HP Compaq 6820s 17″ Business Laptop Available

Along with the Compaq 6520s and 6720s, Hewlett-Packard has announced the HP Compaq 6820s business oriented 17-inch notebook, featuring the Intel “Santa Rosa” mobile platform, the dedicated AMD’s ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, and the new industrial design.

The HP Compaq 6820s is based on the Intel’s PM965 chipset, paired with Core 2 Duo T7500, T7250 or T5470 processor and ATI Mobility Radeon X1350 video module featuring dedicated graphics memory. It is a new DirectX 9 compatible video solution by AMD and the 6820s is the first notebook to use it. However, HP didn’t specify the size of the X1350’s video RAM. The laptop’s 17” widescreen display provides 1440-by-900 pixels resolution, and is available in matt and glossy versions.

The 6820s supports up to 4GB of DDR2 system memory, and comes with a Serial ATA hard drive at 5400rpm with up to 160GB of storage capacity. The optical drive options include a DVD burner with LightScribe technology, a Combo drive, or a Blu-Ray.

Regarding communications, there is support for 802.11a/b/g wireless networks, as well as for the 802.11n draft Wi-Fi standard. In addition, the laptop has Ethernet LAN and 56k modem connections, while select of the available preconfigured models have a built-in Bluetooth.

The HP Compaq 6820s features an ExpressCard slot, a Secure Digital slot, three USB ports, and a VGA output. There is no fingerprint reader option in any of the 6820s models, which is uncommon for a business-class notebook.

This laptop has only one built-in speaker, while the stereo sound is provided through the headphone output.

The 6.5-pound 6820s is among the first models in HP Compaq business notebook line with the refreshed chassis design. It includes a silver finish, a drop-hinge panel, and a scooped-out keyboard, which is accompanied by a numeric keypad in this model.

The operating system options include the Windows Vista Business, Vista Home Basic, the FreeDOS, and the Chinese Linux distribution called Red Flag, according to the product specifications.

The Compaq 6820s starts at $999 and can be purchased through the Hewlett-Packard’s SMB website.