HP Pavilion dv6-6003TX: Divvying up the Sandy Bridge

The Right Mix

The trick to selling as many laptops as possible has evolved over the years. It’s now not enough to sell notebooks to us just based on specs alone. Since the turn of the century, Apple led the charge in turning your workhorse into something more -- a fashion accessory. This discovery alone led to fatter profit margins, propelling them into becoming the most valuable technology company in the world. So what is the world’s biggest technology company Hewlett Packard going to do to compete? Exactly the same, but with variations to suit a wider audience and range of price points.

Decking out it’s premium laptops with designer togs has proven to be a wise choice for HP. Branding collaborations with contemporary pop culture icons like Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga among many others has also proven to be extremely lucrative, keeping HP right up there in consumer’s minds when it comes to laptop desirability. It’s thanks to this competitive mindset that the object of this review, the 15.6-inch  HP Pavilion dv6-6003TX, one of the first second-generation Sandy Bridge machines on our hands, is able to look like what is does -- beautiful.

While it’s not as beautiful in an ENVY-able laser-etched design kind of way, its simple charms stem from the premium materials that HP has opted to use throughout the Pavillion line-up. In accordance to HP’s current design direction, soft curves accentuate every corner, making it very comfortable to hold in your hands. “Designer” finishing touches also come in the form of the “dark umber metal finish” (which actually means dark brown in laymen terms) found on the machine’s lid and palm-rest. This along with the glowing LED lit HP logo politely giving way to the metallic finishing found at the bottom left corner, invokes a sense of luxury rarely found on laptops under S$2000. And for a list price of S$1799, you would get specs like a quad-core Intel Core i7-2630QM, 4GB of RAM as well as a powerful ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6770M GPU. All in all, this gives the HP Pavilion dv6 the right mix of presentation, power and affordability.

Adding on the the list of luxuries that the HP dv6 has, is the “Beats Audio” branded sound experience that the laptop is touting. This “Beats” experience comes in the form of two speakers under the screen as well as two more under the palm-rest. Sound from the speakers are crystal clear, with no muddy tones even at the loudest volume. The caveat here is that to probably preserve the pristine speaker sound, the maximum volume is not as loud as you’d think it’d be -- so planning a party around the speakers (which aren’t supported by a built-in sub-woofer either) wouldn’t be a very good idea.

But the real magic is supposed to happen when you use the dual audio jacks found on the left side of the machine, as explained in an amusing “Beats” marketing video. In a nutshell, the construction of the well- grounded jacks are supposed to have minimal noise-introducing interference, thus leading to a cleaner sound. Such dedication to a full entertainment experience should be lauded -- fluff or not -- because it has become HP’s way of differentiation.

Plastic Not-so-Fantastic

 To complete the audio-visual entertainment experience that HP is so good at these days, is the use of a glossy 15.6 inch wide-screen. The now standard resolution 1366 x 768 pixels resolution screen uses HP’s HD LED Brightview technology, but honestly it looks just like any other brightly lit screen found on other modern-day laptops (since the screens come from the same bunch of manufacturers). Viewing angles for text only are still good from the more extreme positions, but watching movies and anything else, is near impossible. Add to that reflections off the glossy screen and you would just be watching ceiling lights instead.

While there are some who pine for the days of matte screens -- because they don't like to watch ceiling lights on their laptop -- from the looks of it, glossy screens are here to stay. The general consensus is that they just make images appear that much more vibrant and attractive, coupled with higher contrast and brightness, when compared to matte screens. And if you were using these laptops mostly in areas that aren't very bright, you'd be just fine.

The chiclet keyboard that comes with the HP dv6 is generally well-designed, with a generous amount of spacing between keys for the banana-fingers among us, thanks to the machine’s larger screen size. HP also found enough space for the sorely missed number pad, which number crunchers appreciate immensely. The function keys also have been permanently switched with the multimedia keys, a nice new feature that came with the . This is a welcome move from HP, since most consumers hardly use the function keys anyway.

Typing on the keyboard is comfortable with just the right amount of “clicking” and tactile feedback to sooth the workaholic’s soul. However, the one major complaint that may surface will be about the amount of flex the keyboard has. Everything about the construction of the machine exudes class -- except the keyboard housing, made out of cheap flexible plastic. Why HP chose to skimp on one of the most used components of the laptop is completely beyond comprehension.

