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

Yeah, the touchpad is inconsistent for me. Sometimes I have no problems, and then suddenly it will start being jumpy. Usually a restart fixes this, but sometimes it's actually like that when I restart and then I have to restart again. Or after I restart, it starts acting up again. Other times it's great the whole time. So I dunno what's up.

 

How do you select/use a USB webcam in lieu of the screen mounted one??? I have a Microsoft VX-9000 plugged in and it keeps wanting to use the screen webcam...is there somewhere we can select which one to use?

 

nevermind...i figured it out.......i just disabled the HP Truevision in webcab settings .....

 

@Nsxrrmaniac wait what is a TIM? I thought you meant which program I used to get that temperature reading. But I haven't replaced the heatsink grease, so yes, it is the factory one.

 

tim = thermal interface material, aka thermal grease/pads/gunk/junk whatever.

 

Hello all, ordered my DV6TSE a few days ago. Here's the build:

• 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
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• 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)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel Wireless-N Card
• Backlit Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Shipped for $1043.24.

Regarding the SSD: Besides the additional space, I'm wondering how the drive would perform after a complete reformat. A 20+ gb recovery partition is a pretty hefty price to pay on a 160 gb drive in addition to all the bloatware.

Also, I'm assuming since there are only 2 dimms and there are no 3gb memory modules that I'm aware of, the memory will not be running in dual channel mode. I'm wondering how the performance of the 4 gb (most likely running in dual channel) compare to the 6 gb (non dual channel).

Any thoughts?

 

hey guys i have been "lurking" for the past few weeks czeching out this new coputer which i just got a week ago...had a friend "configure'' it since i dont know what im doing + somehow i lost my volume display....any tips ??? other than that love the computer...lasted a full week before crashing for the first time haha

 

I just received my DV6T and it is amazing. It has a great design and a great performance.

The only thing is, when I press the left Ctrl key and any of Z,X,C keys (CTRL+C etc) it does not undo, cut or copy anything, it just types the corresponding letter. When I do the same with the right Ctrl key it works as it should be. Also, when I use the left Ctrl key to open the task manager (Ctrl+alt+del) it works correctly.

Is there any way to fix this?

Edit: The quickplay keys are not working either.. I downloaded the Quick Remapper but didn't make any changes, maybe it changed something on the key mapping?

 

Nice config, essentially the same as I got, and I have no complaints in the performance department. And a clean install would be recommended.

Use 3rvx from here: matt.malensek
The standard HP volume thing kicks you out of fullscreen stuff, whereas this one doesn't.

 

@eight35pm Do you know the name the volume thing that comes with the laptop?

 

Another random observation:
- The range of the bluetooth in this laptop is less than impressive. I get about 1/3 to 1/4 the range of my itouch before the music starts to skip.

 

Are there any coupons for this laptop, or has there been a Bing Cashback recently? I haven't been paying attention for awhile, are they still doing it?

 

Umm, not exactly. It was part of HP Mediasmart, though (which I uninstalled due to it being useless bloatware).

 

@eight35pm You uninstalled ALL of the HP Mediasmart programs? So they're all uneeded?

 

Hey guys, i need help. I mentioned that my computer has been getting slower. I use Ccleanup, I defrag, Update and everything. after i log on with my fingerprint scanner, windows sits on the welcome blue screen for like 30 seconds, where it used to just open right up. I'm really freakin, i scan for virus',spyware and everything. Please help!!

 

Bing is dead. RIP.

As for coupons, check this page periodically: HP Coupons - HP Laptop Discount Coupon Codes - HP Pavilion Coupons

 

@Esandorf Well if you dont mind redownloading all of the drivers and whatever other software you have you could do a clean install. One thing you should check before doing this though, is your power settings. Check to see what the maximum processor speed is set to on your power settings.

 

Well I've made the painful yet intelligent decision to return my laptop. Im already down to only 70gb of space on my ssd, and I know for a fact that this wont suffice for the three years I need it to. I'd love to have a bigger, higher resolution screen, and the god awful vertical viewing angles, and thus the washed out colors, make me want to club a baby seal. I'll be getting the dv7tse instead, and I'll post the specs once I decide on them.

 

@Method
I'm sorry you feel you need to return your laptop,I do want to let you know that you saved my butt! in my power settings for hp recommended my max processor power was set to 57%?!?!? Crazy! i upped it to 100 plugged in and now it is speedy again! Thank you!!!! ps the dv7t is a nice computer, I liked it but mine had a sound bug so i went to this one

 

Yep, all of them. According to some guide around here they are all useless, and from what I saw myself, I agree. I forget which guide it was, though.

Sorry to hear that! You could always get a portable external hard drive if you need more room, that's what I will be doing soon. Put all your applications on the SSD, and whatever stuff that you access most that will fit, and put the rest of your media and stuff on the external. It will still be more portable than a bigger laptop.

