HP HDX16T

HP's Gorgeous Media Center

The HP HDXI6t rides the line between a thin-and-light and a desktop-replacement laptop. Whichever category it falls into. you're bound to do a double take when you see it. The sleek 16-inch widescreen represents the dawn of laptops doubling as high-def home theaters. It is designed to fit into a living room or home office, and the fast Intel Centrino 2 components will keep it from becoming a relic overnight.

The HDX16t looks and feels modern. The inmold decorated design on the cover consists of squiggly lines varying in length, curvature,and color. The palm rests and touchpad receive the same artistic treat meat. Also, the HDX16t fits in a compressed numeric keypad without sacrificing the comfort of a full-size keyboard. The widescreen display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, giving a sensational movie experience. This system also has plenty of USB ports (four) in addition to the combo port and memory card reader. A 250GB hard drive comes standard, but you can upgrade to a 320GB drive for $25.

While this system's 2.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor is blazingly powerful—especially when coupled with 3GB of Memory—you'd be better off with the 2.4-GHz P8600 processor option, because it's less expensive and more energy efficient. But the 2.8-GHz processor does dominate in benchmark tests. Its SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score bested the Sony comparison system by 3 percent and the Acer system by 48 percent. It finished the video encoding tests in under a minute, something that its competitors couldn't accomplish And the HDX16t's graphics chipset excelled on 3DMark 06. Crysis, and World in Conflict tests.




In everything but battery life. the HP HDX16t's performance scores and feature set trump those of its competition. This system is sure to liven up your living room or home office and is a worthy recipient of our Editors' Choice.—Cisco Cheng



Specs: 2.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600; 3GB DDR2 SDRAIvI; 250GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive: 512MB nVidia Gelorce 9600M GT graphics; 16-inch, 1,980-by-1,080 display; Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11n; 6.8 pounds (7.9 pounds travel); four USB ports, one FireWire port; 56-Wh, 52-Alt, lithium ion battery; Windows Vista Home Premium.

PC Magazine January 2009