The HP Verve dv2550 laptop is an exclusive model to Best Buy stores in the U.S. HP teamed up with Best Buy to release the dv2500t laptop with a copper and bronze coloring scheme for those that want a laptop that looks a little different. The dv2550 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.5GHz T5250 (Santa Rosa generation) processor, Intel X3100 graphics, 2GB of RAM, LightScribe optical drive and integrated web camera.
The HP Verve dv2550se laptop is an exclusive model to Best Buy stores in the U.S. HP teamed up with Best Buy to release the dv2500t laptop with a copper and bronze coloring scheme for those that want a laptop that looks a little different. The dv2550 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.5GHz T5250 (Santa Rosa generation) processor, Intel X3100 graphics, 2GB of RAM, LightScribe optical drive and integrated web camera.
First of all I should state that I haven’t actually purchased the dv2550se, but have done a lot of research on it and a kind Best Buy associate was willing to let me install benchmarks and run them on an in store model they had. People started to stare at me after I had been on the Verve for a couple of hours in store, but aren’t the display models there for testing after all!
HP dv2550se Specs:
- Screen: 14.1″ WXGA display with BrightView (glossy)
- Processor: Intel T5250 1.5GHz 2MB cache, 667MHz FSB
- Memory: 2GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel X3100
- OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Premium
- Hard Drive: 160GB SATA at 5400RPM
- Weight: 5.5lbs
- Dimensions: 13.1 in x 9.3 in x 1.5 in (width x depth x thickness)
- Wireless: 802.11abg (Intel Wireless 3945ABG)
- Ports: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire), 3 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)(1 On Left Side / 2 On The Right Side), 5-in-1 memory card reader, VGA monitor out port, S-Video out, RJ-45 Ethernet LAN, RJ-11 modem, 2 headphones/speaker jack with SPDIF, microphone.
- Slots: 5-in-1 memory card reader, ExpressCard 54mm, Expansion Port 3 (docking port)
Initially when Best Buy started selling the HP Verve they were charging $1,199 for it but they have recently put the notebook on sale for $999. I’m assuming they hoped that the unique design would entice consumers to pay a $80 or so premium on what a regular dv2500t configured with these specs. If you configure a dv2500t on HP.com with about the same specs as the dv2550se it costs $1,165 today. That’s actually much more than the dv2550se costs now, so the dv2550 at $999 is really a great deal.
From the screen shot below you can see the dv2500t I customized at HP.com with similar specs to the dv2550se that came out to be more, even after a $100 off and EPP discount:
Design
I’ve been very impressed with the design of the HP dv laptop series since its inception last year, and HP just keeps on bringing out updates and unique designs that show they’ve really got a great design team at work. I recently reviewed the HP dv6500t Special Edition white laptop if you want to see another example of a twist on the imprint design.
The dv2550 uses a copper and bronze finish combined with a new imprint design pattern. In a word, the design is fantastic. It looks professional from a distance, but once up close it has a catchy look and a bit of attitude. Copper is really sort of an in look with home design right now, and apparently the appeal carries over to laptops! Even though I like the regular dv2500t quite a bit, the dv2550se Verve makes the regular design look sort of bland.
The only downside to the design is of course the fact the lid has a glossy finish and will pick up fingerprints and dust easily. This is annoying, but HP provides a cloth for you to keep the lid shined up. Bottom line is,for $999, I don’t think there’s a better looking laptop out there.
There’s a wireless on/off switch at the front of the laptop
Build Quality
The dv2550 is not designed to be a rugged notebook that is taken to construction sites or out in the field in some capacity. It’s designed to be used in the home, dorm, classroom and being carried around a bit. Notice I said carried around “a bit”. It’s not an ultraportable machine, after 30 minutes of carrying this notebook you might actually wish it were somewhat lighter (it weighs almost 5.6lbs with the large sized 12-cell battery).
