The HP Compaq 4425s has a very clean and professional with brushed metal cover over a plastic body. The panels of this current generation of Compaq are copper or dark bronze in color and can be found in all sizes, including AMD and Intel models.
Compared to first generation models with plastic only shows on the outside, the new design looks great and adds strength to the notebook. The brushed metal finish is used throughout the notebook, including the screen cover, palmrest, and the speaker grille. To complement the finish, the metal surfaces are covered with shiny black plastic, adding another touch of class to the small business notebook with style.
Build quality is very good and a step up from the previous model. Polished metal lid 4425s gives some much needed strength and screen protector plastic cover on the ProBooks previous generations lacked. The palmrest and the speaker grill show little or no flex under heavy pressure, maybe feels stronger than the siblings of 15 inches or 17 inches. The keyboard tray is a little bending at the lower pressure would not be a problem in the more expensive HP EliteBook models. The case looks and feels much better than the series ProBook first review, but is only slightly behind business notebooks that use as main alloying element.
Users looking to quickly exchange component will be a bit of a shock. To access the processor, hard drive, or system memory, it is necessary to fully dismantle the ProBook 4425s. In this book SMEs HP has opted for centralized support and maintenance, with little work done by the end user. In terms of appearance it gives to the bottom of a clean look without any access panels, but in terms of difficulty, which adds a lot of work to exchange components. To open the system, remove the four screws under the battery, pop off the speaker frame, remove the four screws holding the additional keyboard in place, slide the keyboard up. This gives you access to system memory. To get to the hard drive, remove the three screws that secure the palm rest more in place, carefully slide to the right to free it from its clips. Once removed simply remove the three screws that secure the hard drive into place, and carry it out (with four screws holding it in his cage). ProBook say improvements are difficult or confusing is to put it lightly.
Ports and Features
Port selection in the 4425s ProBook is very good for a portable small-sized enterprises, with three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA / USB combo, VGA and HDMI, LAN, modem, and headphone and microphone. The notebook also features an SDHC card and ExpressCard/34 slot for future expansion.
HP ProBook 4425s Specifications:
* AMD Phenom II P920 Quad Core (up to 1.6GHz, 2MB L2 cache)
* Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (32-bit)
* 14.0-inch LED-backlit anti-glare HD display (1366 x 768)
* Integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
* 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
* 500GB 7200RPM HDD
* LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
* Broadcom 4313 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, 1Gb LAN
* 6-Cell 47WHr Battery
* Limited 1-year standard parts and labor warranty
* Dimensions: 13.23 x 9.15 x 1.07-inches
* Weight: 5.05lbs with 6-cell battery
* Price as configured: $1,208