WHAT'S HOT: The ZT1000's 15-inch screen has a high native resolution of 1400 by 1050, which helps the screen produce rich detail in photos (a lower-resolution SXGA+ TFT is available as well). Navigating around the screen is easy thanks to the ZT1000's two pointing devices: In addition to the usual touchpad, the notebook has a companion vertical touch-sensitive panel for scrolling up and down. Each pointing device has a lock button that lets you type without accidentally repositioning the cursor. The unit has robust-sounding speakers on the front; coupled with a set of dedicated, front-mounted audio buttons, the ZT1000 can double as a pretty good stand-alone CD player. A status LCD shows track information, and toggle and mute buttons just around the right corner control volume. When the notebook is turned on, you can use the MP3 button to launch HP's audio player for MP3s, Internet radio, and CDs. This multimedia-friendly model includes FireWire (IEEE 1394) and S-Video ports.

This notebook also has built-in wireless antennas, which will come in handy if you subscribe to a Wi-Fi (802.11b) service that lets you hop on the Internet at airports and coffee shops. The unit's on/off button that controls wireless scanning is conveniently located on the left side of the case.

The ZT1000 is bristling with LEDs, most of which serve such functions as indicating when the speaker volume is muted and when the wireless networking hardware is active. And if you use this notebook in a darkened airplane or conference room, the lights behind the shortcut buttons and touchpad locks could come in handy.

HP's ZT1000 notebooks now have a slot for Secure Digital memory cards, so you can swap data with other SD-equipped devices, such as PDAs; the slot replaces a third USB 1.1 port on the left side. And since our first review of this series (the ZT1190 in July 2002), HP has boosted video memory from shared to 32MB of dedicated DDR SDRAM for faster graphics performance.

WHAT'S NOT: This ZT1000 lasted just 2 hours, 20 minutes on one battery charge, whereas the average for Pentium 4-M notebooks we've tested is 2 hours, 30 minutes, and the ZT1190 (now discontinued) lasted 2 hours, 46 minutes in our tests. Should you ever decide to add RAM to the ZT1000 to boost speed, you'll have to discard memory--each of the two available sockets is filled with a 256MB module. The speakers are located above the keyboard, so when you use the ZT1000 as a stand-alone CD player you must keep the lid open.

WHAT ELSE: HP's latest Pavilion ZT1000 is a snazzy-looking, consumer-friendly model that couples the latest technologies with a handsome black case, curvy metallic accents, and flashy status lights. Equipped with one of Intel's fastest mobile processors, the 1.9-GHz/1.2-GHz Pentium 4-M chip, the ZT1000 turned in a PC WorldBench 4 score of 98, a respectable if not outstanding performance for a Pentium 4 notebook. The ZT1000 comes with a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, but it lacks a second PC Card slot. It also lacks PS/2 and serial ports, but most users won't miss these features.

Parts are easy to access; for example, removing two small screws on the bottom lets you pull out the 40GB hard drive from the left side of the case. The ZT1000's keyboard has a hard, shallow-feeling typing action. HP substitutes icons for the more-usual text labels on Enter, Backspace, and other command keys, which can be a little confusing at first. But the icons are easy enough to figure out. The vendor also bundles plenty of helpful documentation, including a thin printed startup guide and a thorough HTML-based manual on the hard drive. The laptop also comes with a weight saver that reduces the unit's weight from 7.6 to 6.2 pounds if you don't need to take along the combination drive. The ZT1000 does not ship with a floppy drive.

UPSHOT: The ZT1000 is a smart-looking, well-equipped consumer laptop that trades a built-in floppy drive for the latest multimedia connections. If you're a multimedia user and you've got the bucks, it's got the high-resolution screen and the FireWire and S-Video ports.

SUMMARY

HP Pavilion ZT1000 Series PC WorldBench 4 score of 98, 1.9-GHz/1.2-GHz Pentium 4-M, 512MB of DDR266 SDRAM, 512KB of L2 cache, Windows XP Home, 15-inch active-matrix screen, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics with 32MB of DDR SDRAM, 40GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/8X/24X CD-RW combination drive, built-in V.90 modem and ethernet connection, Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless, touchpad pointing device, 7.6-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty; free, in-warranty 24-hour daily toll-call tech support. $2499 800/462-8947 www.hp.com