HP Pavilion zd7000 Review

• Product: HP Pavilion zd7000


• Price: $2,618 list


• Specs: 3.2-GHz Pentium 4, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 60GB hard drive, DVD+RW drive, four USB 2.0 and one FireWire port, 17-inch WXGA display, 802.11g, 9.3 lbs. weight(include Hp pavilion zd7000 battery)2000g


• Company Info: 800-752-0900, www.hp.com

Not only did HP design its desktop replacement notebook in true desktop style—with a 3.2-GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, a 17-inch LCD, and a weight of 9.3 pounds—but it also kept multimedia in mind.

The HP Pavilion zd7000, our Editors' Choice, came in first on our multimedia tests and on 3DMark03, undoubtedly thanks to its nVidia GeForce FX Go 5600 card with 128MB of local graphics memory. (All the other systems here had 64MB of graphics memory.)

The notebook's 17-inch wide-screen LCD is a plus for watching movies or editing photos or video. And the DVD drive lets you burn your home movies. Just be sure to do all this while plugged in; the hp pavilion zd7000 battery life won't let you compute for long untethered.

Music:

You can rip your albums to the hard drive and burn MP3 files to standard audio CDs. MusicMatch Jukebox creates and stores playlists of your favorite music. The built-in Harman Kardon speakers make for a pleasant listening experience.

Photos:

Imaging enthusiasts will really like HP Image Zone. Though not as advanced as some titles, Image Zone has the common functions most users need, like the ability to crop photos and adjust for brightness and color correction. Photo albums intuitively organize picture collections.

Video:

Creating DVD videos from family movies is a snap. The DVD drive, a FireWire port, and Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 make it easy to capture and render footage to DVD– recordable media. But the 60GB hard drive will fill up fast.

Gaming:

Equipped with an nVidia GeForce FX Go 5600 graphics adapter with 128MB of memory, as well as a wide screen, this is the best notebook we saw for gaming—and the 3DMark03 score proves our point.

Battery life of HP Pavilion zd7000:

The HP Pavilion zd7000 P4EE pays the price for its impressive mobile performance with lackluster laptop hp pavilion zd 7000 battery life that puts it in a distant last place in our group of desktop replacements. Although the HP Pavilion zd7000 P4EE includes a huge 14.8V, 6,600mAh (98WHr) hp zd7000 battery, the battery is drained in less than two hours. This is a result of its CPU running at a relatively high speed, as evidenced by its great mobile performance. The Dell Inspiron XPS which includes a Pentium 4-3.4GHz processor, came in first place in battery life. Since the Dell Inspiron XPS's 14.8V, 6,400mAh (95WHr)hp pavilion zd7000 battery has specs similar to the HP Pavilion zd7000's battery, this difference in battery life can most likely be attributed to the Dell Inspiron XPS's throttling of its fast processor down to a level below the HP Pavilion zd7000 P4EE's. As the mobile performance results indicate, the Dell Inspiron XPS is less concerned with mobile performance and more with battery life. The older HP Pavilion zd7000 P4 with its 14.8V, 6,450mAh (95WHr) came in a very close second place behind the Dell Inspiron XPS. The HP Pavilion zd7000 P4 was the worst mobile performer of this lot, falling about 4 percent behind the Dell Inspiron XPS. Basically, the vanilla zd7000 P4 system uses less juice to power its CPU than the HP Pavilion zd7000 P4EE does. Consequently, the HP Pavilion zd7000 P4EE has battery life that fails to inspire, but having said that, battery life is probably the least important aspect of a desktop replacement, since most users will be using it while it's plugged in.

Reviewed by digital camera battery.

Compaq Presario V2000 Review

If you're considering a wide-screen laptop for travel, the Compaq Presario V2000 belongs at the top of your list. At just 6.1 pounds (not including the AC adapter), this compact unit is easier to carry than many competing wide-screen notebooks. Its 14.1-inch BrightView screen, an inch shorter than a standard 14.1-inch screen, should clear an airline seat back much more easily.

