HP Pavilion dv6 15.6in quad-core notebook
Llano laptop, anyone?
Review
Choosing an HP notebook isn’t an easy task, not because they are hard to find - far from it - it’s just the bewildering choice of notebooks you can find in a range. Take the recently refreshed Pavilion dv6-6b series, for example. There are currently a staggering 16 different options in this family alone.
Quad-core CPU and dual GPU: HP's dv6 AMD A6 version
There are choices to be made between a metal or plastic finish too, as the specs differ between the two. All of which is a bit of a long winded explanation of why you'll see the full product name in this review; just calling it a dv6 or dv6-6b is just too vague.
The precise model I’m looking at here is the dv6-6b06sa powered by an AMD Quad-Core A6-3410MX (1.6GHz) which together with 4GB of DDR3 gives the dv6-6b06sa a fairly good balance of power and battery life. If you need to upgrade the memory then the motherboard supports up to 8GB.
DVD-writer, but no Blu-ray
Part of AMD's Llano range – the company's alternative to Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i CPUs – the A6-3410MX is a Quad core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, which thanks to AMD’s TurboCore technology can be dynamically overclocked to 2.3GHz. Pitched at the mid-range mainstream notebook it comes face to face with Intel’s Dual cored i5-2430M (2.3GHz, 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost). HP offer both makes of CPU in the dv6-6b lineup and an i5 2430M powered dv6 with roughly the same spec (smaller hard drive) as the dv6-6b06sa is around twenty quid cheaper.
If you were after the flavour-of-the-month Beats Audio, only the metal finished HP dv6 units feature this kit. The plastic finish review model relies on standard Altec Lansing speakers instead and they don’t perform too badly either. At least the audio doesn’t sound like a bee in a can – although they are a little light in the bass region, which is par for the course for most laptops.
The plastic finish is stylish and defines this dv6 as the model minus the Beats Audio
As an entertainment notebook, ideally, there should be enough storage space for all your downloaded or streamed media, and HP haven’t slacked in this department as the dv6-6b06sa comes with a 1TB (5400rpm) drive.
Next page: On reflection
COMMENTS
Oh yeah!
So excited about yet another 15" machine with 1366x768.
At least I'm out of the "looking for a laptop" loop, as I snatched a Dell Precision M4400 from ebay for £300. 2.66 Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, Quadro FX770M, 1920x1200 screen. Threw in a 120GB SSD, and it's all the laptop I could possibly want.
As Piro said. El Reg should just stop reviewing laptops with 15 inch screens and 1366x768 res. I can't imagine the majority of Reg readers would consider it regardless of the other specs....
What I was going to say
768 pixels is not enough. It's close to half of the correct number.
Listen, moronic manufacturers, If I wanted a toy I'd buy a Vtech
Pavilion is a Consumer Series
Agreed with Kevin I am not sure why Reg readers would care about a series of laptops really only intended to be punted out cheap by PC World. HP's Business and Pro Book ranges are good enough but the Pavilion range is just cheap tat, regardless of the screen resolution.
And we were so close...
...only three more posts to go and we'd have made it through the entire comments section without someone saying "lappy". For the sake of typing one extra letter, isn't it worth it not to sound like an idiot?
