Filed under: Laptops

First things first: LaptopMag’s Pavilion HDX 16 was entirely more equipped than the basic $1,249 unit that was uncovered last night, so it makes sense that they were swooning over the (optional) 1080p display and the (optional) Blu-ray drive. Granted, those extras will cost you, but it’s items such as those that made this notebook so appealing to critics. Overall, the unit performed well in all of the areas that mattered, with strong WiFi scores, decent battery life and excellent processing power. Of note, reviewers did wish for a smoother touchpad and more responsive touch-sensitive buttons, but outside of that, we didn’t hear too many complaints. Looking for the 30 second version? “Overall, the HDX 16 is a desktop replacement in a mainstream notebook’s body that delivers great value for the price.” Got it?

Read - Hands-on
Read - Full review

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

We got a look at HP’s latest and greatest, and it’s a mixed bag. For starters, we just can’t stand HP’s consumer laptops (not to be confused with the company’s rapidly improving business lineup), and the HDX16 and HDX18 seem to revel in all that’s wrong about HP’s consumer approach — no matter how many million units they move. The glossy trackpad is difficult to use, the overly-glossy screen is bad enough in press shots, and a downright pain in real life, and the glossy, chrome-ish exterior is gaudy and over the top — did we mention glossy? It’s one of those love-it-or-leave-it affairs, and we really could leave it. The new, larger TouchSmart IQ800 (pictured) has a lot more going for it, and the hardware is quite elegant, but it seems to share many of the problems its touchphone brethren face: the software isn’t quite there, and therefore almost might as well not be there at all. Everything seems half-baked, and not ready for full-time use. The display felt a little “dull” to the touch, with a somewhat laggy response, web browsing is difficult and pointless, and the music app puts manual labor back into playlist creation. It’s a decent “home screen” for a living room PC, there are some neat, beautiful gimmicks that would be fun to show off to house guests, and all the elements are in place for a really great touchable desktop experience — we really do want to love this thing — but HP needs to devote a little more cash and QA time to this side project to get it over the “hump.”

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Whoa, boy — HP just went loony on us tonight, and in the midst of everything else, we found a new pair of HDX notebooks. Kicking things off is the X16, which boasts a woefully under-pixelated 16-inch 1,366 x 768 resolution display, a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU, NVIDIA’s 512MB GeForce 9600 GT, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB 5,400RPM hard drive, dual-layer SuperMulti optical drive and built-in WiFi / Bluetooth. As for the beastly X18, you’ll find a lot of the same kit internally, but the 18-inch 1,920 x 1,080 display is one we can really salivate over; additionally, this one ups the ante with twin 250GB HDDs and a Blu-ray reader. Each unit includes the essentials: an Ethernet port, multicard reader, integrated Altec Lansing speakers, ExpressCard slot, four USB 2.0 sockets, audio in / out, HDMI / VGA and a 4-pin FireWire connector. Both units should ship later this month starting at $1,249 and $1549, respectively.

Permalink | Email this | Comments