CNET Asia Review

This HP Pavilion is a notebook like the Toshiba Qosmio E10 that offers movie and music playback without booting up. However, as an entertainment companion, the dv1000 is not up to the mark as games are played on an Intel integrated graphics card. Performance is average but battery life lasts long enough for us. To couch potatoes, it is worth considering this thin-and-light as convenient features such as a remote and HP QuickPlay are included for your benefit.

	A handy remote to slot inside the PC Card slot

The unit comes with a handy remote control which can be stored in the PC Card slot. Others that have implemented this nifty feature are the BenQ Joybook 7000 and Asus W1N. The remote serves primarily for music and movie playback either via HP QuickPlay or through WinDVD in Windows. HP QuickPlay is probably the key feature of the notebook as you don't have to boot up the operating system to watch DVDs.

	The two convenient HP QuickPlay buttons

A two-directional touch-sensitive scroller lies on the standard touchpad. Above the keyboard are the very useful bluish-illuminated media controls which line the entire row. The two convenient HP QuickPlay buttons, adorned on the top left, are meant to play DVDs and MP3s without booting up Windows. Curiously, the exact same media control keys such as Play and Stop are duplicated on the Function buttons directly below. Two additional buttons labeled Back and Ok seem rather irrelevant though they help to move in and out of menus when playing MP3s using QuickPlay. As for the speakers, they may be labeled Harmon Kardon, their sound reproduction is not as good as can be expected.

Features
The dv1000 surprisingly doesn't use the latest Dothan-based Pentium M chip, but a Pentium M 1.5GHz processor (without the Processor 7xx label). The system comes with 512MB RAM, 40GB hard disk space and, for graphics, 3D rendering is processed by Intel Extreme Graphics. Gamers can look elsewhere especially with the wide range of notebooks packed with the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 these days. No DVD burner here, instead you get an inbuilt DVD/CD-RW combo drive. A minus point is the ease at which the drive's cover can be removed by accident.

	Two earphone-out jacks are included

Connectivity options in this HP Pavilion are standard, but it must be said these are very well labeled. Three well-spaced USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, an S-video out and a VGA-out feature in the lineup. Exceptions to the norm are the presence of a very practical 6-in-1 flash card reader which supports the Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (MS), MS Pro, MultiMediaCard (MMC), Smart Media (SM) and xD-Picture Card formats. Networking is handled with 802.11b/g wireless LAN, Ethernet and Bluetooth. Two earphone-out jacks are included so you can watch with a companion.

	Dock the unit to the HP xb2000 Expansion Base

An expansion port is included on the left side for the unit to connect to the optional HP xb2000 Expansion Base where the notebook can be docked as a desktop PC to have more connectivity options. The port also connects to home entertainment equipment via the All-in-One Media cable xc2000.

Performance And Battery Life
Based on our sister site CNET US' test results, the MobileMark 2002 performance rating was a mere 159. Compared with other notebooks, this rating is an average one where it is marginally worse than the Dell Inspiron 600m but better than the BenQ Joybook 7000.

Battery life fared a lot better clocking in 246 minutes (just over 4 hours). Powered by a 6-cell Lithium-ion battery, the dv1000 outlasted most of its 1.5GHz peers in the thin-and-light category.

Service And Support
Packaged with Windows XP Home Edition, the dv1000 is loaded with software such as Microsoft Works, MSN Encarta Plus and Norton AntiVirus. You have an option to burn CDs either by using Sonic RecordNow! 7 or InterVideo's WinDVD Creator. DVD playback in Windows OS is managed by InterVideo's WinDVD while HP QuickPlay allows users to play without booting up.

HP provides a one-year limited warranty, not quite as good as a three-year period that we would have expected. Users can get help from the support and troubleshooting site on the HP Web site or instant support from an HP support expert where you can chat in real time.

We were not able to obtain the manuals and documentations accompanying the dv1000, but according to CNET US, several well-written manuals are included where full details on the notebook such as QuickPlay and remote control functionality are included.

Rate It Now

Rating guidelines

HP Pavilion dv1000 (Pentium M 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM)

Rate this product:
1 - Abysmal 2 - Terrible 3 - Poor 4 - Mediocre 5 - Average 6 - Good 7 - Very good 8 - Excellent 9 - Spectacular 10 - Perfect

Need help? Read our guidelines for what each number rating represents.

Submit your opinion

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

Latest Downloads

What's Hot