HP Pavilion dv2 Review

Hey Jerry, great review. I have a few questions though. First, how well does Ubuntu run on this? I want to know overall compatibility, if 3d acceleration works with the linux ATi Drivers, any change in battery life, and if Youtube HD runs smoothly. I am on the fence about this laptop, and the lack of Ubuntu support would make me wait for an Intel based notebook like the Acer Timeline.

 

That seems to be the norm with most HP laptops these days. Slash 15% or more of the price and this deal looks alot better.

 

Then HP really should have added another DIMM slot for RAM and knocked $210 off the price because you can get 4Gbx2DIMMs for under $40.

It's not like that single stick is doing anything for you since you can't add more RAM on top of it.

 

We didn't have a chance to install Ubuntu on this, but HP is getting better about supporting Linux ... particularly since they've starting shipping netbooks with a customized Linux distro.

As far as ATI's drivers go, I don't see Linux drivers for the new Mobility Radeon graphics on the AMD/ATI website ... but that doesn't mean there isn't a driver out there that works.

I will contact the team at AMD/ATI and see what they have to say about Linux support for the 3410 graphics.

 

But that also would have required greater thickness or a wider footprint for the notebook in order to fit a second DIMM slot.

As others have said, the dv2 is still a good deal if you look at what else is on the market, but it will be an even better deal once HP starts having coupons and instant rebates that drop the price below $700.

 

Not necessarily true...it really depends what the insides already look like. The dv2 isn't exactly going for the thinnest of the thin title anyway since it made room to house a dedicated GPU.

You got to think though that if the ASUS N10 could fit the dedicated card, all the ports of the dv2 plus 1 more USB, and the bluetooth module in a smaller package that there might have been room for another DIMM.


I guess what I'm really saying though is someone could definitely offer the AMD Neo at a much better value.

 

Hi jerry thanks as always for the thorough review and thoughtful responses!

My question is one which I've posited to many over the past 2 weeks since the dv2 launched and unfortunately have still yet to get a straight answer on.

In light of the early huffussle over the dv2's purported battery life your review makes a point that others oft neglect to, that -irrespective of chipset- the display is universally the greatest energy consumer in any mobile device.

That being said, any discrete graphics solution is probably going to make a strong pull for second. Which is why I'm curious as to whether or not the dv2's yukon chipset supports any form of switchable graphics: reboot or not, does the review model dv2-1030 come equipped with BOTH the x1250igp and discrete 3410 chips? I know HP would be trying to cut costs wherever possible but from what I've read about the Yukon platform the igp should come standard.

If this is the case it would certainly go a long way towards simultaneously alleviating any concerns about heat and addressing the battery life issue, hopefully bringing it up to the 4.5hr mark that HP were boasting at CES. After all the X1250 IGP should still offer plenty more performance than we've all become accustomed to from intel 945gs part, and if ATOM and the past year has taught us anything it's how LITTLE we can get by on.

obtw...I have to wait until JUNE to get Moonlight!?!!?! I can't stand those circles! =b

 

HP and AMD made no mention of both X1250 and HD 3410 graphics in the dv2 at the same time in their technical briefings to me. I also didn't see any evidence of the X1250 igp either in Windows or when I took a look inside the dv2 chassis.

That said, we'll take another look today and confirm.

 

If I remember correctly, the X1250 was supposed to be in a 'Base' configuration' of the DV2. One of the European model reviews covered this model, noting that while it is better than the GMA graphics in most netbooks, the 3410 pretty much blows it away. The 1030US is the highest configuration of the DV2 currently available, minus the external Blu-Ray drive.

 

I don't believe ATI PowerXpress (switchable graphics) works with the M690/X1250 chipset only the M780/HD3200 (or higher) chipset.

If they paired the Neo with a M780G chipset they wouldn't need the dedicated card and could fit the extra DIMM knocking a couple of hundred dollars off the pricetag.

 

Definitely just the HD 3410 discrete graphics in this configuration of the dv2 ... no igp here.

On a related note, we re-tested the dv2 with Left 4 Dead after someone at AMD said our frame rates of around 10fps seemed unusually low. We updated the BIOS and gfx drivers (they were already up to date, but we reinstalled them anyway) and took down a couple of background services (as an aside, there were a couple of Windows processes under the svchost.exe using the CPU for some reason).

This time, with Left 4 Dead running at low settings at the native resolution of 1280x800 the minimum framerate is 15fps, a max of 42fps and an average of 26.252fps.

We're not sure what was going on when we tested it earlier; maybe there was a buggy service in the background. On the down side, Left 4 Dead created a huge heat increase in the dv2. The base of the dv2 heated up to 114.5 degrees and the keyboard got up to 105.

Bottom line, the dv2 can handle newer games like Left 4 Dead, but it's clear that games like that really push the system to its limits.

Still, that's MUCH better than a netbook.

 

Hey Jerry are you allowed to try and overclock test units?

 

I just mentioned that playing an entire level of Left 4 Dead at 15-42fps brought the exterior of the dv2 up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit ... and you want us to overclock it!?!

Are you trying to set our office on fire?

