HP/Compaq 6715s, any good?

Im considering buying a secondary laptop HP/Compaq 6715s, with

1 gig RAM
Sempron 3800
80 gig HD
video card (blah blah)

Does ANYONE have this laptop? Any words about it? Reviews? How will it behave with double boot (Vista and XP in the same PC)

Thx

 

Also is 256 kb cache enough?

 

I bought a 6715s about a month ago. The only thing I can say is annoying about this notebook is that it has only 2 USB ports and no integrated microphone. Otherwise it's brilliant. I have a 1.9GHz Turion X2, 2 GB RAm, 120 GB Hdd with BT. It is very responsive and loads everything quickly. It does not overheat and the heat does not get to the keyboard. The CPU reached only 50ºC while being stressed by wprime. It's very stable and I am very pleased I got this one mainly because of the rigidity of the chassis.
It did happen a few times that it locked up with no apparent reason. I fixed this issue by using RMClock (it seems that the lockups where due to the horrible power management XP has). It is quite difficult to configure RMClock to be stable on my laptop but I managed and now (through the energy saving this program provides) the battery lasts for 3.5 h in office work and about 2.5h in movie watching.
If you buy it you won't be disappointed. I do think that you may want to get the 6715b with the same config you want because of the better I/O options.

 

Thanks a lot!


Can you send here some pictures of it?
Does the fn+up/down control the volume (s- version doesent have touch sensitive buttons, right?)
Fan, is it loud? Does the laptop get hot?
Does it have the annoying buzz or whine?
Is the Sempron 3800 CPU any good?

Thx, sorry for a long list

 

there are no printings on the keys reffering to volume control and I haven't had the need to use such controls. The fan is not loud at all. I use it in the same room I sleep and my girlfriend says that from the bed she can't hear at all... like 2 m away. Even upclose it's more lika whisper. No buzzes or whines (AMD processors have their problems but audible noise is Intel territory). I couldn't say anything about the Sempron. I'm guessing it's on the same level as the Celerons and I suppose it should have no type of frequency scaling, as it's a low cost cpu.
The laptop does not get hot at all. After using it on the bed, right on the sheets, for a bout 1 hour the CPU was still al 42 degrees C and the bottom part on the HDD side was only slightly hot (something like 45 degrees i'd say)

 

Thanks again!

Any pics?
Do you have glossy/matt screen? (if glossy, does it reflect a lot at sunshine and does it attract a lot of fingerprints)
Is 256 cache good? (for vista or xp)
How do i then controll the volume?

 

You control the volume through the volume controls of windows. My screen is matte and it's acceptable as far as image quality goes... it's not a SPVA screen quality image, but it works even for movies.
Here are the images... sorry for the quality... phone camera

 

By the way, the volume controls can be mapped to the touchpad (tapping the corners to increse /decrease the volume)

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

LOVELY cat! Whats his name? I have a Persian too, grey named Gamlet, we adopted him.. ^^

Whats your CPU cache? 256 enough?

 

Not my cat... but I know its name - Goe.
My CPU has 1 MB cache (512 kB for each core). I do not have any idea how good or bad having 256kB is. I used to have a Duron with 64kB and it worked pretty well so you be the judge.

 

Hmm, would having 256 (as opposed to 512 and more) make my system slow? Could it handle Vista/multi boot?

Right now im worried by 3 things.. (a lot less thanks to Bellor (rep) )

1, 256Kb cache enough for Vista/XP/Multi boot?
2, do those "rubber things" on the keyboard leave marks? Do they push the screen? Bad?
3, can i get that in matt? Cos my store only has glossy!

 

The rubber things on the keyboard are spacers and they are meant to protect the screen from scratching on the keys.
And I really think 256 kB L2 cache is quite enough for Vista.
But do get the 6715b. It's better equipped.

 

Do they push/press the screen?

 

i have the "s" version. I was just recommending a better equipped laptop. And the rubber spacers do not push the screen... they protect it.

 

Sorry! Again my stupidity!


Have you run the Super PI? What was the result?

 

OK, i decided to buy 6715s with
CPU: Turion 64 x2 mobile TL-60 (does it have the annoying buzz/whine?)
Screen: 15.4"
RAM: 1GB
HD: 160GB/
OS: XP PRO! cOOooooOooOOOOoooOo (really, til' all use Vista)

At 700€, a good deal?

 

bump bump bump

 

Super pi really isn't a good benchmark for dual core cpus and even more so for AMD dual core cpus. It favors the Core architecture and it shouldn't be used for comparison between turion x2 and core 2 duo. I ran wPrime which is a multicore benchmark and got results at or even higher than the performance of 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo (with my 1.9GHz Turion X2).
I say this again... AMD chips do not whine or beep. But when you get the laptop install RMClock. You will get much better battery performance than with XP power management.
700 euro is a good price for this laptop... mine cost 800 euros... but that's only because I live in Romania and all romanian retailers are highway thieves
And again... i would strongly recommend you get the 6715b. Aside from the extra USB port (3 as opposed to 2) you get a built in mic and all the volume and other controls with the Fn button. If I had had the chance I would have gotten that model. Even if it had a less powerful cpu. The computer is only as fast as its user. And you WILL appreciate the better control experience you get with the 6715b.

 

I would get the b, but as it costs more, and my budget is now max 750 €! (euros)


I really like the touch sensitive "buttons" and i would really like to pay extra 20€ (and more) for the version with TS "buttons"

Are you sure there are no external volume controls? Can you try the fn+up/down keys? Does it work? Can you tell me what fn (and f- key) functions does it have? thx

 

the controls it does have are sleep, external monitor switch, battery settings and contrast controls. And I tried other keys as well... ikt does not work for volume.

 

Interesting...From the model number(6715s) I thought it would be similar to the 6720s series sold here in the US but form your pic looks totally different...
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3951

 

The 6720s is sold in Europe as well, but is a completely different design. I bought one for a friend and it is quite nice but it heats up more than mine... while having a Celeron processor as opposed to my Turion X2.