Is this a good laptop for gaming?

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11709049&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670|78129&N=4047232&Mo=29&pos=0&No=9&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=78129&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10590-Cat56670&topnav=

It says it has "1GB GDDR5 Radeon™ HD 7470M Graphics"
I'm aware that the 7000 series of graphics cards are new on laptops, and there are no benchmarks for the 7470m card yet.
I'm a bit scared about that, overall what do you guys think about the laptop?

I dislike the fact that it's a 5400 RPM drive, I would rather have only 350GB and have a 7200 RPM drive instead of 750GB(No way I would use all that)

 

The 7470 is technically a new 6470. It it not good for gaming.

Go to HP's website. You can configure a DV6T (15.6" screen) or a DV7T (17" screen) with a 7690 (technically overclocked 6770m). Also you can add other components as you wish. Exceed $1,000 and you can enter coupon NBT3886 to get 30% off. This makes a $1,000 configuration about $700. I could of gotten a DV6T with Full HD screen, 7200 RPM 750 GB, 7690m.

I think the only thing good on that laptop is its processor, (as an overall look) but for gaming, most of the time an i5 is more than enough. i7 is overkill but for games like Civ 5 or SC2 it is a bit more CPU intensive. But I believe the i5 is a worthy upgrade, as it comes with Turbo Boost, which automatically overclocks your CPU if you are doing heavy tasks.

Be sure if you configure a laptop to choose the option that takes +$150.00 on the GPU. It should say something like 2GB Radeon Graphics for Dual Core Processors. That is the 7690, even if it does not say it is. There is a bit of confusion on their website, but we have talked to agents and proven that is the truth.

Benchmarks on 6770m is what you can expect on a 7690, with a slight increase - AMD Radeon HD 6770M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Two problems with that model of the DV7t:
- It has the awful 1600x900 screen. This screen makes content onscreen huge and it has awful contrast. You want the upgraded 1920x1080 option. The screen typically affects you more than any other spec.
- The 7470M is a mediocre GPU for gaming.

If you get an HP DV7t, you want two upgrades
- the 1920x1080 display.
- the Radeon 6770M / 7690M GPU. Note: may want to wait for HP to update their website to show the correct options under "Graphics Card." The "2GB" option should be the 6770M (or 7690M) but the 1GB one might be it or might be the much less powerful 6490M. Since the extra video memory affects nearly nothing gaming-wise, it would be best to save the $75, but there a large chance the 1GB option is the 6490M (or 7470M). Check out this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-hp-dv6-graphics-card-confusion-clear-up.html

Every other upgrade is second to these upgrades. Get these upgrades before you worry about other upgrades.

Config starters:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...mrSXAg&usg=AFQjCNELVHb3GN1ji5Lp-_3ee5xXhv3_5Q
HP Pavilion dv7 and dv7t Quad Edition series | HP Official Store

 

If you are a gamer, you want the lower res screen. You'll get more FPS at the same settings than the higher res. And the 1600x900 screen looks just fine. Lovely in fact.

This crusade of yours recommending the higher res screens for every laptop irregardless of any other factors is getting out of hand. It's tantamount to spam.

 

I have to agree with what 2.0 has said. My laptop runs on a 1366x768 screen and I swear everything is fine. I think a Full HD screen would be far too small for me, and in playing games I think it is fine.

1366x768 is the norm now-a-days in laptops. Anything higher than this screen is simply extra. You can get an HDTV and a Console if you want to play smoothly on 1080p.

My desktop also looks fine on this resolution. Some may like it smaller but I think this is perfect.

Bottom line is; 1366x768 is fine for just about anything. If you plan to be avidly watching Blu-Ray or other movie formats on extreme quality, then you may want a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 screen, or if you are a programmer that needs to see a lot of text at once. Also, putting forth the quality of screen before other components is a bad idea. It is terrible to upgrade the screen but to leave a crappy processor, hard drive, memory, or anything else that would more well worth the money. Also, some might say, You can get the 1920x1080 screen and just simply set it on a lower resolution. Bit the factor is that it is not worth the money most of the time.. Things like the processor, memory, all of those components that are the infrastructure of your computer are much more important. No point in getting a Full HD screen if you cannot run things smoothly on it. And certainly not worth the +$150 that HP asks for on it. You can also upgrade the screen later if you wish. Upgrading a processor or a GPU is much more difficult.

I will post pictures with my camera later on how a game would look on this resolution (1366x768). It is not as terribly awful as some people make it out.

