HP's Pavilion dv6000 series of laptop computers are geared towards multimedia enthusiasts who don't want to sacrifice performance away from their desktop. Available with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, this laptop family offers excellent power in a reasonably-priced package.

The Pavilion ships with an Intel Core 2 Duo, with processing cores on a single chip, so they're great for multitasking and handling intensive tasks. They're both 64-bit processors, so they're well-suited for the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system installed on these laptop computers. HP packs these laptop computers with a healthy 1GB of DDR2 memory, enough to run Vista without stuttering.

There's a built-in Webcam and microphone for videoconferencing and Web chatting without the need for any additional equipment. And the 15.4-inch widescreen display delivers a large and sharp image for watching movies or having multiple applications open in tiered view. There's even a remote control that lets you control movie watching or music listening from a distance--and it fits snugly into the Express Card/54 slot when you're on the go.

Storage is quite robust thanks to a 160GB 5,400rpm hard drive. The drive spins at a faster speed than you often find on a laptop computer, so reading and writing data won't be a major performance bottleneck. The 8X DVD writer burns both CDs and DVDs including Dual Layer DVD-R media which lets you store up to four hours of video (or 8.5GB of data on a single disk). And it's a LightScribe-enabled writer, which means you can etch professional-looking labels on the surface of compatible CDs and DVDs. The labels are monochromatic and the media's a bit more expensive, but it beats using markers or stickers to label your disks.

There are plenty of connectivity ports on these laptop computers as well. You get three USB ports and a Firewire port for hooking up high-speed peripherals as well as a 5-in-1 media card reader for transferring files and photos from your PDA or digital camera.

As with most laptop computers, the integrated graphics share video memory with the main system RAM, so these portables won't be the best gaming machines. The AMD models offer NVIDIA GeForce GO 6150 graphics over Intel graphics, so you'll get some gaming performance boost, but video memory is still shared.
In addition to a modem and network interface, these laptop computers feature 802.11b/g wireless so you'll be able to find an Internet connection almost anywhere.

At just over six pounds, these laptop computers are more desktop replacement than ultimate portables, but most users will feel the performance benefits outweigh those extra couple of pounds. If you're looking for great multimedia performance in a moderately priced laptop, the HP Pavilion dv6000 series is a nicely rounded mainstream portable computer.


Pro: Great core power, nice components
Con: No Bluetooth, no dedicated video memory

Warranty
1-year limited