The dv2550se is made mostly of plastic, which is why I said it’s far from being a rugged notebook. That said, the casing is still quite sturdy, but if you push on the body you’ll certainly see some flexing. There’s no indication of hard drive shock protection or a sealed keyboard, so avoid drops and spills. The Dell Inspiron 1420 notebook I’ve reviewed is much more sturdy than the dv2550se is.
One thing worth mentioning is that there is no risk of the design work scratching off of this laptop, it is part of the casing and I’m confident the look would hold up over the years of owning this laptop.
Screen
The screen on the dv2550se is a 14.1″ widescreen display with 1280 x 800 resolution (WXGA). For some reason Best Buy indicates on its website the resolution is WXGA+ (1280 x 900), but this is not the case. The resolution is standard for a mainstream notebook and probably best for the average user, though there’s definitely some that would prefer higher-res. Best Buy also lists the HP dv2550se display as being “high-definition”, but that’s misleading as it certainly won’t do high-definition video much justice.
The dv2550se does have what HP calls its “BrightView” display, which means it is glossy style. A glossy screen tends to reflect lighting a lot when the screen is dark, but it does provide for much bolder color contrast.
The LCD appears to be manufactured by Quanta. Quanta is known for producing good screens, and I can attest that the screen was indeed bright and had really good color saturation. Looking at the other notebooks around the dv2550se in the store, it certainly stood out in terms of the screen brightness and boldness of colors. Watching movies on the Verve would be a joy.
Speakers
HP’s incorporated Altec Lansing speakers into the dv2550se and they’re overall pretty darn good for notebook speakers. I wasn’t able to hear any distortion and the speakers get fairly loud. The speakers are located at the top of the notebook. The only downside to the speakers being located here is if you wanted to play audio with the notebook screen closed.
HP provided a couple of headphone jacks in the dv2550se so you can share in listening to music with a friend.
Web Camera
The camera included with the dv2550se is a VGA resolution camera. This is slightly disappointing as the older dv2000t actually had a 1.3MP camera. All the same, it’s nice to have this feature and for video having a lower resolution might actually be better if you’re using it for chat because it won’t use as much bandwidth.
Ports
The port selection on the dv2550se is pretty standard for this size notebook, there’s nothing to complain about that’s missing. There are 3 USB ports, one being on the left side and two on the right, so it’s good that they are spread out. You get a FireWire port for fast data transfer, unfortunately there is no HDMI port that you get with the slightly larger 15.4″ HP dv6500t notebook. For quality video output there is an S-Video port. The 5-in-1 memory card reader is pretty standard in consumer notebooks at this point, it’s so nice to be able to pop out an SD card from your camera and quickly access photos for viewing and editing.
Left side ports
Right side ports
If you want more ports than are offered with the dv2550se then you could purchase the xb3000 expansion port that plugs into the Expansion Port 3.
Battery
It’s very interesting that HP decided to offer the 12-cell battery as the standard battery to include with the dv2550se. The 12-cell will give you about 4.5 hours of battery life when you’re using the laptop to its full capacity, such as web, watching DVD and setting screen brightness to full. If you have wireless off and conserving battery life it will be able to give you 5.5 - 6 hours of life. One thing I kind of like about the battery is that it tilts the laptop up so it’s more ergonomic for typing on. This works well on a flat desk at least, although if you’re on a plane it’d be a nightmare because it would increase the height of the notebook.
