dv2500t/dv6500t/dv9500t Current/ Prospective Owners Lounge

Figuring the original thread worked so well why not start a new one based on the new models. Here's a great place to post your experiences, pictures, reviews, thoughts about the new line. I know a few have already recieved theirs and I should have mine tonite so I will post some pictures as soon as I get the box open.

 

Which one (series) are you receiving tonight?

I'm getting the dv2500t as soon as the 8400 is available on it.

 

i just order the dv9500t today this is my very first laptop ever its coming wit Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/4MB L2Cache)
17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
HP Imprint (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader +Webcam
40% off upgrade from 1GB (2 Dimm) to 2GB (2 Dimm)!
320GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (160GB x 2)
LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network w/Bluetooth


is this a good buy for 1758.98 ??????

 

I'd say that's about standard market price. It wasn't overpriced or underpriced. Have fun with it!

 

is it good tho wat i got

 

Same here

 

Im getting the dv6500 once with new cards are out

 

the x3100 is an intergrated video card right??

 

Yep, it is Intel's replacement for the GMA950.

 

I've heard the only real difference between the dv2500t and dv6500t is the screen size. Does that mean they perform exactly the same or might the dv6500t perform better?? Does anyone think the fans on the dv2500t will be louder because the case is smaller?

 

I have the 9000t is that a good laptop?? with the 7600go 512.. are the hp laptops upgrader as far as the processor goes at all?

 

Well I finally got my dv6500t. Had some issues with burning recovery disks. And others are right...ton on bloatware. Also, I do hear a high pitched sound coming from CPU. The thing does get hot on the bottom. While I havent tested the extended 6-cell battery completely, i've been running it for 45 minutes and it shows 72% remaining...you do the math Here are some pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dshah4/HPPavillionDv6500t

 

Hot on the bottom. Damn hp.

 

Got my 6500t today. I'm very impressed with the hardware design, though not so happy about the enormous amount of bloatware. I don't find it to be too hot (though I used to use a Macbook so I am used to scalding heat) and there is no whine.

I've got a desktop for the games, but I'll run some benchmarks on the x1300 later when I have it set up and de-bloatified.

 

Nice pics.

I wonder if the recovery software is just buggy. Have you tried burning any dvds using regular burning software without getting write failures?

 

Also got my 6500T. Nice laptop, looks exactly like the 6000T. In fact, in the upper right corner is a little badge that says DV6000.

TONS OF BLOATWARE. Norton keeps nagging to register. Give me a break. After installing everything, only 85 gigs remain on a 120 hard drive. Buy the bigger drive if you'll leave things as is. Otherwise, buy the smaller drive and swap in a larger 7200 drive later.

I'm definitely putting XP and Ubuntu on this. I'll be making a web site with step by step instructions, but I think the guide for the DV6000T will work once we get the proper chipset drivers.

For each picture, make it big for better viewing. In IE, put your cursor in the lower right corner of each picture, then click the arrow box. In Firefox, put your cursor in the picture, then click when you see the little + with a circle around it.

