The 20.1' HP HDX is something out of a hi-tech thriller. If anyone's ever study Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (of the DaVinci Code fame), this is actually the supercomputer they must've used to crack the codes.
From the 'Dragon' namesake decal about the lid to the extended keyboard below,
everything about this notebook screams 'greater purpose.' At a price tag approaching five big, it much better meet its looks. We'll find out.
In a word, none. This monster weighs in at 15.5 pounds, and also the 20.1' screen doesn't fit easily into anything. There's no locking latch, although the weight of being used usually enough to keep it in place. The HDX was created being a desktop unit, and not a travel device. To provide you with an object for comparison, here's the HDX against its smaller cousin, the HP Pavilion dv2000t 14' widescreen.
The case from the HP is covered in a decal recognized simply as the "Dragon" imprint finish. It covers the entire lid and also above the volume control once the monitor is raised.
Just about the most interesting functions of the HDX may be the way the observe is mounted to the unit. It uses a silver hinge that rotates both at the base and at the intersection of the hinge at observe. The reason of this hinge is two-fold. Very first, it gives the observe a higher degree of movement, that is useful given the monitor's large viewing size. Secondly, it is attached more securely than a typical hinge, and frees the monitor from torque caused by lifting the lid as per a typical hinge. With a 20.1' observe, enough twist can do some damage.
The keyboard sports 101 keys, which includes a dedicated numeric pad to the right, some thing I haven't observed in laptops I've reviewed in the past. Fifteen touch-sensitive controls line the top from the keyboard, backlit in a brilliant blue. They control everything from DVD options, wireless access, and volume control.
Left of keyboard sits among the handiest devices that the HDX provides, the remote control. It house 43 buttons in all, definitely the most intricate remote I've observed for a notebook.
The touchpad sits in a valley among the palm rests, and it demarcated by a textured surface, as other HP notebooks are. The two buttons below the touchpad give easily and provide decent feedback, although they felt overly soft about the model we received.
These were actually a non-issue using the system. The dual vents in the rear do an superb job of keeping air moving. During the review (which is becoming written on the HDX) the unit exhibited really little heat, although much more heat was from the left vent (close to the power cable) than the right choice. Of course, I was only using Microsoft Word and IE, so the load on the processors was minimal.
The notebook is dominated by a 20.1" WSXGA High-Defnition Ultra BrightView Widescreen Display. Even provided its name, the monitor is exceptionally bright, probably because of the dual-lamps that energy the images.
HP did an superb job using the HDX on audio. It sports four Altec Lansing speakers integrated into the bottom from the observe, and a genuine subwoofer that fires vibrations through the surface you're on.
Our HP model came using the standard 9-Cell Lithium-Ion battery. It's not enough to energy this PC for lengthy, so I think of it much more as an emergency than a real asset.
That's what this laptop is really all about. I use the term laptop merely within the nostalgic sense. There's practically nothing about this notebook that is conducive to putting it on your lap. It weighs almost 16 pounds, and is wide sufficient to eclipse even the most generous of thighs.
It looks like a winner out of your box, and doesn't disappoint during the entire procedure. When you can justify the price, it's the finest entertainment laptop currently available on the market.
