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Strengths: Cost, performance, features
Weaknesses: Battery life
Summary: I've been using this laptop a bit less than a week and my initial impression is that it is a solid system given the cost. Its build quality seems average, not as good as the magnesium alloy cased Dell Latitude series, but definitely a cut above the bottom barrel Acers, Gateways, & Compaqs I've used.
Its performance is acceptable out of the box; the AMD Turion X2 @ 1.8ghz is roughly equivalent to a 1.5ish ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, but with slightly higher power draw. The installed 1gb of memory is adequate for running Vista, but given how cheap DDR2 sticks are, you should be able to upgrade this to 2gb of system ram for under $50, and it will be $50 well spent. The hard drive is a 5400rpm SATA drive, which can be replaced with a 7200rpm laptop drive extremely easily, though that's a bit more expensive of an upgrade than the ram so you might not want to do it (plus you have to reinstall Windows).
The webcam works fine, the fingerprint reader to me is extraneous but to others might be valuable. More ports than most value notebooks & a dvd burner that supports DL & Lightscribe are nice touches. The included HP media remote is another nice (if minor) bonus.
My only gripe is that the battery life is subpar. A 9 cell can be purchased, & gives much better longevity (>2 hours with wifi on), but comes at the cost of about 1/4 pound more weight.
All in all, you won't find a less expensive ultraportable, & this is a pretty solid machine as it is. Spend a few $$$ on upgrades & between its specs & build quality, it'll probably last you years.
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