HP Pavilion dv2 Review

HP does deserve some credit for their no-hassle return policy! I bought a dv7t last year and returned it a week later. The process was painless and didn't cost me a penny.

 

AMD starts shipping Dual-Core Neo/Congo platform.

New dv2 due out "within days."

 

Crap, time to sell this one.

 

What are the swooshy things around the touchpad?

Nice review!

 

Can't wait to see this. I just hope they offer a version with only 2gigs of ram and without the external optical drive.

 

First time posting here.... But I've been reading for a while..

On topic, I got a DV2-1030us last friday and have been trying to decide if I want to keep it or not. Got the battery life and heat under control with RMClock easily, so that problem was solved.

But I was ticked to not have bluetooth in the model I got, I mean it's the $750 model and yet it doesn't get bluetooth? I have a large range of devices that use it so it was an important thing to me. (BlackBerry for tethering, Camera is bluetooth enabled, headphones, etc)

I was going to call customer care and see if I could convince them to send me either the parts for it, or a refund of $40 so I could purchase the parts myself. Now I think I'll just return it under the 21 day window and restart the whole ordeal with a dual-core version of this laptop.

Love the size and power, but there were just a few things I'd like to change, the dual core cpu, and bluetooth will make me a happy camper. Maybe an extra battery to go with it all, but beyond that it's exactly what I was looking for!

 

Oh snap, this looks awesome. Looks like my dream team Dual Core Atom/Ion combo has been beat out at the starting blocks.

 

Neo is more like a ULV then an Atom so Intel had AMD beat with the Mac on the Dual-core ULV/Ion combo.

 

Dual core could have more battery life. Dual Core DV2 Neo cpu uses only 5w more power and has a larger battery

 

Seeing as Congo uses the M780G chipset with integrated HD 3200 graphics they could save some juice by ditching the dedicated 3410.

 

I'm guessing that we'll be able to purchase the larger battery for us 1st gen dv2 users.

 

Is there any word on when this is finally gonna appear on the HP site? Still doesn't seem to be anything there.

Though my hope is that they keep it as the same dv2 name and just make the entire think customizable with the dual core and what not, and give an option for 2gb of RAM and to do away with that external optical.

 

Maybe next week, read it somewhere.

 

I read June 10th is the day they will be launching them on the website. In the meantime, I need to call HP today and arrange a return! Love alot about this laptop, but the better battery, and dual-core option are too much to turn my back on.

Looks like I'll run down to wal-mart and pick up an Acer AO751h to see if there's really twice the price worth of computer there. That will give me a little time to see how things shake down with the dual core DV2 too with a few review sites.

That battery increase along with RMClock looks promising! I bet getting 4+ hours out of this thing will be a possibility with these simple changes.

*EDIT*
Wanted to add the link where I saw the June 10th date:
http://news.cnet.com/nanotech/?keyword=HP+Pavilion+dv2

 

Don't get the Aspire One, the Z520 processor is even slower than netbooks with the N270. Big difference between it and even the single core Neo.

 

on a 2nd look, my dv2 already has the 4910 mah battery, r they talking about the 2900 mah batterY on the 1st gen dv2?

 

Decided to look at mine after your comment dalamchops, and I have the 4910mah battery as well. Must have been an earlier run that had lesser capacity, I got mine a week ago.

Still worth it to return and get a dual core version. Also, I may wait until June 26th or so to replace it so I can get in on a windows 7 voucher. (If everyone else follows Best Buy's suit on that one)

 

the new DV2 is on sale at frys. 769.99 - 150 instant - 50 mail in = 569.99

it is frys item number 5880753.

a lookup on their web site

http://www.frys.com/product/5880753?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG


i get these specs.

Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Processor AMD Athlon™ Neo Processor for Ultra thin Notebooks MV-40
Processor Speed 1.6 GHz
Processor Cache 512kb L2 Cache
Bus Speed Up to 1600 MT/s system bus running at AC/DC mode15 watt
Memory 4096MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Max supported =4096MB
Accessible Memory Slots 2
Video Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3410 Graphics with M82-SE LP with up to 2302MB total graphics memory with 512MB dedicated
Hard Drive 320GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
Finish and Features HP Espresso Imprint finish & HP Webcam with integrated microphone
Multimedia Drive External Light Scribe SuperMulti 8X DVD?R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display 12.1" Diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP LED Bright View Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Option Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n
Digital Media 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, Multimedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Audio Altec Lansing with SRS Premium Sound
Keyboard 92% full sized keyboard & touchpad with scroll zone
Pointing Device Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad

External Notebook Ports
Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0
Headphone out
microphone-in
HDMI
VGA (15-pin)
RJ -45 (LAN)


the price is in store only and lasts until 6-11-09

 

Staples has it for $550 after rebate..

 

Everyone is unloading this model as quickly as possible so they will have room for dual-core inventory. Makes sense, and for those that are in the market for a netbook, this makes a very attractive alternative at ~$600.

 

if the dual core is gonna have a 4910mah battery, i'd rather stick w/ the single core. The neo is pretty speedy for my needs (i upgraded to a SSD, which makes more difference than the dual core). The already mediocre battery life is gonna suffer even more (33% more power consumption from the CPU).

 

Link

Choice of Congo or Athlon X2 dual core processors, and new white option.

Link

11 companies with 24 notebooks should show up using Congo.

