HP Pavilion DV2104EU notebook review

HP Pavilion DV2104EU - Destiny's review, exclusively for NotebookReview Forum

Ok. So here we go

Let's start with the configuration:

• Processor - AMD Turion 64 x2 TL-50 1.6GHz, 2x256kb cache L2 (each core has got its 256kb separate)
• Chipset - AMD Hammer, nVidia nForce 6150 [north bridge], nVidia nForce 430 [south bridge]
• RAM - 1024MB in 2 modules of 512MB DDR2-667 (333Mhz) - mine both Hyundai on Hynix
• HDD - Seagate Momentus SATA 120GB 5400RMP 8MB cache
• CD/DVD drive - 8x DVD RW with DL support - mine Sony DW-G520A
• Display - 14.1" Widescreen BrightView High Definition - mine from LG Philips
• Graphic Card - nVidia GeForece Go 6150 256MB Shared
  Others:
• Broadcom 802.11 b/g WLAN
• 5 in 1 Card Reader (MemoryStick/MS PRO, MMC, xD, SD)
• ExpressCard/54 PC Card Slot
• 3 USB ports
• 1.3MP Webcam
• HP Mobile Remote Control
• 6 cell - 43WHr battery
• Windows Media Center Edition 2005
• Microsoft Works 8.0

Detailed reports from Everest Ultimate 2006 are in attachement Reports.zip

Overview

I've bought my notebook from Comet UK. I had a really big headache wether to buy it or not, especially where there was a few Asus notebooks within the same price range (~560£ . But none of them were offering 14" widescreen display.
Actually there was none within 660£. And that was way too much. The same HP notebook, although with CoreDuo 1.7GHz and GeForce Go 7200, is being sold for 699£ on their website.

Everything was in a nice box, no fireworks though , but all the tapes and seals guarantee that it hasn't been touched since it came out of HP.




Computer arrived with Windows preinstalled and no CD with any drivers etc. After booting You are asked to do the Recovery Disks, what takes around 1 hour 15 minutes. And You can only do it ONCE, so choose good media.
You can buy Recovery disk from HP but it costs... nearly 30£ for them. That's way too much.


Contents of the box:
- our notebook
- battery
- charger/AC adapter
- 2 m long modem cable
- converter for UK telephone line (You Englishmen must have everything different... )
- IR remote control for QP and other multimedia tasks
- a piece of cloth for cleaning of notebook
- instead of your Windows CD a piece of paper which tells us to create Recovery Disks (pathetic...)
- Microsoft Works 8 product key on a certificate of authenticity
- End User License Agreement booklet (in 28 languages)
- Quick Reference booklet (English only)
- World Wide Limited Warranty and Technical Support booklet (in 18 languages)
- Worldwide Telephone Numbers list
- Quick Setup/Tour instruction with a poster at the back




General/Case/Keyboard and Touchpad

Generally speaking this notebook looks amazing. Imprint finish gives it incredible look. Just a finishing touch that make is a bit personal, and more friendly for user. I also like colors used. Nice blue and orange LEDs, silver and black case. HP really spent a lot of time on design.
Top of the case is black with thin silver Imprint finish made out of shiny and glossy plastic. You are gonna leave a lot of your fingerprints there... [maybe they thought of it as a anti-theft surface that will store thief's fingerprints ]
Bottom part is made from black matt plastic with harsh texture. It feels really thick and solid.




Everything is solidly built, plastics are very hard. There is no bending, creaking or any loose elements or joints that would give U an impression of something coming off in some time.
Keyboard is very good. Plastic used is the same as on the bottom part of the case, with the same slightly rough texture what gives nice feel. We've got some extra features with 'Fn' key and F1 to F12 keys for multimedia tasks (play, stop, pause) as well as print, sleep and lock buttons. The power button could be a bit wider. It is quite difficult to press it and it has to be done with a tip of the finger. I can't imagin somebody with chubby hands doing it...
I would forget to mention that there is also Quick Play buttons. They are not actually buttons but are more like touch points (like on LG Chocolate mobile phone). They make a 'beep' noise when touched and are a bit too sensitive in my opinion. But I think it's also a matter of getting use to their presence and how they work. and First of all, what is Quick Play. HP designed a system that can play Your DVD, movies without booting to windows. Just plug the disk and You are off for the ride HP also supplies some systems with IR remote control (U can actually hide it in your ExpressCard slot), so U even don't need to move to the notebook to pause, stop or FF during the movie
Way that touchpad is planned I thinks is a matter of taste. I wouldn't mind if it had been less slippery and . Also buttons could be a bit bigger. Ive used it only for a while so I guess I just need to get use to them.
One more thing that's worth mentioning is battery lock slider. After I first put the battery in I thought I won't ever get it back out. I was thinking that Ive missed something but no. It's just the locking mechanism. When You reach a certain point where it looks like it's not going any further just put a little bit more power into it. Battery will release or actually pop out on one side. I personally like this solution as it secures the battery on its place very well.




