How would you change HP's Pavilion dv2?
By Darren Murph 
posted May 23rd 2009 5:18AM
posted May 23rd 2009 5:18AM
posted May 23rd 2009 5:18AM
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WIN7FTW!!!
The list price is too high but Staples has it for $600. At that price it's worth considering.
However, HP decision to put the same keyboard from their 10" netbooks in their 12" not-a-netbook is insane. The biggest hit against netbooks is
Have you used the Mini 1000? The keyboard is very good and comfortable typing on. Regardless, this keyboard is not the same, its does seem to be larger than the Netbook counterpart.
I tend to like the idea, but I'd like to see an equivalent in the business line. A more staid design, matte screen, and maybe a CULV processor with an Nvidia chipset instead of Neo. Then make a decent SSD standard, and clean up the sound output (which I'm sure hisses, like pretty much every other laptop/netbook).
I enjoy reading over comments of new laptops since it gives a pretty good perspective from those who already have any given new laptop on sale which actually is a big relief for perspective buyers.
I've been looking for a low enough cost for what I deem is a standard I learned for laptops over many years of using apple and pcs. -- & that standard is to use a pocessor that can easily handle all multitask assignments anyone can throw at it...usually around 2.5 ghz newest chip technology low heat and noise ratios would do!
Most of these low cost laptops lack what's truly needed for performance in most rigorous travel situations.
I haven't found one low cost laptop I like yet outside of my good ol' Asus 15.6" er I've used for three years on most every day for at least 12 hours without the mother board burning out!
Now this is a simple computer that works yet only lacks a bit more whir in speed!
>Let"s face it, we don't need much more as the software microsoft provides is the main user concern, not so much what's under the hood!
--e
This was the wrong product to launch Athlon Neo with. It has hot power guzzling graphics which kill the battery life, as a result everyone presumes the Neo platform uses too much power :P
They should have launched Athlon Neo with the low power graphics chip (X1250 or something) and it would have been taken seriously. Battery life to match Atom and graphics way better than all other netbooks :)
Also the fugly patterns HP print all over this machine, eww! It's just way too glossy :)
AMD shoulda gone with MSI, Acer or similar to make a low cost solid ultra-portable instead of this over priced heap of FAIL :)
Drop the price a couple hundies and color me interested. Otherwise I'll just go get a cheaper 10" "netbook" or spring for a more powerful actual laptop at the same price.
1, make it under $500. for $800 I could get a regular laptop
2, move to 45 nm technology. The current processor generates too much heat.
3, 64-bit and Virtualization -- They will become mainstream. Windows 7 will need it for XP virtual machine.
1, agreed. Either have it at $500, or have the $800 be upgraded to a real chip, like a Turion X2. The biggest thing we love about the dv2 is the 3410, now spread that around!
2, 45? It'll take a while...
3, That's why it should become a real chip paired with 3410.
It's not the Neo creating the heat, its the 3410.
I don't know if the virtualization is much of a priority. More efficient chips means a price bump, even if only temporary. Would probably kill the buzz generated by the product so far.
The processor is bad. Based on the reviews it seems faster than the Z530, but in real life I don't feel that. They should but a low power dual core sempron or something in there.
Design is good. Build is good. Screen is good.
I'd say my only complaint is the CPU.
The processor is not as powerful as an Atom, but the GPU takes part of the load off of the processor. (sometimes) If just processors are compared, the Atom is a good bit faster, but overall they are not all that different.
The Neo isn't a slow chip by any means, and it is much much faster than the Atom from the reviews i've read. The Neo is more comparable to Via Nano in terms of performance.
1. Remove display
2. Remove keyboard
2. Remove battery
3. Add video card
4. Add IR receiver
5. Price around $200
needs more battery life
I picked one up for six bills from Staples. I also own a couple of netbooks and a core 2 duo Macbook. It runs considerably faster than an atom and ran vista well enough before I installed Windows 7. The build quality is much better than I've come to expect from HP, they have definitely put more effort into this than the computers I've bought from them in the past. It feels very sturdy, almost as sturdy as my aluminum Macbook. Heat and battery life are the only complaints I can offer.
