With all ultrabooks stealing all the hype in the portable notebook market it is easy to forget that not everyone want to spend £1000 on a 13 inch notebook. For some a notebook that is 5oo g heavier, 10 mm thicker but costing almost half less is a more compelling offer and this is where HP ProBook 4330s comes in.
Our review model - HP ProBook 4330s (LW836EA) came equipped with a 2.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 320 GB hard drive and Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics and is currently retailing for about £550.
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- Aluminium lid and palm rest - Matt finish - Solid chassis - Size 330 x 235 x 28 mm - Weight 2.0 kg |
DesignHP ProBook 4330s is designed for business users but due to an attractive design it should please home users as well. A combination of brushed aluminium back cover and palm rest makes this is both a good looking and solid notebook while the decision to drop the glossy plastics found in its predecessor provides a nearly smudge free surface. While it can't compete with MacBooks aluminium unibody design you will definitely not be ashamed of pulling it out of your bag in public.
The lid is a magnetic lock rather than a mechanical one while this seems a nice touch to help keep its design clean and simple it makes it harder to open it up with one hand which might annoy some users but we didn't find this as a drawback. Speaking of the lid the opening angle is limited to only 130 degrees which might prove not to be enough in certain occasions but in most daily usage scenarios it should be fine.
The chassis is on the bulky side for a 13.3 inch notebook but that isn't all bad since it can house a full range of connectivity ports, powerful processor and dedicated graphics in selected models.
