*HP dv6t & dv7t Select Edition / Quad Edition (6XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Something interesting happened today... When i first had the laptop in it's stock configuration, the windows score for "desktop performance for windows" was at 6.9. After installing the optional windows update driver for the radeon 6770m, and then upgrading the CCC to 11.5b hotfix, the score fell to 5.4. Anyone know why this happened?

 

It ran the test with the intel graphics rather than the 6770m most likely. Unfortunately I dont know which exe to tie the switchable graphics to in order to rectify that.

 

The disk plays fine on Cyberlink but the only problem I having is with the sound. I have not touched anything regarding the sound on the laptop. The sound is factory configured. The sound else where is fine. The volume on Cyberlink just does not match up to the sound I get else where on the laptop. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

winsat.exe

You can also run it from an administrative command prompt if you want to specify just graphics tests etc.

 

I mentioned the remote thing in case another disc's menu won't work with your mouse. it's a disc-specific issue.

good luck with the sound issue.

 

So if you don't tie winsat.exe to high performance in the CCC, the windows experience tests will be inaccurate?

 

Thanks for the info! I figured out the sound issue by googling it. Works great now

 

I always knew AC power wasn't the best for your laptop, but I am curious as to how my usage habits will effect it. Even when I am away from home, I nearly always use the computer on AC power. At home, when not in use, it is still usually plugged in. Although obviously not a primary concern for me, will this make the battery more or less useless?

Funny you should mention the Windows scores. I usually don't put much stock in them, but my first dv7t-6000 had 6.9 for the Radeon as well. Now, my new dv7t-6100 shows 6.6 for the 6770m with 2GB VRAM.

Does anyone know if this actually means anything as to the effectiveness of the drivers, the efficiency of a switchable graphics platform, or something else entirely?

Care for a link? I haven't tried Blu-Ray yet but I'm sure it would help others, as well as myself down the road.

 

Even I get 6.6 on my dv7tqe with 1gb 6770m.. Kinda weird...!
And yes... I am getting frames in about the 40s when I'm playing Need For Speed Carbon which is a 5 year old game...(I just have that game for now and wanted to test the laptop's gaming capabilities...)

 

Guys, one more question... Can I get my laptop's battery replaced under warranty when I find it dying? I have a dv7tqe with 2-year warranty..

 

Interestingly enough I just ran the Windows Experience index myself after upgrading to the 11.6 beta drivers. I also experienced a score reduction to 5.4 but when looking at the breakdown, the 6.6 remained for the 3D score while the 5.4 was for 2D performance. I checked the switchable graphics and it appears that winsat is still set to high performance, however it seems that it does the 2D check against the Intel graphics and the 3D check against the ATI graphics.

Be that as it may, the performance remains in games, so I think its purely a cosmetic/driver issue, nothing else.

Seems as though your game may not be set to high performance in the switchable graphics. I've found that sometimes even setting the .exe for the specific game doesnt do it but rather you need to set the shortcut (either in the start menu or on your desktop) to the high performance option in the switchable graphics, I think clicking on that engages the graphics even though its referencing the exe.


As for your battery under warranty. Not usually. You might ask them though, some advanced service plans cover batteries, but even most of those dont. A battery wearing down is considered 'normal wear and tear' and warranties dont usually cover that.

 

I like to play games in window mode so that I can mulittask with all my other programs.

Also, lower resolution gives better fps. Well, supposed to give better fps.

 

Well, i re-ran the test, now my gaming graphics number is 6.9... weird!

 

Running in window mode results in lower fps (at least in wow). The issue I'm having now is that: down-scaling the graphics in RIFT on my dv6 1080p screen is hardly noticeable, but on my stupid big 27 inch monitor it pretty much just looks BAD. The 1080p screen on the DV6 is VERY VERY NICE. Someone here posted a side by side comparison and the difference was dramatic between the screen upgrade and the original.

I'm still on the fence about returning my DV6 despite being a VERY VERY nice computer, especially with the screen upgrade, but the sager 8130 with the new nvidia 560 is VERY tempting. If I do go that route I will probably HATE it due to it's lack of battery life :/ I'm torn.

 

I checked sager--It would cost me $1988 (with tax and shipping, for roughly equivalent specs to the HP which I got for $1236).

