Ostriig on 22/9/2010 at 13:13

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Anticipated apologies for this post being all over the place. For two years now, my portable's been an Acer Extensa 7620G, and while it's been a decent machine with an elegant finish and I could probably do with it for another year, the 17'' screen and the non-switchable ATI 2400XT burns through the battery like nobody's business. So now I find myself in the fortunate situation where I can get my hands on around £700 and I'm considering changing - got my heart set on one of those Pavilion dv6 models with the Argento finish. I know I could get some better bang for buck than this particular HP lineup, but I'm a shallow and effeminate individual and am easily distracted by shiny, pretty things. So I kinda want one.

Okay, first question to get this out of the way - is it possible to customise your own configuration for an HP laptop in the UK? No matter how much I've looked around I've found absolutely no way and I suspect there indeed isn't, but HP's site being the colossal pile of convoluted shit that it is, I thought best I'd ask.

Now, assuming the answer to the above is No, here's what I was kind of thinking - (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-4150017-4256774.html) dv6-3056sa.


I need this machine to be able to pull off a fair bit. Including coding, Visual Studio and such, occasionally Photoshop and 3DS Max. Need gaming as well, though I'm perfectly fine with having to keep the graphics settings on low.

My main wonder is the CPU. Any comments on the i3? As far as I know, the main shortcoming when (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20100107comp_sm.htm) compared to the i5 is the lack of Turbo boost, aside from that should it do alright?

And, aside from games, given the graphics card, would I be right to assume that this laptop would handle everything else at least on par with my current desktop, E6420 C2D 2.13Ghz 4MB L2 cache 1066Mhz FSB, 3.2GB RAM?

Also, since the graphics say switchable, I assume there is a way to manually select between the 5470 and the more battery-friendly integrated graphics in Intel's i* CPU line? Software toggle or physical switch? Hopefully not automatic, right?

And regarding the battery life, this was one of my main gripes with the Acer - lasted 2.5-3 hours tops on light browsing, anything else under 2 hours; could I expect this 15''er to run Firefox and Word for some 3-4 hours, maybe around 5 if I swap out the 6cell battery for a 9cell one?

And just two more questions, not so important. First off, if anyone knows, is the surface of the 15'' screen flush with the black edge around it? It seems so in the promotional photos, but when when I saw a 13'' version on an airport they were distinct pieces altogether. And, finally, anyone know if it's possible to get it in the UK with a US keyboard? It's no big deal, since I use UK layouts with the US driver with no problems, but if it's an option it would be preferable.


P.S. I saw this brilliant configuration mentioned on the net, the (http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100823235328AAPtbO2) 3032tx, everything I could want, but of course I can't seem to find it on offer in the UK in any bloody form. Though I'm also curious if the battery life would be worse on that one.

lost_soul on 22/9/2010 at 21:00

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I too would avoid HP, but this is because all of their machines that I've seen require you to make a recovery disk yourself. That is just an insult to the customer. "Yeah sure, I just purchased your $600+ machine, now I want to sit here and burn multiple DVDs *AND* wait to verify that they were written properly!"

Asus is a good choice. Mine came with a real recovery DVD. I nuked the recovery partition, so I actually get what I paid for in terms of disk space now.

Also, I would do some further investigating about the "switchable graphics". I saw a netbook-sized laptop with both NVIDIA graphics and Intel, but in order to switch between them, you had to reboot the machine. That would be kind of a pain.

Renzatic on 23/9/2010 at 03:33

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Let me tell you about HP laptops. One of the guys I work with owns a computer repair shop that's been around since the late 80's. About a year or so ago, he got a string of HP laptops in for repair. Usually when laptops come in, they're messed up over simple hardware issues. Something like "I installed porn and now my comp boots up slow" or other similar stupid things. But these HP laptops all had one very severe hardware problem: they'd get so hot that the heatsinks would come desoldered and eventually warp the motherboard. It was a problem HP was well aware of, yet if you were unlucky enough for it to happen after you were out of warranty, you were pretty much screwed.

They're nice looking computers, but they're cheaply made and not engineered well at all. You want one that's well designed, you get an Asus or a Lenovo (Samsung is also fairly decent from what I hear). Want one that isn't? Go with HP, Gateway, or Acer.

Though from reading about what you want, the one laptop that'd most fit your requirements would be the 15" i7 Macbook Pro. It's small enough to be easily portable, has a nice midgrade graphics card with an easy to use low power option, and a battery that last about forever. You'll get 2-3 hours out of it during processor/GPU heavy work, and about 5-7 hours just goofing around making word documents or playing around on the internet. The only downside is it's a helluva lot more expensive than £700.

Ostriig on 23/9/2010 at 23:54

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On a closer look, it does look like HP has a history of making laptops that run on the hot side. I might have to hit Hardforum and see if they have the inside story on these new dv6 models. It's still quite attractive looking, even more so since I recently found out that HP's running a trade-in program for £150 back for your old laptop, I'd have to look into whether the Extensa 7620G qualifies.

But I have had a look at Asus just now, like you guys suggested. Well, right off the bat the Versatile Performance and Superior Mobility lines are out, either the GPU or the CPU or both are too low. The Gaming line I didn't even check spec-wise since it looks like something that fell out of Elton John's underwear drawer. But then, there's the Multimedia Entertainment line's 15''er, the (http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=Z8eiRpmQaN8XIgxW) N53Jn. And I gotta say, I'm absolutely impressed. Great specs all around and feature packed, better than the dv6, and superb style. And the cherry on top, a (http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/review/2010/09/06/Asus-N53JN/p3) quick glance suggests even the 6 cell battery does wonders. The only thing I can bitch about off the specs is the 5400rpm HDD, I think I'd prefer a 7200rpm even with the extra heat, and that review also points to a disappointing screen, pity that. But, of course, there's always a catch, and with this one it's the £1000 price tag. Maaan... :(

Macs, though, aren't my speed. Personal fancies aside, if you run a comparable i5 spec against that Asus above I expect that the screen would be notably better, but at least to me that would definitely not account for the ~£500 price difference, seeing as how it wouldn't have to act as a complete replacement for my dekstop except sporadically.


Of curiosity, how long did you keep the HP for? I really think it's hit or miss in a lot of cases - I've had the Acer for two years now and it hasn't made any other problems since that initial mainboard problem.

Renzatic on 24/9/2010 at 02:57

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Or he could consider it a stopgap solution, and use it until he saves up for a decent SSD later on. Which is what he should be doing if he's serious about getting the best performance and battery life out of his system.