Be sure to shell out the extra $25 for the V2000's optional 12-cell Compaq Presario V2000 battery. It lasted 5.8 hours in our tests--long enough to see you through a coast-to-coast flight, a short layover, and maybe even the taxi ride to the hotel. (We didn't test the standard 6-cell Compaq Presario V2000 battery.)

The V2000's bright WXGA screen is top-of-the-line. With a native resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels, it displays icons that are big enough to read easily while giving you an extra inch of width (it's as wide as a standard 15-inch screen). You'll still have to do some adjusting and scrolling in order to view two detailed windows side-by-side, but you'll see considerably more of your spreadsheets or graphics applications and their palettes on this relatively small laptop.

The keyboard is perfect, with responsive keys that depress just the right amount and hardly make a sound. The underpinnings feel firm, and the layout is roomy. A lock button for the touchpad prevents the cursor from wandering as you type, and the tall rear battery forms a foot that provides a nice slant to the keyboard. The rest of the laptop is just as impressive, with a DVD burner (in our review configuration), a FireWire port, and three USB 2.0 spread out along the right side, along with a six-in-one card reader to take care of all your data exchange needs with PDAs, cameras, and other devices. The front-mounted speakers sound surprisingly loud and realistic, with volume buttons positioned at the top of the keyboard.

Plenty of sensibly located icons ensure that you won't get lost navigating the V2000's features. Icons conveniently situated around the keyboard (and in easy view on top of the case) mark side connections. Protected by grooved black panels held in by a couple of screws, the memory and hard drive compartments on the bottom of the laptop are clearly identified, too. Status lights appear on the front, where they're easy to monitor; the Wi-Fi LED glows the same pleasing blue as the Wi-Fi switch at the top of the keyboard.

When you're not on the road, the V2000 makes an excellent desktop replacement when united with HP's optional Xb2000 expansion base. The base, which serves as a port replicator and notebook stand, comes with built-in, subwoofer-enhanced Harman/Kardon speakers that rock even harder than the notebook's built-in speakers. The base also houses an internal bay that can accommodate a big (160GB) second hard drive, giving you a total of 260GB of storage if you opt for a 100GB primary hard drive. The $299 Xb2000 base includes a wireless mouse and keyboard, too.

When equipped with a 1.8-GHz Pentium M 745 processor, the V2000 zips along at a creditable clip; it earned a WorldBench 5 score of 75 in our tests--a statistically insignificant 2 points behind the mark posted by a similarly configured IBM ThinkPad T42.

Upshot: With its light weight, long battery life(Compaq v2000 Battery), and easy-to-read screen, the Compaq Presario V2000 with 12cells Presario V2000 Battery might be the perfect wide-screen laptop, especially for road warriors.

Warranty: Compaq v2000 charger can not charger with digital camera battery

Sony MiniDV DCR-TRV50 review

• Imaging Device : 1/4" 1,550K Gross Pixels, Advanced HAD™ CCD


• Video Actual : 970K


• Still Actual : 1,390K


• F : 1.8-2.2


• Focal Distance : 4.2-42mm


• 35mm Conversion : 48-480mm (Camera Mode) 40-400mm (Memory Mode)


• Filter Diameter : 37mm


• Optical Zoom : 10X


• Digital Zoom : 120X


• Focusing : Full Range Auto/Manual


• Minimum Illumination : 7 Lux (0 Lux with NightShot® Infrared System)


• NightShot Infrared System : Super NightShot®, Color Slow Shutter


• Shutter Speed : 1/4-1/4000 (AE Mode)


• Memory Mode : Yes, 1360 x 1020, 640 x 480


• MPEG Movie EX Mode : Yes, 320 x 240, 160 x 112


• Viewfinder : Color (180K)


• LCD : 3.5" Color (246K)


