The Envy brand was originally used as part of HP’s premium Voodoo line, but that Voodoo branding is now gone, leaving this a pure HP(HP DV1000 Battery)-labeled product. Like the 13-inch version of the Envy, this system features an aluminum body with a magnesium base, and the anonymous gunmetal gray lid contrasts nicely with a semi-random pattern of imprinted dots on the wrist rest.
Plus, it’s loaded with features, such as a fingerprint reader, PC Card and memory-card slots, FireWire, two USB ports, LAN and modem jacks, and (showing its business bent) a SmartCard reader. There’s also Draft-N Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and Fujitsu(FPCBP83 battery) says it will make wireless broadband available early in 2008. The only thing missing is an integrated optical drive; you’ll have to get one of Fujitsu’s compatible docking solutions or an external USB-connected drive. While that’s typical for an ultraportable, a few other makers (namely Toshiba and Sony) have managed to squeeze onboard optical drives into this weight class.
The trade-offs start with the design, a safe-but-dull silver-and-black color scheme. Then there’s the sound: In contrast to the quality of the LCD, the single built-in speaker offers thin, weak audio. The optical drive, meanwhile, is a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo unit, not a DVD burner. And the included software is skimpy: Vista Home Basic; CyberLink and NTI utilities for playing DVDs and burning CDs; and Acer(BTP-63D1 Battery)’s (admittedly handy) e-tools for data encryption, system recovery, and other tasks.
Measuring about 1×12.8×8.9 inches, the 5.2-pound system is petite enough to tote on your daily commute, but still very comfortable to use for long stretches. We love the smooth feel of our test unit’s matte-black polycarbonate case, though it tends to attract fingerprints.
Below the screen, HP(HP DV2000 battery) continues the high-fashion look with a sleek black-and-silver color scheme. For input, you get a spacious, full-size keyboard with a dedicated number pad and a wide, programmable touch pad with comfortable actuation buttons, a scroll zone, and a touch-pad on/off key.
Above the keyboard is a set of blue-backlit, touch-sensitive media keys, including a volume control and a button for launching HP(HP dv9000 Battery)’s proprietary QuickPlay software, which uses Vista’s HotStart feature to allow users to watch DVDs, play audio CDs, and browse photos without fully booting the OS. Our review unit also came with a built-in fingerprint reader, a convenient feature that’s inconveniently located on the lower-right side of the wrist rest, where it was too easy to accidentally brush against. (This caused pop-up windows to appear, interrupting our work, though you can disable them via the Control Panel.)
Granted, I’m rough on computers. I leave then running day and night. I inadvertently drop them, spill food and drinks on them, and trip over the power cord almost daily. Even when I’ve been gentle and careful and continuously run the latest antivirus software, my computers still break. Hard drives crash; buttons and switches malfunction; registry files corrupt; power adaptors blow out. Over the years I’ve faced every possible problem.
If you browse the Screwfix catalogue, you’ll see there’s recently been a flood of new lithium-ion-powered garden and workshop tools – they’re rapidly taking over from NiCd and NiMH thanks to lighter weight, longer life and lack of the pernicious “memory effect”.
There’s nothing that requires all those potential virtual desktops to run on Windows — let alone Windows 7 — Wolf acknowledges. While running virtual Windows 7 desktops would be cheaper than the real thing, it’s still not as cheap as the virtual XP desktops companies may already be running.
While no specific ratings are provided by the manufacturer, the D14RM has a shock resistant LCD screen and hard drive, the latter of which is mounted in its own shock cage. Despite this, the drive is still “field swappable.” It is fun to imagine people with dangerous jobs installing a hard drive in any number of intense situations. In fact, we see a major motion picture somewhere in all of this.