Maximum PC Looks At The HP HDX 18 Entertainment PC

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/hp_hdx_18_entertainment_pc?EMC-R3A917316679' target='_blank'>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/re...MC-R3A917316679</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"HP's HDX 18 Entertainment PC is a notebook, but not in the portability sense of the word. With an 18.4-inch diagonal screen and a carry weight of 10 pounds, 9 ounces, you might occasionally move this monster from room to room, but you won't take it everywhere you go-certainly not without the aid of a lifting belt. Of course, the large size does have its merits. The aforementioned screen, for instance, sports a 1920x1080p resolution for ample desktop space and a true high-def movie experience, made all the more vivid by the screen's glossy surface."</em></p><p><img height="305" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1233684518.usr1.jpg" width="395" /></p><p>I'm in the midst of testing this notebook myself, so I won't share with you what I think of it just yet, but if you're interested in a powerful notebook with a really big screen, the HDX X-18 is definitely worth considering. Checkout Maximum PC's review for more details.</p>

[randalllewis]

Wow! My new HP Mini would like one of the old clamshell Jornadas next to this thing. My first THREE desktop PC monitors were not as big as the screen on this machine. Can it even be called a laptop?

I love the variety the portable computer market is experiencing these days. There are almost too many cool choices.

[ZetaCentauri]

I read their review, but I believe their results would've been better if they had had higher-end components.

HP offers a 1GB 9600M GT video card, instead of just the 512MB version. Certainly that would've provided slightly better results. I also don't quite understand how an 8600M GT could best a 9600M GT, as they mentioned.

They had a 5400rpm HDD, but they could've had a 7200rpm drive which certainly would've helped out some, as well. HDD's are always the biggest bottleneck in a system, anyway.

And wouldn't it have helped for them to have a quad-proc in the machine? I'm not certain how much it would impact gaming, but it may have offered some extra speed and power just by default, but especially if the games were optimized to make use of four procs (which, then again, they may have not been coded to do).

They also only had DDR2 RAM, and HP offers DDR3 RAM in the system now, too, which definitely would've helped.

So with these four changes, I would have to think that their results could have and would have been much better than they were.



But they are correct in saying the system is heavy and expensive. I can handle the weight, myself, but the price is a bit tough to swallow. I've been looking at one of these and configuring it the way I want it with a few pieces of software (no MS Office, though - I already have that) and a three-year warranty, pushes the cost up to around $3300, which is insane.

HP really needs to lower their prices. They've been slowly increasing the cost of the components over the last month or so... perhaps they've failed to realize that we're in a horrible recession in the States and increasing pricing isn't going to help their bottom line.