The keyboard is precise, with a bit too much flex and not enough key depth. The secondary battery fit like a glove, however, and boasted a convenient five-LED power gauge.ĭrives that fit in this bay are hot-swappable, but we wrestled with the optical module. Unfortunately, although the drives are supposedly hot-swappable, in our tests, the optical module didn't quite fit properly. The Evo's single-bay design can accommodate a wide variety of devices, from optical drives to a floppy drive, a hard drive, or a second battery. That's not a major problem, except that the complete Centrino package should make for slightly better battery life. Because Compaq uses Agere wireless hardware rather than Intel's Calexico (an Intel Pro Wireless mini-PCI card), the Evo N620c can't use the Centrino name or logo. The Evo's MultiPort is handy but creates an unsightly bulge.Ī bulge on the right side of the N620c conceals the system's MultiPort module, which houses the Evo's wireless-data radio, but alternatively and at an added cost, it can accommodate a Bluetooth short-range communications device. The Evo N620c design leaves beauty to be desired, but it's very businesslike. If you leave the optical drive at the office and use the empty weight-saver module, the Evo N620c can hit the road at a svelte 4.8 pounds that's within 1 ounce and just fractions of an inch of IBM's ThinkPad T series and half a pound lighter than Toshiba's Tecra M1. Its modest power adapter adds just 8 ounces. At 1.4 by 12 by 9.8 inches and 5.5 pounds, the Evo N620c is trim and portable, too. Its tidy, squared-off appearance helps it blend into a boardroom, an airline club, or an office cubicle. Clothed in a basic black, textured-plastic case that covers a superstrong magnesium frame, the Compaq Evo N620c is utterly anonymous, save for a few blue-and-silver accents. Make no mistake: this is one serious notebook that's ready for work. The Evo N620c is nothing to sneeze at elsewhere its 1.5GHz PM processor 40GB, 5,400rpm hard drive and 512MB of RAM offer serious performance at a price that's noticeably lower than that of other Pentium M notebooks. But Compaq opted for a wireless chip from Agere, rather than Intel's version. The Evo N620c has two components that make up Intel's new Centrino architecture: the Pentium M (PM) processor and the corresponding Intel 855 mobile chipset. The N600 series of thin-and-light systems looks bland at first blush, but these notebooks are sturdy, thanks to their magnesium frame, and can stand up to daily abuse. Companies big and small turn to Hewlett-Packard's Compaq Evo line to equip their workers with notebooks.

Compaq evo n600c specs