*HP dv6t Select Edition (3XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I'm with you. This just perfect! A was going to finally buy it this week, and this bull. God, this alone is making me consider not buying it and going with something else! Goddammit! Nothing ever goes right for me...

 

My dv6-3030tx is going back on saturday morning. Switchable graphics and a ed keyboard laylout has been nothing but problems.

 

Well, I just noticed a new $100 off coupon but, as usual, it won't work for me. And no, that's not a happy smile.

 

Hi there, new DV6t owner, someone here has to know, I just put in the 9 cell battery, and there is some button on the bottom of it that will light up? Almost like you should push it to get more juice out of it or something haha? anyone know what this is for or have any ideas?

thanks

 

I got my laptop 10 days after ordering, I received it the day before the "build date" And I am down to 54gb free on my SSD without having imported my media from my desktop. I have ordered a eSATAp portable drive that I will take with me everywhere for media.

The video can be found in the dv6t se guide in my signature... also a lot more info is there as well.

Hey Morx, I'm still here. What did you want to know about the notebook dock? Still looking for something that isnt just running off your USB port?



My Matte screen protector has arrived and I will do before and after pics, also I will let you know if there is any difference in touchscreen responsiveness. The info will be in the guide.

PS latest update was Graphics benchmarks on my system, from stock to the max Overclocks I could run without the system failing during the test.

 

This is a battery level indicator, so lets say you leave the 9 cell in your closet or desk drawer for a while then one day you are rushing to leave on a trip, you can push that button to see its charge level (0 lights = dead, 4 lights = 60% - 100% [estimated])

Not very useful in most cases... but still kinda cool.

 

Awesome thanks Cazper, hey you might know as well here, I am pretty sure the answer is no regarding changing the level of brightness/dimness of the backlit keyboard? Anyone know of any software to customize it, or set it on a timer?

 

Does anybody know how I can get this coupon to work? If I don't get it working soon, I'm choosing another laptop and boycotting HP for life. This is just dumb.

 

Posted by Cazper37:
I got my laptop 10 days after ordering, I received it the day before the "build date" And I am down to 54gb free on my SSD without having imported my media from my desktop. I have ordered a eSATAp portable drive that I will take with me everywhere for media.
"Down to 54 Gig?" what have you put on it? Man I was looking at the SSD but not sure that will work for me as I travel alot....I ordered the 500 gig 7200 have it being built and am thinking of ordering another with the same specs but with the 160 gig SSD to run a side by side "Comp" an choosing the one I like....

Also: from Cazper37:
My Matte screen protector has arrived and I will do before and after pics, also I will let you know if there is any difference in touchscreen responsiveness. The info will be in the guide.

Thanks 'C" I ordered the same on your recommendation and curious to see how yours works out and how you like it....as well as its effectiveness in the protection/anti-glare/effect on responsivenesss dept.

Thx!!!

 

To Morx:

Morx,
I have a spec'd i5-450 with the 500 gig 7200 HDD on the way and am thinking of ordering the same core spec but with the 160 gig SSD to compare the two on side by sides for speed/heat/and battery life during various applications and boot times etc...and sending back the one I dont like...
Anyway...I didnt know what to glean from your double boot vid on page 97 of this forum with the side by side boot compari...which was faster and have you run any other comparisons between the two in the above mentioned departments?
Which do you like better in those areas and which one did you return?

Thanks!!!
Skione

 

Where'd you buy it?

 

Keep in mind that, if you order another one, it's going to cost an extra $75 dollars to get the graphics card you want. It may not be worth it.

I've decided to stick with the dv6tse, but HP has one chance. If it doesn't arrive here absolutely perfect, I'm returning it for a refund, buying a cheap computer, and saving up for a MacBook Pro to buy next year.