Performance
The Intel T5250 1.5GHz processor included with the dv2550se isn’t one you’ll see talked about on Intel’s site. It’s only offered to companies such as Dell, HP and Toshiba to put in their laptops. The T5250 is part of the newest generation of Intel processors, dubbed Santa Rosa. However, it will not perform as well as the T7000 series (T7100, T7300, T7500). The Intel T5250 clock speed is 1.5GHz and cache is 2MB and Front Side Bus speed is 667MHz. The T7100 is 1.8GHz with 2MB of cache and 800MHz Front Side Bus speed, and the T7300 is better yet with 2.0GHz of clock speed, 4MB of cache and 800MHz FSB. I ran a popular benchmark named Super Pi on the dv2550se that you can use to force to calculate the value of Pi to a set number of digits of accuracy. The Intel T7100 processor can calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy in 1-minute 9-seconds while the T5250 took 1-minute 17-seconds. This isn’t a huge difference, and in every day use you won’t really notice it, but it does show the T5250 is going to be slightly slower. Running PCMark05 provided a score of 3,189 which is really quite respectable.
If you’re just using the dv2550se for office and web use, the power will be more than fine. If you plan on doing some gaming, video encoding/decoding and vigorous multi-tasking it might be worth considering looking for a laptop with a faster processor option. I think the person this laptop is targeted at, that being college students who aren’t interested in gaming, the laptop will be more than fine for in terms of performance. The 2GB of included memory is very clutch and helps performance a lot. I noticed no lag when playing around in Windows Vista.
Conclusion
At the $999 price point I think the Verve is a fantastic deal and a no-brainer for picking up as a college laptop. Since HP released this notebook to coincide with the back-to-school season and are offering a unique design, it’s no secret they’re trying to sell to the students heading to college out there. The look is just great and the feature set good. The 12-cell battery is nice to have, it would last you all day on campus.
The build quality could be better and it would be nicer to have a T7100 1.8GHz processor, but so long as the price is below $1,000 it’s very easy to overlook those shortcomings.
Cheers
- Great copper and bronze design, unique looking
- Nice bright display with good color
- Great price to feature ratio
- Generous 12-cell battery included
Jeers
- Glossy finish is attractive, but a pain to keep cleaning fingerprints from
- No configuration options with this unique design, you have to take what’s offered
- Build could be better, feels like plastic
- Can only buy it at Best Buy stores
July 20th, 2007 at 7:33 am
wow, that is sexy.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 pm
sexy indeed but best buy just upped the price to $1099 =(
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I just got one. After a week of using it, the only bad thing i noticed are the left and down arrows are sticky. Meaning they make a distinct noice. Sort of annoying, because i thought it was a defect until I had it checked out at BEst Buy.
-longh
July 25th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Just a few questions, does this laptop has the fingerprint reader feature? I see it in the pics but not in the description.
Does it have integrated bluetooth?
July 26th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I pretty much agree with this review. I’ve had this laptop for 6 days now and I love it. I bought it for something to use until I purchase a MacBook Pro in September.
To answer some questions:
NO it does NOT have a fingerprint reader feature (though for some reason the picture shows that it has)
and
NO it does NOT have integrated Bluetooth (which I thought was a slight let down).
It’s a pretty quick laptop considering the cheap price (I’m here on a months stay from England - hence why I find the prices cheap!), and runs the games that I wanted to: Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Football Manager 2007 and Need For Speed Underground 2 - Althought NFSU 2 doesnt look so good, the others can be played on max settings!
It runs fast on the included Vista Home Premium so I can imagine that it would be incredibally fast on Windows XP Pro - though I don’t have the time to reformat and install it.
The battery lasts quite a while when you run the laptop in Power Saving profile with WiFi turned off - great for my flight back to England
August 14th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
I’m about to purchase the laptop in a few days but being from south London, UK, I’m worried about the power supply. WJ did you use purchase a cable with a 3pin at the other end or are you using a travel adapter?
August 16th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
back on sale! now $949.99!
August 18th, 2007 at 6:24 am
i just bought one and although i intend to use it for college purposes, i also like to play games. i found out, however, that the intel graphics card isn’t compatible with games such as call of duty 2 although intel claims that their graphics card can handle that. it’s a fairly old game (3-4 years) and if i can’t play something as old as that, can i buy a seperate dedicated gaming card? i can’t find anything that tells me that i have the option of doing that. please tell me i do.
