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HP Pavilion DV5000Z

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

The HP Pavilion DV5000Z is a 7.4-pound  portable and most attractively priced Media Center notebook we’ve seen from HP. It performed well in our tests, earning a WorldBench 5 score of 86. The dv5000z is more compact than HP’s 17-inch, wide-screen dv8000 series, which is AMD-based, too. Our test unit came with a 2.2-GHz Turion 64 ML-40 processor, though you can customize and get the lower-cost Turion 64 or Sempron mobile CPU. The $1593 model we tested had attractive options: 1GB of memory, a 120GB 4200-rpm hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a dual-layer DVD± RW drive with LightScribe for burning silk-screen-like labels on CDs and DVDs.

The dv5000z has essentially the same chassis as HP’s Intel-based dv4000 notebooks, with a sleek but understated silver/black-with-flashes-of-blue motif. The ports are sensibly located and clearly labeled, and the keyboard was comfortable to type on. Other welcome touches include Altec Lansing speakers (though these lack an underside subwoofer), and QuickPlay buttons to bypass Windows and play music or DVDs in seconds.

HP has ditched the dv4000′s dedicated graphics for an integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200M controller with 128MB of discrete video memory; you can also use up to 128MB of system memory. The 15.4-inch wide-screen display, with its BrightView coating, produced vivid colors, although the occasional sight of my reflection was distracting. The top resolution of 1280 by 800 supports high definition, but the bundled ExpressCard TV tuner is analog-only.

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HP Pavilion DV2000T

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

I’ve had my dv2000t for half a year now. The laptop come with with many pre-install software. The spec was great and I haven’t had any problem with this machine yet except the touchpad. The touchpad was terrible, it was so difficult to use. Overall, this is a great laptop. I would recommend this laptop to anyone who needs something reliable and portable.

With its beautiful design, the Pavilion dv2000t notebook will most certainly attract attention.

Goodbye, boring black and silver. Hello, high fashion. A glam exterior encases the HP Pavilion dv2000t, a sophisticated entertainment notebook that replaces the dv1000.

With the Pavilion dv2000t, HP breaks new notebook-design ground with Nissha film imprinting, an advanced molding technique that incorporates attractive patterns into an object’s surface. The unit’s high-gloss metallic and piano-black finish contains a subtle wave design, just as some cell-phone casings and luxury-car interiors do. (HP has also installed this new design on the Pavilion dv2000z, as well as on a handful of other new consumer and business notebook models.)

The reasonable $1739 (as of 9/8/06) price of our test configuration included one of the first 14.1-inch high-definition notebook wide screens. The Altec-Lansing stereo speakers are first-rate, as well, and plenty loud enough for you to enjoy MP3s and action movies without headphones. The two stereo headphone jacks are nice extras; one is S/PDIF-capable, enabling connection to your surround-sound audio system for pure digital audio.

Multimedia is one touch away via HP’s QuickPlay 2.1, a wide-screen menu that launches movies, music, personal videos, and photo slide shows without booting Windows. A new pressure-sensitive membrane bar that runs along the top of the keyboard lets you start QuickPlay and control volume at the touch or swipe of a finger–very snazzy.

Would you rather sit back and relax? With HP’s palm-size remote ($15 extra), you can scroll through documents and control media from up to 10 feet away via an infrared receiver on the front of the notebook. You store the remote in the ExpressCard slot when you’re not using it. For making face-to-face contact during instant messaging, you can add an integrated 1.3-megapixel Webcam to your configuration ($40, and included in the price of our review system).

Our Windows XP Home review unit (XP Professional is also offered) came with both Wi-Fi and optional Bluetooth wireless communications; a top-of-the-line 120GB, 5400-rpm hard drive; and Microsoft Works 8. The included SuperMulti DVD±RW/R drive comes with LightScribe, which enables the drive to laser-etch grayscale labels on discs. Pavilions come with extra entertainment software, too, including the Muvee AutoProducer consumer movie-creation software and the Sonic MyDVD CD and DVD creator. About the only thing our test machine lacked was a dedicated video card, which you’ll want for gaming or other highly graphical applications; a 128MB nVidia GeForce Go 7200 board costs $25 more than the standard integrated video.