Still, HP hopes to make up for it by distracting you with the prettiest part of the machine yet. The 3-point multi-touch track-pad performs as expected, and has a on/off switch located at the top left corner. But what really catches the user’s eye is the LED lit accent along the edges of the track-pad, which glows white when turned on, and orange when turned off. Classy.

HP also found the resources to include a fingerprint scanner, located on the right of the touchpad. Once an essential security feature on business notebooks, the fingerprint scanner has found its way downstream onto consumer notebooks. Such an inclusion also says something about the manufacturer's intentions to position this workhorse notebook as a candidate for SME's to consider getting. After all, the only thing stopping the dv6 from being a powerful enterprise contender is just the appropriate software, which is easy enough to fix. Also included is a Blu-ray drive (with LightScribe), another high-end feature that is beginning to make its way into offerings from manufacturers, and you would just find it that much harder to say "no" to the dv6.

The HP dv6 comes preloaded with the standard Windows Home Premium, and several proprietary software -- or some would like to call bloatware. But hang on, some of them can actually be useful to users, like the HP Setup Manager for pain-free migration from an older computer. Also included is the HP Support Assistant, a kind gesture from HP, because when it comes to computers, no matter how well made or maintained, they will face problems. And when the problems do come (not system crippling ones), users need only click on the Support Assistant, and they will be guided thoroughly on tedious chores like system maintenance and troubleshooting.

The HP Cool Sense found in the previously reviewed HP Pavilion dm1, is now a mainstay in HP’s preloaded software line-up, and is also found in the latest HP dv6. Its main purpose is to monitor and adjust the machine’s cooling fans' intensity according to noise and heat levels, for when you need to crank up the power for flash games or 3D games. Though throughout intensive testing (when extra software and utilities were disabled), we wondered how a machine that stays remarkably cool and quiet most of the time would benefit from this piece of software.

Performance Benchmarking

The latest notebook reviewed here that features the second-generation Sandy Bridge processing platform, is the reviewed in May this year. And because the HP dv6 is the first Windows machine that we've had featuring the second-generation core, we compared these two machines to get a feel of how well they fared. Do take note that the Windows based benchmarking process for the MacBook Pro is done via Boot Camp, so test scores for the Mac are not definitive and should only serve as a guide to the performances of both second-gen Sandy Bridge machines. The was one of the better previous generation entertainment notebooks we had come across, and was thrown into the mix to showcase how much improvement the second-generation Sandy Bridge processors provide. In general, All three notebooks compared are using quad-core processors in general and have 4GB of RAM. We ran the HP dv6 testing twice to capture results for both integrated-graphics and discrete graphics usage options.

PCMark Vantage

The HP dv6 scored a commendable PCMark score of 6326, signifying a slight increase of about 10% when compared to the older (but still very relevant all-round entertainment machine) Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 that has a first generation i7 processor. However the scores also indicated that the similar specced MacBook Pro has a massive 20% advantage over the HP dv6, mostly due to the faster CPU that the MacBook Pro sports.

3DMark06

In the 3DMark06 test that we did, the HP dv6 scored slightly better than the MacBook Pro. What's interesting is that despite the slower CPU, the slightly better Radeon HD 6770M GPU in the HP dv6 made for any differences over the MacBook Pro and its Radeon HD 6750M GPU. When compared to the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560, the jump in performance was much more substantial, with a 30.9% increase in terms of scores. As for those who are interested in how the HP dv6 would fare with its integrated graphics, well let’s just say we wouldn’t recommend anything more intensive than the odd Facebook game - lest you don't mind toning the graphics quality of other more intensive games to low.

Far Cry 2

The Far Cry 2 real world game test that we did also served to further remind us just how inadequate the integrated graphics in the HP dv6 would be, for even light 3D-gaming (that’s because it’s meant to save power). It only managed to run the game at 10.3 frames per second (fps) on medium settings, and a paltry 7.49 at very high settings. That said, the discrete graphics option on the laptop fared much better, as expected, managing to trump the Lenovo by a (very) small margin at medium settings.



When the game had been set to "very high" settings however, was the time when HP dv6 started to shine, pulling ahead of the Lenovo at a significantly larger margin. It’s a pity that we were unable to pit the HP dv6 against the MacBook Pro, because gaming tests on the Mac were done using an older game. However, after seeing how the HP dv6 fared against the MacBook Pro in earlier tests, we’re confident that the HP dv6 would definitely hold its own against the much more expensive MacBook Pro.

