Dv6t Select Edition or Envy 14

I'm looking into buying a laptop for college, and I have decided on two to further compare. I plan on majoring in Computer Science for college, and also plan to using the notebook for gaming.

I plan on hooking the notebook up to an external monitor for when I'm not using the laptop on the go.

I know this isn't the best place for this, but I wanted an opinion of those who have experience with these. Anyone have any experience with these? I know the envy 14 was just released so I won't be able to get much feedback for it yet.

 

im going to say dv6t se... the reason being is that you can configure a dv6t se with a i7 720qm and 8 gb of ram and a few other bells and whistles for cheaper then the base envy 14. thats of course with the $300 stackable coupon out right now though.

the only reason i see getting the envy 14 over the dv6t is for the screen and the status of having a envy laptop... but the screen thing wont matter much if your gonna be hooked up to a exteral monitor most the time... not that the dv6t screen is horrible or anything its just not gonna be up to part with the envy... also another one to check out that you can spec the same as the dv6t for less then the envy 14 is the dv7t...

the dv7t has a bigger 17.3" screen and its brighter and higher resolution then the dv6t... over all just a better display... it also comes the beat audio system with a subwoofer.. it sounds much better then the whimpy speakers in the dv6t. to me its a better system but its also a bit bigger and not as easy to carry around... though it is very light and thin for a laptop of its size.

i suggest going to best buy to compair the 2 in size and the screen quality .

ether way i say the envy 14 just isnt worth the premium price.. spec out a dv6t se or dv7t se. ether will last you longer in the sence you wont have to upgrade as soon. youre in college you need to strech that money

good luck

 

Well, I would only get an i5. I've seen i7 temps get quite hot. With the setup I had with a dv6t se with an external monitor, it came to $1600 before tax. That was also with a 4 year accidental warranty, which I figured would be worth it since I'll be carrying it around from class to class.

A similar envy 14 would be much higher. I was really leaning to the envy 14, but after looking into it more I may get the dv6t se because it is cheaper.

 

I say get the DV6T select because not only is it cheaper, you'll be able to customize it and even then, it will still be cheaper than the ENVY. Not to mention that HP is always offering coupons. Right now theres a 300 dollars stackable coupons which expires on the 7/6.

 

The deals thread on this board says the $300 coupon expires 7/5/2010 at 11:59:59 PM. However the Logic site and Coupon Bay says it expires July 4th. Two other sites say 7/30 and 7/31. They all say up to 1,350 users.

This is the build I went with:

HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition customizable Notebook PC
* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-450M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 2.66 GHz
* • FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
* • 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics
* • 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
* • TouchScreen with HP TouchSmart's intuitive multi-touch applications (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
* • LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
* • Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
* • Full-size island-style backlit keyboard with HP TrueVision Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
* • High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard)
* • Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
* • $1! SAVE NOW!! Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
* • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Estimated build date: July 13, 2010

Instant discounts you received:
$300.00 Coupon
$150.00 Notebook instant rebate
Unit Price: $1,630.99 Extended Price: $1,180.99

 

Could someone please tell me the coupon code you guys got to work?
I looked up the one on laptop forums here for the 300 dollar off any pavilion that costs over 1399 and it didn't work.

Thanks so much!

 

The coupon just went invalid. Perfect...

 

why is everybody buying SSD hard disks? i stayed away from that since i know the read/write wears out after 1 million to 2 cycles. i stuck with the 7,200 RPM HD.

@jhnboy and csinth
the coupon been available since for about a weak and a half. and its uses were limited, so my guess is either it expired or the limit was reached.

 

cycles what?

 

Basically, you won't reach that cycle limit before the rest of your laptop dies. Not a huge issue actually.

 

but what if you rebooted your computer 200-500 times a day? then what? huh??

