartnerOne program including Platinum, which requires resellers to have 15 HP-certified technical consultants or generate $75 million in HP product revenue annually; Gold, requiring five HP-certified technical consultants or $10 million in HP product revenue annually; and Business Partner, a solution provider that is simply authorized to sell HP products. Solution providers can reach Elite status by meeting additional technical and revenue criteria or they can join the PartnerOne SMB Network, Public Sector Network or Diversity Network based on their market focus.

Margins vary based on the size of the deal. HP&'s Financial Services Budget Stretcher program can be used by partners to help their customers finance purchases of up to $250,000 of new equipment or services on a lease term of 27, 39 or 51 months.