Ultraportables like the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 and the MacBook Air are usually at the high end of the price range. The technology used to produce such a light weight notebook makes them expensive usually anything up to the $3,000. HP’s notebook with the new Athlon Neo processor brings the price down to rock bottom for this type of Laptop. The HP Pavilion dv2 price will be  $699 to $899 depending on the configuration.

At 3.8-pounds, it’s not the lightest ultraportable but it certainly gives the ThinkPad SL300 a run for its money at 4.6 lbs. With a 12.1-inch running at 1,280 x 800 resolution the dv2 sports the 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, up to 4GB of memory and can be configured with a 500GB Hard Drive, 802.11n WiFi, and optional WWAN.

With a near enough full size keyboard, less than an inch thick and the option of ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 discrete graphics an external optional Blu-ray player and including Bluetooth, HDMI-out, an integrated webcam, and 3.5 to 4-hours of battery this looks to be a great travelling companion and a real competitor to the high end ultraportables out there. Oh and its also 64-bit Vista Home Premium capable.

But don’t whatever you do don’t call the HP dv2 a Netbook. The new AMD chips introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are designed to bridge the gap between the cut down features that today’s popular Netbook’s offer, and those of high end ultraportables. But the lines are beginning to blur.

The Athlon Neo platform has been designed to handle 1080p HD playback and some casual gaming experience with realistic 3D graphics, using the optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics chip.

AMD’s Athlon Neo processor runs at 1.6GHz and has a power envelope of 15 watts, comparable to Intel ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) Core 2 Duo processors that power ultraportables today. A dual-core Neo chip will be appearing later in the year.
The first HP Pavilion dv2 ultraportable entertainment  notebook is expected to be available from HP at the end of March. We can’t wait.

With a Blu-ray optical drive, HD screen with 16:9 ratio, 3GB of RAM, and a choice of Intel’s Centrino 2 processors up to the Quad Core Q9100 2.26 GHz, there is no better large format entertainment notebook on the market.

New HP Design

At 9 pounds, the HDX 18 is no light weight, but it’s sleek ultramodern design belies its weight and its also thinner than the majority of the competition. Externally the HDX 18t is a show stopper with its titanium “liquid metallic” design and full-size, color-matched keyboard with numeric keypad. Open the lid and you will see matching palm rests and touchpads with the same high gloss feel an silver and patterned black lines span across a charcoal background. The keyboard and touchpad are silver, and the titanium pattern even extends to the touchpad.

The full size keyboard and numeric keypad is an excellent example of the new HP Pavilion models and its equally as good as the keyboard on the dv7 which is excellent to work on for long periods. Also like the dv series, the HDX has a row of touch-sensitive backlit buttons above the keyboard to control media playback functions.

Multimedia Powerhouse

With its full HD display, and 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen movies just look awsome. In a word, it’s stunning. Watching any Blu-Ray movie and you’ll see the format in all its glory, with excellent colour and sharp vivid contrast. The glossy screen is tad too reflective, and does limit the viewing angles slightly, but don’t let that comment put you off, this is an outstanding screen.

Sound reproduction is also excellent from the built in Altec Lansing speakers, and the do produce stunning theater-quality sound. With the Dolby Home Theater software it simulates the surround sound experience to give the impression of Dolby True 5.1 Surround.

Fancy some network television? Well, providing you can get a signal the HDX 18 has a built-in TV tuner with an external antenna. If you are close to an external antenna the PH HDX 18t, like the HDX 16t has a coaxial input to give a clearer, sharper picture, and of course you can record all your favorite shows.

Inputs and Outputs

The HDX 18 has all the usual ports which include four USB ports, FireWire, HDMI, VGA, and eSATA ports, Ethernet and optional 56k modem. and Like the dv7 you get two headphone ouputs and a microphone, an ExpressCard/54 slot and a 5-in-1 memory card reader.

The low light Webcam produces good video and still photos the CyberLink YouCam software, offers a plethora of special effects, including filters, distortions, avatars, backgrounds, and animations.

Entertainment at the Extreme

We love the HP Pavilion range of high performance notebooks including the HDX 16t, and the HP dv7. What makes the HDX 18t stand out is its sheer size and power. The screen can only be described as staggering and the Theatre quality sound is excellent. Without doubt this is an outstanding entertainment centre but the HDX 18 also doubles up as a great work horse and it breezes through multi tasked Office apps, number crunching, and photo and video editing tasks.

Graphics Performance is exceptional with the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card and 512MB dedicated memory driving the the 18.4-inch display and it delivers a higher than average score.

Our favourite game along with millions of people is World of Warcraft and if you’re going on a weekend trip and can’t stand being away from all your guildies, then the HDX will serve you well.

It would be a brave man or woman though that ventured on to an aircraft with an HDX. As with the dv7, the HP Pavilion HDX 18t is certainly no laptop. This is a full blown multi location entertainment PC for moving about the home, from home to office, or to your weekend place in the trunk of your car. Going on a long RV trip? The HDX Premium Series makes an ideal travelling companion, combining a full blown HD  Media Entertainment Center, a games machine and a powerful workhorse in a transportable configuration.

HP have redefined the desktop replacement and entertainment notebook sector with the HDX Series. If it fits the bill and you can afford the best, then don’t hesitate.