Pros: This laptop, as another person mentioned, can take a beating. It looks good with the polished metal lid, and has soft keys for a number of different functions. There is hardly any software installed on it, which is both a pro and a con (I'll get to that), and it has ports for RJ11, Smart Cards, RJ45 (standard ethernet), ExpressCard34, Docking connector, a security cable, DisplayPort, VGA, 1394 (FireWire), SD Card, and 3 USB. It also includes a built-in keyboard light for typing in low-light conditions.

Cons: First, Microsoft Office is not included. OpenOffice 4 is, and it works well for a replacement. There are some minor compatibility issues with .docx files if one needs to print a sign-up sheet or something of that sort. The spacing is just off, and the lines one so carefully made to cross the whole page and stop will be just a few characters too long. So, if you are planning to do a lot of this, or make use of Excel macros (they aren't supported), I would make sure to pick up a copy of MOffice. Other than this, OOffice makes a good replacement. The biggest headache that I have experienced is getting the webcam to work. This has been THE issue for others with this laptop, and it consists simply of the driver seemingly not existing for 64-bit Windows 7. After a few hours of searching and a lengthy post toward HP, I live-booted Ubuntu for fun, and discovered that the universal drivers included with it work for the webcam. I promptly installed it alongside Windows 7, and am happy.

Overall Review: I am able to play games on it; Civ V runs at medium to low graphics; the 4GB of RAM are maxed out. Switching one of the 2GB modules to 4GB should improve performance. I recommend this laptop.