Pavilion Dv1000

PC World

  • Review
  • Specs
  • Images
  • User Reviews
  • Buy Online
  • Broadband Plans

The HP Pavilion Entertainment Notebook PC dv1000 lives up to its name. A standalone DVD player as well as a laptop, it plays movies or music CDs at the press of a button, without the need to boot into Windows. An optional remote lets you control the action from up to 3m away (and when you're not using it, the remote stores in the laptop's PC Card slot.) The optional xb2000 expansion base adds fantastic-sounding speakers. All that's missing is the popcorn.

Pros

  • Excellent keyboard, long battery life

Cons

  • Docking is difficult, USB IR receiver looks clunky

Bottom Line

If a lightweight laptop with lots of connections and entertainment options galore is what you're after, the dv1000 is a great solution.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 2,699.00 (AUD)

Special Offers

The dv1000 is trendy looking, lightweight and crammed with useful features. The Wi-Fi-ready black-and-silver unit with sloped front weighs just 2.42 kilograms. Our unit came with a fixed combination drive whose release button was textured so you could find it easily; you can upgrade to an 8X multiformat DVD burner for a little more.

The excellent keyboard is full of nice touches. We liked the eye-catching navigation keys, which have white tops printed with black arrows. The extra-wide touchpad sports both a vertical scroll zone and a lock to prevent the cursor from accidentally repositioning while you type--not that we needed this feature on the well-behaved dv1000. There's even a dedicated back button for toggling through browser windows or on the Windows desktop. If you decide not to buy the remote control, it's still easy to launch and play movies or CDs using the full set of multimedia buttons above the keyboard. It's also easy to share, thanks to dual headphone jacks on the front of the case.

On the performance bench, the dv1000 did not break records, but it did show stamina. Equipped with a 1.5GHz Pentium M and 512MB of RAM, it earned a WorldBench 5 score of 64--just behind the similarly configured IBM ThinkPad R51, which earned a score of 67. Processor choices for the dv1000 top out at 1.8GHz. In our battery tests, the dv1000 lasted an excellent 4 hours.

In our multimedia tests, the dv1000's 14" wide-aspect screen displayed full-screen DVD movies smoothly at its native resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. The built-in speakers aren't bad for a laptop, but the full audio experience requires the xb2000 expansion base that doubles as a stand, elevating the screen to eye level. The xb2000 replicates most of the laptop's connections and adds two major features: an internal bay that accommodates a full-height 3.5" desktop hard drive, and a set of built-in premium harman/kardon speakers that will blow you away with their full sound. A wheel on the front of the base makes adjusting volume a breeze.

Docking the dv1000 is not pretty; we had to struggle to tug the retractable cable out of the back of the base and pull it around to a connection on the left side of the laptop. And we did not like the clunky look of the big plastic USB infrared receiver for the bundled wireless keyboard and mouse. Still, the base is a worthwhile addition for audiophiles who could also use the extra storage: its bay takes a 160GB hard drive (purchased separately), for a possible total of 240GB--not bad for a laptop.

The full set of connections includes FireWire and a six-in-one memory card reader that reads SD Cards and most other formats, including xD-Picture Cards. Labels printed on the case help you keep track of the card types.

All of the dv1000's rich features are well documented in two Acrobat manuals, which the company says come preinstalled on the hard drive. Our review unit did not have them, however; we had to download them from the HP Web site.

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the PC World newsletter.

Be the first to comment.

Post new comment

Users posting comments agree to the PC World comments policy.

Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.

Most Popular

Samsung’s 2013 Smart TVs: everything you need to know
What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
How do I connect my TV to the Internet?
Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?
Windows 7 Home Premium vs. Windows 7 Professional

Compare broadband and save

Powered by

Need Help? Call 1300 123 935

Best Deals on PCWorld

NotebooksView all »
TabletsView all »
Desktop PCsView all »
Servers & StorageView all »
Software and ServicesView all »

Compare & Save

« 1 of 14 »
Deals powered by WhistleOut
Use WhistleOut's technology to compare:
Mobile phone plans & deals
Mobile phone models
Mobile phone carriers
Broadband plans & deals
Broadband providers
Deals powered by WhistleOut
Guides and Articles
National Broadband Network NBN 100Mbps Plans
Visualising Mobile Phone Plans
SIM Only Mobile Phone Plans
National Broadband Network NBN 25Mbps Plans
iPhone 5, 4S & iPhone 4 Plans - Compare Deals &...
Deals powered by WhistleOut
WhistleOut

Resources

Trend Micro Zone
Trend Micro SafeSync is an easy to use and good value cloud based backup service.
Broadband test
Is your internet really as fast as you think it is? Find out here.
Notebooks Product Finder
Find the product you're looking for with our Notebooks search tool.