HP Pavilion dv2 Now Available

It's been a while since our first look review of the HP Pavilion dv2 at CES in January, but the HP Pavilion dv2 is now available through www.HPDirect.com and select retailers nationwide. Starting at $749, this thin and light notebook PC fills the gap between ultraportable netbooks and full-size entertainment notebooks. The dv2 features the new AMD Athlon Neo processor to provide productivity and entertainment capabilities in a notebook that measures just less than one inch thick and weighs less than four pounds.

Available ATI discrete graphics and a full range of connectivity ports make it easy for customers to work and play on the go. The dv2 feature magnesium casing for lightweight durability and is available with the Espresso black finish with matching HP Imprint design on the palm rest.

HP Pavilion dv2 features include:

• 12.1-inch diagonal LED BrightView display and nearly full-size keyboard
• AMD Athlon Neo Processor MV-40
• 320GB hard drive (5400rpm)
• HP webcam and microphone for staying in touch with friends and family
• HP MediaSmart software for enjoying photos, listening to music and watching Internet TV or movies in high-definition, including video content from MTV Networks television channels
• Lightweight, external optical disc drive
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
• ENERGY STAR qualified and EPEAT Silver registered

Full specs and order page on the HP website

UPDATE: One of our forum members (Silvr6) already finished his own review of the HP Pavilion dv2, which became available in Canada last week.

We'll have our official review of the dv2 soon, so stay tuned to NotebookReview.com for more details.

 

My first reaction was "this is overpriced," but now that I think about it, this is much closer to being an everyday computer than a 10" netbook. For $750, you get a nice screen, good keyboard, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, Vista, a DVD burner, 6-cell battery, and HDMI. A full-size notebook with comparable specs minus the processor would probably only be about $100-$150 less, and that's not too bad of a premium to pay for a much smaller machine.

 

Yeah. If AMD can somehow manage a dual core Neo, that'd be amazing. I almost want one.

Really though, I think thinner laptops will start with the dv2. It's at a point where its moving away from a niche market (one with the Adamo and MBA), and more of a place where everyone can afford it. It doesn't make gigantic compromises in terms of power, unlike the Atom based eeePC S101. While it's not as powerful as similarly priced laptops, it's getting closer.

 

These AMD Neo and Intel CULV machines are going to offer the people that RMAed their netbooks the performance they thought they were getting from the Atom....and for that purpose they don't need to go dual-core since that would unnecessarily jack up the price.

 

Silvr6 has a nice first look at the dv2 with pictures and benchmarks, check it out here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=368400

It became available in Canada last week.

 

Good catch, Andrew.

Props to Silvr6! I just added a mention and a link to his user review in the main news article.

 

What happened to the promised $699 price point? I'm disappointed.

 

It's only *$50* more though. Wasn't $699 supposed to be for integrated HD3200?

 

It's still coming. This is the price for the pre-configured system with discrete graphics. As far as I know HP is also planning to release a build-to-order version that is available with ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics (and possibly a different RAM and HDD config).

 

Bah, I think I got my hopes up too much. I was expecting a little more wow, I guess.

 

Bah! Come on, we're talking about HP here. Give them a month and they'll probably have a $50 deal or coupon on their website making this $749 price tag for the discrete graphics configuration drop down to $699.