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

Anyone got a video card gadget that actually sees the video card? I got 2 and both can't see my 6770m

 

Search DXDiag and you can see it - also should see it in your device manager.

 

Finally, I'm set up and running my DV7 w/SSD.

My short review: No complaints at all. Fast, fast, fast!

But where is the light that flickers when the hard drive is reading and writing?

 

Also, is there any way to check the status of the SSD's integrity? As I understand, they degrade over time, so I would like to be able to monitor it if possible.

 

Next to the optical drive tray.

 

Okay. I'll complain about that. What a dumb place to put a led indicator.

 

Yeah lol, I wouldn't even have known if I hadn't been wondering what that was last night.

 

Their reason for putting it there is so that it is not a distraction when doing things like watching movies.

 

I'm not sure if this has been answered yet, but how do the speakers on the dv6t compare to those on the Envy if anyone knows? I'd assume the speaker performance on the dv6t is superior to those on the Envy just because of their upright placement and the fact that there are four vs. two speakers respectively. Much appreciated.

 

I don't know if this is any help. But I did the HP updates first, then went through and manually pulled up Windows Update. HP Updates did the BIOS install first before I went with Windows Update.

Thanks.

 

the dv6 speaker is louder than the envy 14 speakers. the new quad speakers sound better than the old dual speakers.

 

Someone mentioned SSDLife-it comes up with Google.

 

Got my dv7tqe yesterday. I only had limited time to play with it. The only thing I am disappointed in so far is how washed out the screen is. I expected better (though I've seen others complain about the same thing). I did play with some settings to make it a little better. Hopefully it can be improved with more tweaking.

 

If I remember right, the big brick (120W) that comes with ours is due to the Radeon 6770 vid card. So I guess it is possible that if you keep the intel graphics enabled the 90W power adapter will work just fine.

 

This is what you should use imo.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455

This is the ssd toolbox from intel. You can also update the firmware with Intels utilities. Also the ssd is a x25-m gen2. However Mine (also ordered the 160gb from hp) is marked funny physically on the drive. It says gen3 but its not.

Running that will tune your windows install to optimize the ssd (sort of). There are alot of other things you can do like optmizing ntfs tables and such. You should just google Optimize ssd on windows. A lot of articles are from 2009 and 2010 but they still apply today.

Also you want to minimize high amounts of writes to the ssd. So moving your documents/download/cookies/temp directories to a mechanical drive will help. All things you can find from google.

Also if you have 8GB or even 6GB you can turn off your pagefile. By defualt it is probably set to the amount of ram you have. You should never touch the 6 or 8gb. If you wanted to leave the pagefile you can make it more strict to try not to use it in the registry. Again google is your friend. Also not everything works for every person so trying stuff out and running on it for a while will get you your desired performance.

If you have specific questions you can PM me and Ill help you out.

Also you can go with none of this LOL and say the drive has 1.2 million mTBF but remember thats under normal usage. Random writes tends to eat that buy up to 75% faster.

Just my opinion don't shoot the messenger

 

After having my dv7t Quad for ten days, I have decided I couldn't deal with the screen. I don't want to learn to like it. If I didn't like it at first, I sure wont get "used" to it later on, therefore regretting my purchase after it is too late.

I actually just sent it back this morning, and exchanged it for an Envy 17. They have some quick ship models at a great price, with a bigger HDD than my dv7t, as well as an extra battery

 

I moved the page file to the second disk and set it to a fixed size of 2048 MB. I always do this even though I have machines with 8GB because some programs are expecting the the page file and don't work without it. I also set it to a fixed size just to limit the amount of disk space used.

 

How do you tell Firefox to place cookies on the D drive?

 

Also, how do you move the page file to the D drive?

 

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Google is your friend!

http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/20/moving-the-firefox-disk-cache-to-another-drive/

 

Any ideas on how to do this for MS office and Google Chrome?

