- Blu-ray and HDTV Tuner
- Extremely Well Priced
- Display Resolution Doesn't Support 1080p Video
- Lots of Trialware Installed
- Uses Older Intel Core 2 Processor
- Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 Dual Core Mobile Processor
- 4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
- 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
- Blu-ray Reader and Dual Layer DVD Burner Combo Drive
- 17" WXGA+ (1440x900) Wide LCD With 1.3MP Webcam and Digital/Analog HDTV ExpressCard Tuner
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS with 512MB Memory
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless
- Four USB 2.0, FireWire, HDMI, ExpressCard/54, 5-in-1 Card Reader
- 15.2" x 11.7" x 1.6" @ 7.7 lbs.
- Vista Home Premium, MS Works, Photosmart Essentials, autoProducer, Cyberlink DVD Suite, Norton Internet Security
7/18//08 - HP has produced a pretty amazing system in the HP Pavilion dv9830us. It is probably one of the least expensive systems to be packed with the variety of multimedia features. It will appeal greatly to those looking to have a high definition multimedia platform that can be carried around. The Blu-ray compatible drive allows the system to playback high definition movies while the HDTV tuner allows it to record and playback over the air broadcasts. It also has the ability to playback and record traditional TV signals or DVD media.
Some videophiles will be disappointed to learn that the display of the Pavilion dv9830us only goes up to a 1440x900 resolution. This falls short of the required resolution for the system to truly handle a 1080p HD video signal. It does have an HDMI connector on it so that it can connect to an LCD panel or HDTV set to output the full 1080p signal.
In terms of performance, the Pavilion dv9830us is not a top of the line system. In order to reduce costs, HP has elected to use some lower end parts. For example, it uses an Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 dual core processor. This has decent performance, especially with the 4GB of DDR2 memory included in the system, but it will take longer than most of the higher T8000 and T9000 series processor based systems in tasks such as video transcoding. It also only uses a single 320GB drive that still has a lot of space, but not as much as two drive based desktop replacements.
It still performs strong enough as a general purpose laptop though. It can easily handle web browsing, office applications and even photo editing without any issues. This makes it a great choice for those on a tight budget that want a well rounded system with multimedia features.
