Foreword:

While on the outside, the HP Pavilion dv2500t looks like your average run-of-the-mill HP laptop, it is on the inside that the clear difference between its cousins jumps right at you. It has a 14.1” widescreen with an Intel Centrino Duo powering its innards along with an Intel integrated X3100 graphics card or NVIDIA Go 8400m mobile graphics processor. The BrightView screen is amazing for multimedia purposes, coupled with the latest integrated chipset that makes it one of the more likable mainstream media notebooks that also performs well for a business laptop while being small enough to be portable.

+Ves:

• As a multimedia laptop, the 14.1” BrightView widescreen is very bright and lucid, bringing colors vividly to life. With the integrated Direct X 10 compatible X3100 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator that smoothly renders videos. The LCD itself is improved from the older dv2000t delivering a clear screen with better viewing angles.
• With a faster Front Side Bus (FSB) of 800MHz as opposed to 667MHz found in older laptops and a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 that performs much better than many of its older counterparts and quite a bit of its competition. It is bundled with a 2GB RAM that is optimal for this configuration.
• The build quality is excellent with a full-sized keyboard and Alps touchpad thrown in for quality input. The battery life is decent and the laptop is very cool while running.
• The laptop comes with a one-year warranty on parts and labor along with online, phone and email support. A sixty-day subscription to Norton Antivirus is also bundled along with this laptop.
• With the unique Radiance imprint that looks like crop circles, a backlit DVD player, a 1.3 MP webcam (with a slightly lower resolution), a 5-in-1 card reader fitted within 5.3lbs, the laptop is great for those looking for a good multimedia-capable laptop that costs lesser than $1500 (this one comes for $1409 direct).

-Ves:

• The screen resolution is low at 1280×800. While it is great for multimedia, the low-end discrete card is not exactly made for gaming.
• The lid is a fingerprint magnet because of its glossy finish and needs constant wiping.
• The keyboard is slightly concave and you may experience some issues while typing.
• There are some issues while disconnecting Bluetooth.
• There are no options for legacy BIOS.
• The Matshita DVD-RAM is very noisy when running at high speeds and if the disc has not been balanced, it also rattles.

Final Word:

While not exactly a gaming laptop, the dv2500t performs admirably as a solid multimedia capable laptop. With advanced chipsets from Intel powering its innards and an excellent LCD screen to boot, this is one of those options to consider when you are looking for a well-priced entry in the portable multimedia segment. At $1409, there is no reason not to go for this if you are interested in buying one in this price range.