Notebook Critic

This notebook is a beauty, its HP Imprint Finish really makes it stand out. A magnetic latch, high gloss finish with fingerprint embossing (ironic because this thing will be a fingerprint magnet) and lots of blue consumer-electronic-looking LEDs give the dv2404 a very classy appearance.

The weight and size are both quite good. At only 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) and just 2.6 cm (1 inch) thin you won’t find carrying this unit around taxing.

Above the high-gloss screen sits a 1.3 Megapixel webcam that is flanked on either side by what appear to be stereo microphones.

HP uses an orthodox keyboard and touchpad layout, nothing funky that will require retraining your fingers (unlike the Toshiba Satellite A100 and A200 series). An array of media buttons lines the top of the keyboard – these buttons have the pale blue backlighting I mentioned earlier.

First Boot

As good as my first impression of the d2404 was, the first boot was a chore. A friendly little setup program starts where an abbreviated (in this case) Vista installer leaves off. This isn’t bad at all, although just when you think HP has learned something from Apple, they shove a stack of junk mail in your face – do you have Internet? Would you like to buy service from our friends? Maybe if we hide the next step in the wizard you’ll buy something in frustration just to get the process over with. Like a wildebeest set upon by hyenas, eventually some consumer will give-up (resigned to their fate) and buy something.

But this ordeal doesn’t stop at the setup stage. HP feels that it is a good idea to saddle their computers with an absurd amount of crap ware. We are talking about certified useless junk ware less valuable than the unsolicited clutter stuffed into your home’s mailbox – Vonage, Earthlink, WildTangent, Vonago, Rhapsody, Norton 60 day demo and about three Yahoo search boxes in various places. The only thing missing from HP’s spiel is a pitch for some sub-prime mortgages or a piece of a time-share condo.

My words may seem harsh but stop and think about it and you will realise that there are few things that show as much contempt for the consumer as this sort of garbage being preinstalled on a computer that you paid good money for. Even worse, how many PC reviews have you read that slam junk ware? Heck, Apple even created a Mac advertisement poking fun at this PC tradition. Very few of even the HP developed applications are useful.

It isn’t hard to imagine that many users would be disappointed by the default configuration’s performance as the dv2404’s 1024 MB of RAM chokes on all the junk ware. Luckily for HP, I knew that buried under all this junk was a pretty good little computer. About ten minutes passed before I could get reliable cursor focus and start uninstalling stuff.

Performance

Once you have dealt with the DV2404’s silly software you can really start to appreciate it. First, the display is really bright with excellent contrast and colour saturation. This is very easy on the eyes. At 1280*800 most people should be OK with the text size on screen and amount of usable screen real estate. I find there is room for one page (web or Word) with the Vista Sidebar still visible.

Second, the AMD Athlon TK-53 and 1024 MB of RAM are able to run Vista nicely. I tend to multitask a lot, and with MS Word 2007 and Browsers open I did not experience any performance hiccups. One of the Vista features that has grown on me is the sidebar and a gadget that I always keep open is the CPU and Memory tachs. This gadget displays the current CPU load and memory usage. On the DV2404 I found the memory usage to range from an infrequent low of 48% to a high of 65%. More RAM would be better, and with dual channel 2 GB kits selling for well under $100 CDN this might make a good upgrade.

The TK-53 CPU is more than up to the task of running Vista and office applications. It handles media well too, assisted in some part by the NVidia GeForce 6150 video accelerator. This is simply an economy version of the Turion, with similar power ratings and performance (much like what Intel has done with their detuned Core Duo chips labelled as Pentium Mobile Dual Core). If the video chip were a bit more capable, you could probably play some recent games on it.

The Hitachi 160 GB HDD inthe DV2404 provides ample storage - especially for an economy notebook. The 5400 rpm speed of the drive provides good performance. Optical recording is robust, the DV2404’s 8x dual layer multi-DVD burner with Lightscribe is excellent. Some good full featured software from Roxio makes it all work.

I really like the media control bundled with the DV2404. Not only does it work well with HP Quickplay software, but it also works with MS Mediacenter. I found that it worked well from six feet away – useful if you are using the DV2404 to play music or if it is outputting to a larger screen.

Heat and noise can become issues on small notebooks as they lack the material and space for internal airflow required to dissipate heat. When plugged in the DV2404 is quiet, but it gets hot after about an hour. I was still able to use it on my laptop without discomfort. Unplugged heat ceased to be an issue.

Battery life was acceptable. I found in normal use that I could expect 2.5 to 4 hours of use with a tweaked power profile (lower LCD brightness being the key tweak).

The keyboard and mouse are laid out normally without surprises. I found both to be a pleasure to use. The keyboard is very close to that of a ThinkPad or MacBook it offers a good tactile feel without a flexy base. This keyboard is much better than what I have experienced on comparable Toshiba and Acer notebooks. The Touchpad was perfect out of the box and required no sensitivity tweaks.

Webcam and microphone performance was good. I tested the DV2404 with Skype making a few video calls and experienced no problems.

Wireless 802.11g performance is excellent. This little HP has no problem seeing lots of local networks in my area and holding on when connected.

Audio performance is pretty good if a little tinny.

Conclusion

Each year I find myself amazed at the computing values available during the back to school rush. My own non-scientific observations have led me to believe that this time of year is when you will find the best deals on computers.

This year the single core varietals were pushed down to incredibly low prices – will we see sub $300 notebooks in fall of 2008? The mainstream models have been pushed down into the $500-600 range and that is exactly where the DV2404 fits. For about half the price of an (admittedly faster) MacBook, HP has delivered a very good value.

Performance is very good for notebook of this class with few caveats. The DV2404 is also an attractive notebook that will not embarrass the owner – student, home user or business professional.

Pros:

• Attractive design
• Solid construction
• Media features (reader, QuickPlay, remote, webcam)
• Solid platform (TK-53, 6150, Broadcom)
• Excellent screen
• Value priced
  

Con:

• Too much junk ware

Verdict: Buy