Overview
Ah, how sweet it is when a computer is designed to be beautiful both inside and out.Sony VGP-BPS9 Such is the case with the HP HDX 16, which sports a stylish silver-streaks pattern on the lid and keyboard (including sending the streaks through the track pad) to go along with the 16” flush-glass 1920x1080 16:9 HDTV ready LCD. While that’s the most stunning part of the computer, our model also came with a P7350 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, a 512MB nVidia GeForce 9600M GPU, 4GB RAM, a 250GB HDD and a Blu-ray player. The cost will thin your wallet a little,Sony VGP-BPS9A/B but for a pretty potent portable (well, semi-portable) like the HP HDX 16, we’ve seen worse.
Design
HP has given its HDX a sleek “titanium liquid metallic” look,Sony VGP-BPS9/B with silver and charcoal lines racing along the charcoal lid and palmrest. The lines on the palmrest streak right through the shiny silver trackpad, the trail turning to gray for the duration. HP has harnessed the HDX16 with a number of pale purple glowing icons as well,Sony VGP-BPS9/S beginning with a luminescent HP logo on the bottom left corner of the lid. Above the keyboard resides a glowing power button along with glowing touch buttons for multimedia control and wireless internet.inspiron 6400 battery Slightly above that is a speaker bay which spans the length of the keyboard, and after a small HP logo there is nothing above that save the LCD and integrated webcam. The surface of the lid and palmrest is glossy and smooth, matching the look, although this did leave the expected telltale fingerprints.
Size and Weight
The HDX16 is not small,Sony VGP-BPS8B weighing in at 7.3 pounds and with dimensions of 14.9 x 10.0 x 1.7 inches. Still, it is small enough to fit into standard laptop bags without issue, and light enough that you can lift it and move it around if you need to,inspiron 1525 battery although you won’t want to much. Although we wouldn’t mind it lighter, we found that the HDX fit comfortably on our lap, with the screen sturdy enough to avoid wobbling while typing or readjusting. The size is a little thick when you’re holding it,Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad T60 but not prohibitively so, and we do admit that the extra bulk gives an impression of solidity, rather than the flimsy feeling some smaller laptops give.xps m1330 battery
Keyboard
The keyboard is full size and includes a number pad, although the latter is somewhat shrunken.dell d620 battery The keyboard was comfortable to type on and relatively quiet. Above the keyboard are the lighted touch sensitive multimedia controls along with wireless internet control, which certainly look stylish above embedded in the silver frame of the keyboard,HP 510 and we’ll talk more about them later.HP Pavilion DV9000 The trackpad is placed just left of center and is smooth to the touch. Unlike other trackpads where occasionally our finger would stick uncomfortably after a long scroll, we never felt that on the HDX16. There is also a button placed directly above the trackpad which turns it on or off. While it didn’t come up often due to the limited portability,Sony VGP-BPS8A it’s an appreciated convenience to be able to easily press that off button after plugging in an external mouse.Sony VGP-BPS8
Display quality
The HP HDX16 shines in this category, literally.Toshiba PA3399U-1BAS The 16” LCD with a 1920x1080,Sony VGP-BPS10 16:9 1080p resolution viewed on a glossy flush-glass display delivers stunning colors and brightness. The HDX is clearly designed for this, and while our model did not come with a TV tuner it can be easily customized to do so. Our model did come with a Blu-ray player, which looked beautiful on the LCD.Sony VGP-BPS13A/B The gloss does have the expected problems of glare, especially when outside, but the brightness is powerful enough to at least combat that to a degree, and indoors there is no problem. Angled viewing was also surprisingly good, with slight distortion only at extreme side and upper angles,apple a1060 battery although viewing from below is difficult.
Connectivity description
The HDX16 still some decent connectivity options, most of which are nested on the left side of the unit.apple a1045 battery Some of the noteworthy features include HDMI, eSATA, and Firewire (which even Macbooks don’t come with anymore).
If you read only one side of this machine’s connectivity, let it be this one.Fujitsu lifebook s6510 battery We start off with a VGA port, followed by an ExpressCard 34/54 slot. Next up is the Ethernet port, HDMI, the eSATA/USB port, a standard USB port, Firewire, and the integrated remote. Not bad for one side. The exhaust is also hidden underneath the back left corner of the HDX, so don’t be surprised if that side gets a little hot.
The right side’s features are a little simpler, with the power cord,Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad X60 a third USB port, the Blu-ray drive, and a fourth and final USB port.
The front of the unit has a few more small features hidden neatly underneath the tapered edge.Acer Aspire 4710 On the left we have the multicard reader, and on the right we have the audio in/out (note, there are two audio out jacks, which means you and your friend can both watch that movie on the airplane without splitting up your earbuds.)
The rear of the unit doesn’t house much of anything,Dell latitude e6400 battery as the LCD pivots back to cover this side, leaving no options for connectivity ports.
Upgrading:
Upgrading is possible through HP’s site. There are five Intel Core Duo processor options,xps m1330 battery beginning with our model (2.0 GHz P7350) and going all the way up to pretty top of the line stuff like the 2.8GHz P9600. RAM can be had in 2GB, 3GB or 4GB options (remember to get a 64bit version of Vista if you want to use more than 3GB RAM), and the HDD can be upgraded from 250GB to 320GB.
Features
The HP HDX16 comes with a number of features, but most of the exceptional ones focus on multimedia enhancement. The most noticeable of these is the set of touch sensitive buttons above the keyboard. These buttons, from left to right, allow you to bring up the “HP MediaSmart” panel, followed by the standard rewind-stop-play/pause-fast forward buttons, and an eject button. There is also a touch sensitive slider for volume and even for adjusting treble/bass, as well as a mute button. These sliders are convenient and certainly pretty, but unfortunately they’re a little touchy (minding the pun). During movie playback we tried to adjust the volume up and down, and after a short time doing this a delay began to accrue, and there was no way to remove the adjustment panel in the center of the screen which blocked out our movie. The other touch buttons also became unresponsive during this delay. We could forgive HP if the delay lasted for just a few seconds, but we were forced to have our movie interrupted for almost five irritating minutes. Over time one could probably get used to the extreme sensitivity, but the sliders seem like they might have a little more style than substance.
There are a few other nice features on the HDX. Continuing on the touch button theme, there is a touch button to turn wireless connectivity on/off which worked fine (as did the mute button – the buttons were reasonably accurate, unlike both sliders) and was convenient. There is also an integrated fingerprint reader. It’s interesting to note that not only can the fingerprint reader log you into your computer, but you can also use preinstalled software to register your fingerprint to certain sets of passwords, enabling you to log yourself into your favorite websites securely without typing (or remembering your password). The integrated webcam, Blu-ray disc, and stylish finish are also nice additions.