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:09 pm
An excellent laptop but if you own it be careful about the wireless on & off switch (pictured above in the review). It’s quite easy to inadvertently switch it to off and then loss your connection. Otherwise a superb machine but the wireless off switch could have been located more discretely so that it isn’t accidentally triggered to shut off.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Can you add Bluetooth to this Laptop and how, what cost?
August 27th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I was told in Bestbuy that it’s a bad idea to remove Vista and put XP on instead. Is that true? I don’t want to spend $150 for Office 2007…they told me that many of the components on recent laptops aren’t compatible with XP. I know nothing about computers really. Thanks.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I wouldn’t listen to anyone who works at Best Buy for one second. You can put XP on your system if that’s what you choose. Now it has been a bit difficult and requires some patience and a little trial and error but if that is worth it to you I’d go for it.
Here’s a link of someone who’s done it. You can read up and ask them for help if you need it.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=158137
Good luck.
August 29th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
where can i buy a standard battery? i read on best buy’s site that someone bought a standard battery for cheap, but he wasn’t allowed to cite it for legal reasons…anyone know a site?
September 28th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Dear Sir/Madam,
I will like to buy this HP dv6500t Special Edition white laptop like 3 Pieces…. I wont you to get back to me with total cost, inclusive the shippinc cost to my to my adderss 8421 N.MANHATTAN AVE.TAMPA FLORIDA 33614.
I wont u to get back to me as soon as possible.
Best Regard.
October 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I’ve had this laptop for about 3 months, now. It’s a pretty sweet-looking design, for sure. The keyboard shows fingerprints, but I’m alright with that. The main issue I’ve had with it is that, with the 12 cell, it was hard to find a laptop sleeve that was a good fit. If I removed the battery, there would be no problem, but with the batt, it’s a good 2.2 inches wide. I think I found something that’ll work, though. BTW, I haven’t had a problem with the wireless switch location.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I love it!
It does atrac alot of fingger prints, but takes a second to clean, i have 3 brand new hp latops at home, 2 dv6000 series (one the white se) and a normal one, and so far im very happy with this one….
I just love how evryone looks at me when im using i at the coffe shop, or any public places…
Truly a show off laptop.
October 28th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Every passing day is killing me. I’m waiting for the CUSTOMIZABLE dv2600 to come out in the US. I’m a college student looking for his very 1st laptop, I seriously NEED this!
October 28th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
@ Jerry L
I wish I knew when HP would release the dv2600 customizable version of this laptop, it’s odd they announced it so long ago and it’s still not available.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Got this on a whim in a quick pinch when my computer caught on fire yesterday (see my blog)…Yea, make sure you seat RAM properly! I’ve done it a million times and just screwed up, but fortunately that desktop was 6 years old…AMD Socket A motherboards and processors for that matter are sold for scrap/gold recovery now so I just got a laptop from Best Buy.
The one I have though is 2660 not 2550. Not sure the difference, looks the same…same specs as far as I can tell.
For the past day it’s been awesome. The one thing I REALLY wanted to know is if there’s a standard size battery so it can fit better for transportation?
Like mentioned in comments here, it’s awkward to find a case.
I heard rumors of this laptop lasting 8 hours on battery too…of course with this 12 cell one and not some standard (that I still want). Anyone have any truth to that? Also that standard size battery that lets the laptop sit flat?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
My hard drive needed to be replaced within a month of buying. I’ve been waiting for my hard drive to be replaced for a month with no hope of a new hard drive soon as it is “back-ordered”. I will never buy HP again because of the customer service trouble I am having.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Hi,
i just wanted to leave a comment on the webcam. i have a dv2500t. Initially i was confused on the question ” why did HP reduce the resolution of the webcam?”. But after comparing the performance of the VGA on 2500t with the 1.3MP cam on my dv2000t i found a the real difference in them. Of course u r not going to use tis cam to generate pics to be edited and made into posters. With good lighting they both are almost similar. But with normal to low light available(which is most usually the case) the VGA performed extremely well. I was stunned when i was able to clearly show my face and T shirt in a complete dark room. Moreover, dont compare it to the VGA cameras available on cellphones because there is absolutely no match. the pictures and the videos i got from the VGA camera are absolutely stunning in quality.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I got this baby on boxing day and it finally arrived today. The battery is huge and sticks out, but I guess it gives you something to hold onto while you’re carrying it btwn classes.
