The Basics

• Hard Drive: The 80 GB hard drive (4200 RPM) is a bit above average in size for notebook PCs. It offers more than enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software for road warriors. You'll also be able to store a good-sized digital audio library.
  
• Processor: AMD's Athlon 64 3200+ processor is built for tomorrow's 64-bit applications, which will require a processor with significant power. This 2.0 GHz processor offers a system bus with speeds up to a blazing 2000 MHz and 512 KB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.) It includes such AMD features as HyperTransport Technology (which increases the communication between integrated circuits) and Cool'n'Quiet Technology that conserves power while also keeping the PC nicely quiet.
  
• Memory: The 512 MB of built-in memory (DDR SDRAM) is fine for basic productivity and multimedia software, and it offers what's becoming an average RAM speed (333 MHz). It has two memory slots in total, with a maximum memory expansion up to 2 GB (2 x 1024 MB).
  
• CD/DVD Drive: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, this multiformat DVD/CD drive is compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer (DL) DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. It features 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, 2.4x DVD+R DL, 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CDR, 24x CD-RW, and 40x CD-ROM ROM speeds.
  
• Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 101-key keyboard and two-button touchpad with on/off button and dedicated vertical scroll up/down pad.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The zv6130us has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks. The 125 HSM/SpeedBooster support will enable it to be ready for tomorrow's 125 Mbps wireless LANs and the BroadRange support provides your 802.11g connection up to 50 percent more range than competing technologies. You get a decent offering of connectivity options, which does include super-fast USB 2.0 and Firewire:

• 4 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
• 1 VGA monitor port
• 1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV
• 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
• 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
• 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
• 1 notebook expansion port
• 1 IR receiver
• 6-in-1 Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia, and XD Picture Cards

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes preloaded with Microsoft Works (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents), Norton Internet Security 2005 (with 60 days of complimentary updates), Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money 2005, MSN Encarta Plus, Sonic Digital Media Studio, Apple iTunes, Intervideo WinDVD, and MuVee Autoproducer.

The included HP Image Zone Plus photo and imaging software makes it easy to organize, edit, share, print, protect, and store your photos and video clips. Organize and find your photos easily by timeline, keywords, and/or location using the unique photo-globe mapping tool. Remove red eye and fix other common problems. Share your photos quickly via e-mails that include thumbnails with links to the full-sized images--without downloading time-consuming attachments.

Dimensions and Weight
Best used as a replacement for your desktop PC, this notebook weighs 8 pounds. It measures 11.18 x 14.25 x 1.8 inches (LxWxH).

Power
This notebook is powered by a 8-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which offers an average of 2.5 hours of battery life (dependent upon computing conditions).

What's in the Box
This package contains the zv6130us notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase as well as technical telephone assistance for one year. Software is also covered for 30 days from date of purchase.

Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.0

Rating - 4 Date: 2008-09-23
Content: I've had this box since new, when I bought it as a demo model from Office Depot. After rebates, paid around $800 in late 2005.

I invested $200 in Patriot Extreme 2-2-2-5 Ram from NewEgg (another excellent vendor) and eventually upgraded to a Hitachi 7200rpm 100GB hard disk.

Earlier this year I bought a desktop AMD 4000 (2.4GHz) 939 processor on EBay, and this baby sings. Make sure you get the E4 stepping, though.

I use it for daily Share Point Server development and am running Windows Server 2008 X64 with Vista skins. All the drivers (except the monitor, which shows as Generic non-PnP) are available for download.

This is a wonderful machine. My colleagues make fun of the thickness, but in server mode it runs rings around their Core-Duo laptops.

Step van Schalkwyk
St. Louis, MO

Summary: ZV6130us - Excellent box after upgrades

Rating - 5 Date: 2007-09-25
Content: it's one cool machine. the battery is weak but,actually, i took the computer into a hotel room with the brick and it was great. no need for the battery in my case.

installed a gig of memory for $67 under the base, and it flies.

using nod 32 anti-virus. i was using avast, but avast would slow the boot up and sometimes interfere with the machine when running or updating. nod 32 operates invisibly and uses fewer resources speeding up my boot up time a lot as well as the overall operation of the machine.

happy, happy, joy, joy!
Summary: got it in april of 2006 and still working great!

Rating - 4 Date: 2007-06-17
Content: This HP "clunkster" has been reliable for the nearly two years since we purchased it. I have had no hardware issues and only repairable software issues which I don't mind fixing myself. It is stable and performs admirably with whatever I try to do. It even works well with memory hogs such as Adobe software packages (ie. Premiere Pro, CS2).

The only real issues I had with it were when I had the original factory install (Win XP Home, Norton Antivirus etc). Once I upgraded to XP Pro and loaded my own software, it worked great. It got better once I upgraded its memory to over a gig.

Pros:
Overall pretty fast
Stable
Bright display
Nice sound from its speakers
Dual Layer DVD+RW drive
Withstands my abuse (I'm not always gentle with it)
HP Support (hours after emailing HP about an issue, I recieved a solution. She kept emailing me until I replied back to give feedback. In that particular case, the solution worked.)

Cons:
Power hog...battery lasts only 2 hours because its processor wasn't designed for a notebook
Fan is loud (because it gets too hot)
Gets extraordinarily hot
Slow spinning HD (4200 RPM)... I use external HDs when I need faster performance
Only expandable to 2 gig RAM (due to change in industry standard)

Overall, this computer is great. I won't get a new PC because of its cons. And despite its size and weight, I still travel with it.

If or when I do get a new computer, it will be a Mac.

I love my HP
Summary: My HP Pavilion zv6130

Rating - 3 Date: 2006-11-17
Content: I bought this labtop from amazon about 6mnts ago, its good for the price and offers alot for the money, but with playing Warcraft or trying to edit home movies, or even trying to watch or play video applications it has intermitent lag gets extreamly choppy at times, and sometimes shuts down, it tends to run hot and loud, being just a casual gamer and just video edit for fun I can live with the issues I have < I have too the customer service in vishakhapatnam arent much help> but will defenatly be replacing this for something better suited for gaming and media applications when I can find a good deal on something better. On the pluss side its great to have a labtop with a ton of memoree and fast processers its verry compatable with everything Ive pluged up to it lots of ports great sound for a labtop, hp makes updating drivers easy from website, I get fantastic fast wireless access 1500kbps from my home dsl, even faster than if I plug it in, I can plug my cannon elura camcorder dircetly in for fast easy video editing big bright screen good graphix, pretty big and heavy for a laptop, alot of machine for the money, I would not purchase this product again though b/c of the issues I do have, and again customer service is a joke, your lucky if the tech support person you get even speaks english, and they always tell me my issues and problems are normal
Summary: Video, Gaming, Media Issues

Rating - 1 Date: 2006-11-13
Content: I spent over $300 in repairs to try to fix the power problems. It still does not work or charge properly. I went to several forums online for help, and apparently this is a common problem with this model. I do not recommend this laptop at all. It also weighs 15lbs, so not recommended if you have to carry it around a lot.
Summary: Power cord and connection problems to no end