A few days ago, I wrote about the newly announced HP Pavilion dv2 notebook – the first system to feature the new AMD Athlon Neo processor. Tonight I had a chance to look at the dv2 at the Digital Experience in the Mirage and I have to say – it’s one sweet ultra-portable notebook.

First, let me tell you what it’s not.  It will not compete directly with netbooks. It will fill that niche between low end, low power, inexpensive netbooks and high end, expensive ultra-portable notebooks. The dv2 and really the Athlon Neo processor is designed for people in need of an ultra-portable notebook with more power than a netbook and yet cheaper than your typical ultra-portable notebook (which can easily run into the 1000+ range).

It also isn’t a system with a long battery life. From what I was told, you can expect the dv2 to last approximately 3 hours – not great especially compared against Intel Atom based netbooks with six cell batteries. Then again – it’s a different class of systems too.

With that said, here are pictures of the new dv2 – and yes for those of you wondering, it does have Windows Vista installed. AND yes, the Neo is a 64 bit processor which means you can easily install Windows Vista 64 bit if you want. I also found out that the dv2 supports up to 4GB of RAM – very cool.

This system when it comes out could very well replace my current Sony Core 2 Duo – and fill that niche between high end desktops at home and netbooks on the road.

Here’s the black colored version of the dv2 with the optional external optical drive (which you can purchase with Blu-ray support too).

For those of you wondering what the dv2 is like compared to a netbook – here’s the 12 inch dv2 up against the 10 inch HP Mini

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