HP Pavilion dv2 First Look Review

UPDATE: Check out our full review of the HP Pavilion dv2!

The newest 12-inch notebook from HP is no ordinary ultraportable. Featuring the new AMD Athlon Neo processor, the HP Pavilion dv2 promises to bridge the gap between low-performance netbooks and higher-priced ultraportable notebooks. This pint-sized powerhouse can handle 1080p HD content from a Blu-ray player or even get you to the next level of your favorite video game and is priced starting at just $699. But in a world full of $300 netbooks can the dv2 survive? We took a quick look at a pre-production sample of this notebook at CES and we're ready to tell you what we think.

The pre-production sample of the HP Pavilion dv2 that we used features the following specifications:

• Processor: 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo 64-bit processor
• Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3410 (256MB dedicated memory)
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP 1 (32-bit)
• Screen: 12.1" HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
• Memory: 3GB (up to 4GB configurable)
• Storage: 160GB HDD
• Optical Drive: External Blu-ray Drive with Double Layer Support
• Wireless and Communications: 802.11b/g WLAN
• Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion

The pricing on the dv2 starts at $699. We don't have final pricing for other configurations to the time of this writing, but it's safe to say that any configuration with the dedicated graphics and external Blu-ray drive will cost more than $800. Regardless, this is a fabulous price point for students or anyone looking for an extremely mobile multimedia solution.

Build and Design

The dv2 has an all new ultrathin design weighing just 3.8 pounds that is made possible thanks to the new AMD Athlon Neo platform. The display lid has the durable plastic Imprint finish, which holds up quite well to minor abrasion without scratching. The body of the notebook is smooth with rounded edges, making it extremely comfortable in your hand while carrying it around. 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 fairly 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.

The plastic chassis is quite rigid and suffers from no flex or creaks even when twisted between my hands. Granted, this is in large part due to the fact that the dv2 is less than one inch thick ... meaning there isn't much empty space inside the notebook to flex.

The pre-production sample of the dv2 that we used features the "Espresso" (black) Imprint Finish but HP will also offer the dv2 with the "Monlight" (white) Imprint Finish. All of our editorial staff generally likes HP's various Imprint Finishes, but they are glossy and tend to show fingerprint smudges quite easily.

Overall, the dv2 is something like a smaller version of the MacBook Air ... only this notebook has more ports and doesn't cost nearly as much.

Screen

The 12.1-inch diagonal HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800) is nice and provides considerably more viewable real-estate than the displays on netbooks. Detail is good, colors are rich with deep contrast, backlighting is even across the entire surface, and viewing angles are good. There is some color inversion when you view the screen from below.

Input and Output Ports

The dv2 has an impressive number of ports for such a small and thin notebook. Here's a run down of the ports:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI 1.3 connector
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Microphone in and headphone/audio out ports
• 1 RJ -45 (LAN)
• 1 VGA out
• Kensington lock slot

While three USB ports might not sound like a lot, that's pretty good for an ultrathin 12-inch notebook. The really impressive port here is HDMI thanks to the ATI Radeon HD 3410 graphics. We would have liked to see at least one USB/eSATA combo port on this notebook, but given the price point that is something we can forgive.

The second important feature to consider with the dv2 is the optional external optical drive, available as either a DVD burner or a Blu-ray and DVD burner combo drive. Power and data are handled over a single USB connection so you only have to sacrifice a single USB port on the dv2 when the drive is connected.

Performance

HP offers the new Pavilion dv2 with the new AMD Athlon Neo 64-bit processor. This processor is bassically a scaled-down version of AMD's current notebook processors with a lower TDP (15 watts) which means this notebook shouldn't get as hot on your lap and should last a little longer on battery power. While the power consumption of the new Athlon Neo isn't as low as the Intel Atom, AMD showed multiple benchmarks indicating that the Athlon Neo is anywhere between 50% and 149% faster than the Atom in various tasks. However, the big news this year is the availability of discrete graphics thanks to the new ATI Radeon HD 3410 graphics inside the dv2.

While it's true that a few netbooks offer discrete graphics, the reality is that the Intel Atom platform lacks the muscle to truly take advantage of discrete graphics. Our own lab tests confirm that Atom-based netbooks with dedicated graphics cards perform virtually the same as Atom-based netbooks with integrated graphics. This is yet another reason that the dv2 shouldn't be labeled as a netbook. For the first time ever consumers have a low-cost ultraportable that offers flawless 1080p video playback and can even play many 3D video games at reasonable frame rates!

