Hp Pavilion Zd7000 Laptop Review

Hp Pavilion Zd7000 Laptop Review

Microsoft has upgraded its TV- and media-friendly Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) to MCE 2004, and HP’s Pavilion zd7000 runs the new version. The ,600 laptop features a big, wide-screen display; a handheld remote; a DVD burner; and an external box that ties in to your television signal. MCE 2004 may be better suited for a PC, especially if accommodating the OS requires a 9.2-pound laptop, plus multiple cables and paraphernalia. Nevertheless, the HP Pavilion zd7000 is among the fastest, best-designed laptops CNET has ever tested, and it’s equipped to please videographers, shutterbugs, gamers, and even those who ponder spreadsheets. However, its sheer weight and heat, plus a battery that conks out just past two hours, may discourage you from taking the laptop off your desk. After looking at several recent big-screen laptops, we think the HP Pavilion zd7000 has the best implementation of a nonstandard-resolution display. In particular, its resolution is appropriate for its screen size, unlike others we’ve seen. HP’s Pavilion nx7000, for example, crams its 1,680×1,050 resolution onto a 15.4-inch (diagonal) wide-screen LCD–that’s 130 pixels per inch, a view so dense, you have to squint.

The HP Pavilion zd7000 (hp zd7000 battery )tops out at a comfortable 100 pixels per inch, displaying a 1,440×900 native resolution–enough to sail through a spreadsheet as easily as through a movie. We love the display’s saturated colors and its sharp, clean text on an evenly lit background. The image fades when viewing from above or the side, however, so gathering friends around for a movie won’t work.

The HP Pavilion zd7000′s size allows for uncluttered, uncrowded hands-on elements. A long, ridged latch opens the lid easily to reveal a full-size keyboard–even the Backspace key is big–with a separate numeric keypad. Keys provide a good “pop” feel and operate silently, and the keyboard is almost free of wiggle and sag. A wide touchpad features a scrolling strip down the right-hand edge; ordinary left- and right-click mouse buttons sit just below it. Stereo speakers line the laptop’s entire front edge and sound at least as good as small external speakers, There’s also a power button for the 802.11g Wi-Fi radio.

HP stocked the Pavilion zd7000 with features on the outside and muscle on the inside. Along the edges, it has a quartet of USB 2.0 ports; a four-pin FireWire port; S-Video; two flash memory slots that read Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, and SmartMedia; and a Type II/Type III PC Card slot. A fixed DVD-R/RW drive accommodates most optical media but, unfortunately, not a backup battery. Inside, there’s a screaming-hot 3.2GHz desktop Pentium 4 (it really does run hot; good thing the Pavilion zd7000 is too heavy to park on your lap for long); Nvidia’s AGP 8X GeForce FX Go5600 graphics controller with 128MB of its own memory; 512MB of 333MHz memory filling both memory slots; and a 60GB hard drive.

Microsoft streamlined and extended Media Center Edition (MCE) 2004 in some useful ways. The basic idea is a separate, no-keyboard interface that lets you use the remote to run utilities for viewing and recording television, organizing and displaying photos, and performing other media-oriented activities. MCE 2004 can teach itself how to work with your set-top box, walk you through calibrating color on your screen, and notify you when someone is trying to call you (if you have Caller ID). It can download current TV schedules unattended and record a TV show while you’re using the system for other tasks. Microsoft also improved the television listings; you now have tools to sort and filter them, and you can find listings based on keywords.

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