Questions before ordering

Hey guys, I'm from Canada, and I will be visiting the USA in a couple of weeks for a week. While I'm there, I plan to have a HP DV6 shipped to my uncle's house there where I am pick it up. Before I do so I have a couple of questions.

1. Is the warranty valid in Canada or is it exclusive to the USA?

2. How accurate is the estimated ship time? and also from your prior experiences how long did it take to order a custom build one from HP and how long did it take for it to arrive.

3. Am I able to pay with a Canadian Credit card or am I forced to use an american one? As long as the shipping address is American it's fine right?

4. Is this configuration okay? I'm just going to be using it as a school/gaming laptop, for games like TF2, Assassin's creed etc.

steel gray
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
FREE Upgrade to 750GB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
No additional security software
6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.5 hours of battery life +++
15.6" diagonal Full HD HP Anti-glare LED Display (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
Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN with Wireless Display Support
Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

5. Is the 9 cell battery worth it? How long can I expect from the battery life from just regular web browsing, doing homework and music on the 6 cell?

EDIT

6. Also is the high capacity 6 cell worth the extra money?
Thanks in Advance

 

9cell batt is worth it if your going to be having around the campus without a power outlet. also the power brick for this laptop is big so i would suggest getting the 9cell batt specially since you get a nice discount off it when you purchase the laptop. better to get it with the discount than buying it later without it.
for the harddrive i switched mine to the 640 gig 7200 rpm since i rather have a faster computer than it being more gigs of memory.
and as for gaming, i use mine to play borderlands on high setting and also splinter cell conviction, it does the job good when its hooked up to the power supply. you'll be fine for most games.

 

the 9 cell makes the laptop bulkier to carry so I don't think its worth it as a student. There's usually tons of outlets available on campus.

 

thanks for the information on the laptop itself, does the DV6 suffer the same heat problem as the other HPs? Also I think I might compromise and go with the high capacity battery,

Also any ideas on the warranty and the credit card questions?

 

I believe you need an American credit card. You shouldn't use a Canadian credit card anyways since you'll get charge ~2.5% for the Canadian-USD conversion.

 

I bought both the 9 cell and 6cell battery because to me it was a steal. If I had to choose though, i'd go with the 9 cell (even though i'm currently using my 6 cell) because you get significantly more battery life and it adds very little bulk, not sure why the above post says it adds a lot.

Secondly, I received my device a couple days before the estimated shipping date, meaning they shipped it before it was even supposed to be shipped. Not sure if this is a common fad for HP but I was very pleased/irritated at the same time. I assume that they prolong the estimation of when you will receive your device just for the worst case scenario but in most instances they probably ship it much sooner and you get it much sooner also.

 

Do you guys have any ideas about the warranty? Would it be better to call hp and ask about that? Also how are your temperatures guys? Does it get hot under normal use?

 

Hp comes with a program called coolsense for managing how heated the laptop gets. So if you set coolsense to coolest, heat shouldn't be a problem at all for normal use.

The only draw back for coolest, is that the fan noise is audible, but in no way is it annoying. So i find it perfect for comfortably putting it on my lap to browse websites, or watch movies.

It might get hot for gaming, but I havent really done much gaming so i wouldnt really know.

 

i do gaming and the left palm rest gets warm but not super hot. its still comfortable for me.

id rather carry the 9cell battery around campus than that huge power brick and cord.