The port selection is modest but should satisfy most home users; included are three USB ports, a FireWire port, and a three-in-one media slot that takes SD, xD-Picture Card, and Memory Stick. The extrafirm keyboard is great, and features a touchpad lock. The typing slope is comfy, as well, thanks to the 12-cell battery, which adds three-quarters of an inch to the height of the back of the notebook.

The dv2000t, equipped with a 2.16-GHz Core Duo T2600 processor and 2GB of DDR2-533 SDRAM, turned in a solid WorldBench 5 score of 110, not quite as impressive as the mark of 120 earned by the similarly equipped Micro Express HEL8021. Our unit’s 12-cell battery ($39 extra) lasted 7.1 hours in our tests and doesn’t add too much extra weight to the fairly light 6.1-pound unit. (We didn’t test the standard six-cell battery, which is rated at 4.2 hours.)

To turn the dv2000t into a truly terrific desktop replacement, you’ll want the $250 xb3000 Notebook Expansion Base, which includes a port replicator, a screen stand, a premium speaker setup, a hard-drive bay, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. To increase the system’s 120GB internal storage (as in our test machine) to desktop PC class, you can get the $450 Base with a 300GB hard-drive kit.

A couple of ease-of-use quibbles: I had to turn the pointer speed all the way up to revive the cursor, which seemed to drag due to the touchpad’s thick glossy finish. And as cool as I found the volume-control membrane, even carefully executed swipes turned sound all the way up or down, requiring additional adjustment taps. In this case, at least, the old-fashioned volume wheel still has the edge.

But those are minor issues. The dv2000t is an excellent home and small-business notebook for the money, and its stunning wave-design casing will turn heads wherever you

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HP Pavilion DV9500T

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

The HP Pavilion DV9500T is Equipped with a stylish 17-inch screen, this is the ultimate multimedia notebook. The HP Pavilion DV9500T also is the perfect laptop if you enjoy restoring your system at least once every month, reloading everything and losing valuable information, then send it three times to HP for repair, get it back with same problems, and finally after 6 months, give up return it and find out they will take 10% for every month you owned it. Bought it at $2700 including extended warranty and after months of frustation, got $1080. Unbeatable!!!!!!!!! Went back to Sony (4th Sony), now a AR670cto, 1960X1200, bluray,8600GT GPU, for $2200, and all I have to do is to enjoy it as it should be. Thanks HP, I won’t forget my lesson!!!

For people who like designer notebooks, HP has produced another sure winner in the Pavilion dv9500t. This desktop replacement offers the same stylish swirl case pattern, dropped hinges, and piano-black lid as its predecessor, the dv9000t, but with several important improvements, including Intel’s latest Santa Rosa mobile processor.

With a 2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 and 2GB of 667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM, the Pavilion dv9500t earned a very good WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 73–the same score earned by Fujitsu’s LifeBook E8410 with only 1GB of RAM. The Pavilion’s average frame rate of 62 frames per second in our graphics tests was average for a desktop replacement but below the marks posted by some gaming notebooks. It should handle productivity tasks, disc burning, and DVD playing with aplomb. And battery life is not bad for the notebook’s size, at 3.3 hours.

The dv9500t also improves on its predecessor with an integrated fingerprint reader and optional dual 200GB hard drives, delivering the greatest amount of internal storage available on a notebook. With all the trimmings in place, this is a pricey notebook. Our review cost $2664 as of July 24, 2007.

Pavilions are for gadget lovers. Touch-sensitive, backlit media controls do your bidding in response to a light swipe of a finger, so you can launch a movie, change tracks, or raise the volume in one motion. Both the screen and the DVD drive handle high-definition content. The dv9500t inherits the Pavilion line’s high-gloss screen, too, which can be annoyingly reflective under some office lights. But this is a minor complaint. The Altec Lansing speakers provide some of the best notebook audio output available, but you also get dual headphones ports on the front so two people can listen in private. For $100 more, you can add an ExpressCard TV tuner and Windows remote control.