Maybe ditch the ultra-sick touchpad? HP have the worst touchpads ever IMHO.
Ditch the trackpad, use the extra space to enlarge the keyboard, and use a trackpoint nipple to move the mouse cursor.
Can't speak to performance as I don't have one...
After seeing one in person I found, I like the idea of but the casing is kinda sucky. Reduce the amount off plastic around the monitor and keyboard. If it weren't for the coloring this thing looks like it was designed by Fischer Price.
Make the build quality better. HP generally has really poor build quality with flexing keyboards and an overall plastic feel.
Still not as fast, refined, and thin as the macbook air... oh and this HP runs Windows. Enuff said.
Enough said exactly- Windows Vista is superior to the Mac OS, and it comes standard on this while you have to pay extra to get Vista on the already substantially more expensive (though more powerful) Macbook Air.
Er, that's not what you meant?
I bought the HP dv2 around a month ago, havent had any problems out of mine, it does take a bit longer to power up but I love the size and form factor of it, plus the specs are pretty nice. Very happy with my dv2.
Have Apple redesign it right
and change the operating system to OS X.
First, change the display to a 1366x768 display (even if it is a 11.6" screen). Next adjust the size of the laptop so that it is an edge-to-edge display. This will make the laptop more cosmetically pleasing and widen it a bit.
The processor is a first generation design, but AMD does need to adjust the power consumption. If they can not, put in a higher end dual-core processor and underclock/undervolt it. This will help with the battery life without compromising performance.
Next, add a slot loading DVD+/R burner and make the external drive a blue-ray player.
SSD option would be nice also.
LD
first it's 1280x800, which is a "standard" size on many screens HP sells, they seem to like it. Second, edge-to-edge screens cost a premium... pay $50 more. Adding a drive make it NOT a netbook... drives waste electricity and this thing isn't thick enough for a standard drive.... again you want it to cost more and be thicker??? SSD drives are a joke right now, again unless they want this to be $1000 and people are already complaining about $700. Lastly, it's a 100% AMD offering... trying to show off AMD's new toys... the other dual-core processors aren't their best "netbook" offerings but the video should be better than even ION as far as the over all system.
Okay, so I just bought one of these a week or so ago and I am still in the process of setting it up. The first thing that HP needs to do is not ship it with vista. However there is absolutely no driver support for the video card, ethernet, wireless, and audio under windows XP, so that is out of the question. So it looks like the only option for a less shitty OS would be windows 7. I have also put arch linux on it and I can say that the sluggishness of the processor is simply due to vista being a steaming pile of s***. The only problem with linux on this laptop is the time I have spent struggling with driver support. Its a rather exciting prospect because they really did put a lot of new technology in this laptop, but the problem is that driver support has not caught up.
As far as the hardware is concerned, it is beautiful. It is not too heavy to carry and it is not too small to comfortably type on. It only has two things which people would consider annoyances. The bottom of the laptop gets a bit hot and the fan really does always run (there is an option in the bios to change this, but it is already hot with the fan on so it seems like a bad idea to turn it off). However in its defence, it has quite possibly the quietest fan I have heard to date. I ended up getting the computer through the academic purchase program and there was also a rebate at that point in time, so I snagged it for $650 before tax. I am thinking that a price of $550-600 would be the sweet spot, but they really are giving you a lot of computer for your money. For the record, I'm not regretting my purchase one bit.
1) Lose the stupid circle-artwork-pattern theme printed on it.
2) Bigger trackpad. There's plenty of space around the trackpad to make it larger.
3) Beef up the integrated graphics with 780G and then ditch the discrete GPU.
4) NO HP CRAPWARE
Windows 7? You mean Vista SP2? Who gives a flying @#%$?!? I want XP drivers. Period. I'm sick of suffering through all these nefarious crap versions of Vista, including Win7. That, and I think anything less than dual core is unacceptable at this point. In addition, an SSD and increased battery life would be much nicer than BD. I could care less about any optical drive, actually, if the machine was lightning fast and supported XP out of the box.
