Built to Spill: Video Hands-on with HP ProBook 6445b and 6545b

HP’s latest business-class notebooks can drink water like fish and keep on ticking. Ok, ok, they can handle only six ounces of water at a time, but it was hard not to be impressed with the live demo HP set up. There was a steady stream of H₂0 going right from the keyboard on the 15-inch ProBook 6545b to the bottom of a tank (all while the system was turned on).

The design is actually quite clever. HP engineers created an internal channel that allows liquid accidentally spilled on the keys to quickly drain, via a built-in channel, from the bottom of the laptop. But spill resitance isn’t the only thing the 6545b and 14-inch  HP ProBook 6445b have going for them. A new AMD processor promises longer battery life, and HP includes new tools to stretch that endurance even further and get online in a hurry.

Starting at $799, the 6445b (5.3 pounds) and 6545b (5.9 pounds) are competitively priced. Inside you’ll find AMD processors and an ATI Radeon GPU. HP retained much of the ProBook’s signature aesthetics, though with a slightly different style keyboard than previous systems in this line. The 16:9 aspect ratio on the LED-backlit screens allowed HP to fit a full-size keyboard and number pad on the 15-inch 6545b. This is particularly nice when paired with the one-touch access to the calculator app.

One of the most useful features HP showed us was its proprietary Power Assistant utility, which gives the user detailed but easily configured control over their power options. Users chasing the 5 – 8 hours of battery life HP promises with 6 and 9-cell batteries, respectively, will be able to fine tune which services and devices get power in each mode. When unplugged, the power profiles will show you how much longer you can go in hours and minutes, so if you need to make it through the last 20 minutes of a meeting, you can immediately switch to the profile that can make it happen.

Plugged in, the profiles show consumption in watts so users can get a better idea of how much power they’re using and adjust accordingly. Power consumption data captured by the utility can be extracted for IT management use if a company is looking to keep track of its carbon footprint and devise ways to lower it.

HP ProBooks will come with Vista and, after October 22nd, Windows 7 ($76.54) (with optional downgrade to Windows XP).  They’ll also include instant-on solutions designed to give owners quick access to the Web and their e-mail/contact/task data from Outlook.

Press the QuickLook 3 button and within a few seconds a Today screen appears showing a 3 month calendar, upcoming events, and current tasks. You’ll not only be able to see e-mails but also embedded graphics. Reply to messages within QuickLook and the software will sync with Outlook once Windows starts and send the message once you’re connected again. The software works in the background, syncing and storing data from Outlook (encrypted, of course) so that it’s available to you even when your computer is off.

A separate QuickWeb button brings you to a browser and, within seconds, to the Web. From this environment you’ll be able to connect via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Mobile Broadband (optional on both ProBook models). You can retain offline content and save files to USB flash drives, though not directly to your The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
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Overall, there’s a lot to like in HP’s new ProBooks. We’re eager to start benchmarking the units to see if they’ll deliver the promised battery power and how the CPUs will affect performance. Stay tuned for a full review.