HP Widescreen Notebook Reviews

HP Pavilion DV4-1465DX Widescreen Notebook

HP latest widescreen notebook for the back-to-school set is basically a beefed-up but lower-priced ($750, as of August 10, 2009) version of its earlier Pavilion dv3: You get a 14-inch display (up from 13.3 inches on the dv3), more battery life (thanks to a huge 12-cell battery); and a lot more horsepower.

The glossy (and therefore glare-prone) screen offers a 1280-by-800-pixel image, for a nonstandard 16:10 aspect ratio--just as the dv3's screen did. By comparison, the 1366-by-768-pixel screens on some other 14-inch notebooks. yield a true widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, so you avoid the narrow letterbox bars that are visible above and below video images on the dv4-1465dx. Still, the dv4's display reproduces color well.

Measuring 13.2 by 9.4 by 1.5 inches and weighing 6 pounds, this laptop is no ultraportable. Much of its heft is due to its 12-cell battery, which sits below the rig, propping up the unit at a more ergonomic angle and delivering good battery life.
For power, the dv4-1465dx relies on a 2.1-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive.

The dv4's coating certainly gives fingers the sensation that they're dancing over the supple keys--and it may resist abrasion from Cheetos grit, too.

The HP dv4-1465dx widescreen notebook offering gigabit ethernet ports, three USB ports (one of them a hybrid eSATA port that's perfect for high-speed data), a flash card reader, a PC card slot, a DVD-RW, an old time modem, two headphone jacks, a mic, and a touch-inductive shortcut panel above the keyboard that provide quick access to audio controls and to the onboard 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

The HP dv4-1465dx widescreen notebook is a serious step up from the dv3 of earlier this year. And at $750, this machine looks to be a good option, though not the best one around.