 

hey guys, I've been having some issues and I figured this would be a good place to ask for help:

The first is my startup. If I shut off my computer, and start it back up, the screen will start white and fade to black and the computer won't start. I'll have to turn off and on the computer several times before the laptop starts up normally. This is really aggravating - I did a fresh reformat a while ago and I'm afraid this may have caused it. I have the latest video driver updates and such so I'm not sure what could cause this.

The second is under device manager, PCI Communications Device and Unknown Device don't have drivers...anyone have any ideas for this? Went to HP to check if I was missing any drivers that I haven't downloaded but nothing that sounds like those...

 

Did you install the fingerprint reader (unknown device)

The PCI communications controller should be this driver:
Intel Management Engine Interface Driver HP Pavilion dv6t-3000 CTO Select Edition Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

 

Thanks for the info. I was also considering getting a portable eSATA drive. Which drive did you order? And where did you order from?
Thanks in advance!

 

Wow, I can't believe they raised the price of the 5650 to $150. I was just about to finally order today. So frustrating... Now I have to call and try to get a discount like MethodtotheMadness (congrats, by the way), but I don't have time or patience to do that right now. Hopefully they just change it back soon anyway.

 

Hey all,

I just got my dv6t Select Edition and I love everything about it except perhaps the bloatware.

More importantly, I was hoping you could help me out with a problem I'm having regarding the quick launch buttons - the program to configure them doesn't work and the process msgscv.exe which comes from the quick launch folder will ratchet one of my logical cores up to 100% usage. What's the deal with all of this? Is there a fix? I've uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them from HP's website and the website linked here on notebookreview to no avail.

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

http://www.buyviewguard.com/en-us/


I've decided to stick with the dv6tse, but HP has one chance. If it doesn't arrive here absolutely perfect, I'm returning it for a refund, buying a cheap computer, and saving up for a MacBook Pro to buy next year.[/QUOTE]

I hope it works for you, I love this comp.

I would recommend deleting the 10.7 Catalyst Driver and Downloading the 10.6 Driver from HPs support site... there are links to this in the guide link on my signature.

I have ordered This enclosure and I will be getting the Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 380gb 2.5" HD with shock protection to put inside... end result is one of the fastest HDDs that can use only an eSATAp cable that will plug into the eSATA/USB combo port... most other portable drives require you to use a USB port as well for power. But since this laptop can support power over eSATA it is well worth it to me. The portable drive will be just as fast as a built in drive.... discussion is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-enclosure-supports-power-combo-usb-port.html

 

Did you try using Eventghost to reconfigure your buttons? and if it isnt working, you may have downloaded a virus masked as the program... cause that process pops up VIRUS all over Google... Malwarebytes sweep your computer fast.

 

!!! Just 2 days after posting I'm finally going to bite the bullet and purchase this computer, the price jumped nearly $200 on the same build I posted about back on page 249.

It was going to be 1072.99 shipped with the new coupon. Now, the very same build is 1228.49 shipped with the same coupon.

did they change in like 1 day? I know that they made the 6 gb upgrade free and removed the blu-ray rom so that is $50 more, but what else did they change?

Damn, just when I was able to scrounge up enough funds to pay for it outright. Anyone know what the deal is? Also, whether it will be cheap again.

 

The main portion of your price increase is due to the jump in the price of the graphics card... if you are going for the blu ray and taking that $50 hit then those two factors are what is putting your price up... Im unsure if the graphics card price will drop back to $75... I would call them and ask for the discount and if they dont give it... then you may want to wait. If not, youre still getting a pretty good deal. (but I personally would wait.

PS I saw a formatting issue that took away a decent chunk of the dv6t guide, it's fixed and now from the "Screen" section to the "keyboard" section is avaliable to look at. Sorry I haven't updated everything, i'm back in school and busy as hell

 

yes unfortunately it is down to 54gb free... 22gb is used for a recovery partition ( I may get rid of this as I will be backing up to an external drive) and my C drive has 54gb of 125gb... im not sure where the other 13gb of the 160gb went off to... but im not worried as I needed an external hd anyways cause I love the music... as for what is on my comp.... updated drivers, WoW, MS Office, AMD GPU tool (small), CPUID Hardware monitor (also small).... that is it. I think i need to clean up some more bloat ware but I think I can only really free up a few more gigs.