Though built-in cellular broadband is not yet an option, HP does offer a Verizon Wireless V740 ExpressCard ($179 more) in its online configurator for extending your wireless network beyond Wi-fi hotspots. Our test unit came with 802.11n Wi-Fi and a gigabit ethernet port as well.

If the dv9500t is to be your primary PC, consider shelling out for HP’s xb3000 Notebook Expansion Base. This terrific desktop docking kit gives you a screen stand with premium integrated speakers, a built-in bay for a third hard drive, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. Including a 400GB hard-drive kit it costs $400.

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HP Pavilion DV6500T

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Capable of serious work as well, it’s a strong performer, yet fairly light (6.2 pounds) and easily totable. The keyboard is a tad bouncier than that of its predecessor, the dv6000t. And though bright and readable, the 15.4-inch screen tends to reflect overhead lights. Also, HP downgraded the dv6000t’s 1.3-megapixel (1280-by-1024-pixel) Webcam to 0.3 megapixels (640 by 480 resolution) on the dv6500t. These are minor nits, however.

While the dv6500t adds a few more circles to the subtle motif on its designer lid, cosmetically the system is largely the same gorgeous laptop as its predecessor, with the same durable, high-gloss casing and piano-black hinges. New are support for draft-n Wi-Fi (in addition to 802.11a/b/g), a fingerprint reader for security, an HDMI output for connecting to a television, and the option for an HD DVD-ROM drive (though our test unit came with a multiformat, dual-layer DVD writer). The dv6500t has three USB ports and a seven-in-one shared card slot, and the configuration we tested included a 120GB hard drive.

Our $1309 (as of 5/9/07) review model also came equipped with 2GB of RAM and the new 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 chip, which together helped it earn a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 75–just 10 percent behind the fastest laptops we’ve tested. As a result, the dv6500t can handle any type of application, from mainstream to multimedia, except 3D shooter games. The dv6500t’s integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 can use up to 358MB of main system memory; but for real gaming muscle, you’d want to upgrade to the optional 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics chip.

Battery life was excellent: The notebook lasted just 3 minutes shy of 4 hours in our tests.

Multimedia junkies still have the HP QuickPlay feature that was found on the dv6000t. This entertainment menu launches with one tap or a swipe of the touch-sensitive strip at the top of the keyboard, letting you enjoy DVD movies, music, personal videos, and photo slide shows without booting Windows. Meanwhile, fantastic stereo speakers pump out the sound. An ExpressCard TV tuner is remains a $130 option. The Pavilion dv6500t’s dazzling look may not be for everyone, but lurking beneath the glossy surface is a serious laptop. If high fashion fits your portable lifestyle, work never looked so good.

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HP Pavilion HDX

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

The HP Pavilion HDX is the BEST computer I have ever had. When you look at it, one may think “I dont need all of that”, but you do. The full keyboard is very nice. With the 20.1 inch wide screen, you can fit 2 web pages on one screen. The finger reader is very handy so that you only have to put in a username and password once, and it is very secure. The price is very overwhelming, but so is the weight. This computer is worth the $2500+ you will spend on it. If this is going to be your only computer, that is fine. It is more powerful then most desktops. The only downfall of the computer is that there is NO computer bag big enough to hold it. You have to have a small suitcase to carry it around. I would recomend this computer to anyone who wants to have the nicest computer in the office.

The HP Pavilion HDX, high-end desktop replacement is huge and heavy, but its fast performance makes it a great gaming machine.

Gamers have a new best friend in the HP Pavilion HDX Entertainment Series Notebook PC. Superfast, with great sound and a huge 20.1-inch screen, it’s a good, fairly portable entertainment system. Digital editors, artists, and multimedia enthusiasts will like this all-in-one, too. Just be ready to dig deep for it: Our test unit cost $3000.

