Hewlett-Packard has launched a newly designed 17-inch entertainment notebook PC – the HP Pavilion dv7z – powered by AMD’s “Puma” mobile platform.
The Pavilion dv7z includes an AMD Turion X2 Ultra, Turion X2, or Athlon mobile CPU, depending on customer’s choice, and the ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics or Radeon HD 3450 256MB dedicated video card. The dv7z comes with up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, single or dual hard drives for up to 500GB of storage, and a DVD burner or Blu-Ray optical drive.
The 17″ display in the HP dv7z provides two resolution choices: 1440-by-900 or 1680-by-1050 pixels. Optionally, customers can configure the notebook with glass that covers the LCD screen from edge to edge, “giving the appearance of a never-ending display”.
Networking features include 802.11b/g wireless with upgrade option to 802.11 draft n standard, Ethernet LAN, and optional 56k modem and Bluetooth.
The laptop has four USB ports (4th shared with eSATA port), an ExpressCard slot, HDMI and VGA outputs, Altec Lansing stereo speakers, as well as optional web camera and fingerprint reader. The official specifications sheet does not mention any media card reader or Firewire port in the system.
HP’s Pavilion dv7z includes a full-size keyboard with a numeric pad and the new streamlined design with high-gloss onyx and chrome HP Imprint 2 Mesh finish.
It weighs 7.57 pounds with an 8-cell battery and runs Windows Vista operating system.
The dv7z starts at $949.99 and is available for purchase now through Hewlett-Packard’s online store.
Actually, the OS recovery dvd can be included for an additional $19. Also, the radeon hd 3200 still performs marvelously with games,it hailed as the best igp so far, see for yourself. this laptop is the best bang for your buck.
It is also available with intel processors (dv7t series) and the video car they are currently providing with this unit is the 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS & 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT. This are great cards by the way!. On the processor you can go up to Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.8 GHz) which is at the level with current desktop which is unusual.
As mention above, this is a better Notebook PC than the dv9700t & dv7z series since you are allowed to upgrade to a better processor, video card, display and other nice options, however everyone should be aware that HP does not include or provide an option to request or purchase the OS Recovery DVD with Genuine Window Vista/XP, which is very important in case you need to format, reinstall, partition, etc your PC in the future. I know that the recovery disk can be purchase for as little as $20 online, but the window disk (which you are supposed to get) is very expensive considering you are paying for that to be included.
(Quick personal note) This was the mayor reason why i decided to go with the dv9700t series (i purchased it yesterday). I still think is a great price for the system i am getting, which is better that all the laptops i research in that price range. My system included 2.5ghz, 4gb of Ram, 512mb NVidia GeForce 8600, 17″ Display (1680 x 1050), bluetooth, & 240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2).
All this for a total price of $1,500.00 ($150 dollar instant rebate + $200 off coupon). This unit starts at $949 in case you are wondering. Totally worth it.