 

Thanks Cazper. I'll get a WD Scorpio Black aswell, though I may go for the 500gb if there isn't a big price difference between that and the 320gb. However, I wasn't able to find where I can buy the drive enclosure you posted a link to. Does DeLock sell it directly from their website? Or will I have to get it somewhere else?
Oh btw, I think the other 13gb are being used by the operating system, but that's just a guess.

 

ahhh you guys are amazing! I'm at ATI driver 8.741 now and no unknown or malfunctioning devices. Thanks a ton!

 

The above problem was previously posted in this thread. Since that thread received little or no attention, I'm gonna throw it out here to see what info is available about this. The sound modification he's referring to can be found by clicking here.

 

Quick question, and I need a quick answer. Does the 5400RPM HDD drastically reduce system speed compared to the 7200RPM? A need an answer (preferably with numbers) today.

 

I ended up sticking with the SSD, and returning the other one. I have an external drive to store everything on, and that helped make the choice. If I didn't have that, no way I could handle just 160gb of space. I download way too much.

As far as speeds. I think my problem is I hyped it up too much. Everywhere on the net they tell you that an SSD is the single most noticeable upgrade you can do to your computer in terms of speed. I get it in, and side by side with the 7200rpm hard drive, it actually lost a few boot tests.

So I'm not sure exactly how it's that much faster. I think maybe after using it for a couple months, and I went back to a 7200rpm drive, I'd hate life and really notice it then. But just as most things, I've gotten used to it now, and I don't really feel it's that fast.

But eh, everyone says its a great upgrade, so I guess I'll stick with it.

 

ordered mine yesterday...

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Quad Core processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 Graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Quad Core Processors
FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
FREE Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
No additional security software
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5 hours of battery life +++
15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
No TouchScreen (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
Backlit Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
--------------------------------------------------

price came out to $1099 after the instant coupon. thing is I could have sworn in the morning the price I was getting with the same coupon code was $974 with all those specs. so I'm pretty sure within the same day HP increased the price that's why I went ahead and bought it before the coupon became invalid. I wonder if HP has a price match guarantee if the price goes back down within so many days.

 

I'll pm you a vendor's e-mail address. His business is in Canada but he ships to the US and so far it is the only place that quite a few of us NBR users have been able to find the DeLock enclosure... which in turn, is the only enclosure that we have found that has power over eSATA, also the enclosure comes with an eSATAp cable so you just have the throw the HD in and plug the one cable and your good to go!

As for the 500gb WD, it will not come with the free fall sensor that stops your HDs spinning if it is being dropped. the max you can go with the sensor is 320gb, that's why I am sticking with it. I think with it being a portable drive it is a necessity. Lets say I have it on the table and my dog runs by, snags the cable and my drive flings to the floor, I would like it to be protected. If you decide you want the protection as well, make sure you get the right model number as the vendors arent very clear about which ones come with the free-fall sensor.

WD3200BJKT - Comes with Free-fall sensor.

WD3200BEKT - Without sensor. (Thanks FatPigs... darned ctrl+c)

I got mine at Amazon Here

 

Uhh, I think you wrote down the same model number for both.

Without is BEKT

 

A lot of people have been speculating about the increase in price of this laptop over the past couple of days. I ordered mine right when the current $250 off coupon came out (Aug 1st) and have the upgraded gpu (the item that increased in cost). I have rebuilt the exact config I purchased and used the coupon and it comes out to be $36 more than when I purchased mine. This is an increase however not a very significant one. I would still purchase the laptop now with the coupon if I didnt have it already.