 

Yeah I'll go ahead and go with the 1600x900 screen.
What you guys think about the "660GB 7200 rpm Dual Drive (160GB SSD/500GB 7200 rpm) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection"
This is a dual drive as in two hard drives in two different bays, correct? It's not a combination of two drives in one hard drive right? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to hard drives.

 

Yes, it's two individual drives.

See here on page 58 of the service manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02842278.pdf

 

Heres my final checkout page
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

What do you guys think? Should I not risk having the 160GB SSD/500GB 7200 RPM drive and just go to a 750GB 7200 RPM drive while upgrading from 1600x900 to 1920x1080? Or keep the SSD/500GB drive with a 1600x900 resolution? Cost wise, it does not matter to me, but I don't want to do both, so which would be better between the two?

 

Best combo:

160GB SSD/500GB - trust me, you'll be happy you did. Only thing is once you go ssd, you'll always get one going forward.

Screen - 1600x900 - it's a beautiful screen and since you are gaming, you will be happy that you went this way. You will get higher FPS than the 1920x1080. That's just a fact. Look at any GPU review and you'll witness this. Lower the resolution, the higher the frame rate. Also, you'll be able to up graphic options more so than on a higher res screen at the same FPS.

 

It's well-reasoned advice, not spam. Much of my advice simply happens to focus on better screens because the screen is a big issue in a lot of computers. Just because I give similar advice in different threads does not mean it is illegitimate advice.

The DV7t's 1600x900 screen is a particularly bad quality screen judging by my experience with it at Best Buy and with people's DV7t's on campus. It's actually worse quality than some other 17.3" 1600x900 screens. Compared to the 1600x900 screen in the ASUS G74 at Best Buy, the HP's screen is worse.

Games are not a reason to pick a lower resolution display. It's a common unfortunate misconception. Running in 1600x900 (non-native) resolution on a 1920x1080 display will result in exactly the same performance as running in 1600x900 resolution on a 1600x900 display. You get a bit of blur in doing so, but games still look better running in non-native resolution on 17.3" 1920x1080 displays than they look running in native resolution on 17.3" 1600x900 displays because of the significant difference in quality with regards to contrast and often viewing angles and graininess. Even if it weren't true that games look better running on higher-end displays even in non-native resolution, it's still not worth the tradeoff to lose so much desktop screen space outside of gaming just to make a tree in a game look slightly better.

- The memory is the least important spec to consider right away because it's the easiest and the cheapest to upgrade later, and you generally don't need more than 4GB anyway.
- The GPU upgrades offered within a given laptop model usually have less of a difference between then than the screen upgrades offered within a given laptop model. An example would be the XPS 15 with 525M and the 12% better 540M vs the 1366x768 WLED display and 1920x1080 B+RGLED display. The DV7t is an exception offering the Intel HD 3000 graphics and the 7690M (big difference), but you have to add upgrades cost-equivalent to the GPU upgrade and the screen upgrade anyway for the coupon code to work, and the screen and GPU upgrades are generally the most important upgrades because they make the most difference. Even when one's considering forgoing a screen upgrade for budget-related reasons, it's recommended to push the budget to get the upgrade unless impossible.
- The CPU upgrades often make negligible difference for gaming. Almost always, the GPU will be the bottleneck and the difference between an i5 (or even an i3) and an i7 quad-core won't be noticeable.
- Of all specs in base-models of laptops such as the XPS 15, DV7t Quad Edition, the screen is generally the "worst" part. Screens, unlike performance, have progressed backwards rather than forwards over the years.
- You shouldn't prioritize an upgrade that will make little-to-no noticeable difference in most cases (upgrade from i5 to i7) over an upgrade that makes a big noticeable difference (screen resolution upgrade from 17.3" 1600x900 to 17.3" 1920x1080)
- The screen affects 100% of your usage.

Cameras don't tend to capture exactly what the eye sees regarding screens. I have tried. And even then it's possible to get a 1366x768 screen with quality that isn't exactly horrible, but that doesn't mean you should aim to get a low res screen. Resolution is the biggest limiting factor for productivity.

Eyesight (things being too small for comfort) is a valid reason why a lower-res screen would be better for some. But when text size isn't an obstacle, the screen typically makes more of a beneficial difference than other specs.

