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Notebooks & Accessories

First Look: HP's Hot New Dv1000 Notebook

PC World's Kalpana Ettenson got a first look at the new Hewlett-Packard Pavilion Dv1000 ($1500), a notebook that lets you play DVDs and CDs immediately without having to launch Windows. With the notebook off, just press either the DVD or Music buttons and start goofing off right away.

Kalpana did have a couple of gripes, though: The reflective coating on the notebook's 14-inch, 1280-by-768-resolution wide-screen display was distracting, particularly when viewing DVDs, and the built-in speakers were only adequate.

Tips: Top Backup Strategies

Backing up your notebook's data before taking a trip is essential. But what's the best way to do it?

Jon L. Jacobi's recent PC World article provides useful notebook backup tips. Among them:

• Use an online backup service, such as IBackup ($15 per month for 4GB), to store your most crucial files.
• Use a portable hard drive. You'll pay more per megabyte than you would for a standard-size external hard drive, but the easy portability is worth it. CMS Products' ABSplus Portable USB 2.0 drive at 80GB costs $350, but includes bundled software that lets you transform the drive into a bootable duplicate of your notebook's hard drive. Should your notebook's main drive die, you can boot from the ABSplus and get back to work (your system BIOS needs to support booting from USB 2.0).

Tip: Extra Time? Head to an Airport Hotel

Have some time to kill at the airport, but you aren't a member of an airline club? Call an airport hotel from a white courtesy phone (or your cell phone) and ask if they have a business center that nonguests can use.

Recently, while waiting for a flight at the airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, I called the nearby Marriott and asked if I could use the hotel's health club and business center. No problem, the receptionist said. Within minutes, the hotel had dispatched a shuttle bus especially to pick me up. The driver gave me a free bottle of water upon arrival at the hotel while the porter stored my bags. I had so much fun in the hotel's indoor/outdoor pool, I never made it to the business center. How much did the hotel charge me for this privilege? Zero.

A Marriott PR representative said the company has no corporate policy requiring such TLC but encourages its properties to give the best customer service possible. I called the Greensboro airport Marriott again after my return home and pretended I was interested in using the business and fitness centers. I received the same reply: No problem; no charge.

Translation: There's no assurance that all airport Marriotts will offer the same level of Southern hospitality I enjoyed--or even that the Greensboro hotel will continue to do so. But hey, it's worth a call, right?