The machine we looked at came maxed out with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate; Intel’s best mobile chip, the 2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo T7700; and 4GB of RAM. All of that horsepower helped the HDX earn a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 86 and generate a frame rate of 109 in our Far Cry gaming tests. The HDX’s 2-hour, 22-minute battery life is quite poor for an ordinary notebook but remarkably good for a massive (15.5-pound) desktop-replacement model.

The HDX is impressively crafted. For one thing, the machine looks stylish; the exterior is a subtle variation on HP’s designer imprint finish called “The Dragon.” The 1680-by-1050 glossy screen is easy to move back and forth on its adjustable arm for a comfortable viewing angle, and it’s bright without being too reflective. The keyboard, which includes a dedicated number pad, offers desktop-like typing comfort along with one-touch QuickPlay media controls.

The system’s four integrated Altec Lansing speakers, aided by an HP triple-bass-reflex subwoofer, produce very loud, rich sound, but a rear audio-out port makes it a snap to add a nicer, external set of speakers for gaming surround sound. Its many multimedia connections include a coaxial port for a TV signal. Our test system included two 100GB hard drives, and if even that isn’t enough space for you, the HDX has an eSATA port for adding a fast new external hard drive.

If you’ve been searching for a powerful, luggable gaming machine or an ultrahigh-end desktop replacement, give the HDX a look. It’s one of the nicest 20.1-inch models we’ve seen yet.

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HP Pavilion DV2660SE

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

The $899 (as of 2/7/08) HP Pavilion dv2660se offers strictly budget performance, but its battery life and a great design make it our winning laptop under $1000.

The dv2660se (the se stands for “special edition”) comes with a 1.5-GHz Core 2 Duo T5250 processor coupled with 2GB of memory shared with the laptop’s Intel 965 Express integrated graphics. The notebook’s WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 67 is significantly lower than the high-eighties scores of some portables with the latest mobile chips, but it’s not bad for a budget machine.

In fact, the score beats the average of 65 earned by the five sub-$1000 laptops we tested for this roundup and is only five points below the average for all the all-purpose notebooks that we’ve tested of late, regardless of price. However, don’t expect its graphics power to be good enough to play 3D games well.

Battery life was just short of amazing. This six-pound unit’s high-capacity 12-cell battery endured for a whopping 6.3 hours on one charge in our tests. That’s about 2.5 hours longer than the average mainstream laptop. The way the big battery protrudes from the bottom of the notebook does not make the dv2660se the most briefcase- or backpack-friendly model in our test bunch, but it does give the keyboard a very nice slant for extra-comfortable typing. The dedicated on-off touchpad button, slightly concave keys, and deep-depressing mouse buttons help typing, too.

The overall design of this Windows Vista Home Premium laptop is just about the best you’ll find among budget units. For one, as the latest in HP’s designer line of notebooks, this model is stamped with an embedded motif–sweeping tendrils that drape partway over the touchpad like a vine.

Another nice extra is the notebook’s instant-on capability via HP’s QuickPlay menu, accessed through a touch-sensitive media control panel at the top of the keyboard; it lets you play a CD or DVD without first launching Windows, so it’s a great time saver. Two other nice multimedia touches: a Webcam and dual headphone ports on the front so two people can listen in private at once. (Not that you really need headphones because the built-in speakers sound pretty darn good without them.)

The 14.1-inch, 1280-by-800-pixel screen could be a tad brighter, but it’s easy enough to read, and it has enough room to comfortably view several open windows at once. The dv2660se does lack some increasingly mainstream features, such as 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, gigabit ethernet, and a fingerprint reader. However, it has 802.11g Wi-Fi, which should provide fast-enough wireless connectivity for most. It also has a DVD writer and an ExpressCard slot. And the dv2600se is one of the few laptops in this price range to bundle a full-fledged set of productivity applications in the form of Microsoft Works 8.5.

Finally, the dv2660se has the most upgrade potential thanks to a side connection that all Pavilion laptops have for HP’s Swiss knife-like xb3000 Notebook Expansion Base. Though you’re looking at an investment of several hundred dollars more, this stand/storage docking station lets you add better speakers and another hard drive, a nice option for those who might have the itch to improve the system later on.

