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HP Pavilion HDX Dragon review

With its name alone promising a raging inferno of power, the Dragon caused quite a stir here at Stuff Towers. But will the youngest sibling in the Pavilion family puff out furious fire-breathing power, or will it prove as hot as an English summer?

Preview: Following in the footsteps of its trail-blazing cousin – the TouchSmart Media Centre PC – HP’s latest laptop boasts a stunning array of features, albeit in a chunkier frame than we’d come to expect from the Pavilion series.

Sporting a neatly tailored shell, the ‘Dragon’ has a 20.1in display, a TV tuner, Wi-Fi weaponry and a sleek compact remote. This beast is packing enough heat to slay even the pluckiest of sword-wielding patrons.

Enter the Dragon

The HDX’s flexible dual-hinged system allows you to adjust the screen to suit any purpose – be that watching TV, indulging in a gaming marathon or simply using it as a rather lardy laptop. The display also includes HP BrightView technology, which will apparently enhance colours, contrast and provide better clarity.

You’ll find a nifty little remote set beside the keyboard which allows you to rein in the Dragon from distance, and hidden away on the beast’s underbelly there’re four Altec Lansing speakers and a triple-bass-reflex subwoofer to enhance the home cinema experience.

As if that isn’t enough, the HDX also boasts an optional HD DVD drive to propel any cinematic experience into the next generation, and the ability to pause and rewind live TV thanks to the built in tuner.

Flight of fancy

But the Dragon has one final trick up its scales. Thanks to an MI5-esque integrated biometric fingerprint scanner, it’s as secure as a Premiership footballer’s financial future – allowing only those with permitted biometric measurements to access your confidential files. 

Too good to be true? Well, the Dragon’s portability is somewhat limited by its fat-boy frame, but then again, it’s not intended to take on the laptop market. What you’re getting is a more than capable halfway house: a moveable multimedia PC. We can’t wait to see this beast take flight.

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Stuff Says…

Score: 5/5

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