When it comes to notebooks, there are a few different flavours with their own specialties. While some are geared towards power users and have features like powerful 128MB dedicated integrated graphics and desktop processors, there are other ultra portable units that normally clock in around the 1GHz mark and make use of shared memory graphics solutions. The trick to purchasing the right notebook is to know your needs and the intended purposes of the unit so you can properly match the correct machine with your requirements. HP has introduced a notebook that offers a bit of everything at a very reasonable price, combining a high specification Intel Pentium M 1.8GHz Dothan CPU with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 that takes advantaged of shared memory from the system bus.

It's not often we find a unit that caters to almost everyone, this 'book is fantastic for students, productivity road warriors and users after multimedia on the go.

One of many manufacturers to offer a quick-launch style mini-multimedia operating system, HP's take is a little different to others we've seen and is sure to impress those after a quick booting self-contained entertainment environment.

Perfect for when you're out and about and eager to show family and friends your latest holiday videos or favourite movie, HP's quick launch is activated by a single key press on a button located just above the number row of the keyboard. Insert your disc and start watching in widescreen (15:9 aspect ratio) on the sharp and clear 14-inch WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen LCD. Like the Toshiba Satellite M30 Special Edition and Sony VGN-A19GP notebooks we've reviewed, this unit features a chemically coated LCD panel, which is ideal for movie watching and can be used in both direct and indirect sunlight or on the desktop producing a clear image.

Strangely enough the dv1029AP has two quick launch buttons, one for CD playback and the other for DVD.

However, the slim DVD-ROM optical drive will only hold a single disc at a time, meaning you'll need to change it even if you're cycling modes. The interface is easy enough to use and the two 'back' and 'ok' buttons located just below the keyboard and the multimedia controls give you full remote functionality. If you're not one for sitting directly in front of the notebook while you're watching movies, HP do include a slim remote control which slips into the PCMCIA bay when not in use, saving you from having to carry around extra accessories. HP has had a good long think about the features needed on a multimedia notebook of this calibre and have come up with some great ideas, such as including a 6-in-1 removable media card reader, Harmon Kardon speakers mounted in the front of the chassis and two headphone jacks for private movie watching with a friend or partner. HP even include a second pair of bud earphones, giving you everything you need to get right into entertainment use straight out of the box. Unfortunately front-mounting the speakers lead to the issue of muffled audio when lap operated, although the headphone jacks should help overcome that problem.

Care has been taken to mount all available ports on either the left or right hand side of the housing, leaving the harder to access back panel free of plugging and playing. This said, there are three USB plug points and a 4-pin FireWire port for easy video capture from a digital video source like a camera. A mystery to us is the inclusion of Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 as part of the software bundle, with its inability to be finalised without a DVD writer, although other units will feature a burner. Also included in the software pack is a copy of Microsoft Works and Money 2004, HP Image Zone Plus, Norton Antivirus 2004 trial, iTunes; a CD of Windows XP critical security updates and an application and driver recovery CD, handy for when you accidentally uninstall things.

Clearly not designed for gaming, our pre-production model managed to churn out just over 2000 3D marks under 3DMark01SE. This is due to the integrated shared memory graphics, taking up to 64MB from the system's memory to power the display. PCMark04 scores were much more impressive, returning 2853, nothing to be ashamed of and proving this unit can cut it outside playtime.

Overall this is an attractive and very capable multimedia notebook with a price tag that's sure to impress given the goodies inside. We'll definitely be back to have a more thorough look at this notebook once it's available, which should be sometime before Christmas.