New DV6 with Sandy Bridge quad core, but same old laptop design!

The new DV6 with Sandy Bridge is actually the same old product with a new motherboard and CPU.

Does anyone know when HP plans to release a refresh of the laptop design, if so, when would be your guess?
Do you think the current (old) last year's design will remain the same for all of 2011?

This what I can find for the Australian market:
HP Pavilion dv6-4000 Entertainment Notebook PC series Home & Home Office

 

In my experience, I saw HP switch out the designs on their machines about every year or so. Sometimes, if they had a successful one they would hold onto it a bit longer but it usually wasn't much more than a year. Of course, now that I say this they'll prove me wrong and keep this style for the next two years, lol.

 

They might keep this design for a little while because it got a lot of good reviews. I like it a lot, personally.

 

I was actually glad they didn't do a refresh. I really like the design.

 

The main reason I'm waiting for a refresh is USB 3 and SATA 3.

 

Returned my last years model back to the shop, I am really wishing they would change it. It was nice but some key point ruined it.

1. Could never get use to the keyboard with the extra function like keys down the left had side.

2. The cooling system is very poor under load and blasts out a massive amount of hot air, not situable for quad cores.

3. Quad Core 720QM and HD5650 battery life under load was ~50 mintues

4. Palm rest get super hot, and keyboard around the qwerty is unpleasant to use under load.

Even saying the above, I am still highly temped to go and get the DV6 with 2630QM and with this time GDDR5. Although same design= old, is no USB3 ports and no extras happening around those areas.

 

It's probably going to be redesigned to use the Coolsense design that the dm1 and dm3 have this spring, knowing their patterns.

 

Well, isn't that the purpose of a cooling system? If the air coming out of a laptop is cold it means that the cooling isn't properly fitted and the chips are frying themselves inside.

 

It is frying, in fact the entire left hand side, underneth, top, and keyboard areas are super hot (720QM model).

Not sure if the 2630QM fixes this issue or not, I wouldn't think so if the TDP is still 45W?

My point is that the cooling system is not adequate for this particular laptop when using a 720QM quad core.

Hoping that a new design will address heat issues with a larger exhaust vents, heatsink fan assembly.


However I am still interested in the HP DV6-4006TX

Does anyone know how the 720QM compares with the 2630QM as far as power consumption and heat output goes in the same platform?

 

How the case feels isn't the important thing, especially since it's made of metal and, therefore, will conduct more heat anyway. The cooling system is meant to cool the internal components, so you need to look at the internal temps.

Also, keep in mind that SB quads have an IGP on them, and that's included in the TDP. This means that the CPU part was probably designed to work within a lower TDP. In addition, Sandy Bridge is a far more efficient architecture and built in the 32nm process, versus the 45nm last-gen quads. So they should be significantly better in terms of power consumption and heat output.

 

Excellent point, with the IGP power gated the rest of the CPU should in theory run cooler and/or at a lower overall TDP.
If that is the case, then hopefully (putting temperatures aside) turbo should sustain higher than rated stock 2GHz on all 4 cores continuously.

I have just picked my new DV6-4006TX from the store. On the display shelf side by side I checked out the old DV6 with 720QM and the newer DV6 with 2630QM. Both were running at idle, and appeared to be running the same fan speed, and temperature by observing and by touch/feel. If I was to choose at the moment, I would pick the 2630QM to be a tad warmer.

The actual physical difference between the two I can confirm is absolute zero. Everything is all in the exact same place and positioning.

I will post some more details after I have backed up the drive (factory snapshot) and have an initial play with it.

I couldn't wait for a new design, could be 2-6 months away if not more.

 

Then how is the heat when on load i.e while gaming or other Processor and GPU intensive jobs when compared to prev. gen. ?

 

I would rate it the same as the previous generation.
This thing idles at on average ~60c and shots up to +90c under full load.
The fan spins up quickly and runs fast under load, pumping out noise and heat like a mini hair dryer.

For some reason, when the CPU has been under load, the fan will shut off once it cools down, and then pulsates annoyingly off and on each time it cools a tad under 60c. The old generation model use to do this too, in that scenario.

 

One of the things I hated most about DV6 is that the left side especially near the touchpad is damn hot. Had to use a USB fan to actually cool it down so I can type it easily without the heat discomfort. HP really need to do something about this.

 

So the general consensus on this laptop is that the touchpad is horrible, yet they don't even bother changing it. Good job, HP!