HP announces Pavilion laptops

THE MAKER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP has announced some dv laptop models in its budget Pavilion range that feature components from its high-end Envy line.

HP's has given its cheap and cheerful budget Pavilions a makeover with its dv6 and dv7 consumer models. Using some features and components from its own Envy range, the Pavilions will mimic the nicer design of the Envy models, including a metal finish. They also will offer light-up touchpads and HP's Coolsense technology.

That is a practical upgrade that will probably look nicer as well, but the other additions are more gimmicky. The Beats Audio technology by Dr Dre is really nothing more than a marketing trick. Apparently the audio is optimised the way an artist intended it. It would be interestng to find out how that is done.

At least it means both models will have quad speakers. The dv7 will even have a subwoofer so you can pump out the bass notes Dr Dre style if you must.

The Pavilion dv6 and dv7 models will have 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch chassis and both will come with HD displays. There will be a choice of configurations available so you can spec them out with Intel Core i5 or i7 CPUs, 1TB of storage for the dv6 and 2TB for the dv7, and upgrade to AMD Radeon 6000M graphics.

A Blu-ray optical drive is also optional but both have HP's integrated HD webcam. What HP doesn't mention are memory sizes and OS support.

HP will confirm pricing details nearer to the launch date, which will be this Spring. µ