• Accessory Shoe : Yes (Intelligent)


• Portable Printer Capable : Yes


• Video Input/Output : Yes/Yes (Special and S-Video)


• Audio Input/Output : Yes/Yes (Stereo)


• i.LINK DV Interface (IEEE1394) : Yes, 4 Pin


• USB : Yes


• USB Streaming : Yes, 320 x 240 ( up to 30 FPS)


• Headphone Jack : Yes (Mini, Stereo)


• Mic-Input : Yes (Stereo)


• White Balance : Auto, Outdoor, Indoor, Hold


• Exposure : Yes/Dial (24 Step)


• Power Consumption (VF/LCD/VF+LCD) : 3.4W/4.5W/4.8W


• Battery Code: NP-QM91D

Sony's MiniDV DCR-TRV50 is their upgrade to the popular DCR-TRV30. The camcorder is a standard form factor, with many neat features and good still quality. From its professional Carl Zeiss lens to the 3.5-inch LCD, and everything in between, the DCR-TRV50 screams quality. It is unequivocally Sony's top consumer model, and well worth the expense. Power battery code : NP-QM91D.

The DCR-TRV50 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder gives you a huge, easy-to-view color LCD and massive megapixel resolution, making it the odds-on favorite for delivering exceptional-quality digital video, digital audio, and digital still images every time you turn it on. This unit also features Sony's revolutionary Network capability through its Bluetooth adapter which allows you to connect to the internet without the need of a computer (adapter sold separately).

The Sony DCR-TRV50 has a 1/4 in. 1.5 Mega Pixel HAD CCD. The effective video pixels used is 970K while the still is 1,390K, but more about the still performance later. The DCR-TRV50 has a 10x optical, 120x digital zoom while the horizontal resolution is rated at 530 lines, the top for the MiniDV format. Mini DV digital recording format delivers 3X color bandwidth of VHS and lower signal to noise ratio compared to analog formats and provides stunning video performance.

The CCD in the TRV50 is of enough resolution to capture 1,360 x 1,020 digital stills onto the included 8 MB Memory Stick--about a 1.38-megapixel image and sony NP-QM91D. That resolution is currently tops in the digital-camcorder world (the digital still resolution of camcorders hasn't risen nearly as fast as that of digital cameras), and is good for prints up to about 6 by 9 inches. As far as video is concerned, Sony claims the high-resolution CCD translates into a video resolution of around 530 horizontal lines.

An upgrade of the DCR-TRV50 over the DCR-TRV30 is the addition of a touch panel LCD screen. The LCD is 3.5 in. and 246K pixels. The camcorder also has a color viewfinder. If you have an area that is under or over exposed or an area that you want to put in focus all you have to do is touch on it an the camcorder adjusts automatically. This is a great intermediate between automatic and manual control. It gives the inexperienced user a way of tackling the camcorder controls which can be very daunting.The camcorder usb can be used in sony laptop battery.

The DCR-TRV50 includes wireless Bluetooth connectivity, just like the MicroMV DCR-IP7. In fact, the DCR-TRV50 has the same Bluetooth functions as the DCR-IP7BT and the DCR-PC120BT. In addition to digital stills, you can record pretty poor quality, 160 x 112 resolution MPEG video to the Memory Stick or you can store 320 x 240 resolution MPEG video. Sony makes up to 256 MB memory sticks currently. Unlike other MPEG1 movies, MPEG Movie EX will allow you to record uninterrupted to the full capacity of the Memory Stick media. For example, the 128MB Memory Stick media will record up to 85 minutes of non-stop MPEG videos.

The DCR-TRV50 adds USB streaming, which has also been added to many other Sony digital camcorders. This feature allows the user to hook the camcorder up to their camcorder and stream 320 x 240 video, NP-QM91D battery, effectively using the camcorder as a web cam. This feature can be used to shoot video for emails, for the web, or for videoconferencing.