By saying Windows 7 is Vista SP2, you instantly lose all credibility.
But why do you want Windows XP? That's just Windows 2000 SP5! (So XP SP3 is Windows 2000 SP8?) And Windows 2000 is just Windows NT 4.0 SP7! And Windows NT 4.0 is just NT 3.51 SP6! And Windows NT 3.51 is just Windows NT 3.5 SP4! And Windows NT 3.5 is just Windows NT 3.1 SP2!
@Epsilon-Not that was classic!! LMAO
@rhY - You XP fanboys are getting as bad as the mac fanboys. Vista isn't the problem, it's you.
scrap it.
Have someone make it and manufacture it other than HP
change the name to HP Pavilion R2-D2
the touchpad should not be centered with the screen but should be aligned with the "home row" keys...i.e. moved to the left--my palm keeps hitting it
Fanboy comments aside, I just can't get excited about anything running Vista. In a few years we will be looking back on Vista like we looked back at Me, with a shudder.
I am currently babying my circa 2005 Presario X6000 while waiting for Windows 7. I have already replaced the hard drive, keyboard and AC adaptor on this machine and hope the rest can hold itself together for another 6 months or so.
slot loading drive, thats one of the reasons i went with the studio 16
Make it a multimedia player like Sansa. It should not overheat when you hook it up to an amp. It should have a way to hook up to old and new T.V.s. It needs lots of hard drive space. It should play all forms of media i.e., DivX, Blue Ray, MP3, MP4, Xvid, and any other music or video formats out there. I here 3D is the new monitor throw one of those in. Touch screen is nice:D
less price, more battery life. the more the betterer.
Get rid of that aweful feeling trackpad. I won't buy a single HP laptop until they fix the texture on the trackpad
Dual-Core Processor
Option to NOT buy the External Drive
Drop the price to ~3-350
Love mine!! If it had a backlit keyboard and btooth it would be perfect!
I love mine as well. Battery life is not awesome but is not half as bad as some full laptops. USB drive works very well and is very responsive for a single core laptop. What would I improve? Replacing the trackpad with a normal (not shiny one), offering an extended battery as an option and including a case in the price. Running OS X would be sweet too but you can only wish for so much!
I would change it by returning it and buying a Macbook Air, or some other kind of Mac. Macs are just awesome! :)
One of the reason I like HP's PC is that non slot-loading type optical drive. Slot-loading is annoying and , not safe when I dont recognize the ROM being slotted out. Also not durabled and sometimes ROM scratched. We can't do anything when ROM clogged. It's not proffesional.
Sorry I got off the track. About dv2, it's too noisy for the avarage user who will buy for daily usage and CPU won't satisfy us to use most application. For the gamer , however , there are needs for this model. Gamer can bear with this noise while plaing it , I think.
I personely like the HP's PC model 2230s/CT which is lined up in Business lines as I ralely play games. It's quite light for the spec (c2d, with optcal drive). And there is not so much mess desing on it. I can put and replace my own favorite sticker on it my own choice. And I also don't like too classy full metal designt with high cost. I can't use such PC w/o caring the scratch and braking it...
Backlit keyboard, do something about the battery, and make it smaller by removing some of that extra plastic. If they do this the $700 they are charging for it doesn't seem that much steep. Or they could just keep it the same just lower the price and add a gfx that uses less heat and power.
I have the HP Pavilion dv2-1010ea it is a lower spec model for under £500 that dose not come HDMI or BD-Rom (comes with DVD-RW lightscribe Drive) as it has the Radeon x1250 graphics and not the Radeon HD graphics. For the money you save I think it makes buying this laptop worth it over any netbook but wouldnt have spent over £500 on this if I wanted to spend over £500 I would have got something with Turion x2 or Core 2 Duo in. on a side note could do with a bigger battery but have not found any where that sells them.
and for people saying this CPU is much slower than the Atom is because the Atom is made to be a fastish 32bit Processor the Neo is 32/64bit so if u feel its slow install 64bit Linux or Windows it dose make things much faster and the Neo like all AMD processors have the memory controller built on the CPU so the faster and more ram you put in the better the CPU