Slick interfaces
One of the dv2's biggest advantages over most netbooks on the market is its generous 12" display, which offers 1280x800 pixels of resolution. 1280x800 isn't all that impressive next to a 24" desktop monitor at 1920x1200, but it offers 67% more pixels than the 1024x600 display resolutions common on 9" and 10" netbooks. The extra pixels allow the dv2 to display 720p video in all its glory, and the additional desktop real estate makes it much easier to run an IM application alongside a web browser or other programs.

Don't pay too much attention to the blue tint to the screen in the picture above; the dv2 display's color reproduction is actually quite good when you're viewing the display dead on. The screen's viewing angles are decent, but not exceptional, much like its overall brightness. An LED backlight illuminates the display, yielding just enough luminance without going overboard. For reference, a 30% brightness setting on my Eee PC is easily readable under normal lighting and roughly equivalent to 40% on the dv2. The Eee PC's screen is much brighter at its maximum than is dv2, though.

Even with the dv2 cranked to full brightness, you can still see reflections in the screen's glossy coating. Lots of them. The fact that the border around the dv2's screen is thick and also glossy only serves to accentuate the effect. Reflectivity isn't a problem when you're using the dv2 in low-light conditions, but it's an annoyance otherwise and encourages running the screen at a higher (and power-hungrier) brightness level than might otherwise have been necessary with a matte display. [Ed: Yes, but matte displays require more illumination generally, because they let less light pass through.]

As if the dv2 didn't already have enough reflective surfaces, the system's touchpad has a mirror-like finish. The surface is nice and smooth, but it quickly becomes a mess of fingerprints and smudges. At least the touchpad is a decent size. However, it doesn't offer multitouch functionality. Instead of convenient two-finger scrolling, you'll have to make do with dedicated vertical and horizontal scrolling zones. There isn't much room for the latter, although the thickness of each scrolling zone can be adjusted individually in the touchpad control panel.

HP has done a much better job with the dv2's keyboard. I prefer to quantify keyboard size in terms of the horizontal span between the outer edges of the A and L keys and the vertical span between the T and V keys—that's the area where I spend most of my time typing. Across these letter keys, the dv2's keyboard offers 92% of the horizontal and 91% of the vertical span of the "full size" keyboard on my old 14" Dell notebook. For reference, the keyboard on my 1000HA is 91% of full size on the horizontal, but only 86% on the vertical.

The dv2's total keyboard area measures 10" x 4" (254 x 101 mm), leaving nearly three quarters of an inch of unused space on either side of the chassis. HP hasn't compromised the keyboard's layout, though. Full-size shift keys are in the right place on both sides of the keyboard, and the backspace key is nice and large. The function keys are half-height affairs, as are the keys that make up the directional pad, but I didn't find either to be problematic.

A closer examination of the dv2's keyboard reveals that the keys themselves differ a little from the norm. The edges don't have much bevel to them at all, and when combined with the slightly concave key surfaces, they provide extra contact area. There's a nice, positive feel to each key's travel, and even under aggressive typing, the keyboard doesn't flex at all.

The dv2 keyboard's ample area, large keys, and solid construction make typing quite comfortable for my large hands and short, stubby fingers. However, getting up to full speed, which for me is around 100 words per minute, is a little challenging. The problem here isn't the keyboard itself, but the glossy finish that covers it. This finish makes the keys a little slicker than I'd like, and I found my fingers slipping on more than a few occasions when banging away at speed.

Slickness aside, keeping the glossy keyboard free of fingerprints and smudges is virtually impossible. One can't easily buff the keys while the system is powered on, either.