HP's Pavilion dv6000 series of laptop computers are geared towards multimedia enthusiasts who don't want to sacrifice performance away from their desktop. Available with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, this laptop family offers excellent power in a reasonably-priced package.
Hewlett Packard is one of the most prominent manufacturers of notebook computers today, and any trip to Best Buy will make that abundantly clear. Well, as of this writing, one of the notebook PCs they have on sale right now at Best Buy is the HP Pavilion DV6000. I picked one up a couple months ago for $800. I was in Best Buy a couple weeks ago and it was on sale for $749. So, this is certainly an affordable notebook PC. So, how does it perform in everyday use? Let’s check it out.The Pavilion ships with an Intel Core 2 Duo, with processing cores on a single chip, so they're great for multitasking and handling intensive tasks. They're both 64-bit processors, so they're well-suited for the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system installed on these laptop computers. HP packs these laptop computers with a healthy 1GB of DDR2 memory, enough to run Vista without stuttering.
The Specs
In my eyes, the DV6000 series battery is proof that PCs are affordable as hell today. These specs compare quite favorably to my desktop, all in a sub $800 notebook.
AMD Turion 64, dual core processor
2 GB DDR2 memory
15.4″ WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7200
160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
1.3 Megapixel Webcam with mic built into screen
Altec Lansing speakers built in
3 USB ports, ExpressCard/54 Slot, Video Out, Integrated Consumer IR, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ-45
Windows Vista Home Premium
Now, when you look at this unit on HP’s website, you will see there are different spec configurations for this model. The above happens to be what I have in the unit I am typing this review on.
There's a built-in Webcam and microphone for videoconferencing and Web chatting without the need for any additional hp compaq business notebook 6910p battery equipment. And the 15.4-inch widescreen display delivers a large and sharp image for watching movies or having multiple applications open in tiered view. There's even a remote control that lets you control movie watching or music listening from a distance--and it fits snugly into the Express Card/54 slot when you're on the go.
While I have not had the wireless problems many have been complaining about in the comments, I have had another problem - the battery (maybe). The battery seems to not accept a charge anymore, and Windows says “plugged in, not charging” when I hover over the battery icon in the taskbar. So, HP is currently sending me a new hp pavilion dv600 series battery and we’ll see if that fixes it. I guess this is the kind of thing you deal with when you buy cheap notebook computers.
As with most laptop computers, the integrated graphics share video memory with the main system RAM, so these portables won't be the best gaming machines. The AMD models offer NVIDIA GeForce GO 6150 graphics over Intel graphics, so you'll get some gaming performance boost, but video memory is still shared. In addition to a modem and network interface, these laptop computers feature 802.11b/g wireless so you'll be able to find an Internet connection almost anywhere.
At just over six pounds, these laptop computers are more desktop replacement than ultimate portables, but most users will feel the performance benefits outweigh those extra couple of pounds. If you're looking for great multimedia performance in a moderately priced laptop, the HP Pavilion dv6000 series battery is a nicely rounded mainstream portable computer.
