When HP makes a media centre notebook, it goes all out. This Pavilion not only features a widescreen 17in LCD, Windows Media Center, a TV tuner and a remote control, but twin hard disks too.

It’s all driven by a 2GHz Core 2 Duo (our test unit had a 1.83GHz chip), which requires such minimal cooling that it only becomes audible when gaming or at the peak of our application benchmarks, in which the dv9008TX scored 1.16. The system is backed up by a thoroughly impressive 2GB of RAM — more than enough to run Windows Vista with ease, and you’ll be able to upgrade to the new OS for a nominal admin charge thanks to HP’s participation in Microsoft’s Express Upgrade Program.

We were a little disappointed to see that the 17in widescreen only has a native resolution of 1440 x 900 — the minimum we’d expect for a widescreen of this size. The glossy screen is glamourous but reflective, adding vibrancy to colours but, as our DisplayMate tests showed, reducing colour accuracy. We also noticed poor vertical viewing angles, meaning the bottom of the screen was often darker than the top, even when sitting directly in front. It’s not so bad as to make TV and DVDs unwatchable, but there are certainly better notebook LCDs out there.

We saw no problems with motion handling, though, which is good news for both video and gaming. 3D power is provided by the Nvidia GeForce Go 7600, which has 512MB of graphics memory, and scored 35fps and 31fps in our Far Cry and Call of Duty 2 tests at our lowest settings. Raising the resolution to 1440 x 900 and turning the rest of the settings to our medium level produced average frame rates of 22fps in Far Cry and 16fps in Call of Duty 2.

Hard disk size is a consistent problem for media centre notebooks, as 2.5in disks are currently hampered by a comparatively paltry 160GB maximum. HP has solved this problem by installing a pair of 120GB disks. The disks aren’t in a RAID configuration, but this means organising your system is a simple task — applications, games and system files on one, and recorded TV, documents and everything else on the other. The optical drive is a LightScribe-capable DVD writer, which will burn to dual-layer DVDs.

Two hard disks means higher power consumption, and the dv9088ea’s light- use battery time of 3hrs 4mins isn’t the only sign that it’s not really designed for frequent travellers. At 3.78kg it’s heavy, and a width of 40cm makes it very wide too. This makes it a tight fit for most laptop bags and backpacks.

For an all-in-one media centre, the level of integration is slightly disappointing too. The Media Center remote control is a useful inclusion, but the external infrared receiver is clumsy. The external TV antenna, installed on the end of a 12cm cable, is more welcome and proved capable. A converter is supplied to allow you to connect a standard TV antenna to the single DVB-T tuner, supplied on an ExpressCard/34 card.

Elsewhere, ergonomics are superb. The offset trackpad looks a little odd but is fine in practice, and the keyboard is fantastic — almost up to Lenovo’s very best ThinkPad efforts. HP has used the full width of the chassis to endow the dv9008TX with a numeric keypad, moving it a step closer to full-blown desktop-replacement status. Along the top of the keyboard is a selection of touch-sensitive controls for media playback, including an innovative touch-sensitive volume slider.

So what do you do if you want an all-singing, all-dancing media centre notebook? You certainly have a decent choice. Toshiba’s G30 and Sony’s AR18GP, are two other choices, sporting HD DVD and Blu-Ray drives respectively. Both, however, are some $2000 more expensive.

So while we’re sorely tempted by the high-definition charms of both the Toshiba and the Sony machines, the HP is the better all-round notebook. It’s particularly notable for its twin hard disks and masses of disk space, while the capable Nvidia GPU will be a plus for gamers. The TV tuner is an equally welcome addition, as is Windows XP MCE 2005 and a remote control. At $3585 it’s good value as well. Unless you view full High Definition compatibility as a must-have, the dv9008TX is our new number-one choice for a media centre notebook.