Review of the 15.4" Entertainment Laptop; The HP Pavilion DV6660SE

Entertainment notebooks are especially popular right now as they combine the mobility of a notebook with the performance of a desktop. There have recently been some price reductions by HP on their high end Pavilion notebooks and we've seen them flying off the shelves as a result. I've been lucky enough to get my hands on The HP Pavilion DV6660SE and have decided to give it a review. First I'll start with some of the basics.

Hardware:

Imaging: a 1 megapixel bezel integrated webcam (generating an image comparable to a cell phone camera)

Processor: a 64-bit 1.9 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58

Storage Space: 250GB hard drive

RAM: 2GB of RAM (this is upgradable to a total of 4GB)

Optical drive: A CD R/RW burner with integrate LightScribe dual-layer DVD +/- burning drive

Graphics card: an Nvidia GeForce Go 7150 graphics accelerator (using up to 559 MB of shared memory)

Dimensions: 14.0" x 10.1" x 1.6" and weighs about 6lbs.

This notebook performs well right out of the box. The only immediate complaint I have is with the tremendous amount of preinstalled trialware that HP has included. Many of this software isn't even needed as the features are already bound with Vista. My recommendation is to remove whatever you won't need and you'll notice an immediate improvement in boot time.

The notebook has a great processor, the AMD is strong and a great example of a 64Bit mobile processor. I love the Nvidia graphics card, it allows decent battery life with a good amount of performance. The 2GB of RAM allows for Windows Vista to perform at its optimum and is really the minimum I would endorse.

Connectivity:

Integrated Wireless

1 Ethernet port (a port used to connect the laptop to a LAN)

3 2.0 USB ports (these can be used to connect devices such as MP3 players, printers or digital cameras)

1 FireWire port (this port is designed for high speed data transfer between a digital camcorder or another PC)

1 VGA output (a typical video output for monitors)

1 S-Video port (this is usually used for projectors or compatible televisions)

1 ExpressCard (to add peripherals like a Bluetooth adapter or even a cellular modem)

2 audio jacks / 1 mic input

5 In 1 memory card reader (which allows users to directly insert memory from mobile devices)

1 Modem port (so you can dial up to the internet)

I love the connectivity; I really see everything I expect (except integrated Bluetooth). This notebook is perfect for students, professionals or even just for the home. I think that the $839 price tag is reasonable. Look around a little bit and you may be able to find a better deal but if you've fell in love then feel free to pull the trigger without too much guilt.