http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T001.jpg
A box all the way from China.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T002.jpg
Top of the box is opened.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T003.jpg
A box which holds the battery, charger, and software.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T004.jpg
Opening the box.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T005.jpg
Laptop with side bumpers.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T006.jpg
Laptop in protective bag.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T007.jpg
Everything you get in the box.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T008.jpg
There's a protective cloth over the keyboard.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T009.jpg
The Keyboard.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T010.jpg
The poster, look in the lower left corner, it says DV6000T.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T011.jpg
The other side of the poster.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T012.jpg
The CD and what it says on them.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T013.jpg
Side
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T014.jpg
Side
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T015.jpg
Back. I have the 12 cell battery with the bump that props up the laptop.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T016.jpg
Sitting on my desk.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T017.jpg
Keyboard.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T018.jpg
Starting for the first time. The dots went across the screen for about 5 minutes. Look in the upper right corner, you'll see a badge that says dv6000.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T019.jpg
Then Vista installed, this took another 5 minutes with the circle thing in the middle.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T020.jpg
Vista prompting for input during setup.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T021.jpg
Setting up the first user. I want XP.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T022.jpg
Laugh.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T023.jpg
You've got to be kidding me.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T024.jpg
You should be on the floor by now.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T025.jpg
I'm dying over here.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T026.jpg
Awwwwww. Cute doggie. I have a lab.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T027.jpg
The computer is finally up after about 30 minutes and a reboot. Look in the lower right corner of the screen. It's already nagging about the friggen anti virus software. Norton is ready to start bugging me.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T028.jpg
Another shot of the Norton Nag box. Oh, and get this, the first thing the computer does after booting, is launch a tutorial asking if you want a deal on an ISP. Hello? I'm already connected to the net and don't need to buy another ISP. If I'm not connected then trying to find an ISP service won't do me any good. The computer goes out there, and gets 3 offers from other ISPs. Nice way to confuse people.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T029.jpg
Installing updates, there were 12 of them and 2 by HP which updated the audio driver and the recovery software.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T030.jpg
I was starting to wonder if I really had a DV6500T. The answer is Yes, I do, because it's a T7300 Processor.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T031.jpg
Now this picture really sums up everything. There's only 85 gigs left on the 120 gig hard drive. Where did all my space go? This is a joke. Buy the 160 gig drive if you're thinking about getting one of these. Or better yet, start with the smaller 80 gig, then buy your own 7200 RPM drive and swap it out.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T032.jpg
More proof it's really Santa Rosa.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T033.jpg
The bloatware on the desktop.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T034.jpg
The Norton Nag screen appears every time the computer is booted.
http://www.nogodforme.com/images2007/HPDV6500T035.jpg
The program menu.

 

Anyone have anything they want me to test on the new laptop? I think I got the recovery disc issue resolved. Went to staples and bought HP branded DVD+R and it seems to be working fine. The fan on this machine does seem to go on alot even tho the processor (2ghz) seems to slow down to 1.2ghz with AC. Maybe that is the dvd burning that is causing the fans to go on tho. I have a feeling when I do a clean install this laptop will fly. Oh I did upgrade the quickplay software to 3.2 and attempt to use the webcam. While its only VGA (640x480), it looks to be pretty high quality. It was a full VGA with 30fps and the picture looked damn good. I have a feeling the old camera was really VGA with a software scaling to say 1.3MP. The laptop got a Windows Experience Score of 3.4 out of the box.

One other thing I noticed. I'm not sure the power management of the cpu is running properly. While burning a dvd, cpu usage is very low but keeps jumping back to 2.0ghz instead of staying low.

 

are u going do a clean install? Maybe switch to xp? A write up or either or will be good

 

I paid for Vista Home Premium so I'll keep vista on it (especially because I dont plan on playing games on it). If anything, I'll just do a cleaner Vista install. But as I start disabling/uninstalling stuff....the performance seems to improve so I may just keep it.

 

what program do you use with the hp? I can't seem to find the program listed? I have the 9000t i'm sure your software is pretty much the same thing.

 

What program do I use to do what?

 

I want the dv6500t, its so pretty and the price for what I get is pretty good. I think I'm gonna wait till the dedicated cards are available even though I doubt I'll really need one to play the Sims, lol

The only things I'm nervous about are the complaints about the whining sound and Vista. I'm not comp savvy enough to install XP

 

Hey Fant, how will you do a clean install (if you decide to do one)? The HP vista reinstallation CD includes the bloatware i think. are you going to buy a new copy of vista or use torrent or..? just wondering because i'll probably want to do a clean install too

 

Glickman: The system came with a Windows Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD. This can be used in combination with the key underneath the laptop to do a clean install of Vista. You just gotta remember to burn all the files in C:\SWSETUP to a dvd first so you have all the drivers needed. However I'm looking in there and there is a ton of **** (2+gb of **** to be precise). I may just start uninstalling stuff i dont want and use the system as is. For example there is a custom power profile called "HP Recommended". I dont know If I'd have that if I do a clean install. Not that I couldnt replicate it...I just dont know what other stuff I would lose.

 

Or you can follow my guide, and you don't have to deal with activation at all.

 

So I think there may be a problem with the lightscribe drive on this thing. It wasted about 3 dvd-r's trying to burn the Image recover discs. Then I switched to HP Branded dvd+r and was able to burn them fine. But then when I went to use vista to burn the C:\SWSETUP folder to the HP DVD+R, I got an error in the middle ruining that disk. So two things that I dont like about this lightscribe dvdr:

1) Its only 8x - shouldnt all new ones be 16x?
2) It doesnt seem to have buffer underun protection because I am getting failed discs. Or is the problem I am having related to media?

