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Thoughts on this laptop

gothamhunter

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Hey guys,

I will be getting a gaming laptop soon, and I was wondering all of your thoughts on this one:

HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition series

I don't need anything that really looks like a gaming laptop, just one that would have the specs to play games well (New Vegas, LOTRO, TF2, COD, etc...). I'm trying to get rid of my PC since it keeps me in the office and I'd rather game in the living room with the wife.

I would probably get the base configuration, which is this:

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 6570 graphics [HDMI, VGA]
6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 3.0 hours of battery life +++
17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
HP TrueVision Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone + HP SimplePass

My price with EPP and free shipping will be $986.85.

So what do you guys think? What are your thoughts on the 1600x900 res, and what do you think of the overall HP quality? I'm more of an Nvidia guy, but I wouldn't mind going ATI if it's a good quality card.

If you have leads on something better, feel free to let me know.
 
I ordered the dv7-4290us myself from Walmart. ~$1200 with 2 day shipping.

I also order a Vertex 2 to put in it.

I can tell you how everything turns out when I get the computer (Friday the latest).
 
What made you jump on buying it - does it seem pretty good? Do you plan on using it to game and such? I'm thinking of doing it soon if I do since they have the $150 IR off right now.
 
I have been putting off building my work PC for some time. I am still using a AMD 3400+ with 2 GB of RAM. It has lasted me over 6 years now.

I plan on going on a long vacation (3+ months). I need a computer to work on and I wanted one that I can take on a plane easily.

I originally ordered a Dv7 without the Sandy Bridge chip. It cost $1100 (which I thought was a great deal at the time). I figured the Sandy Bridge chip was going to cost $400+ more than my build. I had to return it once I saw the Walmart price.

I don't really care about USB 3.0 because I don't have much data other than my music which I have already backed up on a USB 2 hard drive. E-Sata should be good enough for my backup. I also don't care about the 1600 x 900 res. I would prefer a 1080p screen, but I will eventually dual screen this laptop anyway to a 1080p monitor.

I don't game at all because I work from home. I won't get any work done, if I install SC II. I figure the most CPU intensive thing I will do on this machine is stream hd on netflix (lol). Maybe I went over kill, but I am sorta excited to see the difference of my current CPU (AMD 3400+ 2.20 GHz and 2 GB RAM) and this new laptop (i7-2630qm 2.00 GHZ with 2.90 GHz turbo boost and 6 GB DDR3). Plus I bought a Vertex 2 -120 GB to put in this thing.
 
I've been looking at this same system--I'm no gamer but I don't mind having a little more horsepower than just integrated, no matter how much an improvement SB is in that department.

The 6570M graphics card can use either GDDR5 or DD3; HP has gone with the less expensive DDR3 route, at least on the 4290US pre-configured model. Looking at AMD's spec sheet, that's a halving of graphics memory bandwidth. The 6570 core is similar to a 5730 from the last generation, which is an upper-midrange card. HP's website doesn't say that the graphics are switchable, but AMD's implementation of that isn't as good as Nvidia's, and having discrete only graphics seems to rob you of using SB's graphics unit for encoding.
 
CMC79 said:
I've been looking at this same system--I'm no gamer but I don't mind having a little more horsepower than just integrated, no matter how much an improvement SB is in that department.

The 6570M graphics card can use either GDDR5 or DD3; HP has gone with the less expensive DDR3 route, at least on the 4290US pre-configured model. Looking at AMD's spec sheet, that's a halving of graphics memory bandwidth. The 6570 core is similar to a 5730 from the last generation, which is an upper-midrange card. HP's website doesn't say that the graphics are switchable, but AMD's implementation of that isn't as good as Nvidia's, and having discrete only graphics seems to rob you of using SB's graphics unit for encoding.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's a GDDR5 according to the packaging:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...v7-envy-17-intel-sandy-bridge-discussion.html
 
I'd gone by the spec sheet I'd seen on a few sites that first had the 4290US up for sale; they'd had DDR3 listed. Glad to see it's GDDR5. Other than the lack of USB 3.0, this is a very tempting system.
 
CMC79 said:
I'd gone by the spec sheet I'd seen on a few sites that first had the 4290US up for sale; they'd had DDR3 listed. Glad to see it's GDDR5. Other than the lack of USB 3.0, this is a very tempting system.
Click to expand...

It's actually DDR3 - I called HP and the confirmed that (although the guy said that technology beyond DDR3 doesn't exist, so he might be wrong...)

I'm actually looking at this laptop. thoughts?
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X6-9500_Notebook/

I can get it down to $844 with a coupon and removing the OS install!
 
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