All told, the dv2660se is pretty impressive for budget fare and well-deserving of our Best Buy.

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HP Pavilion DV5000T

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Long battery life and a great screen encourage you to take this speedy desktop replacement on the road.

Good desktop replacement notebooks usually aren’t good travel notebooks. But HP’s Pavilion dv5000t has both the desktop chops–including a superb screen and keyboard–and the battery life, in spades. As a bonus, our test unit’s 12-cell battery provides a comfortable ergonomic slant no matter where you are.

The dv5000t’s 15.4-inch, 1280 by 800 screen strikes a good balance between viewability and portability. And with this notebook’s battery life, you’ll want to step out. The 12-cell battery included with our test unit (which adds $39 to the price) lasted a phenomenal 7 hours, 7 minutes on one charge, a new record. The extra-tall rear-mounted battery, despite being a bit bulky and contributing to a 7.4-pound minimum weight, acts as a typing foot and lends the keyboard a welcome tilt similar to that of a full-size desktop keyboard.

The dv5000t is a workhorse. Our test unit, which included a 2-GHz Core Duo T2500 processor and 1GB of memory, earned a hot WorldBench 5 score of 98, putting it on a par with similarly equipped notebooks such as Dell’s Inspiron E1705 and Gateway M685-E, both of which received marks of 97. It finished the multitasking portion of the test in 7.6 minutes, about a minute sooner than the average dual-core notebook.

A well-designed entertainment notebook, too, the dv5000t boasts quick-play buttons that let you play video clips, DVD movies, or music CDs without having to turn on the notebook first. Our test unit came with the Windows Media Center Edition operating system (priced $30 higher than XP Home), a 100GB drive, an ExpressCard slot, and a TV tuner ($130 extra). Though they didn’t produce the best sound I’ve ever heard from an HP Pavilion, the dv5000t’s Altec Lansing speakers emit strong enough audio for you to enjoy a movie without headphones. The dv5000t’s graphic card options top out at nVidia’s GeForce Go 7400 with 128MB of RAM–good for general entertainment but not optimal for gaming.

Still, these are quibbles about a comfortable notebook that boasts an excellent consumer notebook keyboard. It has a sensible layout and a good feel, though the mouse buttons crowd the front edge. Color-coded keys double as media buttons for users who choose not to spring for the thin $15 remote control. The Wi-Fi switch and its status light are situated above the keyboard, and you can find side connections at a glance thanks to identifying icons stamped on the surface area just below and to the right of the keyboard.

Not surprisingly in view of its features, the dv5000t is not budget fare. Its $1984 price (as of May 18, 2006) made our test unit the most expensive all-purpose notebook in its cohort. The price did not include the alluring HP xb2000 Notebook Expansion Base, which has a screen stand, a port replicator, stereo speakers, and a bay for a second hard drive all rolled into one. Ordered with the 250GB hard drive kit, the base brings the dv5000t’s total possible storage to a desktop-worthy 350GB for an extra $499.

If you’re thinking of ditching your home PC for a notebook that you can pack up and take along, the dv5000 is one to consider seriously. From desktop comfort to long battery life, this machine has what it takes.

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HP Pavilion DV4000

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

I like HP Pavilion DV4000 very much because her Reasonably priced, newly updated dv4000 notebook has a great mix of features.

It’s hard to imagine a better consumer notebook than the HP Pavilion dv4000. Since I first reviewed this unit in July 2005, it has been refreshed with better graphics; instead of video integrated into the chip set, it now comes with an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 PCI Express module with 128MB of dedicated memory.

RAM, but aside from better performance, it’s pretty much the same notebook as its predecessor, spilling over with useful and fun features even at its rock-bottom $1860 price. It has a 15.4-inch wide screen, a multifunction DVD burner for reading and creating any type of disc, a good keyboard, a memory card reader, a high-speed FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot for next-generation expansion cards, and both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless communications. Shall I go on?

