HP Pavilion dv5t Review Discussion

The HP Pavilion dv5t is the replacement for the ever-popular dv6000 series notebooks. It is a full redesign that includes many new features. The dv5t is based on the latest Intel "Montevina" Centrino 2 mobile technology and is available with powerful dedicated graphics.

Read the full content of this Article: HP Pavilion dv5t Review

 

nice review mate.. hp sure makes good looking laptops..

is the 9600m gt better than the 8600m gt?

 

very good review. my WEI score is also 4.8, turn off aero and it goes up to 5.0, its got to do the video drivers.

after a clean install the notebook runs amazing. (although u still cant get my fingerprint reader to work, but that's my problem i bet.)

 

91 Dge C for the 9600 GT while gaming? Wow! That's frikkin' high.

 

he already mentions that it is 10-20% faster

 

Nice review Chaz.
Keep monitoring the temp and tell us if your GPU is defective

 

High quality review. Thanks.

I especially liked the pictures and the real world benchmarks.

 

Very well written, good testing and stuff ^^
nice job!!

 

Excellent review! Thanks!

 

Nice review! If I was in the market for a laptop right now it would most likely be this one.

 

i have a question.. Given that it has a 9600GT, will this have some heat issues with gaming since its the first hp pavilion that has a high end card?

 

Thanks for the review, and very nice pictures Chaz. Abit surprised by the GPU temps though. Although having seen a G1S's 8600GT run at 100C+ today, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised...

 

@chaz
hours before i buy!do you think dv7t run cooler than dv5t ?Cuz of large area for temp. dispertion.

 

That's the first HP since my old ZT3000 that I want to own. The past few models were always straddled with low res screens and lame GPUs.

Sad to see the 9600GT still runs hot. Although, I'd urge anyone with this chip (and other nvidia equipped sterilizers) to invest in a high quality aluminum cooling pad when gaming.

 

good review, but notebook is just so-so... also, I surprised to see someone say that screen is great, I checked out BestBuy model and I thought it did not enough brightness and bad contrast. Well, no wonder why a month later the offered $500 off on it

btw, I have Asus with 9600GS and notebook barely gets warm after 3 hours of Crysis and that's with notebook on a lap (CPU temp is at 52 degrees), so sounds like HP didn't do a good job with cooling in DV5.

 

Seriously. Let us know when that GPU turns into liquid and pours onto your lap.

 

Thanks for the great compliments. They made my day.

It is definitely a high temperature, though as Johnny T noted . . . not unheard of in this day and age. By lifting up the back of the notebook, the GPU temps dropped ten degrees for me.

Only time will tell about whether it will be a defective GPU or not.

I haven't tested the dv7t . . . check the HP forum here though, since there are some owners of that machine posting there.

 

I was close to buying one of these today--I can get your same config for $950 shipped with the coupon--but there are a few big drawbacks for me:

1. Battery life. 2.5 hours with the extended life battery just won't cut it.
2. Glossiness. I think glossy plastic looks cheap plus it's a fingerprint magnet.
3. Too many lights. Seriously, there are way too many LEDs on when the laptop is running. Can you change this in the BIOS?
4. Heat. I like to use laptops on my lap occasionally. Have same problem with my current HP laptop.
5. GDDR2. The 9600M GT would be like 25% faster if it had GDDR3 instead.
6. Touchpad. I had a problem with the 6500t's touchpad being difficult to use with wet fingers (lots of friction) and this one seemed even worse in the store.

Too bad though because otherwise this laptop is a steal for the price, especially with the coupon. I think I'll wait for a deal on a Thinkpad T500 instead. Switchable graphics solves the battery life and heat problems.

 

Great review Chaz!ithank you!a little off topic question-will you review the new gaming laptops(AKA sager 8660,AW m17x,etc.) any time soon?

 

Very nice notebook. However, I was hoping that you would have dual booted with XP. M$ is shoving this new version of ME at us, but most of us will be downgrading it.

