We're quite used to Sony and Apple holding all the aces when it comes to beautifully-stylish laptops. So it was a real surprise when we found some genuine competition in the guise of HP's Pavilion DV9292EU.
The case is a sight to behold, with the 'imprint finish' on the lid resembling the contours of a giant fingerprint. It's solid and durable though, with plenty of protection for the screen and the large, comfortable keyboard has a full-sized numeric keypad alongside it.
Built to entertainThe vast majority of the HP's additional features have entertainment in mind, the most obvious of which is the HDMI port on the laptop's left side. Allowing high definition TV and projector owners to display photos and video on the big screen, it's a connection that's likely to become increasingly common on entertainment laptops as it becomes standard on home AV equipment.
Then there's the ExpressCard 54 slot, which has not one but two possible uses. Most of the time, you'll use it as a convenient hiding place for the tiny remote control, sliding it out whenever you want to use the laptop as a media player. This is because the HP comes with the superb QuickPlay installed, allowing you to listen to music or play a DVD without having to load Windows.
The other use for the slot is TV, as the D9292EU also comes with an ExpressCard DVB-T tuner, ready to take full advantage of Vista Home Premium's Media Center software. Obviously, you'll still need an external aerial like any normal TV - perhaps one day we might see effective TV aerials built into laptops in the same way as wireless antennas - but you can still plug it in at home, record your favourite programs and then watch them on the train.
The huge 17in screen is a glossy one, but despite being reflective under really bright lights, it gives vibrant image quality. The 1440 x 900 native resolution seems a little stingy on such a high-quality laptop, but it's still sharp and crisp in use, and the accompanying Altec Lansing speakers put most laptop sound systems to shame. Inside, the HP offers even greater temptations such as the huge 160GB hard disk, integrated webcam and all-formats card reader.
Keeping the cost downThe DV9292EU is best described as capable rather than blisteringly fast. The main compromise to keep the cost manageable is power - the 2GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 lags quite a bit behind a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo equivalent as a score of 123% in our benchmarks proves. Still, that's not slow by any means and the provision of 2GB of RAM will keep things running smoothly for some time to come. With a result of 39% in our Call of Duty 2 benchmark, the GeForce 7600 GT graphics will cope with gaming at the screen's native resolution as long as you don't go overboard with the settings.
Given its size, portability isn't a major strength, but if you're happy to leave it on a desk it'll keep you more than entertained. And on those occasions when you do take it on your travels, the battery is better than you'd expect - we got nearly 3 hours of light use and 2 hours and 5 minutes in our DVD rundown test.
The paltry single year of collect-and-return warranty is a big disappointment, but the overall high quality of the build suggests that this shouldn't become too much of an issue in the long run. And if you have comprehensive home contents insurance its not worth worrying about in the slightest. All in all, the HP Pavilion DV9292EU is a superb entertainment laptop at a competitive price that's sure to have Sony and the other style kings glancing nervously over their shoulders.
A superb entertainment laptop at a competitve price. A wonderfully designed laptop that sacrifices portability and power in order to entertain.A superb entertainment laptop at a competitve price. A wonderfully designed laptop that sacrifices portability and power in order to entertain.Author: David Bayon
HP Pavilion DV9292EU