HP Pavilion DV2 is no ordinary notebook. The 12 inch laptop sports a new AMD Athlon Neo Processor which seems to hit the sweet spot between the low performance laptops with Atom Processors and the the high priced laptops with Core 2 Duo Processor. In this laptop you can play the full HD 1080p movies without any problem or can play the 3D games that you can’t play on the netbooks.
But heating is a factor that can ruin a great laptop to a worst one. And AMD processors traditionally has been well-known for their higher thermal outputs. Can this laptop break the myth and produce good output performance even at lower temperatures? We have made a review to find the answer. Have a go.
Performance
The system uses the 64 bit AMD Athlon Neo Processor. It is a single core processor but it isn’t as low performing as the Intel’s Atom Processor. Typical Video encoding time on it was significantly lower than on the one that has Atom Processor. On the other hand, it isn’t as high performing as the Intel’s Core 2 Duo Either. Multitasking handling isn’t as smooth as we normally see on a Core 2 Duo Machine but that’s expected from a low priced notebook like this. However, the system runs 64-bit version of resource hungry Windows Vista without any problem as it packs in a 4GB system RAM in a single module. And multitasking on the device was no severe problem either and don’t get us wrong – we said that the device isn’t that smooth as one with a Core 2 Duo. The 320GB HDD also provides good performance.
Design
The HP Pavilion DV2 looks very modern with smooth and rounded edges. On outside the laptop is very thin but is almost as wide as notebooks with a 13 inch screen because of the bezel around the screen and the keyboard. There is no latch in the lid that can keep it and hold it shut but the hinge is strong enough to hold it in place. The plastic lid is alloy reinforced and the glossy back is stylish enough to catch one’s eye. Overall the less than one inch thick notebook has enough strength to survive under pressure and being glamorous at the same time.
Display
The HP Pavilion incorporates a nice glossy 12.1 inch LED backlit display of 1280 X 800 WXGA resolution. The screen is bright and vibrant and showed rich natural colors. The viewing angles were also great to share your screen with some of your friends. The brightness of the screen is also very good and can be used under bright illumination without any problem. But as with other glossy screens, this glossy display will also create problems when the light is just behind you and shining directly on the screen.
Graphics
This notebook offers discrete graphics that you won’t find in any low priced netbooks. This is a big news for those who are looking to play some games on a low cost laptop. The system comes with a ATI Radeon HD 3410 that plays 1080p full HD movies with ease and provides enough fps in full resolution for a good response from your 3D game. We are really impressed with the gaming capabilities of this machine which is refreshing especially after we have tested some netbooks with integrated graphics.
Keyboard and TouchPad
As the built of the laptop is very compact, it is very unlikely that keyboard will have any flex under pressure. They keyboard matched our expectation and had nice feedback while typing. Typing at good speed was no problem with this keyboard. The touchpad was also responsive without any lag. The touchpad buttons were also very good with audible clicks. The buttons placements were also very good to be controlled easily with your thumb
Ports
The device houses all the necessary ports for everyday use. There are an Ethernet, VGA, an HDMI, 2 USB Ports and a heat vent on the left side and a power switch, a wireless on/off, SDHC Card slot, microphone and headphone, one more USB and a security lock slot on the right. There are no ports in front or back. While we liked the additional HDMI Port which are very rare to see in an ultrathin notebook, we would have liked another USB Port or even better an e-SATA Combo Port for connecting some more peripherals,
Audio
The speakers are quite good for a budget notebook like this. The altec lansing speakers at the front edge produce good volume levels with minimal distortion and good range. The headphone ports were also error free and produced good noise free sound in my headphone.
Heat
This is the most important thing we were eager to check out. From our previous experience with the HP TX2500Z which also runs on AMD, we can say that the AMD processors are really really hot as soon as it is turned on. The AMD Turion processor in the TX2500Z was simply unusable on your lap for its excessive heating. But thankfully this new processor technology uses lesser power and stays comparably cooler than the previous AMD processors. However, during stress condition it does get heated but it is not unusable by any means.
Battery
The system uses a six cell battery and gives out average battery life. Under normal usage in power saver mode expect the laptop to run for four hours and in high workload condition with screen brightness maxed out the laptop should run for about 2 hours minimum.
Pros
- Good Performance at a low Price Tag
- Graphics performance way ahead the netbooks
- 4GB RAM is enough for just everything
- Thin and light ultraportable
- Good Build Quality
- Good Display and Speakers
Cons
- Battery Life lower than average
- Processor performance not enough for heavy multitasking
- No Built-in Optical Drive
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it is a nice portable laptop with good performance at an affordable price tag which is what a laptop is meant for. Netbooks are too much underpowered for watching a decent HD Video without any problem or even editing some high resolution photos from your digcam. Using this laptop you can do these things and can play some 3D games with medium quality settings at a decent frame rate. It does not have too many cons and it would be a nice buy for the budget minded consumers who wouldn’t mind carrying the charger wherever he goes with his laptop.
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