 

you need to get over this, nothing wrong with Vista

 

Fantastic review. I'm super pumped for my dv5t. My only con will be the heat for using on a lap but I can't actually think of a time that I'll be doing that during school.

I must be a total laptop noob since I consider 2 hours of battery good. My mom always plugs her laptop in everywhere even though it has 4 hours of battery and I guess her habits have passed onto me.

It is nice to see the size of the power adapter too. I remember seeing the xps power brick and was scared of its size and shape. This laptop is a great deal for anyone who does moderate gaming. I play only TF2 but I play a lot of TF2 so having a decent graphics card is necessary.

 

Well I'm a student and I usually bring my laptop with me to the library to study. Many of the places I like to sit don't have power outlets nearby so I want like 4 hours+ battery life.

 

Like always... great review Chaz.

That notebook definitely looks sleek and most importantly (to me) "bang for the buck"

The GPU temps do make me a bit worried, although lifting the back is a good workaround.

I do not think most people that will buy this notebook would realize the amount of heat that this thing produces (since most do not monitor their temps, as well as use it on not recommended surfaces) ... and in a short time of use... may damage their systems.

In any case, I hope this system serves you well.

Maybe you can get a notebook cooler to guarantee that the temps do not float into the 90's.

 

1. HP should be coming out with a 12-cell for this machine some time, which will probably extend the life to 4 - 5 hours+.

2. It is definitely a fingerprint magnet, though I'd suggest seeing the laptop in person to decide whether it is cheap or not. IMO it's very high-quality.

3. There's no way to turn them off . . .

4. The Targus Chillmat is a good pad if you want to use a laptop on your lap. Honestly I think using any modern notebook in this category is not practical . . . cooling is more important than ever since the new chips run hotter than before.

5. DDR2 = GDDR3 performance at the same clocks, since they have the same bandwidth. If the notebook does have a 9600M-GT with GDDR3, make sure it has higher clocks otherwise you will get performance in line with the DDR2 notebooks.

6. I definitely agree that it is very sticky if you have moist fingers or it is a humid day.
The touchpad on the Alienware Area-51 m15x is slippery like this one . . . however it comes with a sticker that can make it granular (like laminated sandpaper). I haven't found anything like it aftermarket.

Thanks for the compliments. Yes I am thinking about getting a notebook cooler . . . namely the Zalman NC1000. Raising up the back every time I want to game is annoying.

 

Thanks for the review. There's an abundance of shiny bits.

Solid build quality, but how much does it weigh?

It looks like that 160GB Fujitsu HDD has a single platter since the performance is very close to what I measured for the 320GB version.

What is the capacity of the high capacity battery.

John

 

Kinda low scores if the gpu is really better than 8600M GT, don't you think?

Though I'm kinda amazed that your ram scored 5.9 on Vista Experience Rater .. is it because it's working on 800Mhz?

 

Yeeah my 8600m GT scores 5.9

 

I'm not since WEI is a terrible benchmark.

 

Hi, a nice read, nicely done.

I just got something to ask, i'm sure many who get this laptop will be investing in a notebook cooler. Do you know if the vents at the bottom of the notebook suck air in and blow it out at the back or does it blow air out at the bottom?

Also regarding that do most notebooks suck or blow air through the bottom? Thanks!

 

This is a good review? I dont understand why people are saying this, this is probably one of the most unprofessional reviews that I've ever read. the NBR team should HEAVILY edit this because I honestly felt like I was in the schoolyard hearing my friend brag about his new laptop to me, as I questioned him about possible negative features.

There is a very uneven tone about this entire review, I dont think there should be so many "I"s and "my"s. Also, every positive sounds over excited, and any possible negative is quickly defended. When I'm reading a review I want facts about it, maybe comparison to other notebooks but not in this style.

Heres some examples:
"The chassis is relatively thin, at 1.37 - 1.65 inches thick."
That is not thin, that is average. If you want thin, you can look at my 3 year old Vaio FS, which is less than an inch thin at its best, and 1.5" at the worst.

"I think the design combo is attractive and classy."
I think?

