On a recent flight to Asia, I noticed a few fellow travelers curiously staring at my HP Pavilion dv2 notebook.  I could see their minds working as they tried to identify what it was ― “A netbook?” “Maybe it’s an expensive ultraportable?”

Along the same lines, the early reviews of the HP Pavilion dv2 try to shoehorn the product into one of two existing categories: netbook or full-size notebook. However, the truth is it is neither. It has the functionality of a mainstream notebook, but in a sleeker and ultraportable form factor, made possible with AMD’s platform for ultrathin notebooks.

The ultrathin dv2 is literally in-between.

When consumers are looking to purchase a laptop, I think there are five things they should consider: form factor, user experience, battery life, processing power, and of course their budget.  Let’s see how the dv2 rates relative to other systems I’ve used recently.

Head to Head

This feedback is based on how the dv2 fared during my week of travel:

-      Form factor:

o   The HP Pavilion dv2 is light and ideal for traveling, weighing in at less than four pounds.

o   Compared to other machines I’ve taken on trips over the last year, the dv2 was noticeably lighter.

-      User experience:

o   The dv2 has about 92% of a standard keyboard, and with a very responsive trackpad was very easy to use.

o   The dv2 also delivered strong audio with internal Altec Lansing stereo speakers, which was noticeably an improvement over mono speakers that are not ideal for playing music.

o   In terms of discrete graphics, the dv2 delivered stunning picture quality on both a standard size monitor and the laptop. 

o   Another secret to a great user experience is a wireless wide area network. I was able to take the battery off and plug in a 3G network card in the back. Makes it the perfect “cloud” client.

o    Lastly, my HP Pavilion dv2 is equipped with Windows 7, which is as great of a client user experience as you can get (getting close to OS X).

-      Battery life:

o   As we know it’s all about how you use your machine.  The HP Pavilion dv2’s battery life clocked in at more than 3 hours with normal day-to-day use.

o   I didn’t do the MM07 tests – see other blogs.

-      Processor:

o   The AMD Athlon™ Neo processor and ATI Radeon™ graphics in the HP Pavilion dv2 were great for watching videos in HD (720p). It also performed well when multi-tasking.

o   I typically had two or three windows open; one for Twitter, one for email, and one for MLB.com to keep up with the Yankees.

o   I didn’t experience any lag.

-      Price:

o   People typically have a set budget, and they look for laptops within that budget that best meet their particular requirements.

o   Typical high-end ultraportables cost on the higher end of the price scale and might be outside the realm of some budgets. The HP Pavilion dv2 delivers the functionality of a mainstream notebook but in a sleek, highly portable form factor — and starting at around $749 MSRP.

All things considered, it’s not hard to see why I favor the HP dv2. As more ultrathin notebooks become available, I believe the industry will look back and consider the AMD processor-based HP Pavilion dv2 revolutionary.  I think we’re looking at the future of mainstream notebooks.

The HP Pavilion dv2 is a great example of the AMD Fusion philosophy in practice, illustrating our unique ability to marry our customers’ aspirations with our technology to produce an innovative solution. We recognized that there were consumers who wanted a lightweight, stylish notebook without the netbook’s compromises ― and at an affordable price point.  From this the AMD platform for ultrathin notebooks was born.

Down the road, I think we may even see ultrathin portable notebooks replace full-size notebooks as the mainstream choice for the market.

If you want to take part in the next generation of notebook computing, click here to order your own HP Pavilion dv2.

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.