Does anyone know if there are batteries that fit flat with this laptop? I’m thinkin’ most that are less celled (9, 8, 6..etc) would fit flat? I would like to know more precisely which ones, if anyone has looked into that.
Also, what laptop cases/sleeves/bags have you guys used for this laptop? I initally just wanted a simple sleeve, but it’ll totally bulk out.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
is their any way to upgrade the processor to the T7350??? and i am wonder if their is a way to put a graphics card better then the one that is in it.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:43 am
To clear up a few issues:
-This is only exclusive as far as retail stores! HP will let you configure this on their website (i.e. you can get bluetooth, wireless A/B/G/N, a fingerprint reader, larger hard drive, and an NVidia GeForce 8400M GS discrete graphics card which gives you an HDMI port at the expense of one usb port) and it’s on sale 25% off until 2/20. Free shipping.
-This model (like all HP laptops now, I believe) is now available with a Core 2 Duo T9300 “Penryn” (Santa Rosa refresh) processor that runs at 2.5ghz with an 800mhz FSB and 6mb L2 cache- good enough for anyone I know!
-Also comes with matching sleeve
August 15th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Had this laptop for about a yea and it looked great to me but when I had first got it I had many problems with it; my sound barely worked when using quicktime to play a DVD, vista made it freeze almost constantly, because I didn’t have full administrative privlages I couldn’t do anything that I could do on my old laptop, and the laptop is just overall frustrating to me. I dont know, other people may love it but it definitely isn’t for me. After having this laptop I’m having trouble trusting HP again and might just switch to macs.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Also had my laptop about a year(HP Pavilion DV2550SE, Verve Edition). The 5400RPM drive sometimes is an issue, otherwise completely great buy even now for what you get. I still swear by it, but may end up selling for a Studio 15 Dell since it has backlit keys for $50…horrible, I know.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Please where can I get the reversible verve sleeve to match? I know you get it when buy from HP.
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I got this to replace my ailing, hot, noisy Toshiba laptop. The dv2550se is a very very good PC. Of course I used the supplied Vista Home Whatever to create a SATA-slipstreamed XP install and then wiped Vista away and installed XP SP2, zero problems running about a year now. I got it at the discount price, and got the dire warnings from the Best Buy people about XP “not supported” on it- I took it back to them the next week and showed them the installed XP.
There is NO hardware Bluetooth so you have to add a USB Bluetooth- no real problem. The wireless Ethernet is sensitive and reliable. The form factor is good. I throw it in a padded satchel and away we go. Everything runs great including AutoCAD. I’m driving an external Dell 22″ at 1680×1050, works great. HP has ALL the XP drivers for this model including the Bluetooth. Try the Apple $99 Bluetooth keyboard with it- tasty!
April 15th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
DON”T BUY IT!!!!
I was one of the unfortunate that purchased a dv6000, and the experience was so bad i will never give HP another penny. It was not only a “Lemon” sold with a motherboard manufacturing defect but HP refused to fix it. I will go so far as to say that HP was deceptive, because after several calls to customer service the rep’s did not tell me it was defective until after date HP stopped fixing them. Then of course they offered to help me if I would give them my credit card number so they could bill me for their trouble.
Character and ethics go a long way with me and HP didn’t get far. Google “HP sucks” for more negative feedback (mostly from HP employees). Take my advice and put your money into a reputable company like Toshiba or Dell.