Ports

All the ports, are on the sides and front of the laptop, there is nothing to plug at the back. I actually like this idea as it gives U good access to all Your things and U don't need to play around with the laptop to plug somthing.
I very liked the idea of names of the ports that are along the edge so actually don't need to tilt your head and check what is where.
Ive used only USB porst until today so I can only say that U need to use a bit of power to push something in, although my USB stick tend to wobble a bit in the port.
Wireless network slider switch is located on the front, just below where Your left arm would rest. I was a bit worried about it but it is fine, and there is no possibility to turn our internet off as it needs a bit of power to slide from on to off. [wireless/bluetooth (which I don't have) on the front of my Acer are terrible, it happens at least few times a week when I disconnect myself from internet by pressing them]




Cooling system

The cooling system looks decent. CPU has got its air outlet at the back, on the left. Grill wholes are very big and also the area on which air is being blown out is impressive. The fan is almost silent. Even during the tests it was hardly audible. Actually my Acer fan complitly deafen the HP. The fan on HP machine is not only silent but very efficient. During all the test CPU temperature hasnt reached more than 52 degrees Celcius. When left in Idle temperature oscilates around 32 degrees Celcius, and U would have to put your ear next to the CPU fan outlet to hear it working [Ive checked, fan is working ]
Also memory and Hard disk drive covers have got their air outlets, maybe not very good ones, as gaps aren't that big, but at least they exist. HDD is more heat generating component and reached 53 degrees during tests. While not used, in Idle mode that was still a bit more than CPU - ~36 degrees.
From nVidia Control Panel U can get the idea of how hot it's graphic chip gets. And that is pretty **** hot while gaming. After coming back from Stand By mode - ~32-35, in idle - ~52-55, just after tests were finished - ~75-85, all in degrees Celcius.




Display

BrightView LG Philips monitor produces outstanding graphics. Color are vibrant, everyhing is very sharp and honestly looks way much better on 14.1" screen than on my 15.4" Acer normal display.
Viewing angles are very good, as well as brightness of the whole screen.
Display is running in 1280x800 mode in 60Hz.
The hindges are very good, with no leeway in them, and will keep the screen in the position we want. There is a limit how much You can tilt it to the back though.
I was a bit worried about reflections as this is a glossy screen but I really shouldn't have to. They don't bother me at all, and moreover they are really insignificant and You don't notice them that much.




user facing the window


reflections when screen is facing the window

Speakers

These are Altec Lansing ones, and are powered by nVidia nForce 430 controller with implemented HD system. My first work about them was - WOW! That is how they compare to the Acer ones.
Well, there is nothing surprising as Altec is well know for it headphones and audio codecs.
Speakers or I should say - speaker is located below the display. I have to admit that it's a good location as if U keep the notebook on Your legs You don't cover them, as happens on my Acer. Well, notebook is not a HiFi system but HP produces clear and really nice sound, (as for my ears, and that means a bit audiophile, where I can easily hear the difference between 128kbit Mp3 file and 192kbit one).


HDD

Looks like HP tried to get as quiet notebook as possible as this Seagate Momentus 5400RMP is hardly hearable. Despite of heat it produces it is a great one. You will see that in tests.


Graphics

Unfortunately integrated. Well, it is still better then integrated Ati's 200M and intel's GMA 950 so it's not so bad. It can share up to 256MB of memory with RAM and it's DX9.0 compatibile with one Vertex Shader 3.0 and two Pixel Shaders 3.0. Some benchmarks should tell us a bit more.



PS. if You require more information/photos, just ask me, I will try to get back to You as soon as I can.

PS 2. I will post the test some time next week, I need to do a few more and just plot the graphs

 

Ups, forgotten the attachement

 

Dude! that laptop looks really mint, im definatelly getting it now, the pictures are really good qaulity, i LOVE the look of it!. Thanks alot for this man, i will tell u how mine is whenever it comes. Btw, does the keyboard like, bend when u type? or is it a pretty good build?