I am, however, also thinking of returning it, mainly because of the screen. As I believe you mentioned earlier, there is always some area of the screen distorted due to terrible vertical viewing angles (horizontal is actually pretty good). The colors and brightness in general are also not really good. And as I said earlier, I constantly press the increase brightness key, because I feel like I'm not at max brightness and wonder if I accidentally lowered it.

Other factors in why I might return this include the GPU. The GPU is a nice midrange GPU, and will probably handle my gaming needs just fine, but I kinda want a better one, to futureproof my laptop a bit more. I also have some keyboard flex, mainly around the "t," whereas I heard before that there isn't any. And yes, I do get the flex while typing, although it doesn't cause huge problems, it's slightly annoying. And I don't know if my trackpad is messed up, or if the are all like this, but sometimes it works great, and then suddenly it will start being jumpy, until I restart.

That said, I really do like the overall performance of the laptop, especially the SSD. Like I said, gaming performance is definitely acceptable, but I would probably want better towards the end of the life of the laptop. And it is a great looking laptop as well. The only problem with the looks is the glossy bezel gets fingerprints on it and dust very easily, and the space in between the keys on the keyboard (is there a name for this? I'm blanking), is also glossy. Honestly, those don't make a big difference, as everything else is so nice looking.

The laptop I would most likely get to replace this is the Envy 15. Much better screen and graphics card. Very nice looking, and smaller and lighter (although this laptop isn't huge at all). The lack of an optical drive is no big deal to me, as I rarely use my optical drive. The thing that is holding me back is that it is more expensive, has worse battery life, and doesn't have an SSD (I can't afford it) or a backlit keyboard, obviously the backlit keyboard being the least important. I could eventually replace the HDD with an SSD, but that's expensive.

Tough choice. I have to mess around with this for a little while longer.

 

@eight35pm Yea I'm with you. The dv7tse would be perfect if it had a graphics card like the 5730 like the Dell XPS 16 or even the 5770. A backlit keyboard would be great too, but its not a necesity. I ordered a dv7tse at the same time I asked to return my dv6tse, but I think I'm going to cancel that order and save up for an envy 17.

 

I've been having problems with slow wifi lately. Me and my gf have done tests with her old macbook and my new computer loading you tube videos and hers runs smoothly, mine takes 10+ seconds to begin then stops every 10 seconds to reload. Is there any way to speed this up?

The problem just started, i've had this computer for over a month.

It's the lowest i7 quad core, 6 gb ram etc, intel wifi w/ bluetooth etc.

Please help.

Thanks

 

@sdlaw I've been having similar problems, mostly with youtube, but not all the time. It will load youtube's homepage fine, but when I search or click on a video the screen just stays white and doesnt load.

 

I haven't had any Wi-Fi or internet problems, by the way.

 

@ Methodthemadness
The 5730 is a 5650 with higher clocks, which you can achieve by overclocking the 5650 at 650-800 if I'm right.
The real deal would be the 5770 or the 5830, with 1 more fan for gpu only, 'cause this notebook warms a bit

 

If your having problems with youtube make sure you have the latest flash updates, and if it continues try a different browser

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to output 5.1 sound via hdmi, with the radeon 5650 on this laptop?

Under the HDMI audio options I only have the option to run 2 channel sound. I was under the impression that the 5650 could output higher quality, multiple channel sound.

 

I'm not sure if any other additional settings need to be changed or enabled, but according to ATI's website it can:

* Output protected high bit rate 7.1 channel surround sound over HDMI with no additional cables required
* Supports AC-3, AAC, Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio formats


On another note; If I were to backup the 20+ gb recovery partition, could I just delete and reformat the partition and add it to my primary partition? Now that school has started I don't think I will have time to go through a lengthy clean install procedure.

What do you guys think? Is this a practical solution to getting the most space out of the 160 gb SSD?

 

Yes it says this, however my only option while connected with HDMI is for 2 channel sound. I can't find anything that will give me any other options at all

 

You don't even need to back up the partition itself. Just make recovery disks, since it's the same thing really.

 

I haven't received my laptop yet so I can't really check, but is there an advanced audio/speaker configuration interface? Maybe there are additional settings elsewhere that need to be configured.

My only other thought is that perhaps it's driver related...

Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

I just received my dv6tse a few days ago and am having some slight but significantly annoying keyboard problems. Specifically, the "H" key will not register my keystrokes when pushed down on the right side unless I press it overly firmly. This can result in a document full of missing "H"s unless I am keeping an eye on things. This issue is intolerable and may cause me to return the laptop if I can't resolve it. Has anyone else had similar issues? Or does anyone have any suggestions on how I might go about solving this problem? It is a custom build from HP.com so I would prefer not having to go through the process of returning the machine if I could fix things myself.

