Office Professional. Besides the big 17 inch series HP also offers a new series of compact 15 inch notebooks. One of these is the HP Compaq 6710b. Equipped with Core 2 Duo CPUs and integrated Intel X3100 video cards, the 6710b is a reasonable beginner's notebook of this series. This article provides further information beyond detailed hardware specifications.

The keyboard of the HP Compaq 6710b is attached tightly to the case. Its keys are spacious and the layout is clear. Especially the cursor pad is clearly separated.

Alike other HP notebooks typing faces a clear point of pressure, which makes typing nearly feel jerky. Furthermore, a clear clicking noise can be heard, which, however, does not really disturb.

A new feature of this new business series by HP are hot keys which are sensible to touch provided above the keyboard. The hot keys can be used by a slight touch and usage is visualized by activated LEDs.

The touch pad reacts well and furthermore, its surface's haptics is comfortable. Especially its buttons are very user-friendly, because they have a long, soft travel.

The HP Compaq 6710b is designed a beginner's notebook. Although, you can choose between CPUs from T7100s to T7500s, the Intel GMA X3100 rather limits the 3D performance.

The provided equipment is designated for office and Internet applications without high performance demands. In this field this notebook rates good, also because of its low emissions.

If you demand high 3D performance you should rather choose a notebook of the 8510p/w series. Although otherwise identical, these are equipped with an ATI Mobility Radeon X2600 or a NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M or an ATI Mobility FireGL V5600 video chip. With these video cards also CAD and the one or other game should not be a problem.

Furthermore, the 6710b is equipped with 1 GB main memory and a 120GB hard disk with 5400 revs/min. Furthermore, a software bundle with more or less useful applications is also provided.

Further information about the video card can be found  here or in our comparison of mobile video cards. Detailed information about the Core 2 Duo CPU can be found here.

Please also look at our benchmark list of mobile processors or at our benchmark list of mobile video cards, in order to compare this notebook to other configurations.

The HP Compaq 6710b was the first representative of the new 15 inch business series we reviewed. Overall, we had a positive impression. We liked the slightly redesigned hot keys and that the successful qualities like robust and stable case persisted.

Also the input devices, i.e. keyboard and touch pad were comfortable and proper for intensive use. Maybe the touch pad is a little bit too low compared to the surrounding case, however, this is also a matter of taste.

The measured parameters of the provided 1280x800 standard WXGA display were passable. However, it could be a little brighter for outdoor usage. The also available WSXGA panel with a resolution of 1680x1050 pixels could be an interesting alternative.

Regarding performance the HP Compaq 6710b is an office notebook with base equipment. In this fields the notebook rates good, also because of its low emissions. Surface temperature and the noise level of the fan stay always alright.

Finally, also another important criterion for office notebooks rates good: The battery runtime of up to 7 hours is remarkable. But, take care, under load the Core 2 Duo processor and the integrated X3100 relatively quickly empty the battery.

Overall, the HP Compaq 6710b notebook reaches a very good result of  88% in our rating. Such a rating is not often reached by office notebooks (especially considering the input devices, emissions, and battery runtime).