HP Pavilion ZE2000

Construction: Build, Appearance, Size A value mobile notebook...

The ZE2000 is cased in what seems to be a carbon fiber metal alloy composite material, similar to the material used for Dell notebooks. The silver part of the chassis is fairly scratch resistant, but since it is a light shade of silver, the scratches might seem more visible in bright lighting. The black part of the chassis (on the bottom) is stiffer and thicker than the silver material and is much more scratch and impact resistant. Anything rough or sharp, like the tip of a screwdriver for example, will still make a dent, though.

The notebook uses a cross between a sliding clip and a push release to unlock the LCD. The push release unlatches two security hooks on the display lid.

Front (left to right):

• LEDs (wireless – blue when on, power status – orange when on, hard drive activity – orange during activity, battery charge status – orange when charging)
• microphone jack
• headphone jack

The expansion port, 3 x USB 2.0, S-Video out, 6-in-1 card reader, and 4-pin IEEE1394 Firewire port are only available with the Pentium-M configuration of the ZE2000. The expansion port hooks up to HP's XB2000 Notebook Expansion Base, which can be purchased for an additional $249, and opens up several more options. It comes with HP's wireless keyboard and mouse, but it also gives users the ability to add a 3.5" desktop hard drive via the housing module. In our opinion, you probably don't need this unless you plan to use this system as a base for multimedia functions, i.e. output video to TV or take advantage of the XB2000's larger Harmon Kardon speakers, which makes the audio experience superb for a notebook.

Left (left to right):

• Power port
• VGA out port
• Expansion Port connector
• Ethernet jack
• modem jack
• USB 2.0 port
• PCMCIA slot

Back (left to right):

• back of battery pack
• Exhaust vent

Right (left to right):

• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• 6-in-1 card reader (XD/MM/SD/MS/MS Pro/SM)
• 4-pin mini IEEE1394 port
• Card Reader activity LED (orange when active)
• LG HL-DT-ST GCC-4243N DVD/CD-RW Combo (24xCD-RW/24xCD-ROM/8xDVD-ROM)
• S-Video out port
• USB 2.0 port
• lock port

The overall feel of the notebook has a bit of a multimedia flare but with all the bells and whistles taken down a peg for a budget buy. This is a good thing for budget buyers that still need to do work for business or school but still want to a notebook to watch the occasional movie. Compared to other other approaches, we like this design a lot, because it is more of a upper end notebook design scaled back to give a lower end price versus a low end notebook design scaled up with optional components.