HP Compaq 6515b Review

by Kevin Giberson

The 14.1? HP Compaq 6515b notebook is one of eight or so ?Balanced Mobility? business machines currently being offered by HP.  The 6515b is distinguished from some of its thin-and-light brethren, such as the 14.1? nc6400, by its relatively low price and AMD processor options. An AMD Sempron-based 6515b is available for as little as $650 right now, while a nicely configured AMD Turion-outfitted machine can be had for under $1000. Despite its positioning as something of a budget business notebook, the 6515b makes no sacrifices when it comes to the security and communications features one expects to find in a solid business model. Moreover, the 6515b includes some of the latest mobile technologies being offered by the newly merged AMD and ATI, namely, the AMD M690T chipset and the Radeon x1270 GPU, a coupling designed to provide good mobile performance and low power consumption.

HP Compaq 6515b (view large image)

The configuration of this review machine is slightly different than what is currently available on the HP website, but a similar 6515b, with a one-year warranty and no Bluetooth, costs $929. Step up one level, and $1199 gets you a slightly better CPU, the faster TL-56, Bluetooth and a three-year warranty. In both cases, 2GB RAM and a WWAN card will add to the price.

The 6515b is very similar, in terms of look and feel, to the laptops I occasionally use at work, which are HP Compaq nc6120s. These are solid, if unexciting, business notebooks, providing reliability, good build quality and adequate performance. When I started up the 6515b under review here, I had the feeling that I would end up viewing it in much the same manner. But after a good couple of weeks with the 6515b, I would certainly take it over the older Pentium M-based nc6120.

HP Compaq 6515b Specs as reviewed:

• CPU: AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-52  (1.60 GHz/2x512 KB L2 Cache)
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
• Hard Drive: 120 GB SATA @ 5400RPM
• Screen: 14.1" WXGA Widescreen (1280 x 800)
• Graphics: ATI Radeon Xpress 1270 with up to 512 MB shared
• RAM: 2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM @667 MHz (2 x 1GB)
• Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti drive (DVD+/-RW) w/Double Layer Support
• Battery: 6-cell lithium ion
• Wireless: Broadcom 802.11a/ b/g WiFi Adapter + Bluetooth
• Optional WWAN: Integrated HP ev2200 1xEV-DO Wireless Module
• Security: Fingerprint reader, TPM hardware-based encryption
• Weight: 5.7 lbs
• Dimensions: 1.33? (H) x 13.03 ? (W) x 9.57" (D) 
• Ports/Slots: docking connector; 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire); 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0); VGA monitor out; S-video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; Type I/II PC Card Slot; 6-in-1 media reader; headphone/speaker jack; microphone

Purchasing Considerations

The 6515b should appeal to businesses, and individuals as well, looking for quality, security and usability, including good communications, provided they don't mind sacrificing top-of-the-line performance to stay below a certain price. For the vast majority of notebook users, security, connectivity, sturdiness, a decent screen and a pleasant keyboard are the main issues. And the 6515b seems to have targeted these pragmatists well.

Initial Impressions

The first thing that struck me, as noted, was how closely the 6515b resembles the familiar nc6120. The 6515b is all dark gray and black, has a clean business look, and feels very solid. Like the dv6000t, an HP consumer model I reviewed, the 6515b features touch-sensitive light-buttons, rather than protruding switches, to allow the user to perform certain basic functions, such as muting the speakers or enabling and disabling wireless. This is a nice feature, and the 6515b, thankfully, does not beep loudly, like the dv6000t, when these light-buttons are touched. All in all, what I was most impressed by was the solid feel; this notebook seems about as sturdy as any I've used. My second favorite thing, light buttons notwithstanding, was the clean, subdued look.

Design and Build

There's not a lot more to say about the look and build of the 6515b, though I might add that during two weeks of use, I was repeatedly impressed by the overall strength of the notebook. Everything, from the palm rests to the hinges, seem to have been designed to last, whether the notebook is sitting on a desk or flying around the country, and there is virtually no flex in anything. The one downside to all this strength and solidness is portability: the 6515b is slightly thicker and heavier than some other 14.1? business notebooks, such as the aforementioned nc6400.

HP Compaq 6515b lid (view large image)

Input and Output Ports

Here's a tour around the HP Compaq 6515b to see what ports you get:

HP Compaq 6515b Front side view (view large image)

On the front we have: Wireless light, power light, battery light, drive light / HP 3D DriveGuard light, integrated stereo speakers, display release latch.

HP Compaq 6515b Left side view (view large image)

On the left side we have: Type I/II PC card slot, power connector, 2 USB 2.0 ports, stereo headphone / line out, stereo microphone / line in, FireWire 1394a port, vent

HP Compaq 6515b Right side view (view large image)

On the right side we have: Media card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, Fixed Optical Drive, RJ-11 / modem jack

HP Compaq 6515b rear view (view large image)

On the back side we have: Ethernet port, S-Video jack, VGA out, Kensington slot lock

The screen

HP Compaq 6515b screen (view large image)

This review notebook has a matte screen, which is my preference, and it is excellent. I'm by no means the pickiest LCD user around, but the brightness and absence of any light leakage are impressive. The only thing I would recommend to a purchaser is to be sure you're getting the LCD you want, whether that's glossy or matte. To me at least, the screen being included in a particular model wasn't always clear on the HP shopping sight. What I found particularly helpful was looking at HP's ?QuickSpecs? for North America, which provided detailed configurations for the various model numbers.

Default wallpaper on the HP 6515b (view large image)

Graphics

The ATI Radeon x1270 graphics handled Vista Business and the Aero Glass interface with no problems whatsoever. Synthetic benchmarks were nothing to brag about, but that?s neither surprising nor disconcerting given the intended uses of the 6515b.