 

@robvia,

If I understood correctly, is there a reason you ordered the noteboook from China?

 

He He, the notebook shipped directly from China, it was ordered from Costco.

I made my recovery discs. Funny, I ordered the cheapest DVD drive because the laptop is for my dad and he never burns DVDs. The thinking was he'll never need to burn dual layer at 8x. So I go to make my recovery discs and the DVD-R media doesn't work, it's Verbatim and I know it's good. Then I look online and see that my drive is a DVD/CD-RW. Guess what that means? It's really a CD burner that can read DVDs. At least that's what I think. I ended up using 9 CDs to make my recovery discs. So remember that if you are trying to save money, the cheapest drive is really a CD burner that reads DVDs.

 

robvia: I think we all knew that. The lowest option one should choose is vanila dvd-rw....a dvd/cdr combo is read only for dvds.

 

Can anyone comment on the x3100's ability to play HD video? WMVHD, DivX, H.264 in atleast 720p resolution?

I want to get a 2500, no real gameplay, but HD playback is important to me. Although, in the new dv2500 review it says that the nvidia option may have HDMI output...if so I'm definitely waiting for that, otherwise I'd rather have the power (and cost) savings of the integrated graphics.

TIA

 

Can you tell me where I can download the hd videos in both wmvhd, divx, and h.264 formats so I can test it on my dv6500t which has the x3100?

 

Sure...

www.wmvhd.com will take you to MS sample site.

http://stage6.divx.com/videos/search:high+definition

http://www.apple.com/trailers/ Quicktime is also H.264...maybe not the best/fastest example of H.264, but if it can play back these, it should be fine for everything else.

You'll probably have to install the Divx codec package, free at www.divx.com and obviously you'll need Quicktime or iTunes to view the Apple Quicktime trailers.

edit: if you don't want to putz around with DivX, that's fine...WMVHD and Quicktime H.264 both require more graphic horsepower, if it can do those 2, it can probably do DivX just fine.

 

Using various guides found on the internet, my Athlon XP 2800+ Barton and ATI 9600se are able to play 1080p HD Content (Tried H.264, and TS). It is all about configuring your setup. Media Player Classic is the player you use, but the real trick is setting up which codecs to use.

 

Ok this is kind of an informal test:

I have stuff running in the background (am working) so my idle cpu usage is about 10%. (Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz/4Mb L2 Santa Rosa, x3100):

Idle - 10%

Coral Reef 720p - 40%
Coral Reef 1080p - 45-50%

The divx web player seems to have a compatibility issue with the aero interface so I havent tried that. Let me do the apple test.

 

Believe me...your ATI 9600se has a lot to do with it. Even that "old" gpu has quite a bit more horsepower than the new integrated stuff. I can playback 720p stuff no problems on my Averatec 2260 notebook which has an AMD Turion TL-32 (single core) and integrated Via/S3 IGP, but 1080p stuff is a slideshow. Ideally I'd like the ability to output 1080p either via VGA or HDMI to my HDTV. Not that I even own a 1080p set yet

And yeah, your definitely right about codecs and players. I'm a fan of Media Player Classic too...and I'll just say there is definitely 1 codec pack that makes a HUGE difference for H.264 playback.

 

Fant, thanks for the quick reply...I'm amazed you can playback the 1080p with relative little bump in CPU useage. That must mean the x3100 is actually doing something to help out playback. Can you also comment if there was any audio/video stuttering @ 1080p? Thanks again.

 

snork: no stuttering on any. Also I noticed that my cpu speed seems to jump up and down so it may not have been running at the full 2ghz the whole time...I'll have to redo the tests when I get some time. I think the real test will be bluray content...

anyone know if the x3100 from intel will feature the functionality to do full hd decoding like the nvidia?

 

snork:

Idle - 10%

WMVHD Coral Reef 720p - 40%
WMVHD Coral Reef 1080p - 45-50%

Quicktime 720p Pirates Trailer - 35-40%
Quicktime 1080p Pirates Trailer - 45-55%

 

Main Test Results

3DMark Score 508 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score 155 Marks

SM 3.0 Score 201 Marks

CPU Score 1098 Marks



Detailed Test Results


Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 1.29 FPS

2 - Firefly Forest 1.288 FPS



CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.352 FPS

CPU2 - Red Valley 0.548 FPS



HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 1.809 FPS

2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 2.202 FPS

 

Im a bit fazed about all this high definition stuff...
Why do you want to know if the notebook can run it? My 5 year old computer runs the pirates quicktime trailer perfectly fine when I chooses the HD 1080p option. No stuttering or audio problems, and using about 30% of CPU.