 

I paid 1,070-ish for my dv6 with the 30% coupon. Checking with Malibal, the 8130 equivalent, without a blueray drive but comparable matte screen, same processor, 8 gigs ram and a significantly better video card and a slightly better warranty for a couple hundred bucks more.....I'm tempted, but the lack of battery life will pretty much SUCK. The thing is I wanted the DV6 to replace my aging desktop, and with the current driver state I'm not sure if it will.

Currently my 550be and 8800gts(320mb) just runs a bit better for RIFT. That said, EVERYTHING else runs soooooo much faster /snappier with the DV6

eh more like close to $300 more for me

 

It's really hard to compete against HP when it comes to price and hardware. The issue with HP is support. You never know when they just suddenly forgotten about you when a refresh comes out.

 

I'm not familiar with the game, so I did a quick search and Rift appears to run better on Nvidia cards then ATI. The 8800GTS, even in desktop iteration, isn't as powerful as the 6770m in any of the benchmarks, but I can believe certain games that were optimized for Nvidia run better with it. Hopefully, drivers will eventually fix that issue, but it's understandable if you go to an Nvidia based platform. The GTX 460m is marginally better than the 6770m, so the 560m will be better still, but the biggest problem, as you indicated is that battery life SUCKS with both of them, and there's currently no option for switchable graphics with the higher end Nvidia cards. What kind of FPS/settings are you able to pull in on the 6770m with Rift? Is performance not at least liveable? Going mobile is alwasys going to be a compromise of some sort, but as of recent, that compromise has gone way down thanks to the current crop of high power/high efficiency GPUs!

 

i just go the hp pavilion dv7tqe in ireland witch cost me 799euros witch is really good for me its new by the way..i got it with the 1080p screen 8gbn ram and 1tb hard drive ....still has the two year worrenty that comes with it just like buying it of the hp wep site...

 

I can't seem to use the touchpad while holding down any key. This is nice for extra bragging rights on TF2, but otherwise rather annoying.

 

ahoy guys,

so apparently i am now in search of a new laptop, hopefully a reliable one, and the quad dv6t is currently at the top of my potential purchases list. i was wondering, current owners...how do you find it? how is the built quality? any problems with performance or anything like that? having trouble finding many good reviews of this one...

 

The build quality is great. Great design and materials, thin and relatively cool compared to similar laptops from other brands. If you upgrade to the 1080p screen, it is very good quality. Feelings on the standard 720p one are mixed.

As far as performance goes, the only issues seem to involve the new dynamic graphics switching, and confirming that the Radeon card is indeed set to work with applications. Though this is just more of an annoyance, and should be fixed with driver updates in the future (probably not so near as we'd all like).

Though there has been a revelation of sorts just in the past day, where we are finding that GPU-Z is reporting that the Radeon card is not using all 16 supported lanes. This could be the application reading things wrong. We don't really know right now. Keep an eye on the Gaming thread in the next few days.

 

I'm running Reil's app, in my sig, and it works fine with Reil's app running.

 

This is a strange question but am I understanding that the My Intel WiFi allows for the laptop to produce it's own WiFi hotspot for other wireless devices to use? When I had my dv6tqe before I returned it, I tried this out but it stated that there was no compatible intel wireless card, which seemed strange. Why even pre-install this software if it doesn't even apply to the hardware??

Also another really strange thing I noticed from my first dv6tqe. When my wireless internet was connected, the icon on the wireless tray would indicate that there was no connection established rather than showing strength of connection. Anyone else get this problem?

 

Turn off the PalmCheck feature for the Synaptics touchpad

Control Panel->Mouse->Device Settings tab->Settings... button

Palmcheck Enhanced ACM, click the Gears icon to the right

 

I was torn between the DV6 and an Asus G series. I wanted more battery life, so I went with the HP. I'm not an intense gamer though. I would be fine running a game on medium instead of ultra. I needed a laptop with versatility and some power.

 

Does anyone know what an amber light coming out of the HDD LED means? I see this occasionally and it usually corresponds with what sounds like the HDD clicking. I'm slightly worried that is the sound of the HDD dying or something.

 

It means that HP 3D guard detected too much movement with your laptop and have temporary locked your hard drive to protect your data.

