HP Pavalion G6-2123us (A6-4400m) Review

Since I really haven't seen much about the new dual-core Trinity mobile processors, and since Staples has a 14 day return policy anyway, I decided to pick up the new G6-2123us. The specifications are,

• AMD A6-4400m (2.6GHz base, 3.2GHz turbo)
• AMD Radeon 7520g IGP
• 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM (1x4gb)
• 640GB, 5400rpm HDD
• 15.6'', 1366x768 screen
• SuperMulti DVD burner
• 47WHr battery
• 14.80" (L) x 9.61" (W) x 1.20" (min H)/1.43" (max H)
• 5.46lbs

Build and Design

I have to admit being pleasantly surprised at the build quality of the notebook. I have seen the last generation Pavilion G-series notebooks, the G4 and G6, up close and while they are pretty well built for cheap consumer notebooks they are not on the same level of this. In the store this was sitting right next to an HP Pavilion dv6, which is supposed to be HP's premium line to the G-series budget line, and this was every bit as well built as the premium notebook next to it. The hinges are strong and the plastic of the palmrests and lid feel durable. It is possible to bend the lid and push down the area around the optical drive but only when exerting very heavy pressure. The battery also seems to be a little loose. It sits flush in the compartment but it has a little wobble room. Nothing a little piece of double-sided tape won't fix very easily, though.

When I first walked into the store and saw the notebook from afar I was very worried. It looked to be a very glossy plastic that would show fingerprints, smudges, scratches and dust easily. I was again pleasantly surprised that when I touched the glossy areas it did not do so. The lid and the area around the keyboard look very glossy but are apparently made of a material that is made to somewhat resist the cosmetic flaws that plague most glossy notebooks. It is not like you can take a sharp object to it and do no damage but it doesn't show fingerprints as much as it looks like it would. The material itself is dark black with specs of light in it, I would call it a black granite but HP calls it "sparkling black" on the Staples product page.

Ports and Features

Has basically the same ports that any everyday use notebook in this price range has. The left side features the VGA, HDMI, ethernet, two USB 3.0, audio ports and card reader while the right has the power , a USB 2.0 and the optical drive. One plus it has going for it is the distance between the USB ports. Other budget notebooks I have seen have almost no room between the USB ports, making it hard to plug in two things at the same time, but the G6 has plenty of room for my mouse and USB drive.

Screen and Speakers

As it is on pretty much every mainstream laptop there is nothing special about the screen. Brightness is decent, viewing angles are solid though better horizontally than vertically, and the color appears fine. Many complain about 1366x768 resolution on 15.6'' screen but I, personally, don't have a major problem with it, especially on cheaper notebooks.

The speakers, on the other hand, are anything but average. These are easily the loudest speakers I have heard on a notebook in a very long time and even at high levels the sound is clear with no distortion.

Keyboard and Touchpad

I would rate the keyboard about the same as I have done with HP keyboards over the past couple generations, which is to say very good. The Chiclet style is not something I am a fan of but the spacing and size of the keys is good. There is absolutely no flex on most of the keyboard but it does have slight flex, paired with a relatively loud clicking noise, by the area above the optical drive.

The touchpad is of average size and features a nice, textured feel while maintaining the same look of the area around it. The texture feels nice and makes it easy to navigate and the buttons feel very strong but nothing can replace an external mouse.

Performance and Benchmarks

3dMark11 (1x4gb DDR3 1600):


3dMark11 (2x4gb DDR3 1333):


Running Star Wars: The Old Republic at the preset Medium settings at native resolution I was able to get between 25 and 60 FPS, around 35 on average. I don't think I saw the FPS counter dip below 20 at all. In combat situations it was between 25 and 40 and just running around it was over 50. On Low settings the average is around 45 and on very low it is over 50. Graphics performance looks to fall between the previous generation Llano 6520g and 6620g.

Cinebench R10 (2x4gb DDR3 1333):


Cinebench R11.5 (2x4gb DDR3 1333):


I have to admit being a little disappointed with the results. It does seem to hit the turbo of 3.2GHz very consistently when running the single-threaded Cinebench but even with it the clock-for-clock performance is basically the same as Llano, if anything it might be slightly lower. Again I have to qualify this with the fact that the processor performance is still enough for most people and that I don't experience any slow down in day to day use.

Running other tests now but if anyone has anything specific you want me to run just let me know.

Heat and Noise

This is one area where the notebook doesn't get great marks. Internally and externally the temperatures are very good. The case feels fine even under heavy load and I haven't seen a temperature over 68C, and this is in a 84F room, in the tests that I have done so far. The problem lies with the noise. With HP Coolsense on or off the fan is constantly spinning, just like on all HP notebooks in recent years, and it isn't noticeable over ambient room noise (such as an air conditioner or television). But once that thing gets going it feels like it is louder than other notebooks I have used, though it could just be my imagination because I have been using a dm1z for the past week. I am going to have my friend bring over my previous Asus K53TA-BBR6 to compare the noise with that sometime this week.

Update - So I put it right next to the Asus and I feel like I may have been imagining it being much louder. It seems like it may be slightly louder but it also has cooler internal temperatures so it really isn't a problem. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a BIOS update that makes the fan less aggressive. It likes to kick on even when temps are low, in the mid-40s, but this can be fixed by changing the Windows power plan settings for System Cooling Policy to Passive instead of Active. And no, this doesn't seem to make the performance any worse.

Battery Life

Comes with a 47WHr battery and the run time is rated as up to six hours according to the product page.

Update - Yet another surprise was the battery. Setting the power plan to balanced with 70% screen brightness and reloading a web page every 45 seconds lead to 321 minutes (five hours and 21 minutes) before the laptop went into Hibernation at 9% battery life. Given the "up to six hours" on the product page and relatively small 47WHr battery I expected only around four hours running this battery test.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a budget notebook with good graphics, good looks, good build quality and a good keyboard and touchpad then this is definitely an option. The pure processing performance is a slight disappoint and is not nearly enough for power users but it is enough to do everyday tasks and some light gaming. Not a powerhouse by any means, and it is possible to find Sandy Bridge i3 notebooks for $400, but this has graphics that easily trumps those. For everyday tasks it is not likely you will ever notice a difference in either area, however.

In summation, just like Llano, if you are looking for good-enough CPU performance and very good graphics performance for a low price this should definitely be on your list. At $299.99, after the coupon and rebate, it is hard to find a better deal than this.

If you want good pictures this review is what you want to see.

Pros:

• Solid build and stylish design
• Good keyboard, touchpad
• Very high-quality speakers
• Great graphics performance for the price

Cons:

• Sub-par CPU power
• Unnecessarily aggressive fan

 

Thanks for the review. Did you take advantage of the extra $50 off HP laptops at staples coupon(expires on 7/4/12)?

I'd love to see some CPU benchmark numbers if you get a chance.

 

I did not use that coupon but I am definitely going to do so now. I am gonna head up there and return this and just re-order online, or try and get them to honor the coupon while I am up there.

 

you should be able to use it at the store. You may need to return and rebuy. Good luck.

I bought one the laptops with the coupon at the store, but haven't had a chance to open and test yet. I was hoping that I could find some CPU benchmarks before I opened the laptop.

 

I was indeed able to use it at the store. The guy just gave me the $50+tax back. Staples return policy is very good, though. I asked him while I was up there and he said 14 days even if the notebook is opened with no restocking fee. I will post benchmarks over the course of the next few days but I would advise you to open it up and play with it for yourself to see if the speed is good enough for you.

 

I know they will take it back, but those returns cost staples and HP a lot. I've been busy today. If I don't find the numbers soon I'll play with the machine.

 

Well I will have some basic numbers, like Cinebench, by the end of the day. Probably gonna have 3dMark06 and Vantage up by then, too.

 

Where would one find said coupon?


Thanks for that review abaddon4180! So the total came out to $350+tax?

 

$399.99 + tax but there is a $50 rebate right now.

 

the coupon is here
http://reg.e.staples.com/c/s/tagfrm/hBP6wjAB7SHGCB8ju6zD-D$hwJj/coupon.html?n=8147&COUPON_1=70476

 

Posted the Cinebench R10 numbers in the OP. I gotta say, even though the processing performance is enough for me and even though Turbo Core actually seems to work this time around, that the performance is slightly disappointing. I wasn't expecting a huge increase over Llano but there seems to be no clock-for-clock increase, if anything there is a decrease.

 

You gonna keep this downgrade? the k53ta is so much better.

Get the latest Hwinfo64. Are you sure turbo hits 3.2ghz consistently ??

don't use those old benchmarks.

3dmark11 and cinebench 11.5.
we haven't seen 7520g 3dmark11 scores yet. Forget about old 3dmarks.

I want to see igp scores for both, especially opengl in cinebench.
As a reference, Intel HD4000 gets 18fps cb opengl.

do tests with High Performance windows power option.

Spoiler

Ivy bridge core i3 will be a direct competitor in price with the A6, and it may be worth it to spend $50 more for core i3 if 7520g is suckier than HD4000.

As far as fan noise, I know what the k53ta and HP trinity sounds like side by side. K53ta fan also runs nonstop in this weather. In winter, it would stop blowing occasionally when cold enough.
The HP has a higher pitch blowing. K53ta has a lower hollow sound.

 

Yeah, leave those old 3DMarks, 11 is perfectly good. It looks slightly better than the old A6-3400M, about level with Intel HD4000.

 

How about running PSCheck on the A6-4400M and see if you can lock that thing in to a constant 3.2GHz?

Then try and see if by chance there are any multipliers that may be unlocked?

Lastly I don't really believe this is a 35watt part, as it is exactly half of what a A10-4600M is, therefore you should be able to get some decent temperatures, hence try your luck at undervoltage. Although after writing that I am thinking each core will still require a certain voltage for the higher clocks.

 

@link - I already sold the K53 to a friend and this isn't for me. I am either gonna give this to my sister going off to college in the fall or return it. I am using an old dm1 with the E-350 right now until I find something I like.

I posted the Cinebench R11.5 results in the OP and it looks that benchmarks put the 7520g on about the same level as the 6620g and HD 4000, though it will probably be slightly faster with DDR3 1600 dual-channel RAM. I am going to run some actual games to see how it performs in them today.

 

Can you help me understand the benchmarks you posted.
How does the CPU compare to say an Intel B960?
With the R10 image you posted I see numbers 3084 and 4427
Do I compare that with 3533 and 6789 from this page?
Notebookcheck: Intel Pentium B960 Notebook Processor
If yes, I think it means that it is about 15% slower for single core stuff and a 35% slower for dual core stuff. Did I understand this correctly?

I don't understand the R11.5 screen shot.

Is the passmark CPU score an accurate measure? I normally use this site to judge CPU's
PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs

I'm trying to decide between this laptop and ASUS X54C-MS91 (Intel® Pentium B960). They are about the same price. The Asus only has 1 USB 3.0 port. I don't play games.

Thanks for the help.

 

The B960 is indeed the better processor, though I doubt you will notice a difference in everyday use. Passmark isn't really a great benchmark, in my opinion at least, but my CPU score was about 3000. If you are looking for something around $400 and don't play games I would suggest checking Best Buy or Newegg for something with a Sandy Bridge i3/i5, which can be easily found for that price.

 

did you run the cb11.5 opengl in dual channel mode?

if not, can you run it again with 8gb ram ?

and also, go to the menu options and enable advanced mode, where it shows single cpu option. Then monitor it with hwinfo64 to see if it really boosts to 3.2ghz


the 7520g is not on the same level as 6620g. 6620g is faster. It is faster than the 6520g though.
it looks like it is equal to the HD4000.

This is gonna get interesting depending how core i3 is priced, since core i3 will be a ton faster, and have the same graphics ability as the A6-4400m

 

Thanks for the info. I want to get a machine with at least one USB 3.0 port and haven't found a lot of options in the $350 to $450 range. I found some I3s but they only had USB 2.0. Maybe I'll keep looking or just live with this HP or get the ASUS with the B960.

The passmark on the B960 is about 2100. A 3000 score sounds a lot faster to me.

 

The ~18FPS was with the dual-channel DDR3 1333 RAM. I ran it again this morning and updated the OP, though. Got 20FPS this time.

Not quite on the level of the 6620g but pretty close to it. With dual-channel DDR3 1600 RAM I imagine it would be even closer.

Like I said, pricing I have seen leads me to believe that pricing is going to look like this in a couple of months, for the mainstream notebook market not including ULV and ultrabook and sleekbook stuff

$700+ Ivy Bridge i7
$550-700 Ivy Bridge i5/Sandy Bridge i7 vs. Trinity A10
$450-550 Ivy Bridge i3/Sandy Bridge i5 vs. Trinity A8
$400-450 Sandy Bridge i3 vs. Trinity A6/Llano A8
<$400 Sandy Bridge Pentium vs. Llano A4/A6

 

you should hold out for the full line of ivy bridge to come out, as they will all sport usb3.
just resist the urge. ivy bridge core i3 should be released this fall.

passmark is a sucky test. Don't buy a cpu based on that.
If you insist on looking at passmark scores, you need to look at each component score, not the composite score, since the composite score is tallied by some whack method.

best way to do that is to go to bestbuy and bring a flash drive loaded with passmark, and run the test on each laptop there.

 

The only reason I was using passmark was that they had a single webpage that listed 100s of CPUs and scores. It is an easy site.
Can you recommend a website with a list of CPUs and a benchmark that you do like? I'm looking for general PC number crunching scores. I don't care about graphics speed. I want to know that I'm buying something that won't seem slow two years from now.

 

If you are just doing normal stuff, like web-surfing and office work, pretty much any notebook on the market right now, even ULV ones, should suffice for a couple of years.

 

Thanks for taking the time to help.

I agree most laptops will do the job for web-surfing and simple MS office stuff.

I'm running photoshop, compiling C# code and occasionally editing video. I'm just not playing games. I know machines with a passmark of around 2000 are acceptable and that machines with a 500 score are not what I want. I've seen some current laptops with scores in the 700s.

At this point I think I'm probably gonna keep the HP or get the B960 machine because of the USB 3.0 and low price point. I need a laptop now or very soon.

 

Well here are some more you might want to take a look at.

Asus - 15.6" Refurbished Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Matte Dark Brown Suit - K53ERF-BBR17

Newegg.com - Refurbished: ASUS K53 Series K53E-BBR4 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 500GB HDD

Newegg.com - Refurbished: ASUS X44H-BD2GS Notebook Intel Core i3 2330M(2.20GHz) 14" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD

Newegg.com - Refurbished: ASUS X54C-BBK5 Notebook Intel Core i3 2350M(2.30GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 3000

Amazon.com: ASUS A53E-ES92 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories

All have USB3.0

 

Wow. Thanks for the search help
I had found essentially the same PC as the Amazon one at microcenter. The part number is different, but I don't see any difference in the specs.
Micro Center - ASUS X54C-MS91 15.6" Laptop Computer - Black X54C-MS91

Those refurb I3 and I5 units might be the way to go. I guess it's just about how much I want to spend.

This new I3 machine is also in the running.
Amazon.com: ASUS X54L-BBK2 Laptop Computer / Intel Core i3-2350M 2.3GHz 2nd Generation Processor / 15.6-inch Display Screen / 4GB RAM / 320GB Hard Drive / DVD±RW Double Layer / 4-Cell Battery / Webcam / USB 3.0 / Gigabit Ethernet / Windows 7 Home Pre

So I brooke down and opened the HP to do the passmark tests. I see what you guys say about the composite score being confusing. The site I had been using listed just the "CPU score". The AMD A6-4400 is tiny bit faster than the B960 (2200 vs 2100).

 

Personally, if I was doing what you want to do on the laptop, I would go with one of the refurb Sandy Bridge i3 notebooks from Newegg. If you didn't need USB 3.0 you could probably find a refurb Sandy Bridge i5 for <$450.

 

I think the newegg I5 refurb or the amazon I3 are the way I'll go. Thanks for pointing out that the newegg had USB 3.0

 

I wouldn't get a b960.

if you're going to use it for 3 years, pony up $50 more and buy a better cpu.

core i5 will be suitable for you. Since most photoshop tasks are single threaded, Intel cpu's will be best for you.
If you're absolutely penny pinching, core i3 will suffice too

 

Here's a comparison chart for the B960 and core i3 2350M

Basically the B960 is a non-hyperthreaded version of the i3 2350 that is 100MHz slower. For most users you can't even tell the difference in every day use. And they're often available for about $100 less than the core i3. If I was getting a laptop for my mom, I'd probably go cheap and get the B960.

 

i wouldn't get a b960 because so many features are disabled, especially the graphics portion.

hyperthreading is actually useful, and allows you to max out the cpu.
quicksync lets you make crappy ipod video encodings on the fly.

sometimes apps don't use 100% of 2 threads, and you see cpu load is 50%.

I bought a celeron dual core laptop 3 years ago. It was a very crippled core i3. Not gonna do that again.

 

Exactly. All things my mother will never need. Not sure what you mean by the graphics portion. If you mean the HD3000 graphics they're almost identical with a slight advanteage to the core i3 at max turbo on IGP. But if you mean quicksync stuff then yeah, definitely the i3 is better. But if you just want to play older games and stuff, they're nearly identical performance wise.

My laptop has a 2nd gen core i5, 12 G RAM, 1600x900 and AMD6630 tho.

 

According to 3DMark11; 6620G+1333MHz level with A8-4500M, 6620G+1600MHz level with A10-4655M:

Trinity:
A6-4455M 17W: P571
A6-4400M 35W: P720+
A8-4500M 35W: P858
A10-4655M 25W: P907
A10-4600M 35W: P1150

Llano:
A4-3300M 35W: P625
A6-3400M 35W: P701
A8-3500M 35W: P830
A8-3550MX 45W: P903

Ivy Bridge:
3317U 17W: P603
3610QM 45W: P716

I would also recommend to Trinity users use Windows 8, because Bulldozer architecture can speed up few %.

 

Staples just sent out an extra $100 coupon on all HP computers.

so this laptop just became $299 + tax

much more appropriate, since it is $299 performance.

 

Is this the one?

$100 off coupon for HP desktop and laptop computers @ Staples - Slickdeals.net

 

Looks like I have to go up to Staples again. But it looks more and more like I will be giving this to my sister instead of returning it. I doubt I will find anything with this good for $299.99

 

Ha, I just saw this on Slickdeals.net and was going to post but already beaten. There are some seriously good deals with the $100 off, but this g6 model is probably the best IMHO.

Thanks for posting the great review abaddon4180

 

yeah. You're not going to find a $300 laptop like this for quite a while.

maybe at the end of the season on clearance, but not now.

 

Thanks for the help. I returned the G6 and went with the G7 (17" I3-2350M) for $399 after rebate.

 

How much better is the A6 trinity over the previous a6? thx

 

The processor performance is worse because the Llano A6 was quad-core processor while the Trinity A6 is only dual-core. The graphics performance of the 7520g of the Trinity A6 is slightly better than that on the 6520g on the Llano A6, closer to but not quite as good as the 6620g on the Llano A8.

 

Wow, alright thanks for the info. Youd think the new a6 would be better all around. Anyway, I think know which laptop to get now.

 

Well AMD really just changed their naming system. The top-of-the-line A8 Llano became the A10 for Trinity, the middle-of-the-pack A6 Llano became the A8 for Trinity and the lowest A4 Llano become the A6 for Trinity. There is also apparently an A4 Trinity in the works, though I haven't seen anything that uses it yet, and I think that is meant to replace the single E2 Llano.

 

Abaddon thanks so much for posting this. I spent way too much time today digging through facts/fantasies about the new Trinity lineup and I must say that from the APPARENT benchmarks I see, I'm aghast at the disconnect between what AMD published surrounding the launch vs real life. I kept thinking the reviews I was seeing were misguided, they ran benchmarks wrong, had non-optimized drivers, or flat missed the processor Model Numbers but what you found sorta confirms the issues....

gosh, I was SO hoping AMD would hit a clear homerun with this Trinity series... Terrible marketing to let these OEM's push out units which get uncontrolled benchmarking and end up on the scrap pile. awful.

so the buyer is stuck waiting, I guess, for ivy's with dedicated radeon graphics??? and the price will be +$1,000..... what a deal.

for now I'll stick with my t'pad x120e until I see some clear win.

local BBuy has one of the toshiba 17" builds with the a6-4400... I'm going to swing down there and run some tests...

Does anyone know if new rev dedicated graphics parts from the Trinity project are shipping yet?

 

Just to put some chum in the waters, checkout the benchmark graphs here: Ivy Bridge Vs Trinity benchmarks are in: Intel CPU wins, AMD GPU and battery win - MacRumors Forums

the threadster credits anandtech for these but looking at the article cited I don't see... I DO see a discussion of architecture... meaningless without realworld benchmarking

 

Hey look at this offer on the website of Toshiba

better than BestBuy

Trinity a8 17'' for $ 500

Toshiba Satellite L870D-BT2N22 Laptop

 

why would anyone buy a 17" with that poor resolution?

 

that's a mistake. check the specs. 17" always has 1600x900.