- Upgrade to the 1920x1080 display. You generally shouldn't get the 1600x900 screen unless you have poor eyesight.
- The two generally most important upgrades are the 7690M and the 1920x1080 display.
- Downgrade the processor if budget is a concern. Most games are fine with an i3 because the GPU is the bottleneck. Having the 1600x900 screen is worse than having an i3.
- There is a chance the 1GB GPU is a 7470M but if you can confirm the 1GB GPU is a 7690M, go with it. The extra VRAM of the 2GB model makes no difference for gaming if both of them are the 7690M.

 

I don't know what these people are saying that the 1600 x 900 screen is better that is just non-sense, it has a HORRIBLE glare and you MUST position the screen just right to be able to even find the right viewing angle, the 1080 screen is definately a worthy upgrade just for the matte screen alone, I sent my dv6t qe with the 1600 x 900 because of the horrible quality of the screen, the resolution is fine so its not about objects being too big or small or space on your desktop its about quality, you would be well off with the upgraded screen and like the previous post said, you can get the dual hard drive ssd and standard hd combo and downgrade the processor, I myself just said F it and got everything I could afford, instead of the dv6t qe with the 1600 x 900 screen I got a dv7t qe 1080p, i7 3.3 turbo boost processor, dual 750gb hard drives that later I swapped in my personal ssd as the primary drive and kept one of the 750gb as a storage device and I could not be any happier.

It's your own personal choice and you know what you would like best, my personal opinion the matte screen is definately worth it and SSD hard drive is a must but you can get the basic dual hard drive configuration like I did and put in your own SSD but again that's your choice

 

I've played with my cousin's HP G7 (900p 17") for about two weeks and from that I can say this:

-The pixel density is too low (similar to 15" 768p)
-Text doesn't look as sharp as on my 1080p display
-Colors were washed out and dull (compared to my display)
-I can't work on two, full-sized Word/Excel/etc documents side-by-side (something very important to me)

Though 2.0 is correct in that lower res usually means better fps,
-The user can simply lower the res in Windows before gaming, and return it to 1080p when he's surfing the internet, working, whatever.
-Depending on the GPU, 1080p gaming will work perfectly fine. Using the Quadro 2000M (similar to a 555M or 550M, a lower GPU than the 6770M), I can play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at 1080p, high detail, and 30+ fps. Any increase from 30-40 fps onward is nearly undetectable by the human eye, so there's not much point to try to shoot for 100+ fps or something. TL;DR: 1080p and 6770M together will work perfectly for modern games.

Ritzy mentioned that 1366*768 is fine for him. My old laptop was a 15" 768p as well and for the two years I used it I thought it was perfectly fine too. I've never used a high-res display before that (my desktop having a 21" 900p display), so when I came to NBR for a replacement back in May, I initially didn't care for 1080p as well. But then I ordered my W520 and after receiving it, all I can say is that "once you go high-res, you'll never go back" (to pun a common saying). And this is coming from a guy with absolutely poor eyesight (nearsightedness, I have to wear strong contacts).

Generally, You want to place computer upgrades in this order of importance:
Display < GPU < CPU < RAM/HDD/SSD

While that 660GB dual drive configuration is tempting (I have a similar configuration myself), adding a second drive is as easy as upgrading RAM (since this laptop has two drive bays). However, doing an aftermarket upgrade from 900p to 1080p will be difficult, especially for someone who doesn't have experience doing this before.

I would order the HP as so:

i5-2430

1GB GPU (if it's not the 7470M) or 2GB GPU

4GB or 6GB of RAM

stock HDD (you can cheaply add a SSD later if you want. The Intel 320 series 160GB SSD is on sale for $155 iirc)

1920*1080 display

And once that is done, then add whatever else you like, assuming your budget allows it.

 

The thing is, it's only $180 extra to have the dual drive setup, so I would only be saying 25$ by installing the SSD myself based off of the $155 price,m which I could not find online, they're all $199 minimum.
I found out my friend had a DV7T today with the 1600x900 resolution, and I compared it to my friends 1080P laptop and definitely did not like the look of the 1600x900. So I'll be going with the 1080p display, 6GB ram, i5 processor and the 2GB video card.
Unfortunantely, the 30% coupon code expired on me last night 30 seconds after I was checking out, apparently it expired on the 28th at 11:59 PM due to my luck, and I've called HP about it and they say there is nothing they can do about it. Oh well, they lost a sale.
I'm unsure what I wanna do now, I REALLY appreciate all the help I've gotten in this thread, at least now I have a way better insight on what to look for in terms of laptop hardware.
If anyone has any other laptops with a max of 900$, please let me know.

