The Hewlett Packard DV2-1010ea falls between being a fully-fledged laptop and a netbook and makes a surprising compromise between the two. It’s a 12.1-inch machine that is high on build quality and low on weight. See how we got on with the Hewlett Packard DV2-1010ea in our full-scale review….
The Hewlett Packard DV2-1010ea has a 12.1-inch screen with a more than satisfactory 1280 x 800-pixel resolution. This is very much what we’d expect from a laptop of this size but the DV2-1010ea has more in keeping with a netbook than a laptop.
For instance, you’ll find the same high quality keyboard as used on the Compaq Mini 702EA, which feels great to the touch and being nearly full-size makes for a pleasant typing experience. The screen is supported by the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410, which is part of the chipset and handles most video tasks with a degree of ease.
However, where this machine differs from the standard netbook is in terms of processor choice. Instead of an Intel Atom, you’ll find the AMD Athlon Neo, which packs in the same 1.6GHz processing speed. Backed by 1024MB of memory and shipping with 160GB hard drive, you’ll find the spec is in keeping with most netbooks.
The use of Windows Vista Home Basic is a little unusual in a machine of this size and in performance we found that it was rather slow to load up applications and to save tasks. This is largely due to the lack of system memory and an upgrade would quickly solve this.
The build quality is really high and the DV2-1010ea feels great in the hand. Extras include an external DVD rewriter, which is a nice touch as it means you can install programs much easier, as well as watch DVDs on the move. The device itself comes with Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, as well as two USB ports and even VGA-out and HDMI ports.
Verdict
The Hewlett Packard DV2-1010ea is a surprisingly decent machine for the price. HP has stayed away from many of the traits of a standard netbook and instead produced a rather unique machine that is only let down by a rather slow loading OS.
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Best features
Good screen
Comfortable keyboard
Decent spec for price
Not so good
Slow to load
Needs more RAM
Average battery life
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