Locked as in the platter stopped spinning and the arm has moved to rest position very quickly.
It sounds like a very loud licking noise.

 

Interesting. Thanks!

 

Hey Guys,

So I just got the dv6t yesterday...was playing Heroes of Newerth on it...and the I noticed the left palm rest is getting pretty warm, it's causing my left hand to sweat....even with my X2 Notepal cooling pad... I don't think this game is even as demanding as Starcraft 2. Anyone else experiencing anything similar? Thanks

 

I have read someone else on this forum also had a similar experience, I believe that is where the hard drive is located, it may be defective and producing too much heat.

 

For those who want dedicated graphics to run all the time, has anyone just set explorer as an app requiring dedicated graphics?

 

Hey Fiveoneoo, do you remember who the person was? Maybe I can contact them to see if they got a replacement that fixed the issue...maybe i'm just being paranoid...but it's annoying because the right palm rest is like cold....while the left one is making me sweat... Thanks.

 

I thought about this when I was first reading other people complaining about the new graphics switching. However, I don't think this works, as both GPUs can run at the same time. So you would end up with Explorer running on the Radeon while other undefined applications like web browsers would probably end up on the Intel. Heavy applications like CAD and games should still run on the Radeon no matter what, though.

 

For those of you that have never tried Reil's app, it is a must. I am only running it on one profile, and not the other. There is a significant difference in usability of page scrolling without it.

 

I will (hopefully) soon be the proud owner of a dv7tqe! Have not yet ordered it but plan to do so this week and am already quite excited about it!

Anything in particular I should know about the laptop before it arrives?

 

as for double finger scroll settings, i use easeInQuad, and duration set to 720

 

I currently have a dv7t-6000 revision that I am going to return and order the newer revision (6100) with the 1900 x 1080 display. My only concern is the change in how the switchable graphics interface has changed from a global setting to an application by application setting. This has caused a problem with at least one piece of software that refuses to run on the newer version but runs well on the older version. My thought, since HP Tech Support has proven to be of no help in this matter after over 6 hours of phone time, is to copy the Restore partition from my current laptop and use it to overwrite the new laptop when it arrives. This will hopefully provide me with the ability to enable the ATI GPU globally. Any thoughts or questions on this idea would be appreciated.

 

I'd say on a scale of (poor fair good great excellent) it's a solid "good" with respect to build quality. There are a few minor issues and both dv6t's I've had shipped to me had some Q/A issues. In no particular order...

The first one had one of the SATA cables outside of the routing channels and the accessory cover was bulging out where the cable was outside the channel. Minor issue that was easily fixed.

The second one had the keyboard bulging up in the middle-top area, it wasn't fully snapped down into place. Minor issue, easily fixed, but something that shouldn't happen.

The accessory cover can be a little tricky for the uninitiated and some might feel uncomfortable messing with it because they feel they will break some of the plastic tabs off.

There are minor gaps in certain places around the top perimeter, where the top meets the sides and the speaker grill area. They are minor but some have posted pictures that are worse than others. These gaps can cause some light from the power and HDD LEDs to leak through the side. I think this is a minor issue unless you get one with really bad gaps, which is rare. But all of them have minor gaps to some degree.

When you carry the laptop under your arm(like the attached picture, sorry, ripped from Google) with the battery side down the springs that keep the clamshell top shut aren't strong enough to keep the top from rattling. You can carry it with the battery side up and your hand keeps it shut, but the battery side is more comfortable to carry it from. I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet....anyone else?

Blu-ray drive(Samsung TS-LB23L) can sometimes take a long time to eject. I've reported this to HP, hopefully they will provide a firmware update.

Speakers are fair and there have been a few who report them to be awful. Probably QA issue from the start.

Umber color is hard to keep looking clean, get the Steel Gray.

Minor graphics driver issues with switching and playing Blu-ray over a WiDi connection, should be fixed with driver updates.

Don't even bother with the 1366x768 display, it is garbage. I would give the 1080p a "good" rating on the same scale as above. 1080p resolution on a screen that size gives great pixel density so text looks very crisp. It's a matte display, which I like, but if you like glossy that could be a con. You can't get the brightness high enough to see a reference black level(16) on test patterns and the contrast ratio, vertical viewing angles and color reproduction are mediocre. It's reasonably good but I had higher expectations.