 

For google chrome it is a switch on running the shortcut/exe (there is no setting that I am aware of). I would assume Office would use the TEMP location, but that probably is not the case.

 

Thanks, gyoung. I have moved the page file and FF cookies. Don't know if I am missing anything else in terms of minimizing frequent writes to my SSD, and if you can think of anything, let me know.

I set OS temp and tmp=D:\temp

I set MS Word and Excel autosave files to D:\temp

I put all my docs on D:

I put my Outlook files on D:

I set FF cookies to D:\temp

I changes page.sys to D:\

 

Im just curious about something. Has there been any thought given to the effect of moving these files to another slower drive on the speed of the program that has its files split to two drives? Just saying? Im no expert by a long shot but would appriciate the response of anyone who knowes.

 

Yes, I considered that. But I'm not a gamer and by doing this, I haven't notice any degradation in performance that would be worth mentioning. My main concern is I want a fast computer, but more importantly, I want it to be reliable. I don't want to find my SSD wearing out in a year or two.

 

That is a damn good point.

 

Its due to the quad core and graphics card.

Sandy bridge can sip the power when its idle, but when its working hard on all 4 cores and they are turboed up then its going to eat power. Don't forget the larger screen too.

However the gfx chip will use around 35W so not activating it should mean 90W can cope.

 

I can see what you're saying about the screen door effect, and it doesn't get better between the IGPU and DGPU. However, it did get significantly better with the latest graphics drivers.

 

Thanks for the info. I did update to the latest graphics driver, but the screen is still showing those jaggies. My 4 year old DV6t has a better screen than this. This really is taking away from enjoying this otherwise stellar notebook. When I have the notebook on my lap, I can clearly see the jaggies/ screen door effect in webpages like CNN etc. Moreover I am a photographer (hobby) and my photos etc. look really grainy and blotched on this screen.

This one is def. going back as screen is very important to me, for my kind of work. It's too bad.


Cheers,


Nikhil
My Website

 

I must be blind because I don't see this on my screen.

 

I was thinking the same thing but after looking at his website I figured he definately has more of a discerning eye than me. I think the screne is fine for my purposes though.

 

I am starting to wonder if the first units out the door had different screens than later units... I KNOW that to be true for the Blu-Ray players. This screen isn't a retina display and certainly should be placed on a hard stable surface, but given that, it is identical, to my eyes, to the Envy 17. Something doesn't quite add up. As far as screen door effect, the smaller the pixel, the less evident the effect ... also the tinier the print.

 

Do you think your screen is washed out or are you happy with the color?

 

Definitely a more discerning eye!! shniks' got an entirely different set of requirements for the screen than I do.

 

I typically use the laptops monitor as a secondary monitor and I did notice the difference between it and the primary monitor.

I made some adjustments to the color and now I cannot see the difference. I have a DVD for calibration of colors that I may use to try and get it more accurate, but for what I do (occasional gaming, but mostly MS Office stuff at work) it is working great for me.

 

For my use cases, it's fine, ie mostly software development, and occasional gaming. I do notice the washed out colors, will eventually get around to tweeking the color stuff.

BTW, you have a very cool website! Awesome photos! I can see why screen accuracy is so important for you!

 

I just got my dv6t yesterday and here are my comments:

Screen is sub par. I understand this isn't a full HD screen but even after adjusting the colors my eyes get strained after looking at it for a while. The colors are washed out meaning you can't see subtle color variations. A light color on a white background (like the light blue in the thread) almost looks white. The contrast is also not very good. Blacks are not very black unless you turn the brightness way down but then the bright colors are all dim. The color temperature is very cool so everything has a blueish tint to it. You get used to it unless you have it side by side with a warmer screen. Color callibration helps but can only do so much with a screen like this.

Build quality is good. I don't see any of the issues some other people have seen (keyboard flex, gaps, etc). I really like how accessible the harddrive, memory, and wifi card are. Keyboard feels fantastic.

Unfortunately my webcam does not work. After talking with tech support, they have determined it is a hardware issue and the notebook needs to be sent in for service.

