The Bottom Line
Pros
- Powerful Desktop Processor
- Strong Multimedia Functions
- Good 3D Graphics
Cons
- Very Heavy
- Poor Battery Life
- TV Tuner External to Notebook
Description
- Intel Pentium 4 650 (3.4GHz) Desktop Processor
- 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 Memory
- 100GB 4,200rpm Hard Drive
- 8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with LightScribe
- 17" WXGA+ (1440x900) Wide Screen LCD Panel
- ATI Mobility Radeon X600 with 128MB Memory
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b/g Wireless
- Four USB 2.0, One FireWire, 6-in-1 Card Reader, ExpressCard/54 and One Type II PC Card Slot
- 15.7" x 11.4" x 2" @ 9.4 lbs.
- Windows XP Media Center Edition, Works 8, Money, Norton Internet Security, WinDVD, MuVee
Guide Review - HP Pavilion zd8230us
1/26/06 – HP's Pavilion zd8230us desktop replacement forgoes the use of the mobile processors in favor of the Intel Pentium 4 650 (3.4GHz) desktop processors. This means that the zd8230us is extremely fast at running applications, but the downside to this is that it does not have very good battery life when not plugged into the wall. The 1GB of PC2-4200 DDR memory should prevent slow downs with more memory intensive applications.
Storage on the zd8230us is quite good. The system comes with a very large 100GB hard drive for storing media files, but it runs at a slower 4200rpm speed reducing its overall performance. The 8x DVD+/-RW dual layer DVD burner supports LightScribe for burning labels directly to compatible CD and DVD media.
Graphics wise the zd8230us is quite good. The wide screen 17” LCD panel is great for watching DVDs or or even TV while working on other applications. The ATI Mobility Radeon X600 provides good 3D graphics although its 128MB of memory may limit games at higher resolutions. An external dual TV tuner is included with the system, but it would be nice to see this built into the system.
What the HP Pavilion zd8230us comes down to is portability. This notebook is really designed to be a small desktop media station that has the possibility of being portable. This is not the notebook for those looking to have a portable media center.