 

What you guys don't have fire insurance specifically for that reason ;þ

Those are the surface temps of the machine but what are the actual temps of the CPU and GPU? And has anyone posted a pic of the internals yet?

 

I guess I should have said thin like a MacBook Air. Thanks for correcting me. I actually like the fact they went thicker and added more ports than the MBA has.

I really think we're missing the point here is that HP did some real R&D on developing this thing and it's a premium product, it's not all about adding up the cost of components. I read yesterday the new iPod Shuffle parts add up to $23 but they sell it for $79. And that makes sense, they have to pay for the marketing, human resources that went into developing it, patents on technologies used etc. You can't just add up the cost of the parts and ask why something isn't sold for 10% more than that. If we want these companies to innovate and create desirable products, you have to accept it takes talented engineers that won't work for $20K a year to do that and then the company actually needs to make a profit (selling for more than total costs of parts and development time) to stay in business and be solvent.

This is not another knock off 10-inch screen netbook that some company has asked an ODM to come up with in Taiwan and then slapped their name on. This is far more desirable than a $400 netbook.

I trust when Apple comes out with something that is "netbook-like" (and they won't dare call it a netbook) it will be innovative and cost a lot more than $400, but some people will argue it's an overpriced netbook.

 

Anyone know what the audio capabilities of the Radeon 3410 over HDMI are? Does it support 7.1 or is that only available on the newer Radeon 4xxx series?

 

While it might not be set up from the factory to use the least amount of power possible, i'm sure the Neo is getting darn close while undervolted like this, which is my DV2




Also check here: my attempt at writing a review on this unit, along with others

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

 

As if even 5% of the users of the dv2 could undervolt their lappy... lol
I mean, we can sit and talk about undervolting and overclocking all day, but from the factory the Atoms may not be more powerful but their more battery friendly...

 

From the reviews I've read (and photos), the dv2 seems to look and feel more like a 'real' notebook rather than a plasticky (cheap) netbook. The premium look/feel, decent graphics performance and large 12.1" 1280x800 LED display are the main selling points, IMO. The AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 is a bit faster than the Intel Atom, too.

Looking at HP's existing offerings, I'm not so sure that there's really a market for this? Now that the Mini 2140 is available with a 10.1" 1366x768 display for about $500 and the dv3z with a dual-core processor and 13.3" display starts under $700....is there really a market for the dv2?

 

I won't steal the thunder from Kevin's review of the dv3 coming later this week, but the dv2 has a clearly superior build quality/tolerance than the dv3. When you hold the dv2 in your hands and start typing on the keyboard it feels more like a premium product than the dv3.

That's not to say that the build quality of the dv3 is horrible ... but HP clearly stepped up their game as much as possible with the dv2 considering the need to keep the cost as reasonable as possible.

I get the feeling with the dv2 that HP is trying to create an "affordable luxury" product that satisfies the performance needs of average consumers compared to something like the Dell Adamo that is focusing on just luxury and cutting edge build/design without trying to keep the cost low.

 

JerryJ- how does the build quality and overall look/feel of the HP Mini 2140 compare to the dv2? I was very impressed with the 2140 (easily the best looking and solid-feeling netbook that I've seen).

I've got to give HP credit for creating a variety of products to cover almost every market niche (even ones that may or may not exist)! They have a very comprehensive (if somewhat confusing) lineup now.

 

Thanks for the response Jerry. One more question, did Youtube HD work under Vista? I hate that I can't watch Youtube HD on my Eee with an Atom.

 

You can watch HD videos on youtube on my EEE 901. It can be done with a fast hard drive, or in my case a fast Runcore ssd.

 

The dv2 definitely feels more solid than the Mini 2140 ... although the Mini 2140 feels like one of the most solid netbooks on the market.

The best way I can describe the difference in build quality is that when you pick up the Mini 2140 and squeeze it all over it feels like there are a few hollow places inside the chassis. When you do the same thing to the dv2 it feels like every square mm of space is filled with hardware and the bottom of the dv2 feels MUCH more rigid.

As for covering market niches that may not exist, I'm sure "affordable luxury" isn't the best way to describe the market niche that HP is going after with the dv2, but it seems accurate.

It's almost as if HP said, "Let's try to make an attractive, thin notebook with good performance designed for people who want a premium portable notebook like the Apple MacBook Air or the Sony TZ/TT but who can't afford to spend that much. Oh, and while we're at it, let's make sure it has enough multimedia performance to do the fun things that people want to do with a notebook."

And, yes, the dv2 can handle YouTube HD just fine ... though you can induce a brief stutter or pause in the video playback if you are multitasking (a down side to the single core processor).

 

After reading your description of how the dv2 looks/feels like a high-end notebook, I wonder how well it would sell if they priced it about $250-$300 higher and used either the 10W Intel SU9300/SU9400 or 17W SL9300/SL9400?

 

Dunno if anyone already mentioned this, but I find it humorous that the gaming test shown in the video had Fraps displaying fps in the SINGLE digits.

 

That video was shot during our first two Left 4 Dead tests. During the first two tests the game play floated around 10fps, a low of 7fps and a high of 12fps.

