GBM Shortcut: HP Pavilion dv2z Playing Blu-ray + Streaming Hulu Content

The HP Pavilion dv2z is a relatively low-cost 12″ device that comes with a dedicated graphics card. The base configuration of the dv2z comes with a single-core AMD Neo processor and ATI Radeon x1250 graphics with 64MB of memory, but the review unit HP sent over is highly configured with a dual-core AMD Turion 1.6GHz processor, ATI Radeon HD3410 graphics with 512MB of memory and 4GB of RAM.

The Pavilion dv2z I’m reviewing came with an external Blu-ray disc drive, which is a $130 option on build-to-order systems. Watching Blu-ray movies on a 12″ display is less than ideal, but fortunately the dv2z has an HDMI port.

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The dual-core processor really livens up the Pavilion dv2z compared to the single-core versions. Multi-tasking becomes a reality and high-def content plays smoother.

In this GBM shortcut I demonstrate how the dv2z can play a Blu-ray disc movie smoothly on my 46″ HDTV while I stream the Daily Show via Hulu.com.

Of course I wouldn’t normally watch two videos at once, but this demonstrates the advantages of having a GPU. The processor utilization bounced between 18% to 38% with just The Dark Night playing on the HDTV, leaving plenty of horsepower for web surfing, running office apps and even watching a second movie full screen.