 Battery Performance 

Before we dive into the battery life performance, there are several points that we’d like to share. The battery test results for the MacBook Pro were done on the Mac OSX, and not through Boot Camp Windows that is likely not as optimized for Apple products. The MacBook Pro's non-interchangeable batteries have also engineered to fit into the machine's profile  (more mass into smaller space = larger capacity), and unlike conventional batteries on laptops, they are not removable. Here's the specs table again but with added information pertinent to battery life and portability index calculation.

Now that we’ve cleared the details, the much more expensive MacBook Pro showed a massive lead over the Windows based machines, lasting just a bit less than its advertised seven hours. The HP dv6 however didn't do too badly as compared to its other Windows based brethren. Running on interated graphics, it managed a good three and a half hours, while playing the test DVD loop flawlessly. That's a good 100 minutes more than the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560. Moreover, when the discrete graphics took over, the notebook also managed to last for two and a half hours before giving up. Very decent for a modern multimedia Windows machine, that's likely just enough juice for users to perhaps enjoy a movie and a half.

What this means for the average consumer, is that battery life off the wall -- something which can make or break a notebook -- is good for a windows notebook of this price tier. The latest Sandy Bridge processors with integrated graphics also allows for the notebooks to turn off the power draining discrete graphics unit while maintaining a reasonable amount of graphical processing power for more mundane tasks like watching DVDs and surfing the net. As seen below, the MacbBook Pro still takes the lead but mostly because of the integrated battery giving it more capacity, plus the tighter integration of its OS and hardware optimization.

Portability Index

The portability index takes notebook figures like the weight, volume and battery life into consideration and tells you just how portable a machine is. Simply put, it tells you if it's worth lugging your laptop around. The higher the number, the more work you're going to get out of it, versus the effort to take it out of your house in the first place. 

Of all the tests performed over the years, the top scorers have traditionally been netbooks (naturally), with scores well over the norm for portable computers. And in this comparison, the MacBook Pro achieved a portability index that is close to the netbook range, at 1.253. Multimedia laptops generally score way less than 0.5, while thin and light notebooks hover around the 1.0 mark.

The HP dv6 managed to achieve some pretty average scores compared to the Lenovo Y560 when the discrete graphics option was considered, but once turned off, the portability scores almost double. Good thing the discrete graphics can be turned off at the click of a mouse, because most of the time if you had to carry your notebook around, you'd not need the power the discrete graphics card churn out.

Are You Gonna Go My Way?

The latest HP Pavilion dv6 is priced at S$1799, which is a little higher than similar spec-ed models from other manufacturers, but for that kind of price, you’d be paying for a (almost) solidly built Windows 7 machine which weighs in at a hefty 2.63kg. It’s not a thin nor light notebook, but if a good mix of performance and affordability in a tight classy package is what you are looking for, then you needn’t look too far away from the HP Pavilion dv6-6003TX.

Sporting the latest Sandy Bridge Core i7-2630QM quad-core 2GHz processor, 4GB RAM, a  discrete Radeon HD 6770M (1 GB GDDR5) graphics unit, and “Beats” branded audio, it is built to provide you with a full multimedia experience out of the box. With all that power in tow plus the large 15.6-inch screen, it will be more than capable of handling all the movies, Flash games and other multimedia content you want to throw at it. And thanks to the new processor, power consumption for this entertainment class machine has dropped significantly compared to machines of similar specs with older generation chips. While it still cannot displace an equivalent Apple MacBook Pro notebook, that's probably a fact for any other notebook as well.

Ultimately, the HP dv6 shows that premium and affordability can go hand-in-hand. To drive the point home, HP even threw in a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-ray drive for good measure, pushing your laptop’s obsolesce date back by a few more years. The HP dv6 also signifies the direction in which you can expect the company (as well as some other large manufacturers) to be going. That is putting all the power and frills that consumers ask for, while keeping the price in check. Hopefully, the future generations of notebooks from HP would continue on from this direction, and we couldn't be any happier about it for our readers.

The only constant reminder that this not-so-little brown fancy machine isn’t top-tier stuff, is the plastic housing on the island keyboard. It's a pity because this unforgivable lapse in build quality wouldn’t be so glaring if HP hadn’t upped the ante on the rest of the machine. However to help consumers forget about that minor detail, is a drop in price of almost S$100 off the retail pricing of S$1799 (found on the HP Singapore website), making this already sweet deal, just that much sweeter.

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