Entertainment laptop runs rings round HD video Mon, Nov 10. 2008
The HP DV5-1110EM is a perfect Entertainment Laptop with Blu-Ray DVD drive and Radeon HD3450 graphics card it is equally adapt at watching movies or playing games.
The laptop is powered by an AMD Turion X2 processor with 2 processing cores running at a respectable 2.10 Ghz for churning through video like a knife through butter. 3 GB DDR2 memory provides ample space to process and display video or games, although you might want to consider upgrading the OS to something state of the art (like Windows XP... haw haw) rather than using the Vista Home Premium that it is sold with.
Storage is in the form of a 250 GB hard drive, which is above average for a laptop, reflecting its multimedia / home cinema credentials as an entertainment laptop.
You can plug the laptop into your surround sound system to enjoy 3D sound for games, movies and music. 4 USB connections will allow you to plug in your iPod, printer, Skype handset and one more device - so its a sensible balance. If you're interested, it's also got an infra-red port which are rarely used but actually pretty good for syncing a basic Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone.
Many HP laptops have an S-Video output so it's a little dissapointing, but you can connect to many new digital flatscreen TVs with the laptop's HDMI (digital) output.
Weighing in at 2.65 kg you wouldn't rule this laptop out for business jetsetting, but that's not its purpose in life. For one thing it's also pretty large (259 mm * 357 mm *349 mm) but its high performance graphics and fast processor are also pretty tough on the battery life.
All in all a good little portable media laptop at a good price from a brand you can trust. It's available in Black / Silver from PC World priced £599 inc VAT.
HP Pavillion DV5-1000 series entertainment laptop
Storage is in the form of a 250 GB hard drive, which is above average for a laptop, reflecting its multimedia / home cinema credentials as an entertainment laptop.
You can plug the laptop into your surround sound system to enjoy 3D sound for games, movies and music. 4 USB connections will allow you to plug in your iPod, printer, Skype handset and one more device - so its a sensible balance. If you're interested, it's also got an infra-red port which are rarely used but actually pretty good for syncing a basic Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone.
Many HP laptops have an S-Video output so it's a little dissapointing, but you can connect to many new digital flatscreen TVs with the laptop's HDMI (digital) output.
In most circumstances you'll be more than happy watching your DVDs or the BBC's marvellous iPlayer on the 15.4" High Definition display, but sadly this entertainment laptops lacks a TV output!
Weighing in at 2.65 kg you wouldn't rule this laptop out for business jetsetting, but that's not its purpose in life. For one thing it's also pretty large (259 mm * 357 mm *349 mm) but its high performance graphics and fast processor are also pretty tough on the battery life.
All in all a good little portable media laptop at a good price from a brand you can trust. It's available in Black / Silver from PC World priced £599 inc VAT.
