Computing: HP Pavilion HDX 02 Review

I have just finished my review of the HP HDX 02, and jezz, what a machine!  This thing is LARGE!  I took it into work and it quickly became known as the ‘man-book’.  It is very heavy and using it on your lap you really feel the weight.  Then there is the screen hinge, which is quite unique.  Inside of having a hinge at the base of the screen and attaching to the base like normal, the screen is hinged in the middle (see picture).  This results in the screen being closer to you, which is good because the unit itself is so deep, and the screen so heavy, having it hinged to the base would cause it to be unstable.

The HDX 02 also has a 2600XT video card, the most powerful I have used in a laptop, and it is great.  I played through some of the demo of World in Conflict and it was beautifully smooth.  Also, as noted in the review, you would think a screen this large would run at some uber-high resolution like 1920×1200, but wisely HP have keep the resolution lower, meaning the screen is beautiful and clear and STILL easy to read!

One thing I didn’t manage to get tested was the DVB capabilities, as the unit comes with both terrestrial and digital tuners.  The supplied aerial was crap, even in the Auckland CBD it didn’t pickup any channels.