Report Card

Report card for the HP Pavilion zd7000 Series Notebook:

8/4/04

Price: B+
Durability: B
Performance: A
Mobility: C-
Gaming: A+
Design: B

Media what?

One of HP's selling points for this notebook is the "Media Center" option. The Media Center will cost you, though; it requires faster components and more memory, in addition to the "Media Center" edition of Windows XP, driving the price up several hundred dollars.

Is it worth it?

This reviewer would rather spend that money flying to HP Headquarters and laughing. Well, ok, it could be worse... maybe.

The "Media Center" attempts to place all of your media files in a single location for easy access. This includes photos, movies, music, and anything else. While this may sound good in theory, it was poorly executed. Instead of giving the user control over their files, it takes it away. The Media Center takes up the entire screen with its lacking user interface. And to top it all off, it offers no unique features to make up for it.

The extra hardware (docking station, remote, etc.) is rather shoddy but still functional.

If you know anything at all about digital media, skip on this option.

Harsh Conditions

Just don't tell Mom that unidentified pizza-remains cover your floor... and that you haven't seen your roommate in three days.

Few things will survive your entire college experience. The fuzzy sweater your grandma made for you... is one of these things.

Students and executives around the world are putting greater stress on their electronics everyday. Your laptop is worth a small fortune, so you want it to last a long time. Here is my assessment of HP's "durability factor":

PROS:

• Sturdy keyboard.

CONS:

• The tray-loading DVD drive opens at unexpected times, and could be broken very easily. Ouch.
• Plastic tabs for closing the screen are not very strong.
• Silver paint scratches off fairly easily.
• LCD screen is extra fragile.
  

The Little Things

Bad Little Things:
What the hell were they thinking? Things I can't stand:

• Stickers. Why does every PC maker put so many decals on their would-be attractive designs?
• The touchpad gets so hot at times that it becomes uncomfortable to use.
  
• Quick-launch buttons. Does anyone actually use these?
  

Good little things:
These features stand out among other laptop makers.

• Speaker placement. Excellent, stereo-quality sound even when the lid is closed.
• Port placement. USB on the side for mouse/keyboard, for example. Everything where it should be.

Little things you should consider:
Do any of these things bother you?

• When this thing gets hot, it breathes fire into your lap. Like a dragon. With wings.
• Depending on the temperature, the fans can get pretty noisy. There is also one located on the bottom for bringing cool air in. Just don't get anything stuck there, it could be an expensive repair.
  

Bang for your buck!

"Hi... Mom? Yeah my classes have been great. Could you send more money? No, it's not for pizza."

Ahh, college. A time for learning and self-growth. A time for building friendships that last forever. A time for begging the folks for cash. A time of... expenditure.

HP's zd7000 Series is not only affordable, but includes features not normally included as standard options, such as Hyper-threading. Kudos to HP for offering such a wide variety of build-to-order options. You can spend as little as $900 or as much as $3000 depending on your configuration.

We do wish that HP would use a different naming scheme, however.

"Hey there, what kind of laptop is that?"

"Oh, it's a HP zd7999us."

Mobile Gaming

Tired of carrying the kitchen sink when you feel like fragging?

Local-Area-Network parties are all the rage lately, and as they grow in popularity on and off campus, gamers are looking for better solutions than hauling their entire rig.

So-called "desktop replacement" notebooks offer a compelling solution. This model features a generous 128 mb of DDR video memory. Needless to say, I was eager to try this out at one of my local parties.

Games tested:

• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Call of Duty Multiplayer
• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

All games ran beautifully with all features and high-detail settings enabled. As expected, this is the perfect mobile gaming solution. With its widescreen LCD monitor and extra-memory option, you will be the envy of all your desktop-carrying friends.

First Impressions

Look out Beowulf, this laptop is a beast among men.

At a glance, the zd7000 is huge – our model is a 17” widescreen with full-sized keyboard and a numeric keypad, the latter of which is quite rare to see on laptops these days. HP makes it very clear that this notebook is intended to replace your desktop. My friends have chrisented it "Laptopzilla."

PROS:

• People strike up conversations with you all the time based on your screen alone.

• Great for viewing DVDs, playing games, and anything else that requires a lot of screen real-estate.

CONS:

• It barely fits on the table at the local coffee shop.

• It’s a veritable burden to carry, weighing in at about 10 pounds. Not-so-good if you plan on commuting long distances.