 

Great review, been looking forward to it as im getting this laptop at christmas. Do you know how well this laptop performs in terms of graphics and gaming? Obviously its not a gaming laptop with intergrated graphics but if I were to play a few, how would they handle? Thats is if you have tried any. Im hoping I can play the half life series in this thing which ive been told elswhere I can.

Also, on my laptop box, on the side, it tells me the graphics are only up to 128mb and it is definately the same model. Also says so on the hp website.

Oh and if you havent tried any games on it, you could go to the website mentioned in the graphics section on the read before posting sticky to test wether it can play certain games.

 

Im a bit into photography so U know and my camera is very good

There is NO bending in the keyboard at all. Keys are made of strong plastic and it is much more comfortable to type than on my Acer. I wish I was typing the review on it

 

Depends really on games, resolution and detail quality, but this thing does ~1161 in 3D Mark 03, ~630 in 3D Mark 05 & ~254 points in 3D Mark 06.

What do U mean by HL Series? HL2 and add on? As far as I know U can try in lowest detail in 800x600, but I am not sure.
Ive been playing Fifa 07 on GMA900 on my Acer and this Go6150 is way much better even than Ati's 200M, and that is a decent one.

Ive just checked the box and it says only 'shared video memory' on the sticker, so are You 100% positive that You are buying exactly the same notebook??

Ive just checked in SiSoft Sandra 07, Everest 2006 and nVidia Control Panel and everywhere it says that it's got 256MB of memory.
I also remember setting it to 256MB in BIOS (or maybe Im just tired and I can set it in my Acer?? )
I don't expect that mine has got 128MB dedicated? (would be way much better than).

 

Yes half life 2 and on from there.

Im 100% sure its a dv2104eu

NVIDIA® GeForce Go 6150 Up to 128 MB shared video memory

...and I checked the comet website and it also says 128mb shared

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=358452

am I just incredibly dumb and im looking in the wrong place? (probably the case )

anyway awsome review. cant wait to get mine.

 

Thanks.

Maybe its them who made the mistake U will see when it arrives

 

Haha, wish i had a decent camera, well, it was either get this laptop, or get a fujifilm s9500, but theres no contest good about the keyboard, i hate spongy ones, so not had any problems with it so far?

 

Oh yeah, and on ur desktop, did u choose ur task bar to look like that for performance or did it come like that standard? ^^

 

Actually the card is capable of reserving 256MB of memory but usually with 1GB RAM it usually takes about 64MB + uses the rest dyanmically. If you max out the RAM to 2GB then it will reserve the full 256MB for its use.

 

No, actually MCE has its own scheme for windows, but Ive changed it for best performance to get some memory free

No problems untill now Everything like a charm

 

So how is that it's showing 256 MB in Everest??

 

Everest is showing the max the GPU is capable of allocating. By default with 1GB RAM, only 64MB is allocated to the GPU and the rest is dynamic. If you upgrade to 2GB it will allocate the max 256MB from the system RAM.

 

Cool cool sounds good, i might actually do that, but im all looks aswell, so i will see how the memory and performance suits me. Comet have changed it so it can only be bought instore lol, so ive to collect it the end of this week, grr!! but its still only gonna cost me 550£ if i buy online, so it aint all that bad, i bet you any money they dont have it in my local comet, which is nottingham. Then again, they may do, nottingham is a fairly popular place. Where is the express card slot on the laptop? is it underneath or where? peace out. lol

 

Ive set this scheme only for tests I can't wait to see Vista's Aero on it Ive checked both Comets in Brighton, nothing, and it was cheaper by internet anyway.

 

Well i hope they have them here!!! ill be so pissed off if they aint, haha. Yeah i cant wait to see vista on it i tried to get the ISO file, but it just took too long to download. So what bout the remote? =] wheres it go?

 

Low and behold, nottingham do NOT have the HP in lol, im so annoyed!!! god. I mean, i like em for having it instore, but they dont, if u get me. I got an email saying they will get more online, but they dont know when, aint that really ANNOYING. Arseholes. lol I think theres one store out of the whole UK who have like..2 in stock, and its prob in liverpool or summit daftly far away from me.Oh well, ill just have to wait patiently to get my laptop, worst wait ever. lol.

 

I dont think anyone has any in stockj to be honest. I bought mine just in the nick of time from play.com. Now it says tempararily unavailable but its said that for weeks, dont know if it still says it.

 

Yeah play.com still says it pft, i sent comet an email asking bout stock, and they sent one back saying they will be getting more in stock, they just dont have a set date, flipping useless. They better get them soon. lol

 

Where is the webcam? is it built in? I couldn't see it on the photo's but might just be me beeing blind.