Sound

Like the graphics, the sound was easily adequate. I?ve listened to a lot of notebooks now, and the 6515b speakers sounded about the same as all the others, which in my opinion is really not too bad.

Processor and Performance

This was my first chance to try out a Turion 64 X2 CPU and I was very curious to see how it would perform. What I found was that despite an inability to be Super-PI-competitive (or PCMark05-competitive, for that matter), when compared to laptops using Intel?s latest notebook CPUs, the Turion TL-52 was no slouch. The screen shot immediately below shows a number of open applications, including Super PI, which is resource-hungry and had been started on a protracted run at the beginning of this little test, along with a virus scan. Despite the demand on system resources, there was never a point when opening a new instance of an application took more than a few seconds. This was exactly the sort of responsiveness that I found so delightful when I first used an Intel dual-core laptop. So, to the extent that this everyday-use scenario is revealing, the Turion 64 X2 performs much like the latest Intel CPUs, and though I?m a little bit of a Super PI snob, I would no longer hesitate to recommend, or purchase for myself, a laptop based on the TL-52 or better.

 

Benchmarks

Super PI is a program that forces the processor to calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy, it generally favors Intel processors, so it's not a great benchmark for the Turion, but we'll show the comparison anyway:

Notebook	Time
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52)	2m 05s
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T2400)	59s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 02s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba A100 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s
HP dv5000z (2.0GHz Sempron 3300+)	2m 02s

 

 

The 3DMark05 synthetic graphics benchmark results:

3DMark05 Comparison Results:

Notebook	3D Mark 05 Results
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	871 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	2,013 3D Marks
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	1,791 3D Marks
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB)	4,236 3DMarks
Alienware Aurora M-7700(AMD Dual Core FX-60, ATI X1600 256MB)	7,078 3D Marks
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,092 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410 (1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,273 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7400 256MB)	2,090 3D Marks

 

As expected, a less than spectacular 3DMark06 score:

Notebook	3DMark 06 Results
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	290 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Apple MacBook Pro (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,528 3DMarks
Dell Precison M90 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia Quadro FX 1500M)	3,926 3DMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60 Nvidia GeForce Go7800GTX)	4,085 3DMarks
Compal HEL80 (2.0GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7600 256MB)	1,654 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1710 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7900 GTX 512MB)	4,744 3DMarks

 

The PCMark05 results were consistent with the Super PI results insofar as they were lower than expected, at least when compared to an Intel-equipped (Core Duo T2250 + GMA 950 graphics) Vista consumer notebook, the Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427, which I reviewed a couple of months ago. Nonetheless, real-life performance seemed quite good, as noted above.

Comparison table for PCMark05

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	2,420 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite A135 (Core Duo T2250, Intel GMA 950)	3,027 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,994 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra M6 (1.66GHz Intel T2300E, Intel GMA 950)	2,732 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FE590 (1.83GHz Core Duo)	3,427 PCMarks

 

Detailed results for PCMark05

 

HD Tune hard drive performance results:

 

Windows Experience Index results

 

Keyboard and Touchpad

HP Compaq 6515b keyboard and touchpad (view large image)

I liked the keyboard as much as the overall build quality and fine LCD of the 6515b. There was no flex in the keyboard, the layout was free of any annoying quirks, and responsiveness was good. The keys did seem to require a slightly heavier touch than some, but I didn?t find this to be any problem. The touchpad has rubberized buttons, which I liked, and was otherwise unremarkable. Generally I use a Bluetooth mouse.

(view large image)

Battery Life

The M690T/x1270 combination is supposed to provide ?advanced power-saving functionality,? and the 6-cell battery did perform reasonably well. In high performance mode, with the screen at maximum brightness, the battery lasted for 2.5 hours, but with a few modest adjustments to save power, the battery kept going for 3.25 hours. For both of these times, wireless was enabled. As I often say, a more power-friendly user could undoubtedly squeeze additional time out of the battery.

Heat and Noise

The 6515b had no heat or noise issues, staying about as cool and quiet as any notebook I?ve used.

Wireless

The Broadcom 802.11a/ b/g wireless worked just fine, without any dropped connections or other problems. This review model also included the optional EV-DO module, and I was even able to connect. The speed of the EV-DO wireless was quite impressive and I found myself wishing I had the card and service, though I really have no compelling need. My Bluetooth mouse connected with ease.

Service and Support

As noted above, the 6515b comes with either a three-year or a one-year warranty, depending on the model purchased.

Software

There was nothing I would describe as bloatware installed on this notebook, but there were a number of useful business-oriented utilities, primarily for handling security. Windows Vista Business did not present any surprises, though after years of using XP Pro I find that XP is still my preference. Vista did, however, work without a hitch, and there were no software-related problems.

Conclusion

(view large image)

The HP Compaq 6515b is a solid, nicely outfitted notebook that, while falling into the thin-and-light category, is pushing close to the maximums, in my opinion, when it comes to weight and size. Nonetheless, no sacrifices have been made in terms of build quality or business features. The matte screen and keyboard are excellent, and the notebook offers a lot for the price. Performance could be better, but that?s almost always true, and for most typical business and personal computing, performance should be plenty; there was no significant lag under stress and the 6515b easily handled Vista Business, including Windows Aero Glass. The 6515b was a pleasure to use and, as expected, performed much better than the still very serviceable nc6120s I?m used to.

Pros:

• Very solidly built
• Excellent wireless connectivity options
• An abundance of security features
• Strong performance
• Reasonable price
• Good LCD
• Decent battery life

Cons:

• 1 GB RAM is the standard memory configuration
• A little bulky for a thin-and-light notebook