The dv4000 is well designed, with the optical drive and two of the four USB ports on the right side of the case. Identifying symbols stenciled on top of the case as well as on the sides help you locate ports at a glance. Having one on/off switch for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning is less than ideal, but the LED is very nice, a bright blue ring in the center screen hinge where you can’t miss it.

When you’re ready for a break from work, instant-play buttons turn the dv4000 into a Linux-based stand-alone music and movie player. You can control the tracks and volume from the keyboard or kick back and relax with a credit-card-size remote control that resides in the PC Card slot–a nice touch.

Even the expansion options are generous for a consumer notebook, starting with user-upgradable storage and memory slots that include elegant captive screws. HP’s $299 xb2000 docking station fleshes out the notebook into a solid desktop replacement. Much more than a port replicator, the xb2000 features a screen stand flanked by attached Harman/Kardon speakers and includes a second hard-drive bay. A wireless mouse and keyboard are also included. Docking requires some precision–you have to slide the notebook in keyboard first and plug the stand’s cable into the left side–but the value of using the dock is worth these small inconveniences.

The dv4000′s tested speed was good, if a tad behind that of its peers. This 2.13-GHz Pentium M 770-equipped unit with 1GB of RAM earned a WorldBench 5 score of 88, trailing an identically configured Asus machine by about 9 percent. We did, however, get a big boost in battery life this time around, despite the new video card: This version of the dv4000 lasted almost 4.5 hours on one charge.

Upshot: A terrific choice for consumers, the dv4000 strikes a good balance of work and entertainment features for a reasonable price.

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HP Pavilion DV8000Z

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

After having two Toshiba Qosmios I moved to the HP DV8380US when my Toshiba experienced a melt down.The HP as a number of great options. I bought TWO docking stations — one for home and one for the office. They are overpriced, but they work well and I hope I can use them on future laptops.Ergonomics are beautiful and it is absolutely one of the best buys on the market right now!

The HP Pavilion dv8000z notebook rivals a desktop PC for storage and entertainment while saving room. The unit has a gorgeous 17-inch WXGA+ screen, superb sound (thanks to built-in Altec Lansing speakers), and a full-size keyboard with dedicated numerical keypad.

QuickPlay buttons located above the keyboard provide one-touch access to DVD movies, music, videos, and photos without starting Windows. HP’s credit-card-size remote control lets you sit back and control the action on the big screen. When you’re not using it, you can store the remote in the notebook’s PC Card slot. You could amass a vast number of digital photos, MP3s, and home videos on the maximum dual 120GB 4200-rpm hard drives (which our unit featured), or you could use the second drive for backup.

Add the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system ($30 extra) and an ExpressCard Analog TV tuner ($130)–both of which the unit I looked at had–and your dv8000z can function as a portable TV, too, letting you watch, pause live action, and record your favorite shows wherever there’s a cable connection.

The only one thing the dv8000z doesn’t do well is games. The notebook’s ATI Radeon Xpress 200M graphics card comes with 128MB of dedicated RAM and can pull up to 128MB more from main RAM. The new memory management scheme is supposed to be faster than traditional integrated graphics because it can take advantage of the bidirectional speed of PCI Express to access system RAM, but this doesn’t seem to help much. The best the dv8000z could manage in Far Cry at 1024 by 768 resolution and 32-bit color (with antialiasing turned off) was 23 frames per second. More typical was its performance in Doom at the same settings, where it staggered along at an unplayable 10 fps.

Equipped with a top-of-the-line single-core AMD 2.2-GHz Turion 64 ML-40 processor and 2GB of RAM, the dv8000z turned in an overall WorldBench 5 speed score of 95–strong but nevertheless a little below the marks that most mobile Intel dual-core notebooks we’ve seen so far have achieved. And in the multitasking portion of the test, the dv8000z was 30 percent slower than the average new desktop replacement at browsing the Internet while converting a sound file, taking almost 12 minutes to finish versus a little over 8 minutes. If you can get by on less than 240GB of storage, you can give performance a boost and save $175 by choosing dual 80GB 5400-rpm hard drives. Though the 8000z is heavy at 9.2 pounds, its tested 3.1-hour battery life indicates that it is truly portable.