We published the review and someone from AMD/ATI contacted us and said that seemed way too low, so we updated the BIOS and drivers (they were already up to date, but we did it anyway) and we killed a background process that we discovered was heavily using the CPU.

When we ran the Left 4 Dead test a final time running at low settings at the native resolution of 1280x800 the minimum frame rate is 15fps, a max of 42fps and an average of 26.252fps.

We just didn't feel like re-shooting and re-editing that entire video just to show the FRAPS score in Left 4 Dead was higher.

 

Really like that it has a 16:10 display and good sound system. Its nice to see a new model with the better resolution. Definitely a good alternative to the pricey Sony ultra portables.

 

It's probably not up to HP, it might be that this chipset, like the Atom chipset, can only support 1 RAM socket.

 

Read earlier someone querying the battery life of the dv2 and why different publications got different results. Well, we've just got one of the dv2's into the TrustedReviews labs and it looks as though all the EMEA models feature four-cell batteries, as opposed to the six-cell stipulated in this review. One can only assume that other publications got we received, a dv2 with a four-cell battery, which would account for the difference in battery life.

This is kind of interesting since, for me at least, its a pretty fundamental problem. Had we received the spec reviewed here it would probably get a recommendation, but without the six-cell battey, battery life is very mediocre - making it far less attractive.

What's the situation in the US? Are there different SKU's with four-cell and six-cell batteries? Would be interested to hear from someone with local (US) knowledge.

 

Memory controller is on the CPU for AMD processors and I don't believe only 1 RAM slot is supported since the Neo is based on the Athlon 64.

I don't even think there's a cap on slots with the Atom either....the Atom chipsets cap the RAM at 2Gb but netbooks usually have RAM soldered onto the board in combination with a SODIMM to hit that max.

 

here's hoping HP release a similar product with an 11.6" screen and the AMD conesus platform.

 

Anyone know if it's possible to get a faster harddisk (7200RPM or a SSD) in this notebook?

 

Yes, all you have to do to replace the 2.5" 5400rpm hard drive with a faster HDD or SSD is unscrew/remove the hard drive cover from the bottom of the notebook, unscrew the hard drive mount/bracket, and remove the drive.

Then insert a new 2.5" HDD or SSD into the mount/bracket, screw it into place, put the bottom cover back on and you're ready.

 

Thanks Jerry

I'm looking for at bit more power/speed when doing multiple things at once ...In that light, would you recommend this upgrade, or would it be useless, since the CPU is really the limiting factor in this notebook?

 

If your primary desire is to get "more power/speed when doing multiple things at once" then you really want a multi-core processor like the Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Turion 64 X2.

Eventually we'll start seeing more thin and light laptops with dual-core processors, but right now most of them are single core. That said, you can configure a number of 12-inch notebooks with dual-core processors ... but they're all more expensive than $750.

 

I'm glad to hear with the retesting for Left 4 Dead that it can be played at decent frame rates. Do you guys use the AMD Fusion utility to turn off the background processes? I think its a great little program that I can easily turn on and off for gaming. If you do any future AMD based notebooks I would love to see the results with AMD Fusion used.

 

so..... this might be a retarded question but, if you wanted to could you put a core 2 duo in this laptop?

 

Well, it would require a completely different motherboard. I can't say for certain what HP is planning, but I know they regularly update their product lines with new processors from both Intel and AMD, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a future version of the dv2 with a dual-core AMD processor ... or maybe even a dual-core Intel processor ... but that won't happen anytime soon since the dv2 is so new.

 

Pretty decent 3D mark score. It's atleast worth making, a 12" with discrete graphics. We don't see too many of those anywhere.

 

HP has an 11.6" coming, but it will use Intel's CuLV platform.

 

Dell, Toshiba, and Lenovo too.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090415PB205.html

 

I know, I'm waiting for the Dell one, and the Acer's are the Timelines.

 

I'm waiting for the Lenovo 11.6" that's rumored to be an nVidia Ion netbook. If it turned out to be a CULV instead of the Atom with the 9400m I'd be pleasantly shocked but I'm not expecting it to be.

 

My local Office depot has the DV2 on sale for $649.99 after $50 instant rebate and a $100 mail in rebate.

 

color me impressed. ive been looking for something small, light, decently powerful, and it not a definite "netbook" to take to school


this looks like it fits the bill for those who want some power & usability on the go

the low temperatures in such a thin shell is also impressive

 

The keyboard from the review seems to be only for the US.

 

Yes, it seems that most laptop manufacturers (including most, but not all, Sony's, HPs, Toshibas, etc.) have opted to use a modified keyboard layout (Shortened right Shift and Enter keys, so two additional, non-standard, keys can be added) here in Canada. It's a real shame.

 

any covers for this thing? already have some swirl marks on it. what about those sticker covers? where do you get them?

 

maybe i could just drive down south and grab one from local Fry's or Staples in the Buffalo region. However I'm not sure if the warranty will work in Canada.

For $750US I could have a bigger harddrive, better keyboard, and a blueray-drive for the kick!