HP Pavilion dv5-1002nr review: HP Pavilion dv5-1002nr

The Pavilion dv5 is a solid machine. It feels very well built; the lid and wrist rest possess little of the flex found on other low-price laptops. The laptop's single, long hinge keeps the display firmly rooted in place. Weighing at 6.4 pounds, the Pavilion dv5 is a bit on the portly side for a 15-inch, mainstream laptop; by comparison, the Dell Inspiron 1525 weighs 6.1 and the Sony VAIO NR430 weighs 6.2 pounds. A 14-inch model, like the Gateway T-6836 or the Sony VAIO CR510, which each weigh closer to 5 pounds, might make a better bet for daily campus travel. Should you be willing to lug the Pavilion dv5 around, you'll find a rich feature set at your disposal.

The standout feature of the Pavilion dv5 is its strip of lighted, touch-sensitive media controls above the keyboard. In addition to the standard media transport buttons, there is a volume slider, a mute button, a Wi-Fi on/off switch, and a QuickPlay button. The buttons glow a pleasing white, and the mute and Wi-Fi buttons turn orange when you cut the volume or Wi-Fi signal. Though attractive and modern-looking, we still prefer a volume dial, as found on the Toshiba Satellite L305, because on more than one occasion the touch-sensitive volume control failed to respond to our touch.

Perhaps it's the humidity, but I don't enjoy the glossy finish on the touch pad. Sure, it improves the overall design of the laptop, lending it yet another chrome accent, but most laptop touch pads feature matte finish material, which allows your finger to move across the surface with little friction. The glossy finish here feels "grabby," a sentiment my wife also shares (I asked her to use it to remove the possibility of me having sweaty palms or fingertips). In the plus column for the touch pad are the wide and quiet mouse buttons below it, the vertical scroll area along its right edge, and a tiny on/off button above it.

The keyboard is roomy, but similar to the touch pad, the keys feature a glossy finish that aid the overall look but detract from actually typing. To these fingertips (and those of my wife), the keys felt a bit too slick (though they do feature good travel and are very quiet, as opposed to clacky). Still, this reviewer's favorite keyboard among 15-inch laptops remains that found on the Sony VAIO NR430 and NR498 models. Prior to purchase, take a few minutes in the laptop aisle of your local electronics retailer to get a sense for the keyboard and touch pad of any laptop you're considering.

The 15.4-inch wide-screen display on the HP Pavilion dv5 has a 1,280x800p native resolution--standard for a screen this size. The screen's glossy finish produces rich colors and contrast; we found it minimally distracting while surfing the Web and typing e-mail, but quite enjoyable for watching movies. A 1.3-megapixel Webcam above the display lets users conduct video chats. The Altec Lansing stereo speakers won't fill a room, but we did find that they produced less muddied sound at higher volumes compared with other laptops in this price range. They'll suffice for movie dialogue and effects, but you'll want to use the headphone jacks (there are two) for music.

An HDMI port lets you easily export audio and video to an HDTV (which we doubt is found in many dorm rooms or off-campus apartments), and an eSATA port allows for fast throughput to an external hard drive. Features absent in the Pavilion dv5 that you'll find on many mainstream laptops currently include a FireWire port, Bluetooth, and Draft N Wi-Fi.