 

thanks for the heads up

for $550 cdn id take that over a netbook any day of the week

 

HP's site is updated......gotta say with the given options, this thing is looking very tempting right now

 

The dv2 now has a starting price of $599, but that base configuration has Vista Home Basic, ATI X1250 graphics and the single-core Neo processor. Upgrading to either dual-core processor requires the ATI 3410 graphics and Vista Home Premium 64-bit. That makes the dual-core model's starting price $704.99, kinda pricey. But it is a dual-core with dedicated graphics, so it's closer to being an ultra-portable than a netbook.

My only concern is power usage (both new processors have TDP of 18W vs. 15W for the MV-40). The MV-40 already has poor battery life and excessive heat...hopefully this has been corrected.

I'd still love to see the dv2 with an Intel SU-series processor (10W TDP). It would inflate the price by about $200, but it would solve the heat and battery life issues. I'd be willing to pay $900 or so for it!

 

Does anyone know where to get the new dv2z in Canada? I tried going to shopping.hp.com but it seems to be US only and the HP Canada site is a poor excuse for a website.

 

Futureshop is most likely your best bet.

 

Who does know, what is slot sim card in dv2?? What is it need?

 

You're right but probably after they flush out all the older models.

The only problem is that futureshop usually gets watered down versions of what you can get in the US.

 

I hope the new DV2z comes to canada soon, I bought the single core model from Costco last week. $699 CDN ($100 instant rebate). I have 90 days to return it so hopefully I can make the upgrade.

Any idea what a dual core model may cost in canada ?

 

Hi Jerry, thanks for nice review.
I just got dv2 and its really nice product from HP, although prefer to use mac. The only thing I really frustrated is web cam quality. I did not check it in a shop assuming its the same as tx2 which I have played a while. This one looks terrible - blur and freq is too low (just like 0.3 mp on old mob phone). There is no any info in the spec and in your review no a word as well searching in other reviews did not show any info... Any comments about it?

 

Just got my dv2 2 days ago and love it so far. Wanted something with more portability than my Dell, yet more multimedia capabilities than a netbook (watch alot of DVD's/Video files). Have even thought of putting Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force on it.

2 things I'm looking for though: A backpack/carrying case with space for two lappies (this and the Dell in my signature) and a good cooling pad.

 

Husker,

You got me, I have to ask.

If you are going to lug around your Dell, which is a lot more powerful than the dv2, except for the graphics card. Why get a lower end ultraportable since you already got the weight of the Dell on your back.

 

What I really want is that external slim Blu-ray optical drive. It only costs $130 to add to a configured dv2 and has all the features I want in an awesome looking case! I called HP and the sales rep said it isn't available as a stand-alone accessory yet, but often these types of accessories become available for sale after 30 days or so. I hope it does become available to buy soon, because that's the best slim optical drive I've seen to date!

 

I just picked one of these up at Futureshop. I managed to sell my TX2 and I also got rid of my Asus F8 (Great laptop, just not using it anymore.) and replaced them with this notebook. And I must say, I simply love it. I haven't done any gaming on it yet, but I am going to install Half Life 2 and a few others (Fallout 3 hopefully works) and test out its performance. I'm not expecting much, but it'd be nice to have some games for trips and that.

The performance of Vista is actually quite surprising too. I was expecting it to be slow like my TX2 was but this wasn't the case. I tested it out in the store and it was quite refreshing to see how it handled Vista given the price.

I am currently making my backup DVDs (Already an hour into it) but I don't think I'll ever need them. I do get a chance to get a Windows 7 free upgrade kit, so I think I will grab onto that.

About your review, excellent work. This review prompted me to go out and check this notebook out. Grade A+ work!

 

im considering this notebook over Asus N10J..

if you done testing fallout3 and other games, please share your result with us here

thanks

 

I'm sure Fallout 3 will run just fine at lower settings. Check out this video of N10J running the game at Neo speed, in other words Atom 1.6GHz overclocked to 2GHz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qGeEn5V-hg

If I were you though I'd get the dual core DV2. They just started selling DV2-1122AX with Neo X2 in my part of the world recently. So I imagine it should be available round the world.

 

I tried Half Life 2 and Fallout 3 on here. Fallout 3 doesn't run too good on mine. I don't know why for sure yet, whether it's the older driver included or something else, I'm not sure.

Half Life 2 runs almost flawless at native resolution and high quality. It stutters every once in a while, but just drop the detail down a little and your fine. AA is out of the question though, just bogs it right down. Again, could be drivers.

 

Hows HP DV2 (Neo X2 , ATi MR3400) compared to MSI EX460 (Core2Duo 6500 2ghz, ATi MR4330) ? will the MSI EX460's spec outran dv2 ? or they about the same ?

 

the MSI will eat it,but is that a 14 inch?

 

yes , MSI EX460 is 14 inch (1366x768 resollution) with ATI Mobilitty Radion 4330 with discrete 512MB VRAM (GDDR2)

hows DV2's Neo X2 compared to MSI's core 2 duo 6600 (2ghz,2mb cache) ?

hows Mobility Radion 34xx compared to Radion 4330 ?

thxx

 

Did HP stop making the DV2?

I own one and love it. If the line is discontinued,
I'll buy another one.

 

They stopped making them but might be available from some retailers and via ebay. Otherwise the replacement for the dv2 is the 13" dm3 series.

 

The DM3 replaced it.

 

Great Notebook..

you can get it around $400 with cash back.. nowadays.

tigerdirect.com has it..

 

Looks great, but I'm not so sure about the hinge...makes it look funny! That and I haven't been keeping up with AMD CPUs after C2D came out.