HP Pavilion dv1040us 14.0" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 725 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

Rating:
Summary: Great all purpose laptop
Review: Got this laptop to replace my 3 year old Toshiba. This is a great laptop. Runs very fast, has a great display, and the keyboard is comfortable. I got mine with the 12 cell battery, and I get 6 hours on it. If you are looking for a lightweight laptop with great battery life, then this is a great laptop for you. The only tradeoff is there is no dedicated GPU, but I have been running Warcraft 3 on this system, and it works great, so as long as you are not planning to play Doom 3 on it you will be fine gamewise.

Rating:
Summary: A well-featured laptop suitable for home and business use.
Review: I bought this laptop because I needed a smaller replacement for my old Toshiba Satellite A60-S121. My previous foray into HP/Compaq computers was a little disappointing because the touchpad began failing after about a year. But when I researched a little before buying my new laptop, I found that the dv1000 is exactly what I needed.

What I needed was a light-weight computer with a large enough screen to enjoy DVDs in my off-time. Most ultraportables were not only prohibitively expensive, but had a smallish 10 to 12 inch screen. For some people that is perfect, but not for me. When the HP dv1000 came out it seemed just right. Weighing about 5 lbs, and a 1.2 inches thick, with a 14inch widescreen, it was perfect. But I had to compare it to DELL and Toshiba before I made my purchase, both of which make comparatively sized laptops. But this is why I thought the dv1000 was the best for my money:

1. DELL does not offer widescreen on their lighter notebooks
2. TOSHIBA's laptops tend to be sliver-like and end up pretty thick (about 2 inches) near their backside.
3. The dv1000 can be upgraded to 2GB of RAM
4. It can be used as a DVD or CD-player without turning the laptop on. There is a "Quickplay" button, which turns on the CD/DVD drive and when you insert your disc, it plays. Neat.
5. It has a built-in 6-in-one memory-card reader that works perfectly with my Memorystick Pros.
6. The built-in WiFi latched onto my 801.11g wireless network easily. I was also able to use it in the airport, and the signal strength was excellent.
7. I used it for about 3 hours on a single charge. I haven't really timed it, but with a small battery I expected much less. It performs very well.
8. I didn't get this computer to play games, but I guess its graphics capabilities are pretty good because I watched my Matrix DVD without a problem. I used headphones, and it sounded great.
9. Headphone jack is in the front of the laptop. Why don't all of them do this? It is so convenient.
10. The case feels very sturdy and elegant.
11. HP is the only laptop that I know of that has a dedicated scroll function built-in to their touchpads. On the right side of the pad, you run your finger up or down and the pages will scroll in that direction. I've gotten used to it and it is very convenient.

Everyone has their own opinion of a perfect laptop, but this suited me perfectly. My wife bought the DELL 600m and it is a little smaller. Similarly configured to mine it cost about the same, but it does not have a built-in 6-in-one card reader, or a widescreen, or the Quickplay feature. But the DELL "looks" a whole lot more professional than the HP dv1000. I'd take the DELL to work, and the HP to play.


Rating:
Summary: Good performance with mediocre case design
Review: This laptop would work really well for someone who never takes it anywhere. The main problem with this unit it its case. After 2 weeks, the case noticeable creaks. From my experience as a network administrator, I can tell you that this is a bad sign. My PowerBook G4 does NOT have the creaky-case problem, in contrast.

Other than this obvious design flaw, I have found it to be powerful and feature-rich. I ordered mine with Bluetooth and WiFi, which have performed admirably with many access points, cell phones and the occational bluetooth headset. The on-off trackpad button is very convenient for frequent writers. The keyboard is VERY comfortable to use, with a convenient layout and easy-to-find arrow keys and dedicated navigation keys (home, end, pgup, pgdown). Wireless signal strength is very good, much better than my powerbook at finding local networks.

Battery life appears to be over 2 hours with standard battery and over 4 hours with the extended life battery.

One final note -- the scrolling feature of the trackpad does not work very well at all.

Rating:
Summary: Best featured laptop available
Review: To start off with the specs on this laptop: This laptop is the lowest priced Centrino processor system I could find. The small form factor is great and doesn't cause a lack in the computer. It comes with a BrightView screen, 60GB Hard Drive, and a DVD burner which is unheard of at this price. The BrightView screen is crisp and beautiful. Even for it's size, the laptop comes with a 60GB hard drive. The fun feature of this laptop is the QuickPlay system. This provides a DVD player and music player outside of the Windows operating system. Since RAM and processor are barely used, this boosts battery life by quite a bit. The remote that the system comes with is very well made and works in both Windows and QuickPlay. The only complaint I have about the remote is that the location (PCMIA slot) where it is to be located is too tight for the remote and keeps it from being easily removed. The average battery life for this laptop is around 3 hours with recharging taking around the same time.

Pros:
Good battery life
Sleek design
Good construction
QuickPlay system
Small form with full features

Cons:
Remote control's location

Rating:
Summary: Size, not power
Review: Well first off a centrino with a battery life of 2-3 hrs is horrible. Centrino laptops usually last atleast 5 hrs if not more. I just got this laptop and am not sure of my purchase. The DVD+R is a nice way of HP promoting a format that they are the #1 promoter of. The DDR2100 ram is slow compared to DDR2700 and the Harddrive is way slow too at 4200 RPM. All in all if your looking for something small and light this is a good laptop. If your looking for something powerful and with a long battery life, get something else.