HP Pavilion dv5t Review Discussion

Looks really great! A big step up from previous designs.

 

EDIT: Regarding the thickness of the dv5t. You cannot compare a Core 2 Duo notebook with a powerful GPU to a Pentium M notebook. The power usage is vastly different. Have a look at the MacBookPro for example. Its 1'' thick right? C2D CPU and 8600GT? Now think about hot hot that runs. You must also consider the thickness of the existing 15.4'' notebooks with similar configurations. A notebook with a sufficient cooling system will usually result in an increase in size, which is usually an increase in thickness.[/QUOTE]

The solution to the heat and battery problem is having switchable graphics. Some Vaios and Thinkpads have this and I wish it was a standard feature and hopefully it will be more common next time around.

 

That's just your opinion. You don't have to be so irritated about it.

 

Hey its a HP, what do you expect... HP was always one step ahead of looks and imprint designs.

HP's weakness has always been in the graphics department. (eg. 20" HDX dragon only has a 8800GTS). Pavilions are entertainment notebooks not gaming/performance systems like the XPS.

 

Kudos to HP for making a notebook that can actually game and is not an HDX!!

Nice review!! Bah wish I had the money to replace my good ol' Vostro

 

I wouldn't question the 4.8 graphics score in the WEI for the 9600GT. That sounds about right. The 9600GT is certainly not a top of the line mobile graphics chip. I would characterize it as "upper mid range".

 

The Infinity screen is more durable than a standard glossy screen for sure. It is a harder surface.
I agree that the battery not being part of the support feet is a nice feature.

I forgot that your opinion was the only one that's right.
If you're going to leave a comment, at least make it helpful and constructive; yours are bitter and condescending. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the review.

Brightness was minimum and the wireless/Bluetooth was on, though I wasn't surfing the 'net.
The battery life between the dv5z and the dv5t is not comparable. Our dv5z had integrated graphics and the dv5t has a powerful dedicated card.
The dv5t with the integrated X4500 graphics and high-capacity 6-cell consistently gets over three hours at a minimum.

I wanted to give those who can't see the notebook in person the best possible image and feel. This is a mainstream notebook and since design is a key selling point, it needed a good deal of attention.
Thanks for the feedback - it's appreciated.

The weight of this machine as tested is 6 lbs, 6.6oz (measured on a digital scale).

Drivers used were 177.72 from LaptopVideo2Go.com. What resolution did you run your benchmark at?

 

I used the same one as you, i.e. the default ones for 3dmark06 1280x1024, and also 177.79 from laptopvideo2go.com.
P.S. sorry, forgot to mention that is in XP, not really sure how big of a difference is between Vista and XP.

 

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Great review. (I will buy this, probably)

 

Thanks for the review... I had been waiting for this one.

I've been shopping for a new laptop to replace my IBM Thinkpad X20 (gasp!). I generally buy my computers such that they last at least 5 years. The X20 is still going, but is obviously slow by today's standards.

One of the things that is bugging me about most of the new laptops is the placement of the ALT key. It seems to me that in order to accomodate the Windows key, laptops have moved the ALT key from below the Z/X pair and instead places it either directly under the X or, worse, under the X and C.

I'm not sure my fingers would be able to get used to that, especially since I also regularly use a desktop that has the ALT key in the correct position. Yes, I am a touch typist and use CTRL and ALT keyboard shortcuts quite often.

So far, I've found that Lenovo and Gateway are two laptop makers that have managed to retain the original ALT key placement, but the HPs aren't as bad as others with it placed directly under the X. Any others I should look at?

Also, for those of you who do touch type and have one of these new laptops, can you get used to the different placement between your desktop and laptop keyboards?

 

What? Is there seriously fanboyism surrounding laptops?

 

I'm not a fanboy at all, as a matter of fact, I hated HP notebooks up until about a week ago. I like the M86TU more for certain aspects, but this HP dv5t just makes sense overall (price, performance, weight).

 

I thought two things when I read this review.

1) Wow. This computer is great!

2) Wow. My year-old Inspiron 1520 is on top of it (when overclocked a bit).

 

XP is probably making the difference, although I can't prove that since the dv5t doesn't work on XP.

I use a Das Keyboard II mechanical keyboard on my desktop and I have no problems switching to the dv5t's keyboard.

Is there any way you could go to Best Buy or Circuit City and try out a dv5t?

 

My experience with the HP pav DV 6xxx machines is not good at all.

All thogether there have been 4 faults resulting in mainboard replacement on my machine alone. 2 GPU, 1 Power/sound and 1 network. In my family there are 4 of these machines all together and every single one of them have been at the workshop at least 2 times each. The quality of consumer laptops is at best mediocre in general, but the HP DV 6... is below mediocre. In the future there will be only Thinkpad or MacBook pro/air in our households. Cost more but ROI is far better.

 

Interesting. Your desktop has the same layout (it is pretty standard) as my Microsoft Wireless Desktop Elite... Maybe something clicks in the old brain when you switch between keyboards.

