The sleek black HP Pavilion dv7-2270us ($1,130 direct) is as much fun to look at as it is to use. The striking 17.3-inch, 16:9, HD screen screams: I'm here to entertain. But that statement is tempered a bit by the fact that like its predecessor, the DV7-2170US
, the system doesn't include a Blu-ray player. It's as if HP engineered a car that looks like a Ferrari, but then decided at the last moment that maybe the user would prefer a smaller engine. That said the dv7-2270us is a very capable entertainment PC for the home or dorm.Design
The 1.4 by 16.2 by 10.9 inches (HWD), 7.5 pound laptop definitely isn't designed to be lugged around. But that's fine because the dvt-2270us looks great anywhere you put it. I especially like the glossy black finish accented with a series of silver circles on both the lid and keyboard bezel. HP also trimmed the laptop with some chrome piping, a design detail that is carried over to the mirrored touchpad. A nice "touch", but I found that it quickly attracted fingerprints. Other than that, the touchpad has a good feel and feedback to it.
One of the plusses about a laptop with a widescreen is that it lets the system designers lay out the rest of the laptop in an uncluttered manner. Above the full-size keyboard is a large speaker bar; directly above that is a back lit LED audio/video controls. The backlights are clutch when watching a movie in the dark. There are also dual headphone jacks in the front, in case you have company.
Features
The dv7-2270us is flanked with ports. You'll find on the left side audio and video ports including a VGA, Display, and an HDMI port, which help make it easy to hook up the laptop to another monitor. They are joined by a series of Ethernet, eSata/USB, and USB ports. There is also an SD/MS/Pro/MMC/XD Multi-card reader. On the right side there are two additional USB ports and a DVD multidrive.
The 2270 is designed to be an entertainment hub. HP's MediaSmart technology helps bring all of your media together. It's like Windows Media Center, but HP's version and it works well with the included remote control. The small, thin remote is stored in the ExpressCard slot in the side of the laptop and can be used to control audio and DVD playback. Although HP has packed the 2270 with all the usual bloatware, there are some nice entertainment related tie-ins with Slingbox and Pandora Internet radio.
Performance
Earlier I picked on the dv7-2270us for not having a Blu-Ray drive, but that doesn't mean the rest of its components are shabby. The laptop's 2GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 processor and 4 GB RAM did quite well on our benchmark tests. It scored a 5,049 on our PCMark Vantage tests, besting comparable laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 (3,173). The HP's ATI Mobility Radeon 4650, with its 1GB of dedicated graphics memory, also did quite well on our 3D tests. It managed to score a 6,665 on our entry level 3D tests, easily besting the HP HDX18T.
That being said, this is not a gaming laptop. You will be able to play some games, like Peggle, but not the very high end ones, like Dragon Age Origins. On our tests, the 2270 managed 48 frames per second (fps) on our World in Conflict tests at a minimum 1280-by-1024 resolution, which is respectable, but when we jacked the resolution up to 1920-by-1200 it dropped to a slow 13 fps. The same problems happened when I tried to play Crysis, the notorious GPU-crushing first person shooter. At 1280-by-1024 the game played a very respectable 53 fps, more than doubling the score of the HP HDX 18t and more in line with gaming laptops like the Alienware M17x. When we tried to step up to a more intense graphics standard, the scores dropped precipitously.
In our battery tests the 2270's 8 cell lithium battery performed admirably and lasted for three hours and thirty two minutes in our rundown tests. This is on par with other laptops in the category like the Dell Studio 1737 (s1737-USE0145) 3:37 and much better than the HP HDX18T (2:48).
All in all, the HP Pavilion dv7-2270us is a good entertainment system for the home or dorm room. The only thing keeping it from being a great system is its lack of a Blu-ray player and support for high-end games.
Source
You can get your HP Pavilion DV7-2270US at Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment