HP Envy Ultrabook 6t questions

So I just purchased a Ultrabook 6t-1100 for $931 (after all the discounts and coupons). It's expected to ship Nov. 5. My previous laptops are:

- HP dv6500 (2007)
- HP HDX 16 (2009)
- Sony SE 15 (2011)

I had been planning the purchase for a few weeks but waited to see if the specs would improve (I need a discrete graphics card, but the i5 1.6ghz Sandy Bridge processor couldn't cut it). Fortunately HP updated the options last week and I was able to get the i5-3317U with the Radeon 7670M (an i7 was available too but I passed). I also bought an external Blu-Ray drive. Unfortunately, since I waited Windows 8 was the only available OS. So I have a few questions about this laptop and there doesn't seem to be any dedicated thread for this model.

1. Will I be able to switch to Windows 7 if I don't like Windows 8? I really happy with W7 and I doubt W8 would be much of an improvement especially with the totally unnecessary (for non-tablets) "Metro UI." I still have my free W7 Home upgrade disc that came with my HDX.

2. The 500GB 5400RPM HDD is a bit of a disappointment (size and speed wise) but I realize is the best that mainstream tech has to offer in the 7mm form factor. Does the 32GB SSD actually improve performance significantly?

3. Is Windows Media Player included with basic Windows 8? Also is WMC available to download for non-Pro W8?

4. I hardly play games on my laptop any more since most games are available for Xbox360, but I still would like to be able to. How well does the AMD 7670M+i5+8GB RAM handle newer games?

5. Any other comments from owners or anyone else about their experiences with the 6t...

 

I am the owner of an HP Envy 6t-1000. Sandy Bridge i5 (1.6) + 7670M. I just loaded Windows 8 Pro on mine after my $15 dollar upgrade and overall, I'm fairly satisfied with it after some tweaking to kill BSOD.

1. Yes, Windows 7 will run perfectly with the new setup. I would suggest UEFI + GPT partitioning instead of CSM + MBR if you reload Windows 7. If you don't know what this means, I wouldn't worry about it. You'll need to make sure and download the RAID drivers off HP's website and put them on a USB before you start the installation, otherwise, you won't see your hard drive when you try to run the installation.

2. The SSD, imho, drastically improves boot time and file copying speed. With the acceleration on, I could copy from a USB 3.0 flash drive at 100+ MB/s, even up to 250, where a normal 7200 RPM drive would max around 50-60. Boot time seemed doubled with acceleration off. However, if you disable the acceleration, it will release the SSD as a usable drive, and you can load another OS on it. I believe Windows 8 RP on the SSD gave me an 8.4 in the Windows Experience Index (WEI) hard disk rating. The raid setup (5400+SSD as Cache) will give you the typical 5.9 rating.

3. I believe WMP is on every version of 8, but I believe you must have Pro to run WMC (see google). Honestly, just buy Pro if it doesn't come on your HP. It's only $40. I got a $15 upgrade because I bought my laptop in August. Once you buy pro, you can get MC as long as you register before sometime in January. If you wait until after that, it will cost you.

4. 7670M + Sandy Bridge i5 has been really great for me. I had an Asus ROG laptop (top of the line in mobile gaming in Asus basically) a few years ago with a C2D (OC'd to 2.5) + GTX 260M (OC'd somewhere through the roof) and I would say my 7670M combo holds up to it just fine. Fallout 3 plays on Ultra settings at 1366x768, no AA, 8x AF (~40-45 FPS). Oblivion does fairly well on High settings if I remember correctly. Basically, it plays any game just fine at decent settings. I have my 7670M OC'd to 700/1000 (stock is 600/900) with no problems. I occasionally use ThrottleStop to allow my i5 to run at 2 Ghz Dual / 2.3 Ghz Single all the time.

5. Heat dispersion is really great on this laptop. I hold steady at basically 70 C GPU and 75-77 C CPU when gaming. That's really good. That's the reason that I'm not afraid to OC. However, make sure you keep the back propped up. If it sits in carpet, it will get way too hot. I bet if you had a notebook cooler, it would keep it in the mid 60s to low 70s with no problems. Encoding videos can get that cpu up to 80+ C, so really make sure you have that back propped up under high CPU/GPU utilization.

Trash HP's video drivers and download leshcatlabs.net drivers. 12.9 public testing seems really buggy (BSOD) with Win 8 but 12.8 is working nicely for me. I'm looking forward to the official release of 12.9 because the catalyst suite and drivers are much better.

Trash most of HP's bloatware. It's all junk.

Research the difference in maximized and enhance SSD caching and decide which to use.

Enjoy! It's a fantastic laptop. I love the thing. I wish I had gotten the updated Ivy Bridge/HD4000/7670M but overall I'm really happy with my Sandy Bridge. It does a great job and outperforms my old C2D T9600 2.8G in my 17" MacBook Pro. And the 7670M slays the 9600M GT in it.

 

I forgot to ask about the heat dissipation, which was a serious problem for my two previous HP laptops. Both would sometimes shutdown because of the heat, almost always when I've been playing games (especially Far Cry). I had to replace the motherboard of my dv6500 after it got fried because of the heat. After that I got a Belkin cooling pad, although the wires shorted a few months ago (I still use it to elevate my HDX when I'm on my bed though to keep the fan clear). I also try and clear dust from the fan once in a while. So, when I was doing my research about the 6t it was refreshing that HP had developed their "Cool Sense" technology to fix the heat problem, and after reading your experience it looks like this is a concern I can finally lay to rest.

WMC is nice, although Windows MP is a must since I use it to manage my large music library. I probably will just end up getting Pro though (if I like W8). I'll think about what I'll do with the SSD. I'm a little nervous about overclocking so I'll probably just leave it stock.

Your post was very helpful. Thanks!

 

hello, ibanezbass I need your help, i have an envy 6t 1100 and for 4 days with tech support i have not been able to remove windows 8 and install windows 7. i really need help. please respond and let me know if you have time to help me out. Thank you.