HP launches DV2 notebook in the UK

Slimline Blu-ray notebook available now

7 April 2009 14:46 GMT / By Susi Weaser

Having announced the DV2 at CES this year, fans of high definition and lightweight laptops will be pleased to hear it’s hitting the shelves in the UK this week, priced from £499.

It sits between HP’s notebook offering, and the more heavy hitting HDX range. The 12.1-inch DV2 weighs in at 4 pounds and is just one-inch thick, and is designed to offer both the portability and performance for a mid-range price point.

The processor is the AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 (1.6GHz), which will be exclusive to HP for the next 6 months. This has been specifically developed with this product in mind, integrating a "power saving yet powerful" processor and ATI’s Radeon graphics technology. The graphic element supports the high definition focus, which comes in the form of Blu-ray, via the external drive, and the HDMI output.

Whilst there's no internal drive, other connectivity comes via three USB ports and a 5-in-1 card reader. There will be a number of possible configurations - the initial product will come with a fairly paltry 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, with Vista Home Basic.

Battery life has been quoted at 4.5 hours. Further models will feature a more workable 2GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive or 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Both of these will come with Vista Home Premium, and arrive in the 3rd week of April. Pricing for these is yet to be announced, although expect to pay a premium for the 500GB version.