So this notebook should certainly be able to run it...right?

Could somebody post screenshots of games running, or the frames they are getting?
If you could run counter strike source with net_graph 3, enabled in the console, then take a screenshot, I would be really grateful.

Lots of people are rubbishing the integrated graphics, but I optimistally think it isn't that bad for light gaming.

 

Fant, thanks for all the info...looks like the x3100 may suit my needs afterall.

Darkspark...IGPs often have terrible video acceleration. My 3 yr old HP zd7000 (P4 3.06 GHz Northwood, 768mb ram, 128mb nvidia go5700) has no probs with 1080p playback other than an occasional stutter which I attribute more to the slow 4200 rpm harddrive. However, my 1 yr old Averatec 2260 (1.8 GHz Turion MT-32, 1 GB ram, Via/S3 DeltaChrome9 IGP set to 128mb) stutters like heck with 1080p material. Alot has to do with the video card for HD video playback.

 

Yes with these fast cpus, pretty much any graphics card would be able to play current hd 1080p content. The real question is what kind of formats will we be playing in 2 years? Nvidia will probably continue to enhance their video drivers every other month so that new formats play better while Intel will say they do what they do and thats it.

I'm more concerned about this issue with the 7x00 series that says with Aero enabled, the video card is running in 3d mode all the time therefore using up to 20% additional battery power. I'm hoping nvidia has addressed this with their 8x00 series so that even when doing basic 3d stuff like Aero, it doesnt use alot of power.

 

Another update: I removed the symantec antivirus (60 day trial) that comes with the laptop. Boy did that speed up internet explorer. If there was a way to keep the anti-virus portion and not the full system protection I would have kept it. Switched to CA EZ Antivirus 2007. Small and simple. However after uninstalling norton, on bootup after I login, the screen goes blank and all i see is the mouse cursor for about 5-10 seconds with no HD activity until it continues booting. Not sure what is causing this.

 

How much better is the nvidia 7400 on the dv6000t compared to the x3100 on the dv6500t?

 

For gaming the 7400 is probably much better. For general windows aero and power concerns, the x3100 is prob better.

 

From what I read, Fant is pretty much correct Glickman.

I'm still on the fence...I've decided my next lappy will definitely be something with a 14" widescreen as IMHO it offers the best tradeoff in size vs. portability. I have a 17" HP zd7000...too big and heavy, and a 12" Averatec 2260...sometimes too small to really be comfortable at times. So I figure I'll take the Goldilocks approach and give it a third shot with something in the middle. I like the dv2500t, but I'm holding out to see if the nvidia option provides HDMI output. My brother-in-law has a Dell Inspiron e1505 which is a nice laptop, but is super ugly/generic looking IMO and still a bit heavy at 6+ lbs. Although I hear that Dell is probably gonna be completely redesigning their Inspiron line when they finally get around to offering Santa Rosa based systems.

 

snork: I know on my dv6500t there is a spot for an hdmi port when hp offers the nvidia chips. That may be reason alone for some to get the nvidia graphics option. I'm a little bummed they dont offer it with the intel. And yes Dells currently look fugly. But I do expect them to be taking a hint with all the HP success and redesigning their inspiron line to debut a sleek new look.

Oh and snork you are right, if you will be carrying the laptop around alot, definitely get the 14". The 15" is good if you occassionaly take it around...not for everyday taking it back and forth to the office.

 

He's talking about CoreAVC for those of you that watch enough HD content to warrent a purchase. It's pretty pricey in my opinion but well worth it if you like H.264 content.

 

Fant...I was looking at your pictures. Beautiful! I'm planning to buy one as soon as the 8400 is available. I see you also got a remote. Is that because you also go the HP Tv tuner expresscard or is the remote included with every dv6500? Thanks!

 

I didnt get the HP TV Tuner expresscard but I DID get the remote. I suspect the remote is part of their quickplay software so it comes with all of them. I also chose Vista Home Premium so dont know if that made a difference. I still think it comes with all of them. Is the dv6500t supposed to get the 8400 series or the 8600 series?