First impressions of HP's Pavilion DV2

Betanews took a closer look at HP's forthcoming Pavilion DV2, a 12.1" notebook that the company is pushing as an ultra lightweight entertainment device, and the first one sporting AMD's Yukon platform.

Let's talk about the "entertainment" specs first. It has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics unit, up to 500 GB of storage, HP's MediaSmart software, and support for an external Blu-ray drive. This last item was a sore point for us in handling the DV2 this morning. If it's a notebook being emphasized for its entertainment features and discrete graphics processing, the omission of a built-in optical drive of any sort is definitely an impediment to users.

Also, to quote the fine print on DV2's spec sheet: "As Blu-Ray Ray [sic] is a new format containing new technologies, certain disc, digital connection, compatibility and/or performance issues may arise and do not constitute defects in the product. Flawless playback on all systems is not guaranteed. In order for some Blu-Ray titles to play. They may require a DVI or HDMI digital connection and your display may require HDCP support. This Blu-Ray drive does not support writing to high speed CR-RW media (16x and 32x advertised speed.)"

Now let's talk physical design. The DV2 is aesthetically pleasing in its gloss black finish with silver embellishments, and the 12.1" form factor is big enough to provide a comfortable keyboard and suitably large screen. Unfortunately, the chassis suffers from another critical error: the trackpad.

HP delivers a highly unconventional trackpad on its netbook line that has been an undeniable problem for many reviewers, so it is good to see that design trend limited to the Mini-Note, especially since both the size and internals of the DV2 bring it precariously close to that device class. However, the DV2's trackpad is too narrow and the gap between the mouse buttons and the lip of the notebook is too large. The narrowness of the trackpad makes one-handed use difficult, it forces the one-handed user to angle his hand in such a way that when his thumb goes to click the mouse button, it hits the margin underneath the buttons instead.

The Pavilion HP DV2 will be available in the spring.