Rookie doubts about the dv6...

Hi all,

I am planning to buy the HP dv6tqe soon. I want to use it for playing all the latest PC games(apart from other things of course ). I do not know a lot about computers and therefore have a few questions-

1. The openGL issue, does that affect the games I can play on the laptop? (I tried reading a few forums here but couldnt understand much )
2. I am planning to buy a 21" HD monitor later and use that as a primary display for watching movies, playing games, etc. Does that mean my 1366x768 display laptop be able to display full HD graphics on the external monitor?
3. Would 1GB graphic card memory (Radeon 6770M) be enough for gaming requirements? (I read some discussion on that, but doesnt look like there was a conclusion regarding it)

Some of my questions might seem silly to all the tech savvy people here . But I would really appreciate all help and inputs.

Thanks

PS-this is the configuration I am planning to buy
Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM
1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics
6 GB RAM
640GB@7200 rpm HDD
(1366x768) display
Wireless with bluetooth

 

Not any more. On August 2, HP released a BIOS update which allows you to manually switch between the two GPUs for all purposes so now you can use OpenGL games and applications with the 6770M.

Yes. Although if you're buying an external monitor for games, I am not sure what is the rationale for a laptop with a mid-range GPU in the first place.

It's a fairly powerful laptop card, but it won't be enough to max everything out on the latest games. Keep in mind that laptop GPUs are subject to much stricter thermal requirements than their desktop counterparts and performance is correspondingly lower.

That said, many games today don't really require the latest and greatest GPUs because they're made primarily for consoles which consist of hardware that is 5+ years old. For example, I play mostly RPGs and I have not installed one yet that gives the 6770M trouble at the highest settings (I would guess the Witcher 2 would do it, but I don't have that one yet).

 

Thanks for the reply Althernai.
A bit more background-planning to spend about 1k for the laptop.
I am not really a hardcore gamer, but I want all the games to work on my laptop. I dont care if they dont give 100% performance.

In repsonse to the questions you posed-
Regarding the GPU, the other option available on the HP dv6tqe is a 2GB 6770 GPU card (I dont mind spending on that, if it really has any benefit) I can look at other HP laptops, but HP is the brand of my choice.

I want a bigger screen just for better gaming, movie watching experience. And I want to have the occasional portability option (thats why a laptop, not a desktop)

Any more suggestions/inputs??

 

The dv6tqe with the 1GB 6770 (2GB is a waste of money) is powerful enough to run most games at pretty good detail levels. I've played games like Metro 2033, Crysis: Warhead, and Bad Company 2 at either 1080p or 1366x768 with fluid framerates at high detail. Crysis and Metro 2033 look great.

 

like what hockey said, the additional 1gb of memory for the graphics card doesn't really help much.

and 6770m is a fairly powerful graphics card.

I'm using a card with near performance to a 6770, [6750 + 6620], and i can play latest games at medium - ultra without frame drops. So i can say that the 6770 will do more than enough to play current pc titles.

 

Don't get the 1366x768 display in the HP. Upgrade to the 1920x1080 display. You can't bring an external monitor with you anywhere, and aside from the higher resolution, the 1920x1080 display is much better quality. Most 15.6" 1366x768 screens are junk and have terrible contrast ratios, and 1366x768 is a mediocre resolution for a 15.6" laptop anyway (it's ideal for 12.5" laptops).

Even if you're using an external monitor as an extended desktop, it still really helps to have that extra screen space on your main screen. Higher resolutions let you fit more stuff onscreen at once and are a huge benefit for multitasking. With 1366x768 you can only fit one window onscreen at once, but with 1920x1080 you can easily fit two side-by-side.

If it's a budget issue, get the regular DV6t with an i3 or an i5 processor. Don't get the i7-2630QM over the 1920x1080 display, it's a terrible idea, because the screen makes far more of a difference than the processor. You may never notice the difference with the upgraded processor but you're guaranteed to notice the difference with the upgraded screen. Don't be so power-hungry with the CPU if it means sacrificing something more important

 

The HD 6770m is fast middle class GPU:
AMD Radeon HD 6770M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
as u can see most games will run fluently.