"The WXGA screen (1280 x 800 resolution) is what most 15.4-inch notebooks in stores have, and the most common resolution on 15.4-inch notebooks. The WSXGA+ display (1680 x 1050 resolution) is what my notebook has."
Bragging, much?

"The built-in webcam is of average quality, but then again not much can be expected from a built-in webcam."
All these laptop webcams are built in anyway

"I chose the standard wireless since I have used many notebooks before with Intel wireless cards, and have never noticed any difference versus non-Intel cards. "
Is defending your choice of cards necessary?

"I measured two hours and thirty minutes of battery life. The battery time is not impressive but not exactly disappointing, given that my dv5t has a powerful 512MB video card."
Schoolyard.

--
Sorry to sound so angry but I was just wow'd since I expect professional sounding reviews

 

That's why you don't see a bibliography/works cited page
I do kind of agree with you that there should be more professionalism in constructing these reviews, but it does give the gist of what to expect when purchasing a notebook.

 

@ roland_j: calm down please!In my opinion(and i think most of people here will agree with me) Chaz writes great reviews and only few people can match him.I enjoy his every review!and your comets are really imature-

Thats why there is a "relative" word in that sentence.take a look at sager 8660 or AW m15x and you will understand

think again!

sorry?what do you mean by bragging?

well,what do you mean by that?

no,i think he was explaining how to econom some money on such things-if there is no difference,why to pay more?

Pointless.

----------

and this review sounded very professional to me

 

Unprofessional or not, I don't really care. What's important is I learned something reading this review. So in my book, it is a good review.

 

Very informative review but I felt like some parts needed elaboration.

For instance, you briefly stated that the GPU ran as hot as 91 degrees. Isn't that a little too hot? It would be helpful to give comparisons to other laptops and how such a high temperature can affect overall gaming and laptop life.

I know of many other eagerly waiting laptop enthusiasts like myself that want to know about every possible problem, its explanation and how it could be remedied.

 

review is allright and very detailed, besides any review is a subjective review... on the other hand I personally think this laptop is just a budget smelling piece of plastic... if this is someone's first laptop they will be happy with it, but if you get to try different brands or shopped around you would never ever pick this one...

I don't get one thing what's with the glosiness in most new laptops (and some other items), for one thing glossy displays and now glossy plastics... are they trying to to make budget look bling-bling with as much glosiness as they can get?

 

Very informative and well written review. thanks a lot charles!

Thats a really hot temperature for the GPU though. I think HP should have ramped up the fans a bit or provided a better cooling system.

 

Yea I agree that the review had an unprofessional tone. Too many exaggerating adjectives and personal pronouns. But as someone else said, it was definitely informative.

 

You could probably create a fan profile in rivatuner to make the fans spin more than default if they GPU gets above a certain temp. But I agree, the initial design/cooling from HP should be better.

 

Hey what's the weight of this dv5t? anybody knows? (if possible in kg pls )

 

Although the review is informative and well written, parts read like an advertisement lacking details (and numbers) on disadvantageous aspects. With the exception of 91°C which IMHO is ridiculously hot.

 

...and forgot to say that ultimately performance matters and not the style, look, bla bla, u want an extreme looking and very slick design + a top performance ) for a 1200$ price? wait a couple more years (5-10) and maybe u'll get it.

 

You are simply trying to defend him, somewhat in a fanboy fashion.

Ok so..
Looking at the thickness -
the Alienware site says 1.3" in height for the m15x, at its thinnest I'm guessing, but either way that is the same or less than the dv5t, and this is a computer with an 8800M GTX in it. The Sager is 1.45-1.95", which is THICK. However it does come with a 9800M GT, which is significantly more heat consuming and probably muhc larger anyway. Besides, are these really comparable? These are laptops that are in a whole upper league. Especially since the Sager has virtually no design aesthetics (in my opinion) so they likely didnt try to thin it down at all.