 

HP tends to release coupons fairly often, so not all is lost. And there's still the option of calling HP to see what kind of deals they can cut you. When I bought my laptop, I could only 'officially' get the B+N discount (the email promotion discount was only for "your next purchase", and I've never bought from Lenovo before).

You could also look at the Dell XPS 17, the main competition for the dv7t. Just as good as the HP when all the same advice is applied.

 

I checked out the Dell XPS 17 on the customization page, it's very expensive in comparison to the DV7T. Might try customizing the XPS 15 and see how that goes.

 

If you're up for other options, you may like the Lotus W150HM.

Lotus W150HM - MALIBAL

Although it is a 15.6" screen, and it seems you are good with a 17" one. Be sure to upgrade to the GT 555m, it is a very nice GPU and the best with optimus at this price range. Also, get an operating system if you don't have one. With Home Premium and the GT 555m, your total is about $887. However the included hard drive is 320GB 7200. You may want to upgrade that if you want more space or one of those fancy schmancy hybrid drives.

It comes with plenty of memory, too. (8GB). And the matte screen is also very nice, and it has 1080p if you like it. Lotus's''s's'ssss are very nice laptops, and for your price range one of the better 15.6" models.

 

That's the exact model I've been looking at, I'm waiting for a BBB response from HP to see if they will let me have a temporary coupon, if not, I will buy that laptop. No need to upgrade the Hard drive, 320GB seems fine as my desktop rig has a 1TB

 

I am thinking about purchasing this exact same laptop after reading this thread to play the new Star Wars MMO and Diablo III, how well will they run on this? It was between this a waiting on a Alienware m11x to pop on the dell outlet. But this is a great price for this HP.

 

The 6770M is a more powerful card than the 555M that the m11x packs, so the HP would game better. Otherwise, it's just a matter of personal preference (11" v 15") and price.

 

I agree, the 1600x900 screen in my dv7tqe is fantastic, and I was able to purchase other, more desirable upgrades with $150 I saved by NOT upgrading to 1080p. Plus, even the 6770m/7690m is a pretty weak gpu, trying to get one of them to push a 1080p monitor even on relatively mild settings is likely to be a major disappointment.

 

It might look okay if you've never seen better and/or if you get a "good lemon" but it is by no means a fantastic screen. Trying to display dark images onscreen will give you a washed out look. Even if it "looks" good, there's still the fact that the resolution considerably limits productivity compared to 1920x1080.

And as I said earlier, Games are not a resolution to go with a lower res screen. You can always either lower your settings or run in a non-native resolution (still typically looks better due to difference in overall quality) but you can't make up for the loss in desktop space.

 

Non-sense. My Quadro 2000M (a weaker GPU than the 6770M) can push modern games at 1080p at high settings...

And I'd like to see anyone have two full-sized documents at 100% side-by-side:



Or not scrolling on Excel and the internet:





As edit said, 1080p screen are not only higher-res, but they also are better quality in terms of colors, dark blacks, contrast, etc. Compared to my cousin's 900p HP g7, my 1080p blows it out of the water.

 

Now i want to order a 1080p screen so bad.

 

You can get this:

XPS 15 XPS 15 SMX15HN [225-2660]
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10 GHz I72670Q
Memory 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory 8G2D133
Keyboard Backlit Keyboard - English BCKLITE
LCD 15.6 FHD B+RGLED TL (1920x1080) and Skype-Certified 2.0MP HD Webcam FHDLED
Video Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M 2GB graphics with Optimus 540MUS
Hard Drive 750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 750BG72
Color Elemental Silver Aluminum ALUMLAN
Integrated Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card INTNIC
Adobe Reader Adobe® Acrobat® Reader ADOBER
CD ROM/DVD ROM Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) BDCMB
Sound JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 JBLSND
Wireless Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 & Bluetooth 3.0
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook ISTART
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Battery 90 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery 9BAT
Service 1 Year Basic Support T1O
Peace of Mind DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year DSO2G
Recovery Tools Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium OS, 64bit, English, Recovery DVD

For $1179.99 but I got this instead:

HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
• steel gray
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
• 2GB Discrete GDDR5 Graphics AMD Radeon(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
• FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• No Additional Office Software
• No additional security software
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080)
• FREE UPGRADE to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

For $1208.99. The backlit keyboard was tempting but the HP has a better GPU and the screen is matte. I'm pretty sure the XPS 15 has a glossy screen. I hate glossy screens.

 

I suggest going with HP, get a Quad. That way you just have all the room for those upgrades you wanted.

7690m is a decent GPU. It should fit your needs, buddy!