HP Pavilion dv2000z Review by LAPTOP Magazine

Boasting a slick new look and an array of multimedia features, the HP Pavilion dv2000z is a traveling entertainment center that is sure to turn heads. However, we strongly suggest skipping the AMD verison of this system in favor of the Intel-powered dv2000t, which offers faster dual-core performance along with nearly an hour more of battery life.

Weighing 5.3 pounds and measuring just one-inch thick, this machine is decked out in HP’s new Imprint finish, featuring a high gloss piano-black lid and a shiny silver-and-black keyboard. Both the interior and exterior sport an intricate embedded wave pattern. The exterior finish is gorgeous, but be forewarned: Fingerprint smudges will stick out like a sore thumb.

Adding to the system’s exotic look is a series of blue backlit indicator lights and soft-touch multimedia player control buttons, including the scrolling volume control positioned along the top of the keyboard just beneath the integrated Altec Lansing speakers. You won’t get outstanding audio quality out of them, but the speakers are good enough to handle everyday multimedia output. The touch pad controller maintains the same aspect ratio as the screen and is comfortably positioned close to the keyboard.

The 14.1-inch widescreen display with HP’s BrightView technology and a resolution of 1280 x 800 delivers a crisp picture, vivid colors, and a great horizontal viewing angle, making it ideal for viewing DVD movies. Dual headphone jacks are mounted on the front of the system, so you can share movies and music without disturbing those around you—a nice touch. Here you’ll also find a microphone jack, an IR window, and a wireless on/off switch.

You can view movies and photos and play audio tracks without booting up Windows, thanks to HP’s QuickPlay 2.1 software. Control the action using a credit card–sized remote, which is easily stored in the ExpressCard slot.

An embedded 1.3-megapixel webcam is joined by two tiny microphones along the display’s upper bezel, enabling quick and easy videoconferencing and Web chat sessions. Left-side ports include S-Video and VGA outputs, Ethernet, USB, and FireWire ports, a 5-in-1 memory card reader, an expansion port 3 slot, and an ExpressCard/54 slot. A dual-layer recordable DVD drive, two USB ports, modem, and power jacks are located on the right. The optical drive is a LightScribe drive, which means you can create laser-etched CD and DVD labels using specially coated LightScribe media.

The dv2000z uses AMD’s Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-52 processor, which runs at 1.6-GHz and has 512KB of level 2 cache. You can also get an Intel-based model, the dv2000t, for abut $20 more at the starting price. Our review model came maxed out with 2GB of memory and contained a 5,400-rpm 100GB hard drive, but you can upgrade to a 120GB drive with the dv2000t if you’re a storage hound.

This system won’t dazzle you with stellar performance, as evidenced by its MobileMark 2005 score of 177. The Intel-powered dv2000t, powered by a 2.0-GHz Core Duo CPU, turned in a much better score of 221. The Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 video card with 256MB of memory yielded a 3DMark03 score of 1,140, which is about average for a midlevel controller, and as such is not the best choice for gaming enthusiasts. The Intel version of this notebook didn’t fare much better, scoring 1,465.

A battery rating of 2 hours and 26 minutes for the dv2000z fell short of our expectations, whereas the dv2000t lasted a much better 3 hours and 21 minutes, even with its higher clock speed.

HP preloads a generous helping of home productivity and entertainment software on the Pavilion, including its Photosmart Premiere program, lots of Wild Tangent games, Sonic recording software, muvee AutoProducer, Microsoft Works and Money, and Quicken New User Edition.

The system is covered by a one-year warranty that includes parts, labor, and 24/7 toll-free telephone support. Two- and three-year extensions, ranging in price from $99 to $349 are also available at the time of purchase.

If you’re looking for a middleweight notebook with eye-catching looks and a slew of entertainment features and software, the HP Pavilion dv2000z will fill the bill. But we like the dv2000t better.

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HP Pavilion dv2000z

A full-featured entertainment notebook in a sleek and small package.

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