I will probably do just that, but it is hard to get a real world feel in the store because you are not using the apps you use in real life...

As a for example, everyday, I use Microsoft Money to manage my finances, and to sign in, I type my password, then Alt+W, Alt+S to sign in. My fingers are so used to that sequence, even slight changes in the keyboard layout tends to trip me up. Same goes for sequences like Alt+F4 to close apps, or Alt+F S to save, or Alt+F A for Save As...

I bought an HP tx2500z from Costco and used it for about a month. The goofy keyboard layout was one of many things (grainy screen, screen too small -- much smaller than my 12" Thinkpad, not-as-useful as a tablet as I would have thought, sluggish performance, a power slider that required the use of my fingernails to slide, poor choice for location of power connection, poor choice for USB connection) that convinced me to return it. Fortunately, Costco has an amazing return policy that lets you return any electronics within 90 days, no questions asked, and no bogus "restocking" fee. If Costco had the dv5, I'd probably buy it and try it out for a while...

 

The DV5z may get longer battery life too if doing a comparable test. In the DV5z review 2:22 was achieved with standard 6 cell (not high capacity), with 50% brightness (not minumum) and on blananced power mode (not power saver). It also weighs a half pound less with graphics compareable to an 8400M GS, and it costs $200 or 25% less. Unless you have comparable tests maybe you shouldnt say that they are not comparable.

 

Hey ARom, where did u even find it in Canada? The only thing they have on Canadian web site is dv5-1000 series, with nv9200GS as the best option :S

I'm sure calling them at giving them all the "usd vs cdn" crap would lower the price on individual basis by another hundred or two, so it should be similar to US pricing... Not sure about HP though, but always works with Dell reps

 

Now... this is bragging...

lol

 

Tommy Boy,

When I first read Chaz responds, I thought the same thing (the DV5z can not compare to the DV5t in terms of battery life) but in re-reading, he might just of meant that you can not do a comparison between the two in terms of battery life because they are configured significantly different.

The question still remains, what is the difference in battery life between the two laptops when they only have their native Integrated Graphics card. Based on reading Chaz review and looking at the puts and takes (high capacity battery vs dedicated graphics card), maybe (and it is just a maybe) the difference is not a great as you would expect between an Intel and AMD processor.

Doing a quick check on the HP website, it has the high capacity 6 cell on the DV5t at "up to 3 hours, 30 minutes" and the DV5z is "up to 3 hours, 15 minutes". To me, this implies that there might be only a 15 minute difference between the two, which to me is not signficant.

Can someone who has a DV5t with an X4500 (with or without a high capacity 6 cell battery) let us know what battery life that you are getting?

I will go over to the DV5z Puma thread and ask the same question.

 

http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=P1PAD&Category_Code=

Could these be the touchpad stickers that were mentioned many pages back?

 

Man that is the most beautiful laptop in existence to date. I can't get over its beautiful design. Amazing photos and review!

 

HP has raised the bar once again,I purchased one about a week ago,and am very satisfied with the build quality,look,and execution of this series of product.

 

I am very excited about this product! Glad to see some reviews on here, be it personal or whatever. I have been watching this laptop on hp's website, and on here for sometime, and may wait another month to make my final decision to order. his notebook has everything I want, but the heat, and battery life according to you, are sadly dissapointing. hopefully in the next month some options will be available to counter this.
I dont game, other then the occasional solitare here and there. I am a heavy internet user, constant research, and word processing, and note taking. I multitask quite a bit, for work and school, and think this would be the perfect machine for me!

Thank you for your review! I look forward to reading many more for the dv5

 

Chaz, Great Review 5 Stars.
I've this laptop and it's performance is awesome.
I want to ask two things.
1. How to get backup of OS Windows Vista? please tell me any solution.
2. Heat problem is only when playing games ?
and yes tell me when you bought this laptop ?

 

nevermind, HP doesn't ship 'custom' notebooks to Canada...

what are they thinking?

 

I guess they will appear in BB vs FS soon at 1400-1500 a piece with this video card and probably a crappy CPU

 

Anyone from the UK buying this?

this looks to be the equivalent for UK shores. It's unfortunate that they couldn't even spare a 1440x900 resolution screen for the UK market (1280x800 only, argh!), and HP laptops here aren't customizable.

Still, Blu-Ray and 9600GT makes very enticing (otherwise I'm looking at £1000 Latitude E or an Asus M50V/V1S laptop), I just wanted to know if any UK'ers have it, and could they post some photos of the keyboard layout.

Why do nearly all consumer laptops have a tiny right shift key? I'm used to moving my pinky to the far end of RShift on a desktop keyboard in order to type a question mark, it seems only business users care about this

 

What a joke ... Same thing here in Ontario, all pre-determinded models with low resolutions and 9200m's...

I liked this notebook, but I guess its back to Clevo(Sager) for me. I didn't think HP was that dumb.

 

I don't think those are stickers. The ones Alienware includes are transparent and very thin. That looks too thick.