 

It all really depends upon what appeals to you more and where your budget stands. The Envy 14 is essentially an advanced version of the DV6TSE. Both have awesome build quality and both can be configured to very significant performance levels. You're paying extra money for a higher screen resolution and a laptop built to be premium grade. The DV6TSE can be almost identically configured but the DV6TSE wasn't initially designed to most efficiently house everything it CAN come with while the Envy 14 is. As I'm sure you've noticed, the Envy comes with most available extras (save for the fingerprint reader) which means you configure mainly the RAM, CPU, and HDD/SSD. If you have the money and want a premium grade laptop, get the Envy 14. If you just want something that will take care of what you stated as needing to do, get the DV6TSE. The DV6TSE is still built very well and can be just as powerful as the Envy. As I said before, the extra money will get you a little extra. It really comes down to how much you value that jump from a "high performance" laptop to a "premium" laptop. If you have a low budget, that difference could be negligible.

 

So the toss up is based on features available to both systems including price.

What about the problems or glitches experienced so far by users of both?

I have settled on the features that I want. However the following are my concerns:

I want to use catalyst video drivers from the ATI site, not outdated HP drivers. Problems from multiple users out there? I saw a thread on the 10.6 but it seemed it wasn't a problem for everyone.

I want to do a clean install. Am I able to create or purchase recovery CDs? I don't want bloatware.

Any particular devices so far not working properly for many people? Most important to me is the HDMI output to a TV or VGA on DV6 vs. the display port on the Envy. Are there glitches there in real world use?

It's hard to find a list of the problems throughout the forum to weigh which system is more stable/reliable.

 

Will be using my new dv6tse tomorrow for the first time and have an e14 on the way. Planning to mess with them both and pick whichever fits my needs best.

 

the improvement to performance and speed is worth it. trust me, once you start using one, you will never want to go back to traditional HDD. it makes a lot more impact than the amount of RAM or CPU, as long as you have enough RAM to run your OS and apps properly. My laptop performs some tasks faster than my desktop even though the desktop has more RAM and faster CPU, especially bootup, shutdown, application load times, loading huge files in photoshop.

 

That'll be fine, and won't cut into the "1 to 2 million cycles" as there's no wear on a read cycle.

 

I'd also suggest that the SSD is 'hardier' - no fast spinning drum means that the drive is less likely to implode if you accidentally drop it while the laptop is on.

 

If the cost difference doesn't matter to you, then the Envy 14 is the better laptop. All other things being equal, I'd always go with the smaller laptop over a larger one. In this case, all things are not equal.

You'd think that something so mundane as a screen would make such a big difference. But think about it. You're always looking at the screen. That's probably the single most important thing to consider when buying a computer. The next most important thing is the keyboard. As far as I know, the dv6t has a good keyboard (as does the Envy 14). The screen in the Envy 14 is, however, better.

I'd strongly recommend against getting the i7 720 or "faster" CPU. They eat up a lot of power (lower battery life), plus they don't provide switchable graphics for longer battery life. They also aren't really that much faster than the i5's except in a few specialized cases where the application can significantly take advantage of more than 2 cores (outside of the ripping (video or music), or 3D object modeling (NOT 3D games!!!)).

Ultimately, the choice is yours, but things to consider are that the CPU in any laptop will eventually become "anemic" and the GPU in any laptop will become "antiquated". If you're planning on keeping the laptop for 4 years and expecting it to handle workloads in 4 years, you're going to be disappointed (though to be fair, that's true with any desktop, too). Expect that the overall "feel" of the laptop will get slower over time - that's simply a function of software of the future is more complex and resource hungry. So go with the items that never (well, almost never) actually become too slow - monitor and keyboard. That means Envy 14. Unless you can't afford it, in which case, your choice is already made for you.

 

Your decision really depends on what you're looking for. If the additional features of the Envy 14 aren't a huge deal to you (in addition to the slimmer form factor/greater portability) I would say go with the dv6t since you'll be able to get better specs at a cheaper price. I'm happy with my Envy 14, but if I was really trying to budget I probably would have gotten the dv6t:se.

 

The only thing that the Envy has on the dv6 is the screen, really. They are about the same size, the Envy is ~0.1'' thinner and 0.2lb lighter, they can be configured exactly the same internally. Unless someone really wants the high res screen then the dv6 is a better value.