At $2,149, the HDX 18 is aggressively priced for a desktop replacement with a Blu-ray drive, full HD screen with a 16:9 ratio, 4GB of RAM, and Intel’s powerful Centrino 2 platform. We don’t know of an 18.4-inch notebook that offers a greater value. The HDX 18 shares some of the weaknesses of its 16-inch cousin, but it’s still a stellar big-screen notebook.
Slick Design
In many ways, the HDX 18 reminds us of HP’s recently revamped dv series. Both have glossy patterned lids with matching palm rests and touchpads. They have the same glossy feel, but whereas the dv series’ sports a subdued micro-checkerboard pattern, the HDX design has more flair. Abstract silver and black lines span across a charcoal background. Contrasting that, its keyboard and touchpad are silver, and the touchpad has black and charcoal lines.
At 9 pounds, the HDX 18 is heavy, but it’s still a typical weight for this screen size; the Acer Aspire 8920G, another 18.4-incher, weighs the same. Moreover, the HDX 18 is thinner than the 8920G by 0.3 inches, and has a smaller footprint, too.
The touch buttons were quiet and easy to press but felt a bit mushy and less solid compared with the buttons on the HP Pavilion dv7. Like the HDX 16, the touchpad on our unit provided too much resistance, and we found ourselves increasing the cursor speed to compensate.
As for the keyboard, which includes a number pad, it’s equally quiet and comfortable. As a final touch, the HDX, like the dv series, has a touch-sensitive row of buttons above the keyboard that glow pale purple (a matching HP logo on the lid is backlit in the same color). These buttons, most of which control media playback, were finicky, but HP warned us this would be the case since ours was a preproduction unit.
Multimedia Might
The best reason to buy the HDX 18 instead of the dv7 (or any other 17-inch notebook) is its full HD display, which has a 16:9 aspect ratio that all but eliminates black bars on Blu-ray movies shot in widescreen. In a word, it’s stunning. When we watched the Blu-ray version of The Other Boleyn Girl, the picture looked bright, sharp, and fluid. Unfortunately, this glossy screen is too reflective, and limits the viewing angles; you can’t push the screen as far down or watch as far to the side as you can with less-reflective displays. When we reviewed the 8920G, for instance, we were able to watch movies at nearly 180-degree angles.
We also didn’t like that the CyberLink DVD Suite wouldn’t let us use the mouse and touchpad to control Blu-ray playback; we were stuck with the finicky touch controls. (With HP’s QuickPlay, however, you can use the mouse with Blu-ray menus.)
The Altec Lansing speakers, which lie above the touch panel, produced loud, theater-quality sound. It doesn’t have Dolby True 5.1 Surround Sound like the 8920G; instead, it comes with Dolby Home Theater software, which simulates the surround sound experience. Like the HDX 16, the HDX 18 has a built-in TV tuner with an external antenna. Although not as sharp as a movie, the live network TV shows we chose were still watchable.
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