HP Pavilion HDX9000 review

Whether you're watching HD DVD or telly on the built-in Freeview tuner, the integrated speaker system sounds surprisingly good, partly because of an integrated subwoofer on the base of the laptop. It won't wake the neighbours, but it provides a well-balanced sound. Audiophiles can connect headphones to ports at the front of the laptop, or external speakers to audio outputs at the rear.

The RF aerial socket for the integrated Freeview tuner lets you watch TV straight out of the box

The machine has various extras, which you'll mainly find useful for showing off to your friends. There's a fingerprint reader; array mics (for more accurate voice recognition) an ExpressCard reader and 2-megapixel webcam. The most useful of its extras is probably the 12-in-1 memory card reader, which comes in handy for transferring images from your digital camera or MP3 player.

The software package doesn't present many surprises. You get Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, Microsoft Works 8.0 and a bundle of multimedia programs including Roxio Creator Premier, Muvee AutoProducer Premium and SerifWeb Plus. There's no Web security software, so we recommend you buy or download an antivirus application as soon as you buy the laptop, or feel the wrath of a thousand viruses.

Performance
The HDX9000 has a very well-rounded specification. We'd even go as far as calling it high end. It failed to run our PCMark 2005 and 3DMark 2006 benchmarks, but in the week or two we tested it, it felt easily as fast as any Vista laptop we've used. It will feel really comfortable and quick whether you're browsing the Web, editing audio or video, or even playing games.

These 20-inch laptops aren't designed to have long battery life, and the HDX9000 is no different. Its nine-cell battery lasted 58 minutes in our Battery Eater test, but that's easily forgivable. As long as it's got enough battery life to carry between rooms in the home, it's good enough for us.

Conclusion
The Pavilion HDX9000 is the best 20-inch laptop we've seen. Its physical design isn't quite as extravagant as the Dell XPS M2010, and it lacks a handle, but it's more attractive, more powerful and is ultimately the best desktop replacement laptop money can buy.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday