HP Pavilion dv7-1000ea review

HP's dv7-1000ea is a large, Blu-ray-equipped laptop for less than £800 including VAT. It has a stylish glossy black lid and screen bezel, and there's room inside for a full keyboard with number pad.

The big touch pad has a shiny surface. We've previously had trouble with such designs, but this one is surprisingly accurate. A touch-sensitive panel above the keyboard has media playback short cuts, a volume control and a short cut to the bundled QuickPlay media software. In between this control panel and the keyboard is a metal grille that hides a pair of Altec Lansing speakers.

We tested the Blu-ray drive with Casino Royale and found the QuickPlay software to be very user-friendly. As well as the touch-sensitive controls, a mini remote control is stored in the ExpressCard/54 slot. The 1,440x900 pixel 17in screen can't display the full detail of Blu-ray, but image quality was still great. In our colour tests, the display showed a bias towards warmer colours, which is ideal for watching movies. The glossy screen suits watching films or playing games in a darkened room, but we don't recommend using it under bright lights.

The speakers were impressive for a laptop, and proved adequate for a small living room. For a more immersive home cinema feel, it would be advisable to connect some meatier speakers.

The dv7-1000ea has HDMI, FireWire and four USB ports. Disappointingly, there's no S/PDIF output, though you could output digital audio via the HDMI port. A docking port is available for £60 including VAT from www.lambda-tek.com. This includes six more USB ports, a VGA port and a coaxial S/PDIF. The dv7-1000ea is too big and heavy for regular mobile use, but its battery life of three-and-a-half hours will provide plenty of time for work on the move. Playing a Blu-ray movie uses the full processing power of the laptop, though, so will drain the battery quite quickly.

Compared to the more expensive £1,000 models we reviewed last month (see Labs, Shopper 251), the dv7-1000ea's specification stands up well. It uses the same Nvidia 9600M GT graphics chip as two of the laptops reviewed there, but has a slightly slower processor. A Call of Duty 4 score of 22.4fps is decent for a laptop at this price, and at a lower resolution of 1,024x768 and with anti-aliasing disabled, it managed a playable 31.5fps. The dv7-1000ea won't handle the latest and most demanding 3D titles, but it will run most games at low-detail settings.

Blu-ray laptop prices are falling fast, but with a big 17in screen and a graphics card capable of playing most games, the dv7-1000ea is more of an all-round entertainer. It thoroughly deserves our Best Buy award.

Author: Barry de la Rosa