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.

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 video 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.

HP Pavilion dv2z Playing Blu-ray + Streaming Hulu Content is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The HP Pavilion dv2 is an ultraportable notebook that’s affordable, but has enough graphics muscle that users can enjoy video games and play Blu-ray discs. After toning done the graphics setting, I played Call of Duty Word: World at War at over 30 frames per second and recorded the below video clips.

To achieve the high frame-rate, I had to run it at 640×480 and disable a lot of the game’s special effects.

So far I’ve played World at War for about three hours on the Pavilion dv2 and enjoyed it. Nothing compares to playing games on a proper gaming notebook, but the dv2 is powerful enough to play through current-generation games.

The HP Pavilion dv2 is the first notebook to feature AMD’s Yukon platform, which combines a single-core 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 discrete graphics with 512MB of video memory.

The HP Pavilion dv2 is only availabe in one configuration right now that costs $749.99. More models and custom-configurations will be available in June.

HP Pavilion dv2 Game Demo: Call of Duty World at War is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.