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the Pavilion dv2 has zero flex and excellent key travel with quiet presses. I can't say with absolute certainty, but I suspect the keyboard is the same part used on the tx2000 and tx2500 with a different Imprint Finish (which makes sense seeing as how they are all 12-inch HP notebooks).

The keys have a durable coating which makes the keyboard look and feel better when typing. The slight glossy texture of the keys won't develop the typical "shine" that begins to show up on keys after extended use.

The palm rest area features the same "Mesh" Imprint Finish used on the lid. The touchpad is reasonably large for an ultraportable notebook and features the same slick surface seen on touchpads found on the HP Pavilion dv4 and dv5. The marked vertical scroll section is likewise accurate and responsive. The touchpad buttons have okay feedback (the button press isn't deep but it's not too shallow either) and produce quiet, cushioned clicks.

One of the nice features found on HP touchpads is the touchpad on/off button. If you press the small button above the touchpad you can disable it ... perfect for people using an external mouse. Although the touchpad is quite nice I would have liked to see the same style of touchpad that HP started using on the tx2000z, tx2500z, and the new TouchSmart tx2z.

First Impressions

As of this writing we've only had about one hour to play with a pre-production sample of the HP Pavilion dv2. Still, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about this notebook. First, we're just glad to see HP release a new 12-inch ultraportable notebook design since the design of the tx1000 and tx2000 series is a little old and a little thick by today's standards. More importantly, we're glad to see a low-priced ultraportable with dedicated graphics and a processor that seems to actually perform well.

We reserve final judgment for the full review, but right now we have high hopes for this notebook.

UPDATE: Check out our full review of the HP Pavilion dv2!

 

First!

Wow, now I'll read...

 

sweet I think it better than the previous

 

I would have liked to have an internal CD drive. I thought that is what it had before I saw it here.

 

It's a nice system but Im just not a fan of netbook quality CPUs in a chassis that has a screen larger than 11 inches. When that screen hits 12 inches I can't see a reason not to go to 13 inches and get a full specced notebook for the same cost as that dv2.

Maybe the manufacturer is saving money on the system but the consumer isn't.

 

ok isnt the xps m1210 better then that?

 

I would really like to see if the laptop can truly handle 1080p content. If so I would get it immediately.

 

Impressive! So far...

AMD is offering a very competitive platform compared to Intel.

 

Looks awesome, can't wait for some more benchmarks of this new AMD platform.

 

It looks decent but as others have said I think at 12 inches we need full spec processors. I also really dont like the various circles on the palm rest, I would prefer a graphic free body.

 

3.8 lbs for a 12 in single core laptop with no dvd drive and a 4-cell battery? 92% keyboard? Blegh.

The old Toshiba Portege M500 was 4.1 lbs with a 12.1 in screen, Core 2 Duo, dvd burner and 6-cell battery. And a full size keyboard.

The Dell XPS M1330 was 4 lbs with a 13.3 in screen, Core 2 Duo, DVD burner, Geforce 8400M GPU and 4-cell battery. Again, a full size keyboard.

While it's not fair to compare the hp with these (older but) more expensive solutions, the formfactor needs work, as neither the dell nor the toshiba mentioned are "true" ultraportables like the lenovo X200 or hp 2510p, yet already outdo the d2v in many areas.

 

My hangup in buying a netbook is the lack of ports to output high definition content, so seeing HDMI on here is very nice. For a lot of people, and I'm projecting this trend to sharply rise over the next year, desktop + netbook is going to be the preferred choice of computer setup.

When I had a Vostro 1500 + desktop, I've got my terabytes of storage on my desktop so all I do when I want to watch a movie, or TV shows, or anything on my massive media collection, I'd run my laptop out into where my TV is, browse for my shared drives on the network, and output 1080i to the TV. Problem is that high definition output is typically limited to larger notebooks, so once HDMI or DVI becomes more standard on netbook class systems, I can see widespread adoption growing rapidly.

 

Looks a bit too tall...if you look at the top and bottom portions of the bezel, they seem to be about an inch and a half....the borders around the screen seem a bit thick...could've used that space for the screen...

At this size, I would rather get the tablet version...same size, better function with the HP tablets...

Designs really girly too with all those circles and stuff...like the old dv6000, 6500, 67000 series...

The dv4t, dv5t, and dv7t have the best overall design and subtle too...

 

How does this compare with the SONY VAIO SR290PDB?

