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HP goes on Yukon offensive, offers $599 Pavilion dv2z notebook

by Parm Mann on 9 June 2009, 11:31

Tags: Pavilion dv2 (mains), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ)

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It was back at CES in January that AMD unveiled its Yukon platform as part of HP's $699 Pavilion dv2 notebook- a system comprising of a low-power Athlon Neo CPU and 690G chipset, making it a tangible competitor to Intel's CULV.

However, with just the one Yukon-based notebook available, the platform has struggled to make an impact in a market quickly flooding with Intel CULV-based machines. Hoping to stem the tide, HP's on course to revamp its Yukon system as the Pavilion dv2z - a notebook that launches tomorrow with a lower-than-ever starting price of $599.

HP's specification remains a little cloudy, but we're led to believe the $599 base system will be practically identical to the existing $699 dv2, making the Yukon-based machine somewhat more appealing.

The system packs a 12.1in display, a 1.6GHz Athlon Neo processor, and up to 500GB of storage capacity. Upgrade options will be plentiful, with the ability to add discrete Radeon HD graphics, Blu-ray, and a dual-core Neo processor - all, of course, at an additional cost.

We reckon Yukon has some way to go before it really threatens Intel's CULV, but lower pricing is certainly a step in the right direction. To find out more about HP's Pavilion dv2 notebook, check out our hands-on preview below.




HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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Think HP are going to need to lower it a dman sight more than that to make it remotely comptetitive, why would anyone buy one of these over an ION based netbook for that money. Granted we have yet to see an ION netbook on the market but Samsung are close.
Breezey
why would anyone buy one of these over an ION based netbook for that money.

agree it needs to be cheaper, but the neo proccy is much more core performance than it is atom
Breezey
Think HP are going to need to lower it a dman sight more than that to make it remotely comptetitive, why would anyone buy one of these over an ION based netbook for that money. Granted we have yet to see an ION netbook on the market but Samsung are close.
The Neo processor *should* (I've not seen any direct comparison benchmarks yet) be miles ahead of the Atom in terms of processor performance - as I understand it it's pretty much a full fat Athlon but with a hugely cut TDP. Granted, the 690G chipset doesn't have the graphical beef of the 9400m, but it's still miles ahead of the 945G. And we've yet to see pricings on 10“ ION netbooks, but if you think they're going to be less than £400 you're deluding yourself. So with a much better processor in the socket, £500ish for a dv2z doesn't look ridiculous.

On the other hand, it *is* still a little too expensive compared with 12” - 13“ laptops with Core 2 processors in the £550 - £700 price range: the price is being kept artificially high by the fact that people insist on buying 10” Atom netbooks for over £300. Samsung's NC20, with its 12" screen and low-performance Via chip/set, sells for up to £400. So why would HP sell what should be an inherently better machine for the same price? What Yukon needs is more OEMs to back it and start releasing at the £400 price mark - HP is banking on its reputation to make people pay the extra…