 

You can see it in this picture. It is a bit dark, but the webcam is right in the center on the top black bar...
http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=124.jpg

 

Buddy, loving your work mate!!
one final Q before i go buy this beauty - could you post a snapshot taken withthe webcam - its ok i aint expecting miracles!!!

peace and happy laptopping


al

 

So it was me beeing blind. I've ordered from comet now. The picture on comet's site doesn't have a webcam,

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=358452&tab=specification

i'm sure it's just a mistake, but i've emailed them and i'll get back with the answer.

 

Please do Tetley - i am plannig ongettig it fromthere too


dude any chance of that webcam grab?


peace lr

 

BTW the specification had a tick on it - but we need to know for sure if it does have a wrbcam . . . on the hp site it says selected models have . . sigh . . more vagueness!

 

Got reply from comet;

Also had sent HP.co.uk enquiry regarding same issue:

Hope that helps.

 

When you receive your notebook, please write your opinion of it or something as i am considering purchasing the exact same laptop from comet also.
Thanks
JT

 

Yes this laptop definately has a webcam. I own one. Its an awsome little laptop and it looks great.

 

could some kind soul please post an image taken with the webcam please!

cheers ;-)

lr

 

I have bought two from comet now (one for me and another for the girlfriend). They both get delivered tomorrow. I'll see if I can get a snap with the webcam, but not sure. The girlfriend wants me to keep my hands off it till Christmas (it's an early present).

Don't really like being the bearer of bad news, but the price on comet has changed today to £599 and they are now available for store pickup. I hope this is a mistake but I doubt it, I think they must of proved so popular they have decided to cash in.

Sorry

 

Cheers tetters.

Those comet based turd$!!!

still you can get it on misco for 600 and quidco give 8% cashback thru them so it works out about the same. you guys know you're entitled to free vista dontcha?

go to hp site - it is on there...

looking >>> to webcam snap mate - cmon you wears the trousers!!!!

Like i dont know LOL

peace and all that jazz

lr

 

I have just bought the HP dv2104 eu from comet for £599. it is a very nice notebook with decent performance. So far, i love it! The only complaint i have, is that the WLAN card had a code 10 error but all is well now as i am typing this from the notebook
Thats my opinion!
Thanks

 

show off!!!

 

Seriously considering this notebook.

Only worrys are the Turion X2 processor - how does it compare up against a Core (2) Duo?

I've also read about the poor battery life - could anyone with the laptop comment on that at all?

 

yes, its true that battery life is a bit on the poor side, just over 2 and half hours i get from mine with the screen on lowest brightness. About the processor: it is not the fastest processor i have seen, but it beats a single core hands-down as soon as you start several programs. If you are thinking of buying this notebook to just do a bit of surfing and little mp3 encoding or whatever, i would say it is ample. However, if you would like to use CPU intensive tasks, get a 2ghz core 2 duo. The TL50 is slightly less powerful than the T2300 i found, but the T5500 is quite a way infront.

Thats my opinion,
JT

 

can someone please post a grab of the webcam abilities?

cheers

 

Hi! 1 image of my living room attached.

 

The spec says that the DV2104EU is more than 4kg in weight. Is this really true? It seems far too heavy for a 14.1". It looks sleek and slender, but is that just clever design for a rather bulky laptop?

 

where did you read that? specs i see say 2.4kg.

 

Ooops... that spec included the packaging. Thanks for the response.

Just bought one from dabs.com for £550

 

Cheers strawbs - pretty good quality for an integreted bit of hardware! kewl!

 

550 form dabs . . hmm i am struggling to resist . . what you making of it so far little monkey?

 

yeah! as long as you remember it's not a high spec digital camera, it's fine for its intended purpose though.

 

i went on to dabs to see if i could buy this laptop but it says the laptop has been discontinued is this true?? i really wanted to get this.

 

weird! i cannot find it on the site . . i guess it must be . . but why?!!!!

 

i cannot find this for purchase anywhere!!! discontinue - i never heard of a lappie just curtting out of circulationlike that before.

anyone else wknow where i can still get one?

trying to se the diff tween this and the dv6152 - cant see any - but the 6152 is more expensive BUT is still available . . what is going on?

 

With Vista being set to be released on the 30th, they are probably waiting for it to be released before any updated models show up.

 

it's not in HP's official list of discontinued Pavilions!> Here, so it should still be available.

why not contact them directly? what country are you in?

 

UK - i was put off by the ring for availability sign instead of the add to basket bit on the HP site - I'll drop them a line tho . . .

cheers fellas