Thanks!

 

Quick question, how does one manually switch the graphics if necessary?

 

One very simple way to do this is to right click on the desktop background and select "Configure Switchable Graphics." Once the window opens simply select the graphics you wish to use.

 

Someone was saying that their left control button wouldn't work with some things, but would work with others. However, I'm not sure if it's the same, and I don't know how to fix it. I would definitely return my laptop if I had your problem and I couldn't fix it.

 

Hi Random15:

For me it was the stupid trackpad registering my palm, which would prevent the operation of the keyboard or move the cursor to another part on the window. I adjusted sensitivity and the issue is gone. I know it looks better to have the track pad centered on the chassis but it's stupid because your palm continuously hits it. It should be centered with respect to the space bars, such as with older laptops. The keyboard on the DV6TSE isn't the greatest. I tried the DV5T and it doesn't flex at all. The old DV6000 keyboard is vastly superior to this chicklet design. May look nice but doesn't function as well as some of the prior offerings.

Claude

 

Thanks! You'd think that typing "switchable graphics" in the Start Menu's search box would tell you that...

 

Hey Claude,

I too have noticed the trackpad issues and was planning on adjusting my settings as well for optimal usage.

But, I won't be doing that now because, after talking to tech support, I will be returning this specific machine. The tech representative I spoke with was very upfront and helpful, which I appreciated. She told me frankly that although she could walk me through some troubleshooting procedures, realistically my best option would be to make a return, as the keyboard problem is almost certainly a hardware issue. She offered to set up an exchange for me, but I plan to do the reordering on my own to expediate the process and take advantage of the newest discounts and coupon. The problem with exchanges is that the new order is only submitted once the old machine has been received by HP. In doing it this way I should be able to cut out 3-5 days of shipping setbacks.

 

What's the difference between the dv6t and dv6t-se, both being sold on HP's website? Only differences I can see are the se has 6GB RAM and is more expensive than a non-se model with 4GB RAM and otherwise identical specs.

I don't see the advantage of 6GB RAM over 4GB, so should I just go with the non-se (assuming I buy from HP)?

 

Definitely. I have it connected to my receiver and it easily passes through DTS MA/Dolby sound.

If you check your properties under the playback options on your sound tab it should say that it can pass through multiple channel sound.

 

The SE has a partially aluminum case (so the build quality is much better), a fingerprint reader, an and optional backlit keyboard and touchscreen.

 

Under the playback options I have no choices at all. It says that only 2 channel sound is supported.

I'm starting to wonder if it's either a driver issue, since I reinstalled windows 7 from scratch, or if my TV just can't handle whatever format(s) the card supports. However I know my xbox 360 does 5.1 sound over hdmi through my TV, and I've got the newest ATi Catalyst drivers.

I'm really, really stumped here :\

 

@JarZ I think I know what the problem is. If you are not using a home theater system, you will not be able to actually use 5.1 surround sound. You may be able to select it on your 360, but since your tv only has 2 speakers, it is still technically 2-channel sound. On a 2-channel sound system, 5.1 will sound the same as 2-channel.

 

Yes my problems exactly, it makes no sense. Her load times are consistently fast and her macbook is dated. This is very irritating.

Anyone have any fixes?

 

I've tried all of this...same problem, thanks for the suggestions

 

Wow. Of course the day before I'm packing this up and returning it, Youtube is working again so far, and I haven't had any problems with other websites. All I did to "fix" the problem, is take off the panel on the bottom that exposes the wifi card, the RAM, the hard drive, and the RCT (or whatever) battery, and make sure that the small cables that connect the wifi card to the motherboard were secure by pushing down on where they connect to the wifi card. Thats it.

 

Ahh, you're probably right here! I didn't even think of that. The laptop is probably only picking up the 2 channels of the TV, even though the TV is connected to my audio system via optical out. Broadcast DTV and, as I said earlier, my 360 work just fine outputting 5.1 via the optical out, so it kinda sucks that the laptop isn't working this way too

 

I connected my laptop to my AV receiver and it's sending surround as normal. Perhaps it really is the drivers?

 

Hey guys, I'm returning my dv6tse. Mainly due to the screen, but also due to trackpad problems. I was by Fry's so I stopped in, and none of the HP laptops there had the problem I have where it sounds like the trackpad isn't quite seated correctly if I tap it. They also didn't seem to be jumpy, but that may just be because I didn't use them much. Oh, I also have keyboard flex, and the dv6 laptops at Fry's seemed to have some flex, but not as much as mine.

I'm probably going to get the Envy 15, but I may also opt for a 14" laptop.

 

ahh, estimated delivery date is the 9th. i can't wait!