The dv8000z is a chunky but attractive black-and-silver unit with many thoughtful design touches that make using it as a desktop replacement a pleasure. Among them are hidden hinges and an easy-to-find eject button on the right-side optical drive (a DVD burner in our review unit). Four USB ports, a FireWire port, and a six-in-one card reader help handle connection and data-swapping needs. An expansion port mounted on the right side gives the notebook further desktop replacement credentials by allowing docking in the optional HP xb2000 Expansion Base, which features a screen stand, port replication, and housing for a third hard drive.

Even without the expansion base, the dv8000z is a solid all-round option.

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HP Pavilion DV9000T

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Duo Core processors are not just hype. Amazingly fast and agile. Much faster than my old Dell 5150 with 3.06 H/T. I would recommend buying it with everything (your going to spend money anyway), I got the 2GB RAM and the 2.0 Duo Core, also love the 100GB 7200 RPM hard drive and the advanced graphics card. Very beautiful looking machine as well, HP added features made it a great laptop. AMD Turion give great performance.

Pricing for the dv9000 line is very flexible, starting at $879 for the dv9000z with an AMD processor and a single hard drive, and topping out at around $2700 for an Intel-based dv9000t with all the trimmings. Our $2530 (as of 11/6/06) dv9000t review unit featured a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, 2GB of RAM, XP Media Center Edition, dual 100GB hard drives, a 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7600 graphics card, and the HD DVD drive.

The dv9000t is HP’s new entertainment laptop with a 17-inch high-definition screen and a combo HD DVD player/double-layer DVD burner. With the dv9000t, you can stash hundreds of photos and MP3s on up to 240GB of storage provided by dual hard drives. You can also enjoy music and crisp movie dialogue from good stereo speakers, or listen privately with a friend using the dual headphones port. Online, you can personalize chatting with the optional integrated Webcam.

The dv9000t shares several especially nice design features with its dv6000 and dv2000 siblings. These including hidden hinges and a gorgeous glossy piano-black finish with a subtle wave pattern. With the notebook turned off, a swipe of the finger across a backlit touch-sensitive media and volume-control panel located above the keyboard launches the HP QuickPlay menu for direct access to your movie, music, video, and slide-show collections. Using the Windows Media Center operating system, the dv9000t can pause and record live TV programs.

The dv9000t is not heavy for a 17-inch-screen laptop, coming in at just 8 pounds (not including the power adapter), so you can take it with you. The standard 8-cell battery lasted only 2.6 hours in our tests, though, so consider opting for the high-capacity version.

Our review unit also included the TV tuner kit needed to connect the dv9000t to an analog cable box or a set-top box. HP believes in the strict separation of notebook and TV tuner, to make upgrades to future technology easier, so catching Grey’s Anatomy on this notebook (or any other Pavilion) requires three extra pieces of hardware: the HP ExpressCard Analog TV Tuner, its coaxial adapter cable, and a USB receiver for the Windows remote control.

The dv9000t is a powerful notebook capable of comfortably handling any type of work, from photo editing to heavy number crunching. Its WorldBench 5 score of 117 edged out the 109 score earned by its chief competitor, the Toshiba Qosmio.

The dv9000t would make an excellent desktop replacement: It includes a touchpad-equipped keyboard that’s so well laid out, I hardly noticed that the right Shift key is no bigger than a regular alphanumeric key. The Shift key was no doubt shrunk to accommodate the separate numerical keypad, a nice extra rarely found on laptops. And unlike with most notebooks, the mouse buttons are very responsive, depressing deeply into the case.

If you do decide to chuck your old desktop for the dv9000t, consider treating yourself to the HP xb3000 Notebook Expansion Base for docking. A screen stand on steroids, the Base includes port replication for cable management, internal housing for a third hard drive, and built-in premium speakers. A wireless keyboard and mouse come with it.

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