HP Pavilion dv2000t

With its 14.1-inch widescreen wrapped in a 6.3-pound, one-inch-thick shell, the HP Pavilion dv2000t is a more portable multimedia machine than the rather bulky 15.4-inch entries here. The slick design, with its subtly pinstriped black-lacquer exterior and glossy silver interior, still hasn't worn out its welcome (though constantly wiping off the fingerprints has), and HP goes the extra mile when it comes to convenience touches.

The sharp, clear panel has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which is comfortable to work on. Viewing angles were good side to side, but poor from above. We noticed some motion blur during DVD action scenes, but the sound quality from the stereo speakers was good. And we love HP's multimedia playback controls. You can play music or a DVD without booting into the OS, and the dedicated buttons let you adjust volume and skip through CD tracks or DVD chapters without using a software utility.

Speaking of utilities, HP offers a full set, including the ability to selectively restore applications, drivers, or the full factory–installed hard drive image without having to find your restore CDs. Our test unit came with Windows XP Home (upgradable to Windows Vista Basic for free). But be sure to order the machine with Media Center Edition, a no-cost option that will in turn let you upgrade to the more feature-complete Vista Home Premium. HP doesn't offer an upgrade path from XP Home to Vista Home Premium.

The full-sized keyboard is comfortable and quiet, though the extra characters on many of the key tops are visually distracting. And as we've noted before, the glossy touchpad actually has more friction than matte-finish pads, which can lead to less-than-smooth cursor movements. As with the other notebooks here, there's a multiformat DVD burner, but only a 60GB hard drive, smaller than what the others offer.

The dv2000t's 1.6-GHz Intel Core Duo T2050 CPU fared decently on MobileMark 2005, with a score of 201. At nearly four hours, battery life was good for a thin-and-light system. Wireless throughput was around 10 Mbps—a bit low but not alarmingly so. The Intel GMA 950 graphics chip means serious 3D gaming is out of the question; the dv2000t delivered just 21 fps on F.E.A.R., and that was at low res with all the goodies turned off.

Still, that's the only notable drawback in an otherwise pleasing package. For good looks and great multimedia features in a five-pound, low-priced bundle, the dv2000t is tough to beat.

 

Don’t miss our comparison product roundup: Dual Core Notebooks Under $1000.