Looking at the DV6TQE

Hey guys, I've been looking around the internet and cant seem to find a solid review on the new DV6TQE's with the quads and 6770s. I'm looking to get one for University, and I'm wondering how the portability and battery life are? with the 6 cell and 9 cell. I really only play SC2, but I plan on playing BF3, and I do some minor videoediting so I enjoy having some power in my laptops.

 

Performance and battery life / portability has ALWAYS been a trade off. The dv6t is not an exception - it has average to poor battery life and is not very convenient to move around. However it is more portable than some of its counterparts from Dell and ASUS.

9 cell adds a big block to the back end of your laptop making it bigger. Obviously it gives you more battery life (probably around 50% more).

Starcraft 2 can be maxed out. It's not a demanding game. However BF3 is going to be a fairly demanding game and you will not be able to max it out, you may have to play on medium settings at a reduced resolution. Minor videoediting can be handled by integrated graphics, let alone a 6770.

 

i was kind of in the same situation as you, finding a laptop for college for casual gaming. I heard the quad processors + 6770 graphics produces alot of power drain espcially when gaming.
So i got the standard edition with i5 2410, and 6490 (i heard that this card preforms cooler than the 6770, can someone confirm that). And i got the 9 cell. I felt i got a balance of portability and power. with 9 hours (which can be moderately reached with websurfing, and small tasks) no need to stay in your dorm isolated, go outside and enjoy the grass!

Just what i thought, when considering it.

 

The battery life is actually pretty good. From the reviews I've read, it's around 5 hours for surfing the web and 4 for watching movies.

 

I was in the same situation, but considering my laptop will sit in my dorm the majority of the time, it doesn't bother me to plug it in. Plus if you're gaming and really burning power, then you're probably going to be plugged in anyway. Who would want to game anything on the track pad mobile? Usually you're going to be with an external mouse sitting at a desk/table.

Plus the quad does save some power if you are doing light tasks. I probably should of gotten the 9 cell for my quad, but I'll live with the 6. Probably give me 3ish (maybe even 4+) hours or so, which is fine.

 

What video editing programs do you use? If they use OpenGL, the graphics card might not switch on.

But if you use Sony Vegas like me... the quad edition is the one to get

 

9 cell or 6 cell?

 

6 cell. Here's a review, though it's with an i3 processor.

 

Wow. I'd be happy even it was 3 hours for the quad. Probably should of picked up the 9 cell, but too late now.

 

You probably could get 3 hours easy. I don't think the quads consume that much power when just browsing the internet.

 

I disagree. I think my dv6 is pretty portable. I lug it around in HP's 16" Esteem messenger-style bag often. I think it's around or slightly over 5lbs. I know I can move it around while open, with one hand, as it is sturdy and solid enough to not have to worry over it's own weight damaging it. Not exactly as light or thin as a Mac, but definitely smaller, lighter than a comparable Dell, IMO.

I went with getting the 6 and 9 cell batteries. Each serve a different purpose for me. I can imagine that the 9 cell might be great for long classes where you know you might be accessing quite a few system resources. The 6 cell, I use mostly for casual web-surfing, emailing. Light stuff; no real work, when I am cordless.

 

Really? Less than 3 hours? I get about 6 on the 9-cell browsing around the internet.

 

Mine's still in the mail. Taking a vacation in Japan by the looks of things. I was just saying the 3 hours would be fine by me since I don't use battery for long periods of time.

 

It shouldn't be a huge difference. The TDP on that i3 is 35W, and the TDP of the i7 2630QM is 45W. Assuming both are just dropping down to their lowest modes for just web browsing/light office work (i.e. only one core active), power draw should be fairly minimal.

 

I can tell you its quite light. No problem for portability whatsoever.

But honestly, the quick performance of this thing kills its battery life, just like someone said. Playing SC with the Radeon running at ultra settings, I can get like 2 and a half hours, but thats about it. That being said, I usually keep the charge on it while playing SC. Without the cord, it can handle normal tasks with a 4-5 hour life, so it does pretty well...

I'd go with the 6 cell if I were you tho. The 9 cell is humongous, and it makes it sit weird on cooling mats and such. But the trade off is that it does add quite a bit of battery life.

 

Thanks everyone for all the helpful replies. If you don't mind me asking, what are similar laptops to this that I could look at for comparisons sake?

 

Dell XPS 15
Sager NP5160 or NP 5165 (based on the Clevo W150Hxx, can be found under several names from different resellers)
Alienware M14x

 

* XPS 15 or 17 (15 uses the nvidia 540m I think which is weaker than the 6770m and the 17 can be upgradable to the 555m which is on par with the 6770m)

* Asus G53SW-A1/G73 - bigger, bulkier 15 and 17 inch laptops but with a superior nvidia 460m card

* Look up Sager for their range of high performance laptops
* HP's own DV6z, which uses AMD's new Llano. Graphics power seems to be comparable to DV6t but the CPU is weaker in general

* Lenovo Ideapad y570 (uses the nvidia 555m)

* Lenovo Ideapad y560p (uses a less powerful AMD 6 series card but CPU specs otherwise the same as DV6/7T - cheaper alternative)



Straight from the sticky.

