Its Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics card scored 12,852 on 3DMark03 and 4,116 on 3DMark06, which simulates performance in more graphically intensive games. In addition to Blu-ray playback, the HDX 16's brilliant display is well suited for gaming, as is its GPU. Our system's hard drive delivered above-average performance on our LAPTOP Transfer Test, with a write speed of 17.9 MBps. If you like to store movies digitally, the 5,400-rpm, 250GB hard drive is spacious. When we tried playing a Blu-ray DVD while defragging the hard drive and running a Norton Internet Security 2008 scan, we didn't notice a single hiccup in playback.
It took just 1 second to launch World of Warcraft, but 4 seconds for Adobe Reader to launch. The notebook took 58 seconds to start up, which is right on target for a Vista notebook. The HDX 16's practical performance ranged from good to excellent. This score is more than a thousand points above average for a mainstream notebook.
It scored 4,143 on PCMark Vantage, which tests Vista notebooks' performance. The HDX runs on a Centrino 2 platform, complete with a 2.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 CPU and a generous 4GB of RAM. Users can also upload to YouTube from the YouCam console. The CyberLink YouCam software's robust feature package includes filters, animations, avatars, and distortions. What it lacks in image quality, however, it makes up for in special effects. The VGA webcam delivered sharp photos and ill-lit, poorly colored video (our yellow background looked green). Also, an ExpressCard/34/54 slot, a fingerprint reader on the right end of the palm rest, and a 5-in-1 memory card reader line the front. The HDX 16 has four USB ports, FireWire and eSATA ports, HDMI and VGA output, Ethernet and modem jacks, an infrared receiver, a Kensington lock slot, expansion port, and a microphone and dual headphone ports. Plus, you can adjust the bass and treble separately using the touch-sensitive controls above the keyboard. The Altec Lansing speakers, which stretch across the chassis above the touch panel, produced loud, rich sound-a far cry from most notebooks' tinny audio. For now, the cost of the machine with a regular BD-R drive is $1,824. Our configuration included a rewritable Blu-ray drive, which will not be available on the HDX 16 until December (no word on pricing yet for this amenity).
#WINDOWS X16 96076 HP PAVILION TV#
Like the HDX 20, the HDX 16 has a built-in TV tuner, which was easy to set up but delivered a scratchy (but still-viewable) picture when we watched live TV via the included aerial tuner. Unfortunately, the glossy screen has a relatively small range of viewing angles we couldn't push the screen as far forward or sit as far to the side as less-glossy displays allow. When we watched an episode of Heroes from a Blu-ray disc, we enjoyed vibrant colors and sharp details. We love how the glass stretches all the way across, meaning there's no raised bezel. The 16-inch display, with its 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio, is stunning. These buttons (most of which control media playback) were finicky, but HP warned us this would be the case since we tested a pre-production unit. As a final touch, the HDX, like the DV series, has a touch-sensitive panel of buttons above the keyboard and matching HP logo on the lid, both of which glow pale purple. As for the keyboard, it's equally quiet and comfortable.