HP Pavilion Dv2 first look

When we first saw the 12-inch HP Pavilion dv2 at CES 2009, we noted that, "at first glance, another glossy HP laptop with an AMD processor may induce yawns, but when we learned this was the first system to use AMD's new Netbook-like Athlon Neo platform, our ears perked up."

AMD sees room for systems with slightly bigger screens than Netbooks, and that cost slightly more. The Neo is intended to be a kind of step-up from Netbook CPUs, such as the Intel Atom and Via Nano, offering a little more processing power for a little more money, and is targeted at slightly larger systems--12-inch laptops instead of 9- and 10-inch ones.

In practice, the 1.6GHz Neo handles many tasks better than the Intel Atom does, and it comes paired with ATI Radeon graphics (it's also restricted to Windows Vista--sorry, no XP option). But, at $749, there's a big psychological leap to the HP dv2 from a $499 10-inch Netbook or even the $549 12-inch Samsung NC20, which has Via's new Nano processor. Once you hit that price range, plenty of mainstream laptop choices come into play, as illustrated in our recent retail laptop review roundup.

HP's own Pavilion dv4-1275mx (also $749) has a 14-inch screen, but also features a dual-core Turion X2 CPU, while Sony's 14-inch Vaio CS215J/W ($799) has a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400--both of which handily outperform the HP dv2.

While we're not convinced that laptop shoppers are looking for some middle ground between a traditional Netbook and a cheap mainstream dual-core laptop, the HP Pavilion dv2 at least gets to carve out a niche (for the moment) as the overall-best inexpensive, 12-inch laptop available.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• HP
• Pavilion
• Dv2
• first
• look

[AbartsWorld]

Sorry that chip doesn't amuse me.

[veniamin245]

hp isn't that bad i have an hp and it works fine

[veniamin245]

WOW!!!!! who would want to buy that

[tanaipotisat]

this thing overheats like shit seriously

[Zarjuhi]

I just got mine today & I hate the touch & keypads.

[sfx691]

it overheats

[doct0rthrill]

if you want nightmares after nightmares, buy an hp.

[29041982]

I have a problem with my HP pavilion dv2 Laptop.

My laptop lcd screen was broken. So I cant see what happen

in my windows. So I just connect to another monitor screen to my laptop then I can see it now...

The problem is.. I want to re-install new windows. But my monitor screen wont show anything before login into the WINDOWS.. so I cant see the BOOT screen..

anyone can help me??

[kornfan0001]

it actually comes with an EXTERNAL cd drive, which is nice for portability but its also a hassle

[00qwas00]

My DV2 does just have one ram slot...