 

I don't understand.. why are you guys ordering 500GB HDs from amazon? isn't a configureable part of ordering hp's laptop?

Also i think the trend seems to be the longer you wait, the worser the deals? I ordered around July 9th, and it seems progressively the deals have gotten worse..

 

Did they lower the price of something when the raised the price of the 5650? Mines a full $75 more for the same configuration ($1005 to $1080), which is due to the $75 price increase on the 5650. What is your exact configuration?

 

The deal was actually better for me since a couple months ago when there was the $300 coupon... though I wanted the 6gb RAM over the BR and I wanted a two year warranty with ADP (which dropped by about $70 and they threw in LoJack too). But now I think getting it with the current deal will probably be about as good as it gets.

Also I am ordering the "500gb" (really 320gb) HD to put in an enclosure as a 2.5" portable external HD. Since I got the SSD I need extra space for my media and I am getting a set up that will allow me to transfer the files as well as access them with excellent speed.

 

HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition Entertai
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-450M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 2.66 GHz
• FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• TouchScreen with HP TouchSmart's intuitive multi-touch applications (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
• 50% OFF! One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• No additional security software
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

I paid 1204.99 before tax

Right now it is actually less of a difference than I estimated, It would cost 1229.99 pre-tax. so it is a $15 difference from when I bought mine. What happened, was they reduced the base cost of the system from 849.99 to 799.99 and then did the GPU price change making the laptop cost $15 more for those who want the gpu upgrade.

I believe that they reduced the base price before adjusting the GPU (it was a 3day sale, I got an email about it) so you would have saved even a little more and if you configured during that short time period when the base price dropped but the GPU was still $75 for the 5650 you would now have a larger price difference of the full $75 after it jumped to $150.

So although the deal is a lot less sweet for you compared to a couple days ago, it is only a $15 difference compared to 3 weeks ago, and a better deal than maost of the weeks previous to that... (save for the high end $1499.99 systems [mine would have been too] that got a $300 coupon that still allowed the instant rebate to work that existed a few months back.) But I doubt we will see that deal again. Really HP keeps the deals the same when they are out there. Right now $250 coupon + $150 rebate = $400 savings, (they had the $250/$150 a couple coupons ago also) they did a $400 coupon but it made the rebate ineligible. And with the other amounts they usually tweak the systems cost to make it similar to the previous deal... I have watched coupons for about 3 months now and can say that this is one of the best prices you can get so far.

 

I'm sorry about being impatient but I need an answer now. I also need to know how the speed affects battery life.

 

I think the verdict in a forum that someone on here posted a link to was that even a 7200 RPm 500 gb hard drive was faster than a 5400 RPM 1TB hard drive, regardless of the density offered by the 1TB.

 

LOL um, go for 7200 RPM. Nuf' said.

Obviously, you want the fastest one you can get that provides the capacity you need. You want 7200 rpm. 5400 rpm is adequate for most people. 4200 rpm hard drive is sloooooooooow and no fun at all.

The hard drive is THE slowest component in any pc. You want the fastest one you can get as it affects overall system performance no matter what applications you plan to use.

 

Hey, THIS isnt a direct review on the numbers but it will give you a good idea of the difference... If you look at the graphs in the review you can locate the WD Scorpio Blue and the WD Scorpio Black. Blue is a 5400rpm drive while the Black is 7200rpm. You can clearly see the 7200rpm is faster. As for noise, I have heard that the 7200 is quiter and I have heard that it is louder... It really depends on the make of your drive more than the rpms.

Since you seem really concerned about speed, heat, and noise you should really look at saving the $260 and getting the SSD. It is silent, generates less heat, saves a slight amount of power... and I have a nearly fully bloated dv6t and I go from full shut down to windows log on screen in 18 seconds or to an open web browser in 27 seconds. If I click on everything as fast as possible I could probably get from full shut down to an open google page ready to search within 25 seconds. I friggin LOVE this thing and will never go back to a spinning drive! (Except for my custom WD Scorpio Black external portable HD.)

