HP Pavilion hd2000

80

Very Good

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Pros
Nicely designed
Cons
Very heavy

HP Pavilion hd2000 Review

by Carla Thornton

Stylish, high-end desktop replacement is huge and heavy, but its fast performance makes it a great gaming machine.

Gamers have a new best friend in the HP Pavilion HDX Entertainment Series Notebook PC. Superfast, with great sound and a huge 20.1-inch screen, it's a good, fairly portable entertainment system. Digital editors, artists, and multimedia enthusiasts will like this all-in-one, too. Just be ready to dig deep for it: Our test unit cost $3000.

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The machine we looked at came maxed out with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate; Intel's best mobile chip, the 2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo T7700; and 4GB of RAM. All of that horsepower helped the HDX earn a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 86 and generate a frame rate of 109 in our Far Cry gaming tests. The HDX's 2-hour, 22-minute battery life is quite poor for an ordinary notebook but remarkably good for a massive (15.5-pound) desktop-replacement model.

The HDX is impressively crafted. For one thing, the machine looks stylish; the exterior is a subtle variation on HP's designer imprint finish called "The Dragon." The 1680-by-1050 glossy screen is easy to move back and forth on its adjustable arm for a comfortable viewing angle, and it's bright without being too reflective. The keyboard, which includes a dedicated number pad, offers desktop-like typing comfort along with one-touch QuickPlay media controls.

The system's four integrated Altec Lansing speakers, aided by an HP triple-bass-reflex subwoofer, produce very loud, rich sound, but a rear audio-out port makes it a snap to add a nicer, external set of speakers for gaming surround sound. Its many multimedia connections include a coaxial port for a TV signal. Our test system included two 100GB hard drives, and if even that isn't enough space for you, the HDX has an eSATA port for adding a fast new external hard drive.

If you've been searching for a powerful, luggable gaming machine or an ultrahigh-end desktop replacement, give the HDX a look. It's one of the nicest 20.1-inch models we've seen yet.

Carla Thornton

User Reviews for HP Pavilion hd2000

Reviewed by: parker39

Duration of ownership: 2 Months

Strengths: Very Fast Large Memory HUGE Screen Full Keyboard

Weaknesses: Weight No Computer Bag Made

Overall Evaluation: This is the BEST computer I have ever had. When you look at it, one may think "I dont need all of that", but you do. The full keyboard is very nice. With the 20.1 inch wide screen, you can fit 2 web pages on one screen. The finger reader is very handy so that you only have to put in a username and password once, and it is very secure. The price is very overwhelming, but so is the weight. This computer is worth the $2500+ you will spend on it. If this is going to be your only computer, that is fine. It is more powerful then most desktops. The only downfall of the computer is that there is NO computer bag big enough to hold it. You have to have a small suitcase to carry it around. I would recomend this computer to anyone who wants to have the nicest computer in the office.
Reviewed by: Mason Storm

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Speed, screen, media buttons, remote control, touchpad, keyboard, silence

Weaknesses: Expensive; screen often suddenly becomes very hazy and only a restart can fix it

Overall Evaluation: Have really been enjoying the speed (handles Vista Ultimate 64 without a hitch), the beautiful screen, responsive touchpad and buttons, HD-DVD, & fullsize keyboard. The hardware is fantastic, but I'm supposed to find some flaws to mention here; for the machine itself, that could only be its expense and short battery life (and weight for anyone who was thinking of actually transporting this around like a smaller laptop). The only flies in the ointment really come from the software; e.g. HP's media center, called QuickPlay, has an unintuitive DVD fast-forward-and-return-to-play button arrangement. When you've reached the point where you want to resume playback after fast forwarding, you want to press play (naturally); however, that enters a mode of choppy freeze-frame motion. To actually return to play, you have to keep pressing FF until it has cycled through all of its available FF speeds - and then it will return to regular playback. But that is a small annoyance in an otherwise fantastic machine that is probably powerful enough to be my principal laptop for 5-7 years.

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