 

Do not get the laptop without the 1080p screen... Nuff said

 

The 1366x768 screen is not bad at all. It's a great upgrade, but the stock screen isn't trash...

 

There are around 3 different 768 screens in the DV6. Some look okay, some look like junk. The one I saw in the DV6 in Best Buy had really bad contrast and really bad viewing angles.

And it's not just about image quality, it's about fitting more stuff onscreen at once. You can't change the fact that 1366x768 is a mediocre resolution for a screen as large as 15.6"

 

Or you could just not get a crap screen.

 

And for every person that thinks the screen is important, there are several that insist that a higher resolution is unimportant and if you want 1080p you should get a desktop or some such tripe.

 

The screen makes more of a difference than any other upgrade, and if you're even considering getting the quad edition over the regular edition of the DV6t (that's ~$150 more in cost) then you should also be more heavily considering the screen upgrade, seeing as how the upgrade from 1366x768 to 1920x1080 makes ten-fold more of a difference than the upgrade from an i5 to an i7 or even an i3 to an i7.

You can't bring an external monitor with you anywhere, and a higher resolution makes a difference for even the most basic tasks. Plus, for movies, you'll certainly notice the deeper blacks (contrast) and wider viewing angles of the 1920x1080 display if you're watching a movie with people.

1920x1080 isn't a branding, it's a resolution. And as mentioned earlier, the screen upgrade makes too much of a difference to pass up and it makes too much of a difference to skip just to be able to afford another less-worthwhile upgrade (e.g. processor).

Size doesn't matter when it comes to usability, only resolution does. (provided the eyesight is decent enough to read the smaller text). An external monitor is nice, but it is no substitute for the screen that's actually physically a part of your computer.

 

The 1366x768 isn't really THAT bad, it's not that it's going to make you go blind or something. If you are only using your laptop screen 10%of the time it might not be worth upgrading.

That said, my housemate just bought a cheapo dv6 Llano with that screen and compared to the 1080p upgrade, the 1366x768 is a MAJOR downgrade.

 

Guys, I just got the DV6-6190us and flashed the new bios. Graphics are switchable now. I have two problems though.
1)Some times things aren't drawn, (right click menus) or gadgets.
2)Metro 2033 demo won't start, crashes even in safe mode startup.
I have the AMD 9770 2gb enable. Any ideas?

P.S. Get the 1080p screen, I was doubting it, but it is the best laptop screen I have ever used.

 

As I said earlier, there are at least 3 different 1366x768 screens (namely AUO, Samsung, and Chi-Mei), and the one I saw at Best Buy had really bad contrast and viewing angles.

Even in a dual-monitor setup, if you're using extended desktop mode, you're still very much going to use your laptop screen, and it's going to make a difference even in this case.

 

Im gonna say it again... Don't get this laptop without the 1080p screen. It is the BEST upgrade you could possibly get for yourself. If you have never used a 1080p screen on a laptop, you obviously wont know how amazing they are. This is why you must trust us and get the upgrade. Before I got this laptop, I was on a 10 inch screen with 1024x600 resolution. I thought it was fine, but now that I have used a 1080p screen, there is no way I could ever go back to a lower resolution screen.

 

Wont the 1080p be an issue when gaming?

As i thought native resolution was the best for image clarity. I doubt whether the 6770 has the muscle power to game at 1080p.

 

the best buy screen isnt configure, so the 1366 x 768 looks so bad.

anyhow i'd agree with the rest tho regarding about getting the 1080p. Like what everyone said, the 1080p is so amazing in so many ways.

 

Depends on the game. I run Bad Company 2, DA2, The Witcher, etc., at 1080p. Some other games, like Metro 2033 and Crysis, I drop down to 1366x768. Still looks great on this screen.

 

you mean calibrated? You can't calibrate away bad contrast or bad viewing angles.

 

I play sc2 at 1080p on Ultra/High with roughly 45 FPS. You can game just fine on 1080p, for most games...

 

Even then, games should never be a reason to go with a worse screen. You can always play a game in 1366x768 resolution on a 1920x1080 display, but you can never make up for the lack of screen space when you're not gaming.

Gaming in a non-native resolution results in a little bit of blur, but blur isn't as detrimental to image quality as low contrast is. Most 1366x768 screens have bad contrast.