 

ive only had a few laptops before, the 6v6tQE being my 3rd, and most powerful. and from what ive noticed, the battery is plenty good to get your through half a day of class if youre just taking notes and researching. but once youre doing much of anything video related, the battery can still last about 3 hours. not too bad for a 6 cell, i guess.

 

Also the part of the 9-cell that juts out makes a nice handle if you're carrying it without a laptop bag.

 

I'm actually getting excited about this laptop. Was considering the M14x, but the 6770 seems to be a better performer than the 555m overall plus I can get a 1080p screen and blu-ray player, all for $300 less than the M14x that comes with max 1600x900 screen and only DVDRW.

 

Except that's simply not true with this current generation of Sandy Bridges.

 

Which part? I don't really consider 4 hours battery life as portable...and 6 lbs 15" laptop aren't the most convenient to move around compared to something truly portable like a 13" laptop or a macbook air.

 

Of course its's not as portable relative to a 13" laptop but that's like saying a 13" laptop isn't portable compared to a tablet.

Unless you're running around or holding your laptop for extended periods (in which case you should get a backpack anyway), the DV6 is more than convenient enough to move to another room, or put in a bag.

It's not like there's a complicated procedure necessary to move a 15" laptop. The only difference with a smaller laptop is the weight and I don't think the extra 2-3 pounds makes any difference in respect to convenience.

 

Coming from an 8lbs 17", 5lbs 15" is nothing. It's all relative. Size matters (ok, chuckle) of both laptop and power supply, more than weight imho if they're all under 10 lbs. A 17" is just cumbersome to carry around, and not as easy to manipulate with one hand. 15" as thin as the DV6T is, is also nice and make it easier to handle.

 

I'm leaning that way as well. It's just an overall better value. If they were the same price, it would win on spec with the 1080p matte LCD and Blu-ray. Being priced a sizable sum cheaper really is the closer. Makes some of the M14x's strong points a little easier to live without (I will forever miss a backlit keyboard).

 

Yeah, lack of a backlit keyboard is a real bummer. They should at least offer it as a $50 option or something. Of course the backlit keyboard doesn't offset the price and shortcomings of the M14x, if 1080p and blu-ray are what you're looking for. Otherwise I love the build of my M11x. But the HP owners seem quite happy with the DV6t.

 

Oh, there's also the really annoying HP restriction on the built-in wifi card. It is stuck at a Centrino 1000, and there is no ability to upgrade it to a 6205/6230/6300 as the BIOS is whitelisting only the 1000.

I think can live with that restriction, but it's a real waste of the dual-band N routers I've implemented at my house, my parents' house, etc...

 

Oh crap, only can use the 1000? That sucks. I have dual band at home too, and 5GHz helps quite a bit. Hopefully there will be some BIOS update allowing the 6230 or 6300. I don't care about bluetooth really, so 6300 would be ideal, but 6230 is just as good, just a little less range.

 

It is a shame, only a couple of people reported they successfully installed a 6230 on their dv6t-6000 series. But several others reported the Error 104.

No idea if those who failed had a non genuine 6230 or ordered from a respectable retailer.

The last model with stock HP bios that worked with the 6300 is the dv6t-2000.

 

I've tried to find more mention of the success stories, but they seem few and far between. Got any links to posts? Would be interesting to know what exact part they got and from where. I kept seeing people mention getting someone to hack the BIOS to edit the whitelist, but sounds a bit extreme.

 

Well, first one I found, but too lazy to get the actual post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...xxx-series-owners-lounge-571.html#post7564546

 

Thanks! If I end up with a dv6-6195ca, I'll have to give this a try. Would rather not live with a Centrino 1000 if i don't have to...

 

I'm really interested in this laptop but now I'm worried about the switchable graphics issue.
Is that issue only applicable to people who bought it in a particular time frame?
If I order now, do you guys think that the one I'll get would be free of the said problem?

 

There's a FAQ at the top of this forum.

And the answer is no and no.

 

A) It affects all 61xx models, as the mux has been removed in favour of dynamic switching. Not really a timeframe issue other than 60xx models have largely been phased out now; stores may still have pre-configured stock if you look.

B) Anything you order from HP now will be a 61xx. As stated, you may still find pre-configured 60xx machines at other retailers.

For most people, there is no issue. If you don't play OpenGL-based games (generally things that are fairly old, except Minecraft), or use pro-level Adobe products (i.e. Photoshop CS; Elements and Lightroom are not impacted), or some modelling software, there is no issue. The GPU will switch on when it needs to (give or take... dynamic is never perfect. See Nvidia Optimus).

 

At the moment, Nvidia Optimus looks like a godsend compared to the AMD Dynamic Switch.
No idea how AMD messed up the most critical generic switching feature, when Nvidia experienced it a couple years ago.

But in the end, you're most likely not going to notice the problem anyways.

But you got 21 days to figure that out.

 

It affects OpenGL only. It's still an issue. It can be corrected with a driver update apparently. So there's some hope.