Construction - Upgrading and Maintenance

In the past, HP has used hex screws, which in essence, was to prevent users from accessing the various parts of their notebook. They obviously wanted their buyers to go to an "authorized HP" repair shop, but as consumers are becoming more educated, using hex screws isn't something that should be embraced, in our opinion. This is why HP is also using regular screws in their notebooks like the DV1000, which is what IBM and Dell have been doing all along. This isn't to say that hex screws aren't used, but it seems that its use is diminishing.

As shown in the picture below, the three access panels on the bottom of the notebook can be removed to show the (top to bottom, and left to right) two SODIMM memory slots, mini-PCI slot populated by an Intel WiFi 2200BG card (802.11b/g), and the system's hard drive (Fujitsu MHT2080AT). While our system only came configured with a single memory stick (1 x 512MB Samsung M470L6524BTO DDR333), another memory module can be added to the slot left of the populated one. If you want to max it out, you will have to get 2 x 1GB memory modules.



Click to enlarge.


Removing the keyboard is a bit of a trick in our opinion. In order to unsecure the keyboard from the notebook, you must first remove the battery, then unscrew the two screws that are designated with the keyboard icon. Once they are removed, you need to flip the notebook right side up and jimmy the keyboard out by sliding a flat head screw driver into one of the slots beneath the function buttons and kind of twisting it slightly towards you. This will lift the keyboard enough so that you can use your hands to remove it the rest of the way.

There is nothing beneath the keyboard that can be accessed by the user in the sense of upgrading or maintenance.



Click to enlarge.


You should be able to upgrade the CPU, since it seems that the DV1000's motherboard uses a socket CPU design. But, obviously, HP would rather have you choose the CPU that you want from the beginning and stick with it.

Construction – Usability in the Field Features – QuickPlay Implementation
Comments Locked

10 Comments

View All Comments

  • Biochem101 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    Ohh yeah, just to add.

    The dv1040us machine has at the minimum the following specs:

    Centrino 725 1.6GHz CPU 2mb cache
    64 mb shared video memory (cry, but im dealing with it)
    Those are the only differnces that stand out from the AT review model.
  • Biochem101 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    I just picked one of these puppies up for ~1100 AR. When I was shopping, I was looking for a very portable laptop with some performnce. So far I love it. The screen seems to have a built in anti-glare film similar to the film used on my Sony Trinitron CRT. It provides adequate glare relief in most situations. I did notice the font blur and was somewhat dissappointed with that problem. But all in all, I found a compact, light and relatively powerful laptop with great battery performance. I havent done any performance tests on the machine yet (its the 1.6G version - dv1040us model), but I doubt there will be much difference between my machine and he one AT has reviewed here.

    imho- im glad a ran across this review, I was just looking for some info on the general performance of the chipset in the machine, not a machine specific review. KUDOS to AT for souping up their number of reviews.
  • Pete - Sunday, October 24, 2004 - link

    BTW, the glare on this laptop was pretty harsh when I viewed it in CompUSA, although there was a very bright fluorescent light directly behind my shoulder. My eyes got tired looking at it after 15 mins, whereas the "regular" LCD on the Toshiba next to it was *very* easy to read.

    It's not just that the dv1000's screen was glossy, either. Cleartype fonts looked kind of blurry or oily, not nice at all. Actually, it's possible the screen was something like BGR, and Cleartype was set for RGB subpixel smoothing. I'll have to look into that, as the screen is this laptop's Achilles heel, and one too big for me to ignore.
  • Pete - Sunday, October 24, 2004 - link

    No, but a faster video card will, and the BenQ Joybook 7000 has the same formfactor and screen with a Mobility Radeon 9700 to boot! I'm convinced that would sell like hotcakes here, and I'm not sure why either HP or BenQ haven't started selling them here. Apparently this Intel IGP scores 2.5K in 3DM2001, not even 2003--frickin' abysmal. I'm not even sure it'd be fast enough for something like Age of Mythology or Warcraft 3 at this screen's native res.

    Andrew, start pushing Anandtech's weight around to get a laptop with this formfactor and discrete graphics in the USA! :)
  • airfoil - Thursday, October 7, 2004 - link

    Quote: "but for another $100 or $150, you can configure your DV1000 with a 1.7GHz Pentium-M 735 or 1.8GHz Pentium-M 745, respectfully."

    Respectfully? Does a faster prcoessor buy more respect?
  • trikster2 - Monday, October 4, 2004 - link

    #3 that's really strange. 2gb just to play a DVD sounds excessive

    #4 Not sure who the ODM is but there is a Benq Joybean that is identicle

    #3 my main reservation with this notebook is the brightview or whatever screen. The ones I've seen on sony and fujitsu's at frys have a lot of glare. I dumped my CRT for an LCD due to glare (lots of windows) would hate to be fighting glare on a glossy laptop screen too.

    In comparison to a CRT, how bad is the glare on this laptop?

    Thanks!



  • SDA - Sunday, October 3, 2004 - link

    Question-- who makes this notebook? (I know it has an HP sticker, but IIRC HP don't make their own notebooks like.) I ask because I'd like to see if there are any nearly identical no-name equivalents available.
  • AndrewKu - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    #2 - Windows is reading it wrong.
  • Scarceas - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    The article says a 2GB partition is used for the quickplay system.

    The screen shot shows 204MB. 204MB seems more reasonable. Might want to update that.
  • CasmirRadon - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    Sounds great, if/when my old Presario notebook craps out on me in the next year or so this will be the kind of form-factor/functionality that I will be looking for. My friend just got a Pavillion, and I must say that it makes me jealous if only for the exceedingly convenient placement of headphone/usb ports. That is the kind of feature that many of us forget to look for when shopping for a notebook, but makes all the difference after extended use.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now