So there are several minor issues but based on price and performance I think this laptop is a winner. I would recommend this to friends or family with the caveat about the lid rattling and I'd take a look at their current screen and make a comment if I thought it was better than the dv6t's.

 

I'll give it a try. If you use Firefox, there is an Add-on called Yet Another Smooth Scrolling. It is da bomb.

 

Dgobe is that the one that loads the next page of forums?

The Synaptics implementation of 2 finger scrolling is truly garbage. The hardware is fine, it is the driver. Reil's makes it near Mac performance

 

Nope it's an add-on that enables smooth scrolling(Firefox only). I tried Reil's it's decent but I kind of like the Chiral scrolling. I'm going to use Reil's for a few days and see if I change my mind. What are your settings on the scrolling tab?

 

It is a little too much tweaking for me, so I just left everything alone and unchecked single click. What I like about it is the activation time. If you play with the monitor setting, you can see what the pad is capable of. You can be 5 mm off the deck and it knows where your finger is. Pretty cool to watch the raw data stream.

 

For Reil's Touchpad App, my settings are:

Scrolling:
Speed: 65
Acceleration: 60
Maximum z threshold: 255
Delta ratio threshold: 40
Easing algorithm: easelnQuad
Duration: 620

Tapping:
1 finger: Disabled (already in Synaptics driver)
2 finger: Right
3 finger: Middle
Single tap interval threshold: 150
Maximum finger travel distance: 50
Maximum w threshold: 15
Maximum z threshold: 100

Try these settings, they make the touchpad rival the MBP's!

 

So with all of these problems, including the inability to enable ATI all the time, and it not using all lanes, I think I will return mine when it comes in.

 

There will always be issues with every manufacturer. Heat, build quality issues, control issues, noise, lack of connectivity, quality of components, etc, etc, ad nauseam. This whole idea of dynamic graphics switching is becoming very pervasive across all of the notebook manufacturers for the high end notebooks because they think its a good idea to give people the option of performance or power savings if they are on a battery. The thing they dont seem to realize is this: When we're buying a machine like this, if we actually plan on using it on the battery, we're probably going to buy a bigger battery or more of them (you'll see in this thread and the order status discussion where many people have purchased the 9cell or the 6+9 cell), otherwise people always plug in, like I do.

Its yet another instance of companies determining what we do for us. But like I said, HP is far from the only company doing it. Many of the issues will be corrected with consecutive driver releases. But as I found out, it is nearly impossible to get the specs of these laptops at the prices we got. Sure you can get most of the specs somewhere at a decent price, but not all of them.

You can argue that when spending this kind of money we should get a product that is exactly what we want and performs how we tell it to, unfortunately we're still subject to the whims of whatever company makes it (be it Dell, HP, Samsung, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, etc...). They all have their quirks. And we take it, or we would have stopped buying them years ago when they started installing all their garbageware on them.

The positive I can say about HP is that many of those complaints seem to be less than many others (Gateway and Acer come to mind (seeing as they are the same company now)). The components are better than most (if not as good as some). And HP even gives us the option to have a minimal system image, obliterating most of the garbage they pre-install. That's far more than most companies allow us.

 

i thought of the same thing. in fact i just switched the dv6-6000 hd over to the 6100 - screen goes to 800x600. there is something weird about the hardware/bios between the revision and the original, they are not compatible.

having said that, the switchable graphics works great for any known games - they dont however, work well for things like emulators or benchmarking programs

the trick is to push the lid to the left after popping the top with the latch. the lid is in the shape of a fat "L", and if you push the l part of the "l_" to the left, the entire thing pops open much more easily.

 

I would like to know if anyone has been able to run a Second Life, or Phoenix viewer on the 6100 revision of the dv7t. Since the variants of SL viewers have never really worked with Intel GPU's, the program displays a wrong driver installation window and will not even start. On my 6000 revision it works quite well since I have the ATI switched on all the time.

 

so for the people who got the dv7t before the 1080p option was available can you not buy the screen on its own and install it your self??????

 

Is there any particular reason why they didn't just leave the option in? Let us choose whether to manually switch or automatically switch?

It seems like such a simple thing to do, and is obviously the best solution imo.