Here's a look at HP's laptop lineup from CES, including the new AMD Neo-powered Pavilion dv2, and the updated Mini 2140 Netbook.
Dan Ackerman
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications.
"Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
The HP Mini 2140 is a long-needed update to last year's Mini-Note 2133.
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With a brushed-metal chassis, it's sturdier than your standard plastic Netbook.
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We also really dig the ExpressCard/54 slot, a Netbook first.
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HP also uses this great and nearly full-size keyboard in its consumer-line Mini 1000.
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The biggest upgrade is that this line now has Intel's Atom processor, like pretty much every other Netbook on the planet.
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HP Pavilion dv2
Another AMD-powered multimedia laptop from HP? Yeah, we yawned at first, too.
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The catch is that this is the first system to use AMD's new Athlon Neo platform, which is kind of a slightly upscale CPU for ambitious Netbooks.
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AMD is targeting the Neo at systems that are a little bigger and a little more expensive than a typical Netbook--hence this 12-inch HP.
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We'll come right and say it: We love 13-inch laptops. One point we're fond of making is that in a world where we have 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and even 20-inch laptops, the 13-inch size is the biggest we'd consider carrying around on a regular basis, as well as the smallest we'd be able to use as a full-time work machine.
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We've always liked HP's snazzy dv-series designs, with their glossy finishes, metallic accents, and subtle imprint patterns. HP describes this new model as having, "an argyle-like pattern for subtle contrast to the liquid appearance of the metallic finish." Then again, matte black works for us, too.
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While the new dv3 is reasonably svelte, starting at 3.8 pounds and about 1.3-inches thick at its thickest part, we're most excited about the backlit keyboard--an extra we'd point out only comes with the more expensive $1,699 version of the 13-inch MacBook (and you can't even get the dv3's Express Card/34 slot in a 13-inch MacBook).
