HP Pavilion dv2

HP Pavilion dv2

Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the Hp laptop battery

The newest 12-inch notebook from HP is no ordinary ultra-portable laptop. Featuring the new AMD Athlon Neo processor, the HP Pavilion dv2 (dv2z) promises to bridge the gap between low-performance netbooks and higher-priced ultra-portable notebooks. This thin and light laptop can handle 1080p Blu-ray movies or even get you to the next level of your favorite video game. But at a price of $750, will consumers buy this instead of a $300 netbook?
Our HP Pavilion dv2 (dv2-1030us) features the following specifications:

1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo Processor MV-40
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM 666MHz (1 Dimm)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
12.1" WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1280x800)
320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 Graphics (512MB)
802.11a/b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth
5-in-1 card reader
External Lightscribe SuperMulti 8x DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
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Dimensions: 11.50 in (L) x 9.45 in (D) x 0.93 in (min H) / 1.29 in (max. H)
Weight: 3.95 lbs (with 6-cell battery)
Price as configured: $749

The design of the Pavilion dv2 is brand new for HP and features the AMD "Yukon" platform designed specifically for ultrathin laptops. The body of the dv2 is smooth with rounded edges, making it extremely comfortable in your hand while carrying it around. The design is compact, but the overall footprint is almost as wide as a 13-inch notebook because of the bezel around the keyboard and screen. The screen also sports a latchless design, making it easy to open the notebook with one hand. Although the lid lacks any latch to keep it held shut, the hinges feel nice and strong, keeping the lid secure. Pressing firmly onto the back of the screen cover will produce some ripples on the screen ... but you must apply significant pressure to cause this.

What might look like a giant beefy hinge for the 12-inch display is actually a standard 6-cell battery with a small hinge on either side of this thin and light laptop. The plastic covered, alloy-reinforced lid features a glossy black finish that looks subtle and stylish and doesn't scream "LOOK AT ME!" the way that the HP Imprint Finish does on most HP Pavilion notebooks.

The magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis is quite rigid and suffers from no flex or creaks even when twisted between my hands. Granted, this is due to the fact that the dv2 is less than one inch thick ... meaning there isn't much empty space inside the notebook for anything to bend under pressure. Bottom line, this notebook can survive the use and abuse from students who will toss it into a backpack every day for several years in a row.

In terms of upgradeability, the dv2z is much easier to upgrade than most netbooks and even some notebooks currently on the market. One panel provides access to the single RAM slot and a place for a Gobi WWAN card (available on custom configurations starting in June). Another panel gives you access to the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, and a final panel contains the hard drive. Although the dv2 provides easy access for upgrades, you won't be able to add more RAM to this notebook since it comes maxed out with a 4GB RAM module.

Under normal use, backlight at 50 percent and using wireless for web browsing and Vista set to "Power Saver" mode, the 6-cell battery managed to deliver four hours and 12 minutes of battery life. This is pretty good for a $750 ultra-portable notebook, but the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbook was able to deliver almost nine and a half hours of battery life with similar settings. If you switch to the "High Performance" mode in Windows Vista and boost the screen brightness to maximum then the battery life of the HP Pavilion dv2 drops to a modest two hours and 24 minutes.

I started this review with an important question, "at a price of $750, will consumers buy this instead of a $300 netbook?" The answer is, yes ... or at least I hope so.

The HP Pavilion dv2 satisfies an important need that low-cost netbooks never could. When netbooks originally hit the market at the end of 2007 every notebook industry analyst was certain that netbook sales would cannibalize the notebook market. Why would consumers buy a regular laptop if they can buy a $300 netbook? What ended up happening is that 95% of consumers who purchased a netbook purchased a netbook in addition to a notebook. Netbooks are great for travel but just don't have the performance and features needed to replace a regular laptop for most consumers.

The HP Pavilion dv2z is thin and light enough that it can replace a netbook, and it has enough performance to replace a full-size notebook. The only people who might need more performance are extreme gamers and people who need extreme processor speed and multiple cores for multitasking work like encoding two or more video formats simultaneously.

If you want to connect your laptop to your HDTV and watch 1080p video, the dv2 can handle it. If you want to edit high-resolution images in Photoshop while you're on vacation, the dv2z can handle it. If you want to play new video games and don't need extreme detail and frame rates, the dv2 can handle that too.