I, however, will be returning this notebook. Mainly, I cannot get past the poor quality of the screen. I was considering trying to get used to it, but with the webcam issue, I will be returning it.

I have decided to go with a Dell XPS 15 for $300 more for the same specs plus a full HD 1080p screen. It's a shame because this notebook feels very fast and was at a great price.

 

I don't understand, the screen is so bad that you have to strain your eyes?? Or that you are willing to spend 300 more bucks for a better screen? You guys are makin me nervous

 

Anyone know the shortcut for turning off the camera?

 

I have to strain my eyes, but my eyes aren't so great. If you look at the screen right from the "sweet spot" it isn't so bad and like I said, I considered trying to ajdust to it. I've heard from a number of people that you get used to this type of screen after using it for awhile.

I've just been on the fence about giving up the savings to go with a full HD screen from somewhere else and now that I have to send back the notebook anyway, I think I will.

I think the screen will only bother you if you are coming from a higher quality screen (which I am).

 

The screen is far from perfect. But it's not THAT BAD... at least I don't care. (coming down from a 1400x900). The only noticeable difference I see is the smaller work space. I bought this laptop with the intention of using an external monitor or TV to treat myself to a movie now and then.

People complain to no end about every little thing. Don't forget what you paid for this thing. I'd be shock if someone doesn't call HP and demand a discount for this "problem" too. ha ha!

 

Hey, does anyone know the official material of the lid? I'm thinking of engraving the top, but need to adjust my settings, depending on what the material is. Also, does anyone know if cosmetic changes will void the warranty? I know with Macbooks is won't, but HP might have another answer. Thanks for any help.

Also, did anyone ever confirm/deny if WiDi works with the i7 2630QM? I don't want to buy a receiver if I can't use it!

 

well according to this post it should work.. but I can't confirm as I do not have mine yet.. http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/551664-2630qm-widi.html#post7113767

 

unfortunately the XPS 15's graphics card is far from the dv6tqe's, especially on a Full HD screen.
If ur gaming, then it won't make much sense to switch. If ur not gaming, I don't see why u would want this laptop over the XPS or Asus SV/SN series.

 

The screen is average, nothing great. Would be nice if I could up the resolution one more setting, everything is a little big. But this laptop is freakin fast!! The 2720 chip is insane and the 7200rpm drive makes me want to send back my ssd before I open it, everything so far opens in seconds. For the $$, it's a crazy steal, a Dell with these specs would be several hundred more. Too bad there wasn't an option to upgrade the screen, it would be perfect, but for less then $1000 with a 2720 and blu ray burner, can't really complain.

 

Can you guys help me to determine if my laptop has effected chipset or not?

Step 1, "If the fourth through sixth digits of the serial number are "108" or numerically higher, your HP notebook does not have the affected Intel chipset."

Mine is 115. It means that my laptop's chipset is not effected.

But in step 2, "If the chipset name in Device Manager is in the “Intel® 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family”, your HP notebook may have the affected chipset. "

Mine is in Intel® 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family...

So does my laptop have effected chipset or not?

 

Those tests were ONLY valid for the units made before mid-January. If you have a 6000 unit, you should be fine. The only other way is to dismantle the unit and check the numbers on the support chip ... not a job for the uninitiated. If it is the dark brown color, just rest easy.

 

So the thought is: If I don't need the nice graphics card for Gaming purposes then the XPS with the nicer screen & backlit keyboard is the way to go?

Does anyone have experience with the XPS and have thoughts (good or bad) when compared to the new DV6 quad?

* I won't be gaming on this laptop
* I will do some design work with Photoshop and stuff
* Might do a movie from time to time
* Like study laptop
* Like pretty laptop

 

Take a look at the comparison of features of the three Sandy Bridge chips in the link below and draw your own conclusions. Compare Intel® Products,

Under graphics specifications the 2630 seems to not have Wireless Display capability indicated.