A Review of the Special Edition HP Pavilion DV2840SE 14.1" Laptop

HP has come out with a special edition rock and roll themed notebook; the HP Pavilion DV2840SE. This notebook is a high end offering marketed as a multimedia notebook. It has recently seen a price reduction and has been flying off the shelves. Because of this I've gotten a hold of one and have decided to give it a review. First let's get started by taking a look under the hood.

Hardware

Imaging: Bezel integrated webcam

Processor: 2.1 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 dual-core

Storage Space: 250GB hard drive

RAM: 4 GB installed (unupgradable)

Optical Drive: A CD R / RW with integrated dual-layer + / - DVD R RW drive

Graphics Accelerator: Nvidia GeForce Go 7150M graphics accelerator (using 1071 MB shared and dedicated video RAM)

While the most noticible thing about this notebook is the rock and roll theme, it isn't just all show and no go. The processor offers plenty of power and I experienced little in the way of lag when multitasking a number of web browsers along with a multimedia player and some office programs. The graphics accelerator is an excellent edition and allows for most games to be played at a moderately high graphics setting. The RAM cannot be upgraded beyond the 4GB of RAM installed by the manufacturer, but this is no problem. There isn't really much to complain about this notebook in regards to hardware, I would like to see a larger hard drive though, just to keep up with the other above and beyond stats.

Connectivity

3 2.0 USB ports (these are the gold standard for connecting external devices ranging from printers to iPods)

1 FireWire port (this is used for high speed data transfer between digital camcorders or other PC's)

1 VGA output (a typical video output for a monitor)

1 S-Video output (typically used to connect to a projector or some compatible televisions)

1 ExpressCard slot (use this to add something like a cellular modem)

2 audio jacks

1 microphone input

1 IR port (for the included remote control)

5 in 1 memory card reader (this is used to directly insert the memory card from your digital camera)

10/100 Ethernet port (to connect to a wired LAN)

Integrated wireless

56K modem port (so you can dial up with this notebook)

I love the connectivity, but I'm a little disappointed that there is no HDMI output. While it isn't standard by any means most multimedia notebooks come with some sort of HD output. It would be really nice to enjoy the games that the high end graphics card can play on a 50" plasma. Priced just under $950 I don't expect this notebook to experience any drastic price reductions especially considering it's special edition status. On that note I would really try to have a look at this notebook in person before ordering it from the web, it has this rock and roll theme and it may put off some consumers.

In the end this notebook will please many consumers but is mostly targeted for the younger notebook user. It would be great for students or the young professional road warrior thanks to its mobility.