Hewlett-Packard hasn't bothered to change the name of its 20-inch laptop with this new update, but a handful of new features and options make it worth a fresh look. Pushing the physical boundaries of the laptop form, the massive HP Pavilion HDX is still clearly more at home resting on a desk than sitting in your lap. Weighing an amazing 7.2kg and boasting a desktop-size 20-inch LCD, the HDX starts at a reasonable US$1,999--but our test unit was configured well over US$3,500, with high-end extras such as a Blu-ray drive (HD-DVD is also available), Nvidia's new GeForce 8800 GPU, and one of Intel's new Penryn Core 2 Duo processors. ...

Read first take of the HP Pavilion HDX-Penryn refresh »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Jan 30, 2008

Hewlett-Packard hasn't bothered to change the name of its 20-inch laptop with this new update, but a handful of new features and options make it worth a fresh look. Pushing the physical boundaries of the laptop form, the massive HP Pavilion HDX is still clearly more at home resting on a desk than sitting in your lap. Weighing an amazing 7.2kg and boasting a desktop-size 20-inch LCD, the HDX starts at a reasonable US$1,999--but our test unit was configured well over US$3,500, with high-end extras such as a Blu-ray drive (HD-DVD is also available), Nvidia's new GeForce 8800 GPU, and one of Intel's new Penryn Core 2 Duo processors.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The HDX makes an excellent all-in-one entertainment system for the den, dorm room, or CEO's office, and the screen finally displays full 1080p resolution (which you'll want for HD-DVD or Blu-ray). It's still too big to carry and therefore fairly useless as a mobile computing device, although it's a stylish option to replace a full-size desktop computer and monitor. Note that neither the GeForce 8800 nor the Penryn Core 2 Duo processors are available as options on HP's online configurator yet, but they should appear by January 23 in the US. It should be available in Asia sometime in February.

This version of the HDX is visually identical to its predecessor, continuing to take design cues from HP's current line of entertainment notebooks, such as the Pavilion dv9000 series , with a similar black-and-silver color scheme and subtle abstract imprint pattern on the back of the lid.

When closed, the HDX measures a whopping 482.6mm across and weighs almost 7.2kg, even without its bulky AC adapter. We could see this being moved occasionally from room to room, but a commuter laptop this is not.

A system this big needs more than the standard laptop hinge. Instead, it puts the screen at the end of a heavy-duty arm, hinged at both the rear of the laptop and the back of the screen. Because the hinge is attached to the middle of the lid, you can angle the display a bit, but not as much as on, say, an old iMac, which had its screen on a free-moving arm. The full-size keyboard with separate number pad is as roomy as anything you'd connect to a desktop, and it still leaves plenty of space on the keyboard tray to allow for comfortable typing, although the keys are shallower than a desktop keyboard's. Above the keyboard sits a row of touch-sensitive buttons, including quick-launch buttons for HP's QuickPlay media software, a toggle for the Wi-Fi antenna, and volume and EQ controls. We've got a soft spot for these capacitive controls, and they've even trickled down to budget systems, such as Dell's Inspiron 1525. A basic Webcam, fingerprint reader, and TV tuner round out the built-in features.

A remote control, not quite full size, but larger than the credit card-size ones found in some laptops, sits in a special cutout to the left of the keyboard. You can use it right there, or pop it out to control Windows Media Center and other media apps from the couch.

The clear highlight of the system is its 20.1-inch widescreen display. With a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200, the new HDX easily trumps the original's 1,650 x 1,050 resolution. Especially if you're interested in getting the optional Blu-ray or HD-DVD optical drives (OK, most like just the Blu-ray), having true 1080p HD playback ability is vital.

The included HDMI jack is a must if you want to send the output from a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive to an external plasma or LCD screen. The eSATA port is a nice touch, and it means you can hook up an external SATA hard drive for additional media storage, but the 500GB of included hard drive space should be more than enough for most.

While our tricked-out review unit cost more than US$3,000, the HDX actually starts at only US$1,999. While that base configuration is very different, the system looks the same on the outside, and the specs aren't terrible if you love the design but don't need all that computing horsepower. For your US$1,999, you get an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU, a lower-resolution 1,680 x 1,050 display, 2GB of RAM, two 120GB hard drives, and a basic DVD burner.

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