Why dont you try to compare more similar laptops?
Sony FW - 1.3-1.46" on a 16.4 inch laptop
Dell Studio 15 - 1.0-1.3"
M1530 - 0.93-1.38"
Gateway M153 - 1.1-1.5"

As you can see, the HP is definitely not "relatively" thin. Its actually average, or even rather thick. YOU trying to defend him saying that you think its thin just shows you are just making yourself look unintelligent if you think so.

I meant hes bragging because if you can understand how hes writing it, he makes it seem like he's one of your buddies bragging about his new laptop. "Yea most people get a WXGA, but me, I got a WSXGA+"

About the webcam, its simply about word choice. The way he worded it makes it just seem like although hes disappointed, he's trying to tell everyone else thats because its built in. But every laptop's cam is built in, its better to just compare the quality of built in laptops webcams.

It's really sad that I have to explain all of this in detail.

And lastly about the battery life, pointless? No. The key in what he said was "powerful" that makes it sound very amateur. A better way to word it wouldve been "The battery life is lower than expected, likely due to the inclusion of the 512mb dedicated 9600M GT" rather than "The battery is not impressive, but I have a powerful card so thats why"

 

Guys,this is his notebook,not a review notebook,which hp send him ,thats why the review has

he was explaining why he got that spec,

 

I wrote this review in a different style than my normal reviews, since this is my personal notebook and not a review unit. This is a mainstream notebook, and I reviewed it in a way that an ordinary shopper would understand.
At any rate, I am glad many of you enjoyed it. Thanks for the constructive and critical feedback as well.

They are low, but as mentioned . . . WEI is a terrible benchmark. The only reason I can think of why the scores are low is because of drivers.

Thanks for the compliment.

The single vent at the back left corner sucks air from the bottom and blows it out the back corner (left and back sides).
The most effective notebook coolers blow air at the bottom of the notebook. A cooler like that will work nicely with the dv5t since it has many perforations on the bottom.

Compared to other laptops like the ASUS G1S and Dell XPS M1530, the GPU is not unusual. Hot, but not unusual. To date, no one has reported any overheating issues with this notebook.

It is not really possible to tell what the problems are going to be with this model . . . it is brand new.

Most people expect that I'd ban you for that comment, but I won't since you haven't broken any of the forum rules.

All I have to say is, if you think the review was bad, then you go write one and I'll critique it.

I've handled a lot of notebooks, and I have to say this impressed me a lot. This notebook should be easy to see in person at a local electronics store . . . so I recommend you go see it for yourself before making any judgments. The glossy look is very 'bling bling', yes, and it's not for everyone. Remember that HP does a lot of retail selling, and this notebook has to look attractive on display next to others.

Appearance is all personal preference of course.

 

Well other than the style it's written in, the actual analysis and examination of the notebook is spot on

And Chaz, well I'm not saying I was trying to incite any anger (and cause you to ban me) but the point of my post was to point out areas where I saw problems. I'm 100% sure if you had written the review one week after today, it would have sounded much different because you would have become adjusted to your new notebook.

I would write a review but I have nothing to review anyways.

Also, although I understand your style of writing, I believe when people read a review they want to hear it from someone who sounds like they really command respect and if you write in a highly personal manner it makes it less credible.

 

watch you words,and try to be nice.i m not fighting or insulting you.Chaz writes review for this website for about 3 years and all of his review were good.if you kow how to write review's better,then go on-I will definitely read that!

 

^^^ Yes I edited my post to stop the insulting

 

I understand, and no I'm not upset/angry. Your initial response was condescending and mocking, and if this was your review and someone tore you apart like that it wouldn't be fun.

I described the notebook as best I could, and I put a lot of hours into this article so . . . what you see is what you get.

If you want another review of this machine, Laptop Magazine has one:
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv5t-entertainment-notebook-pc.aspx
And CNET as well:
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv5-1002nr/4505-3121_7-33088547.html?tag=prod.txt.1

 

Nice review Chaz. Been looking forward to this one. Would have been nice if HP had the option for an 8-cell battery a la HP business--gets you an extra hour at least. But oh well. I wonder if the temps would drop if someone slapped some AS5 in there