Tone Review Blogging
As the post indicates, I do reviews for Tone magazine, usually phones, laptops, universal remotes, plus a few odds and sods (such as the Logitech Squeezebox, fantastic product!). I keep mentioning to Tone that I would like to blog about my reviews, since (naturally) there is limited scope for personal opinion and comments in a print magazine that does not exist (so much) in an on-line forum.
Having recently reviewed the HP Pavilion HDX-02 Laptop and posting a blog entry about it, I thought I would re-post it here. Jezz, what a machine! This thing is LARGE! I took it into work and it quickly became known as the ‘man-book’. It is very heavy and using it on your lap you really feel the weight. Then there is the screen hinge, which is quite unique. Inside of having a hinge at the base of the screen and attaching to the base like normal, the screen is hinged in the middle (see picture). This results in the screen being closer to you, which is good because the unit itself is so deep, and the screen so heavy, having it hinged to the base would cause it to be unstable.
The HDX 02 also has a 2600XT video card, the most powerful I have used in a laptop, and it is great. I played through some of the demo of World in Conflict and it was beautifully smooth. Also, as noted in the review, you would think a screen this large would run at some uber-high resolution like 1920x1200, but wisely HP have keep the resolution lower, meaning the screen is beautiful and clear and STILL easy to read!
One thing I didn’t manage to get tested was the DVB capabilities, as the unit comes with both terrestrial and digital tuners. The supplied aerial was crap, even in the Auckland CBD it didn’t pickup any channels.
One other thing I liked about this machine was the overall finish, it has a unique pattern to it which adds to the flare.Other related posts:
MVix MX-780HD Review
Comment by maverick, on 28-DEC-2007 15:17
I took a look at this unit, didn't see it as a viable laptop alternative just due to the size and weight, I do concur though nice screeen 
Comment by kinsten, on 28-DEC-2007 15:25
What the, how do I get me one of these? It looks AMAZING. I can see where the term ManBag came from!
Comment by Fossie, on 29-DEC-2007 13:30
Tone is one of the only tech magazines I read now, the others keep dumbing their content down. If you still have that man-book, you should give digital tv a go.
Comment by freitasm, on 30-DEC-2007 07:34
I have an Acer Ferrari 5000 (64 bit, dual core, 2GHz, 2 GB RAM, 60 GB SATA). It's a good desktop replacement for speed - and it is actually a laptop. Much more "transportable" than the HP...
Comment by Mycenius, on 31-DEC-2007 11:14
Tim, Re: that magazine & forums, and such: that is just symptomatic of the
'quality' of the magazine (all IMHO of course), most serious Hi-Fi, Home-
Theatre, & Audiophile people I know avoid it (and have done so for a
long time) and it's for a good reason (again IMHO). I think you'll find its
just symptomatic of the audience that magazine gets...
P.S. Nothing personal or anything either, just saying I don't know anyone
who has ever expected much from it so I wouldn't expect anymore from
any online presence.
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Comment by freitasm, on 28-DEC-2007 10:59
If you want more readers then may I suggest changing the title on this post to something like "product xyz review"?