Olympus E-500 camera review

The Olympus E-500 digital SLR – main features:

• 8.0 million pixels with Full Frame Transfer CCD


• 6.4cm/2.5” HyperCrystal LCD (215,250 pixels)


• Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection


• Light and compact penta type design (for classic SLR look)


• Single AF, continuous AF and manual focusing


• 49 area AE sensor


• ESP, centre-weighted average and spot exposure meteringplus high light basis and shadow basis spot metering


• Professional AE lock functionality


• Sequential shooting at 2.5fps in HQ (1/8) and SQ JPEG format up to the full memory


• card capacity when using high-speed media, such as SanDisk SDCFX (Extreme III)


• IR Hybrid Type Cut Filter for equalisation with human eyes


• 1/3 EV ISO steps


• TruePic TURBO image processor


• 21 scene programme and scene select programme modes


• Dual slot for CompactFlash/Microdrives and xD-Picture Cards : can well edit in laptop with laotop battery charger


• Built-in pop-up flash


• User-friendly menu with detailed and simplified display


• Weight: 435g, size: 129,5 x 94,5 x 66mm


• Compatible with the complete range of Olympus E-System lenses and many


• accessories 1600mAh Li-ion 7.4V rechargeable Olympus BLM-1 battery

As digital photography has gained popularity and become affordable for just about everyone, increasing numbers of photographers are demanding the higher quality and flexibility that only an SLR camera can offer, with the availability of interchangeable lenses, external flash systems and other accessories. Now, with the Olympus E-500, the promise of creative digital SLR photography is within everyone’s reach.

The Olympus EVOLT E-500 is one of the bargains among entry level digital SLR cameras. The E-500 is an alternative for the budget-conscious over Canon's EOS 350D and Nikon's D50. The camera comes with a Supersonic Wave Filter, large 2.5-inch LCD monitor and a full range of shooting modes and functions. Though not the most minute in its class, the E-500 holds a slight ergonomic edge over the popular EOS 350D. The button layout on this shooter, as compared with its predecessor the E-300, is logical and well-thought out. Its four-directional buttons double as dedicated keys for white balance, autofocus, ISO and metering,a well designed digital camera battery.

Shooting options on the E-500 are numerous and varied. This dSLR offers a breathtaking total of 15 scene modes typically available on point-and-shoots, along with four advanced shooting setting. Canon's EOS 350D and Nikon's D50 pale in comparison with only six scene modes to match. Other features on the E-500 include a new 49-division light-metering senso, rechargeable BLM-1 battery.

You can continue shooting without flash at about 0.5-second intervals in both JPEG SHQ and RAW formats. With flash, timings obtained were approximately doubled. We measured the file-write time for the E-500 on our ultra-high-speed 1GB CompactFlash card to be around 4.2 seconds when shooting in RAW and one second faster in JPEG SHQ. With a maximum resolution of 3264x2448 pixels, images can be saved as RAW, TIFF or JPEG in three quality settings, with compression levels ranging from 1/2.7 to 1/12.

The E-500's 1,500mAh Lithium-ion Olympus BLM-1 battery pack performed reasonably well in our tests. We managed to capture over 300 frames on a single charge with plenty of card formatting, picture review and use of LCD to check camera status etc. The E-500 has a built in "Supersonic Wave Filter" sensor cleaner that runs each time you turn on the camera (it vibrates 35,000 times per second to shake off dust)

The E-500 should secure Olympus a place on the lucrative consumer D-SLR shelf alongside the Nikon D50, Canon EOS 350D and Pentax *ist DL. It is a very well designed digital camera battery, combining excellent picture quality, outstanding performance and lots of creative versatility. The E-500 has so many features that it will take the real enthusiast some time to figure them all out, whereas relative beginners can simply leave the camera in Auto and get great results every time. We believe that this camera might well put Olympus back in the top three of camera manufacturers where they belong.