Pros & Cons
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- Fast processing.
- Beautiful widescreen.
- Excellent speakers.
- Quickplay 2.0.
- Best battery life for a mainstream notebook.
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- Express Card TV Tuner sticks out from the side.
HP Pavilion DV5000t Specs
| Graphics Memory | 512 |
| Graphics Processor | Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 |
| Operating System | MS Windows XP Media Center |
| Optical Drive | DVD+R DL |
| Processor | Intel Pentium M T2500 |
| Processor Speed | 2 |
| RAM (as Tested) | 1 |
| Screen Size | 15.4 |
| Weight | 7.3 |
| Wireless Networking | 802.11a/g |
A new addition to HP's Pavilion dv5000 line of consumer laptops, the HP Pavilion dv5000t ($1,964 direct) is one of the latest mainstream notebooks to feature an advanced Intel Core Duo processor. A related new model, the
On the outside, there is no difference between the dv5000t and the dv5000z. Each sports a very sleek-looking chassis, similar to the former Editors' Choice, the HP Pavilion dv4000. The dv5000t's 15.4-inch widescreen is one of the best-looking on the market and gives you plenty of room to do all your blogging, photo editing, and movie watching. The keyboard is great for typing, and I find that the touchpad reacts nicely to my fingers. The system doesn't have a built-in Web cam, unlike its smaller sibling, the
Both the dv5000z and the dv5000t Core Duo have two QuickPlay 2.0 buttons (a Linux-based multimedia application): one that launches the system into a DVD video player mode, the other for playing media (music, photos, and video)—both without having to boot Microsoft Windows. You also get a set of physical volume controls adjacent to the QuickPlay buttons.
The dv5000t is equipped with an ExpressCard TV tuner and runs Windows Media Center Edition 2005, an excellent operating system for TV lovers. Even though the
ExpressCard sticks out significantly from the side of the notebook, it's still better than other unwieldy USB solutions. (The
The biggest differentiator is, of course, the dv5000t's powerful Intel Core Duo T2500 (2.0GHz) dual core processor. According to my tests, the T2500 is a faster processor than the 2.2-GHZ AMD Turion ML-40 that powers the dv5000z. The dv5000z might be preferable for developers and 64-bit enthusiasts, however, as it gives you access to more physical memory. But since the Core Duo processor and most applications are currently 32-bit, the dv5000t's performance is better, so it's your best bet for now. Its SYSmark 2004 SE overall scores surpassed the dv5000z by 34 percent. It also beat the dv5000z on Adobe Photoshop scripts by 24 seconds (roughly 20 percent faster).
Despite being loaded with 512MB of video memory, the graphics chipset on the dv5000t is a step below the 3D graphics subsystems found on other machines such as HP's own
My review unit also came with a 100GB drive, smaller than the dv5000z's 120GB, but that's not a deal-breaker. In addition, the dv5000t has a dual-layer DVD burner—the best optical-drive option out there until Blu-ray and HD-DVD drives start shipping. There's a FireWire port here, too, for capturing video, plus three USB ports and an Intel a/g Wi-Fi radio.
Both Pavilion dv5000 models come with a 95-Wh battery, but only the Intel Core Duo-powered dv5000t was able to achieve more than 7 hours of battery life, surpassing its AMD counterpart by 2 hours.
The HP Pavilion dv5000t will cost you around $450 more than the dv5000z, but you'll get more than enough speed for the next two to three years at least. Couple that with the notebook's TV capabilities and other media-rich features, and I think you'll find the dv5000t a worthwhile investment.
See how the HP Pavilion dv5000t measures up to other systems in our
Benchmark Test Results
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