HP's Pavilion HDX notebook monstrosity reviewed

With a starting configuration at around $3,000, and specced out versions nearing on $5k, the HP Pavilion HDX isn't a laptop for everybody. In fact, it's hardly a laptop, more of a "portable notebook computer." Sure, there's about an hour and a half of battery life, and the 20.1-inch monster actually weighs in 3 pounds lighter than Dell's 18.3 pound XPS M2010, but this thing was never really destined for your lap. That said, Laptop Mag found plenty to love about the unit, which features conveniences like a numeric keypad and a removable remote embedded into the deck portion, along with an impressive movie-friendly 1680 x 1050 screen, which will be supplemented by a 1920 x 1200 screen down the road, can be adjusted forward and backward, and hosts a high quality webcam. HP has built in analog and HD tuners, and plans to offer an over-the-air HD antenna soon. Outputs include HDMI and eSATA, and with a new Intel T7700 processor, 4GB of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics card and a 400GB hard drive powering this thing, you should be able to handle most multimedia and gaming tasks with ease. Intel's new 802.11n WiFi tested well, as did gaming performance. The screen is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, and Laptop had some trouble with the touch sensitive media controls in its pre-production unit (which HP promises to fix), but overall there isn't much fault found in this thing -- as long as you can get over that whole 20.1-inch laptop which costs your life savings part.

[Jeff @ May 9th 2007 7:01PM]

No thanks. After owning HPs, Dells, etc, I rolled the dice and bought a Clevo whitebook (M570u) that I kitted out myself. $1,500 less than the equivalent Dell and it's built better. For $3000 I can get a 20" Clevo with SLI 7950GTX right now. I'm sure for $4k once Clevo gets 'em out I'll be able to get SLI 88xx for LESS than this HP. Sign me up.

[John Doe @ May 9th 2007 8:29PM]

Ummm other then the fact that most of North America has never even heard of them. Hell I've never even heard of them.
If I'm spending $3000+ it sure as hell isn't going to be with a noname manufacturer.

[Anders @ May 9th 2007 8:34PM]

Uh...Clevo is huge. They make the notebooks for Alienware and several other computer providers.

[Josh @ May 9th 2007 7:10PM]

I am still digging on that amazing looking monitor.. er movable screen... it looks pretty sexy but still - notebook computer? that is laughable.

I'm sure someone can justify buying this monstrosity but it surely isn't me, despite how much i would enjoy seeing peoples expressions...

[mrhammerstein @ May 10th 2007 1:50AM]

or the same cost of an apple macbook pro (with bells and whistles, of course). any word on if the battery explodes or expands. those are the coolest.

[elan @ May 9th 2007 7:51PM]

Whether or not you can justify it's existence, it's still the best looking HP in years.

[Markarian @ May 9th 2007 11:11PM]

While Clevo is a reliable brand, have they leared that people want removable/replacable batteries and a video chipset that isn't SiS from seven years ago?

Do these huge "laptops" even HAVE batteries, come to think of it?

[John Doe @ May 9th 2007 8:26PM]

I wish people would stop being so hard on these devices. This is the rebirth of the luggable. You remember those 30lb monstrosities from the mid 80's right? Well they are back, and this time in the 20lb variant.

[Ellis @ May 14th 2007 4:57AM]

You have never Heard of HP... where have you been the past years Hewlett Packard are one of the biggest IT companies in the world, they even have adverts on TV.

[fearless_fx @ May 9th 2007 8:30PM]

will this do DX10?

[CT A @ May 9th 2007 10:07PM]

WOAH Baby

[craig @ May 9th 2007 10:43PM]

How is a 1680 x 1050 screen "movie-friendly"? What's the point of such a large display if the resolution isn't increased? 106 dpi is headed the wrong direction for portables---even Apple does better than that.

[Darwin @ May 10th 2007 1:57AM]

Helloooo Kaypro.

[h @ May 10th 2007 5:46AM]

wow

[Alex @ May 10th 2007 10:04AM]

As a proud owner of a Dell XPS M2010, I have to say that my computer trumps this new HP behemoth. The Dell's detachable wireless keyboard simply cannot be beat. Plus, it has tons more speakers, about an hour more battery life (not that that's important), and that gorgeous carrying handle that becomes oh-so-necessary to transport beastly machines of this size.

[Don't Panic! @ May 10th 2007 10:22AM]

$5000 is way to much for a desktop never mind a notebook. Sure is pretty though.