The HP Compaq is designed in a sober, classic style. I’d even call it conservative. The case is black, and the whole notebook is black from head to toe. There’s only a small rectangular company’s logo in the center of the lid that you can count as an embellishment. With straight lines and sharp corners, this inconspicuous model is the opposite of the Sony VAIO.

Opening the notebook’s lid by shifting the spring-loaded latch to the right, you can see a widescreen 15.4” display with a max resolution of 1280x800. It is matte, contrary to the recent “glossy” trend in notebook-making. The matrix has a good color reproduction and viewing angles as well as contrast and brightness. The brightness is controlled with the functional keys, but unfortunately there is no indication of the current level of brightness as you’re adjusting it. The brightness range is very narrow. The screen doesn’t seem to get much darker at the minimum setting.

On the top panel, near the left hinge of the screen, there is a rectangular Power On/Off button and a bright green Power/Idle indicator. Also above the keyboard, there are instant-launch buttons that do the following:

• Launch the information center
• Enable/disable the WLAN interface (a small indicator is integrated into the button – it becomes blue when the wireless connection is active)
• Presentation mode
• Enable/disable sound (an indicator is integrated into this button, too – it becomes orange when sound is disabled)
• Volume down
• Volume up

In the center, between the two groups of buttons, there are Num Lock and Caps Lock indicators.

Besides that, the system status indicators are also located on the front panel, and these LEDs are visible irrespective of the position of the notebook’s lid. The second group of indicators includes:

• WLAN indicator (alight when this connection is active)
• Power indicator
• Battery charge indicator
• Optical drive activity indicator

The keyboard of the HP Compaq is made of opaque and somewhat rough black plastic. The functional keys are grouped in fours, like on keyboards for desktop computers. The Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Insert and Delete keys are a separate block of keys, above the top line of the main keyboard. The letters are marked out in white, and the functional keys in blue (press and hold [Fn] to use them). The cursor-controlling keys are separate from the main keyboard; a numeric pad and two Windows keys are available. The symbols on the keys are somewhat different than usual, so you have to adapt a little. After that, you shouldn’t find it a problem to work with this keyboard.

On the sides of the keyboard, there are two stereo speakers. These are thin vertical rectangles, covered with metal grids.

The touchpad which replaces the mouse in this notebook has two buttons instead of the mouse’s right and left buttons and a scroll bar on the right side. The buttons are curiously designed: they are not flat but slightly bulging. They bend down under your press, performing the necessary action.