Advice on dv6-6

Hi,

I'm looking at buying the HP Pavilion DV6-6195CA, and I was hoping some people with similar models would tell me what you think. If anyone has the 195CA itself that would be even better , but it's only in Canada.

Have you had any problems?

What is the battery life like? Do you think buying the 9-cell battery would be worth it?

Will the DV6-6195CA have issues with switchable graphics? I've read a lot of scary stuff about it on here.

This probably isn't the best place to ask but, I've also been looking at the Dell XPS 15, I know it uses Optimus, will it have the same issues?

Thanks.

 

Read this for the switchable graphics info http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...xx-read-here-answers-switchable-graphics.html

I have the DV6t quad, and its basically the same as the dv6, just improved. As of right now, I have no problems with it whatsoever. Its a very good laptop, looks great, and performs perfectly.

The graphics issue lies within a very small group, something that I have came to notice. I was in the same situation as you, I had my laptop and learned of this poor issue only to realize that it wouldn't affect me. If you are an intensive graphics artist, then you may have problems with this system. Check out the above link, and your questions will probably be answered.

As for the 9 cell battery, I chose not to get it. I knew that it would sit awkwardly on most cooling mats, and I know that I plan to keep mine charged for most of the time. Its up to you on whether its worth it or not. Mine can do perfectly surfing while not charging, but i can only play starcraft 2 for like 3 hours before low battery strikes.

For the Dell XPS15, I really dont know. Read up on their boards, and see if its a better selection. But when you go to buy your laptop, remember to add coupons. Saved me almost 600 dollars!

 

The dv6-6195ca is the exact same laptop as any other Sandy Bridge-based dv6-61xx out there. It's just a model preconfigured and sold in the Canadian market. HP has a few hundred variants of each model, each sold in specific markets, but they are ultimately the same laptop.

As for the switchable graphics issue, for many users there is no issue. If all you play are reasonably modern games and never use Adobe's CS suite, then you will never run into this issue with OpenGL apps not triggering a switch to the 6770m. For the most part, the majority of Windows games developed in the last several years have all moved to DirectX (Minecraft being an exception) and gone away from OpenGL. Honestly, for most people, it's probably not going to be anything they notice.

The XPS 15 uses Optimus, which is Nvidia's identical technology. It's more mature as they started doing this maybe a year or two ago. Basically, the AMD switchable graphics solution is where they were last year, with many of the same issues and problems. Optimus is a little farther along, but still has it's own set of issues (you hear people gripe about Optimus all the time). Both technologies really are the future in helping achieve greater battery life while still having power-hungry discrete GPUs, but it takes a while to get through all of the quirks.

Most of the coupons everyone here loves and flaunts so dearly sadly do not work for us Canadians. But hey, we've got healthcare!

 

Thanks.

Yes I know, it's so sad.