Edit: Simply looking at a few of the comparisons you can see an easy %30 increase in speed from the Blue(5400) to the Black (7200)

Of course this will not be the case for all drives of the same speeds but its a good idea

 

Thanks guys. My current laptop has a 7200RPM drive, too, so I guess the choice is clear here. I just wanted to be sure before wasting a free upgrade.

Hopefully, the check I need clears by tomorrow so I can buy it right away. I need this computer ASAP. School starts a week from today, so it's already going to be pretty late.

 

Well I know for sure my build increased in price by almost $150-200 within 2 days.

I know what HP did was offer the blu-ray rom for like 1 day before they reverted back to the 6gb upgrade being free because msot people would add the blu-ray rom but feel that 4 gb would suffice.

And then, I think they made integrated graphics the default choice and so it now costs $75 more than it did 3 days ago to add the ATI 5650 GPU.

So for me, within 2 days, it cost me more for the blu-ray rom, and the 5650. I was at 1072.49 tax and shipped 3 days ago and now the same configuration is 1228.43 tax and shipped.

 

To add to what Cazper said, we're going for the separate hard drives for speed. He and I are both getting an enclosure that supports eSATAp. eSATA allows for speeds of up to 3gb/s, whereas usb 2.0 only goes up to 500mb/s. And a big plus to these enclosures is the "p" part of "eSATAp". The "p" means that these enclosures allow for power for the hard drive to come from the eSATA cable, whereas normally, one would have to connect the eSATA cable for data, and a separate usb cable for power. Another way to do it would be to get an eSATA/usb splitter, but both methods still take up two usb ports. This laptop does have 4, including the combo, but its still nice to have as many ports open as possible.

 

I just got an exclusive HPA 5% coupon! ^_^ About $50 in savings! I'm looking forward to ordering tomorrow.

 

I have started using my laptop fully for the last few weeks, and this machine is awesome. Great battery life, and it just does not get hot at all. I replaced my 3 year old Dell 1420 with the HP. I actually went back to HP, until now all I had was HP since the early 2000s for laptops, and Dell was a mistake. It was getting way too hot and stuff.

I love this computer. Extremely fast, and works very well. Have been doing bunch of projects on Adobe stuff and it is a breeze. Windows 7 is also awesome. Just awesome. Wow. they really did up themselves for the first time. The machine shuts down in about 10 seconds and starts in about 15 seconds.

Anybody considering a thin, light and great laptop, definitely go with the HP DV6 series. I also heard that 6z the AMD version is great as well. But I don't know if AMD chips are on par with Intel (meanwhile AMD system costs about 150 bucks less).

 

I also want to make a comment that the microphone and webcam on this system ROCKS. Its got dual/stereo mics and it drops out all background noise. WOOHOO

 

I'm glad that satisfied owners are posting here to counter the questions and difficulties that the minority of buyers post. For the money, I couldn't ask for more!

 

The price difference due to Blu Ray or the 6gb Free upgrades will be changed again so decide which you want and when the free upgrade of your choice is released, wait for the inevitable coupon and click buy

 

Well the first deals that we got was good. Then HP dropped the savings but simultaneously upgraded several configs as standard, namely the i5-450 which made it really good.

Then 30% bing cashback =(

And it's all downhill from there. Kind of.

 

But the increase in cost for the graphics GPU 5650 would still go against me. I'm just wondering why they would do this within the past 3 days. Is anyone in their right mind going to customize a 800+ dollar laptop and only keep integrated graphics. So even if the flip-flop on the 6 gb/blu-ray rom happens, its still $75 more.

Thanks for trying to help though. I can tell your an enthusiastic owner. I just wish I had the money three days ago to buy it, instead of now.

 

Glad I ordered mine then earlier this week. Too bad it will be waiting for me at my college package center for the next two weeks until I get there.