I am looking for 12.1" to 13.3". A requirement is ATI DISCRETE Graphics due to the NVIDIA FLAW.

I keep scanning to see what is out there from 12.1" to 13.3" for a TOP TIER MAKER with ATI.

Would this be alot slower?

 

This HP, the Sony P, or the Asus S121....choices choices...

 

Yes it will be a lot slower. If the HP DV2 is between 50% and 149% faster than an Atom, it is probably slower than a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo.

In video performance the difference will not be that big though.

Furthermore, the SR screen is a really good LED screen, without having seen the DV2 screen, the SR is likely to be a lot better.

 

plus you still have next to no information on battery life of the new hp model... while the other ones are already known, and some of them offer really good battery life. of course one cannot forget the prices, that still are not any more than just a little known...

 

Amen.....step up to a dv3 or dv4. It's a nice looking machine, remarkable even for HP.....but if I wanted a slow processor and an external drive just for media, I would've kept my 10yr. old ThinkPad.....

 

too weak for my liking

 

While it's true you can get better performance in as-light or lighter machines, this one costs a lot less.

I'm really curious to see the 3d performance and battery life benchmarks. Those will be key in my opinion of this new AMD cpu.

 

Since when was NBR ever able to fund a lab?

On the bright side, this is one hell of an ultraportable. If the price is really this low, companies such as Avertec--who specialize in cheap ultraportables--will suffer greatly from this new notebook.

 

I agree. Although this is an interesting (and has a potential to be very attractive) concept, it needs to shed at least .5lbs. That bezel is pretty huge, too (I think I am always complaining about the size of bezels, but oh well).

 

Since the time when it was the first to review XPS Studio 16

OT:this looks really nice,like mobile MM station!

 

I would have bought the DV3 if it had a linux friendly wireless card.

 

I am just a little curious to how well this plays games, it's actually perfect for what i am looking for. But if it could play any games that would be a nice bonus?

 

Depends on which games. Something like WoW or anything older than 2-3 years should run okay but the newer FPS will run poorly.

Honestly you should be able to find a full fledged 13"+ notebook for what the dv2 will likely cost with it's discrete card option.

 

AMD Neo platform fighter coming soon from Intel

 

I understand i was looking at the 13inch HP but i like the fact that this is really thin and a small form factor. I did find an interesting article for Pat Moorehead- he spent a week using the device and left a mini review. Check it out. It has alot of pictures comparing it to other devices, such as netbooks and the mac book air so that you can compare it's size. Definatelly worth reading.
http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/ar...ilion-dv2-ultrathin-notebook-netbook-neo.aspx

 

Oh i forgot to mention he said he was able to play left 4 dead and fallout 3 at their native resolutions, just on lower settings.

 

you know im shocked i just noticed this notebook is not an LED screen it still looks good though any idea/info about screen options or is this the only one?

 

This is good. I actually support Intel in restricting the use of Atoms and adding an intermediate CPU to bridge the gap between netbooks and notebooks.

Not because I don't think Atom can't support a screen larger than 10" but because there isn't a significant price savings to the consumer in going from a 12" netbook to a 13" notebook.

 

Any update on when the dv2 will be available? If the price with discrete graphics and Blu-ray is under $1000, this might well be my next purchase after a Sony P!

 

considering the extraordinary value if i had the choice i would probably buy this over a Vaio P

Also its kind of a shame because the 4000 series GPU are right around the corner i would have loved to see a ATI 4530 option in this notebook i guess they will have to update it.

 

Yes a 4000 series GPU would have ben nice but if it can handle(ATI 3410) Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 pretty well we have a winner, the ASUS N10J finally has some competition!
Yeah besides one being a 10 inch and one being a 12 inch the form factor(size and weight are actually pretty close except for thickness)the extra screen real estate is a very good thing, going to be real interesting to see how this stacks up against a N10J in performance and gaming.
i just hope HP losses the very tacky looking swirly marks on the palm rest.....they look dumb and out of place on a very slick looking system not hating on the ASUS but this looks like a very nice system even if I have to pay a little more $$$ the extra screen size is a very welcome site, give me one with XP and I'm sold!!!!

 

This review mentions it's a LED display.

http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/ar...ilion-dv2-ultrathin-notebook-netbook-neo.aspx

 

that link you gave is "not available"

 

Where is Neo?

 

NEO is part of the Matrix

 

lol haha Neo is in the computer

seriously, i dont understand? You mean how come its not available? If so good question