Although the HP Pavilion HDX Entertainment Notebook PC was one of our favorite notebooks of 2007, its 20-inch, full-1080p display came at a price—namely that, at 15.8 pounds, it seemed more like a desktop than a laptop. Now HP has extended the HDX brand to more portable systems with an emphasis on style and multimedia power. The HDX 16 is one of two new HDX notebooks (the other is the 18.4-inch HDX 18) that offers excellent performance. But how much better is it than a regular Pavilion notebook?
Design
In many ways, the HDX 16 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’ pattern looks like a more subdued micro-checkerboard pattern, the HDX pattern 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 6.8 pounds and 14.9 x 10.0 x 1.7 inches, the HDX 16 is a pain to lug around, but it’s still small and light enough to be considered a mainstream laptop. However, Sony’s VAIO FW series offers a bigger 16.4-inch display and weighs less at 6.7 pounds.
The touch buttons were quiet and easy to press but felt a bit mushy and less solid compared to the buttons on the HP Pavilion dv7. The touchpad on our unit provided too much friction, and we found ourselves increasing the cursor speed to compensate.
As for the keyboard, it’s equally quiet and comfortable. As a final touch, the HDX, like the DV series, has a touch-sensitive panel of buttons above the keyboard and matching HP logo on the lid, both of which glow pale purple. These buttons (most of which control media playback) were finicky, but HP warned us this would be the case since we tested a pre-production unit.
Display and Audio
The 16-inch display, with its 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio, is stunning. We love how the glass stretches all the way across, meaning there’s no raised bezel. When we watched an episode of Heroes from a Blu-ray disc, we enjoyed vibrant colors and sharp details. Unfortunately, the glossy screen has a relatively small range of viewing angles; we couldn’t push the screen as far forward or sit as far to the side as less-glossy displays allow.
Like the HDX 20, the HDX 16 has a built-in TV tuner, which was easy to set up but delivered a scratchy (but still-viewable) picture when we watched live TV via the included aerial tuner. Our configuration included a rewritable Blu-ray drive, which will not be available on the HDX 16 until December (no word on pricing yet for this amenity). For now, the cost of the machine with a regular BD-R drive is $1,824.
The Altec Lansing speakers, which stretch across the chassis above the touch panel, produced loud, rich sound—a far cry from most notebooks’ tinny audio. Plus, you can adjust the bass and treble separately using the touch-sensitive controls above the keyboard.
