HP ProBook 4520s Review Specs - Price

The HP ProBook 4520s is very well built for a 15-inch laptop, with its twin central hinges ably supporting the screen with the rest of the chassis.
The HP ProBook 4520s is a stylish business laptop unlike any other we've seen from any laptop manufacturer. It comes in two colours - caviar and bourdeaux.

HP ProBook 4520s Specifications:

* Intel Core i5 430M Processor (2.26GHz, 3MB cache)
* Intel GMA HD Integrated Graphics
* 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
* 320GB 7200RPM HDD
* Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (32-bit)
* 15.6-inch LED-backlit anti-glare HD display (1366 x 768)
* LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
* Atheros AR9285 BGN Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1, 1Gb LAN
* 6-Cell 47WHr Battery
* Limited 1-year standard parts and labor warranty
* Dimensions: 14.64 x 9.83 x 1.09-inches
* Weight: Starting at 5.27lbs  
* Price as configured: $749

Design

The ProBook’s dark brown “Caviar” brushed-aluminum wrapping is not only stylish, but it’s also more durable than the ABS plastic used on many notebooks. The screen cover instead of being plastic on the 4510s is now brushed metal which feels stronger and looks much nicer. The chassis is 1.4 inches thick and weighs in at 5.3 pounds; as with most 15-inch notebooks, it's a bit too hefty for toting around all day but manageable for short jaunts.

Screen

The ProBook 4520s’s 15.6-inch display is framed by a glossy black bezel with a 2-megapixel Webcam mounted on top. The HP ProBook 4520s has a 15.6-inch glossy LED-backlit screen that supports a 1366x768 pixel resolution - unlike the ProBook HP ProBook 4520s Reviewwhich came with a matte screen. The ProBook 4520s screen has very good horizontal viewing angles.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The metallic finish extends to the keyboard deck, which holds a full-size keyboard with isolated keys and a dedicated numeric keypad. While many laptops include a small keyboard, sometimes with smaller-than-average keys, The ProBook 4520s manages to fit not only a full-size keyboard, but even a numeric keypad, which will be particularly appealing to users who do a lot of calculations or number entry on a daily basis. The individual key presses are quiet without loud clicking sounds as you type. The depth of each key press is excellent, though some people may dislike the flat, chicklet-style keys. Overall the keyboard layout is extremely nice for a 15-inch laptop.

The touchpad is gesture-enabled for rotating images, zooming in, pan out, and scrolling through web pages - and all the gestures work just fine. And like the HP Mini 210 netbook, the ProBook 4520s incorporates its two mouse buttons within the touchpad. Tracking speed was excellent and we had no problems with input lag. Multitouch gestures were quickly recognized and worked smoothly. The touchpad refresh rate was very high, allowing us to draw fast circles with very little trailing effect on the cursor.

Port and Performance

It comes with a DVD Writer, four USB, eSATA, HDMI, audio, and VGA-out ports. Not only this, the HP ProBook 4520s also incorporates Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity. A 2MP webcam and mic, ExpressCard slot, multicard reader, and fingerprint reader completes the HP ProBook 4520s' impressive feature set.
HP offers preconfigured models with the Intel Core i3 350M processor as well as the Intel Core i5 430M, the ProBook 4520s is your basic middle-of-the-road performer. If you take the route of going custom, HP lets you chose from a much larger range of processors up to the 2.66GHz Core i7 620M as well as ATI Radeon 4350 dedicated graphics. you can tune into that occasional movie while taking a break from work, and the ProBook 4520s does a pretty good job here. Both 720p and 1080p HD videos played smoothly on the HP ProBook 4520s, and its audio-visual experience was good.

Battery

The HP ProBook 4520s comes with a standard six-cell battery and runs on 32-bit Windows 7 Professional edition. In testing we found that the battery life is around the three hour mark in normal use (i.e. no gaming). If extended battery life is a priority for you however you can also order the Probook 4520s with an HP nine-cell Li-Ion battery.