Thank you.
1. You mean get the DVD disc? You would have to borrow someone's or buy a disc if you want to do a clean install. See the clean install guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228
It lists all the ways to get a Vista DVD disc.

2. Yes, it only gets hot while playing games. Note that the heat is not a problem, since the notebook does not overheat. I listed it as a con since I think the dv5t gets warmer than a notebook should get.

Sadly, I think it's more of a business decision than anything else. WXGA is by far the most popular display . . .

 

In Singapore the configurations are also fixed, and we normally purchase it at the stores rather than online.

Even with a fixed configuration the dv5-1036tx offered in Singapore offers a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with a 1200x800, which I find to be acceptable as my other Compaq laptop was also using the same resolution.

Here are the specifications: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/sg/en/ho/WF06a/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-3744188.html

I have seen it on display in stores here, and I'm just loss for words when I saw it. It's the best HP laptop I have ever seen.

I was already determined to buy this but I found out that it was actually DDR2 graphics rather than GDDR3 (which is stated in the specs sheet from HP). I'm still considering and there's a high chance I'm gonna buy it.

I'm unsure about what the AG in "15.4" WXGA High-Definition AG Display" means. Anyone knows?

Oh and by the way the dv5 is selling like hotcakes here. Heard that the store went out of stock.

 

Hi Chaz

can you weigh the Dv5t without its battery and see whether it will work just on AC without the battery?

Thanks

 

Yes mate, I am buying this. I spotted it accidentally at CCL (for £735) and googled it and found the review here.

TC, thanks for the informative review, all my questions about build quality and design have been answered from your review, and the specs speak for themself.

As for the 1200x800 screen for the UK model, I'm not bothered. The PC I'm using now is ancient (Athlon XP at 1.2GHz with Radeon 9700, 512MB ram and v. unstable - reboots randomly etc) and the DV5-1011EA seems like the perfect desktop replacement.

I still can't believe there's blue-ray, 9600M GT, 4 Gigs ram, 250 Gig HD, good quality screen (even though 1200x800), and P7350 (lower model but still fast) and decent build quality PLUS it looks slick, for £730. Compared to other laptops, this is a bargain!!

I'd been contemplating getting another PC but was concerned about desk space, so this laptop is just perfect.

I'm getting this baby next week.

 

azy, yes go for it. It's awesome machine in this price.

 

Not sure if this was mentioned...because I am not reading through 14 pages of comments, but I noticed something while reading the review. In the 3DMark06 test you say how it scores higher then an 8600M GT...but I think you should make it clear that you are talking about an 8600M GT DDR2. As I have the 8600M GT GDDR3 in my XPS M1530 and easily score 4200 in 3DMark06 at 1280x1024 resolution, where as your 9600M GT scores 3900. So the 9600M GT is somewhere in between a 8600M GT DDR2 and 8600M GT GDDR3.

 

Could the OP tell me if the High Capacity 6cell is any bigger than their normal 6cell in physical size? In your pictures it doesn't look like it. It says on their website it has 16% more capacity. I figured the high capacity would stick out the back like all the others so I didn't opt for one when I just ordered my DV5T. I am wondering if I should call back and tell them to tack that on since its only $29 extra. Hopefully they can do that if its indeed worth it.

 

5.13 lbs w/o the battery. Yes, it works on AC without the battery.

It's the same size.

 

Do you think the High Capacity battery makes much difference? I called back and tried to change it but they wouldn't allow me too since the order has already been processed (I ordered it like 4hrs ago)

 

See if you can find out the specifications of the standard 6-cell. The "high capacity" battery's capacity really isn't that high at 55Wh, 10.8v. It's only high capacity in HP's terms.

 

this is 9600gt ddr2 right?

ddr3 version seems to get around 5712 points and few more framerates in crysis
http://www.notebookjournal.com/tests/612/6

 

I didnt mind that the author included personal comments and such. Reviews can be either personal or strictly professional, as long as they pass on the information that you seek...

But I also got the impression that the review was biased

it seemed like the reviewer seemed to point out good things too much and tried to make bad things dont seem as bad

 

Why didn't they put ddr3 in this notebook anyway? Is dd3 even hotter?

 

HP no longer gives you the free notebook remote??
it seems that you can purchase the remote for 19.99 now. Can you buy the remote at a store anywhere? like a bestbuy or is it basically a hp and ebay only thing?

BTW mine is custom configured

I am really thinking about getting one and just trying to figure out the best configuartion to get what I want for the praice that I want

Also.. Someone said that they had trouble with the fingerprint reader.
Does anyone else have this problem??

Thanks for the review it was very helpful and probably swayed me over to return my current laptop to think about this one

 

The remote still comes with the notebook. I think they're just giving you the option to order another.

 

NVM! yeah it does lol i am stupid >.<

HA on a side note.
It seems that the recommendation is to purchase a laptop cooler?
And the Targus one seems to be the cooler of choice if I am correct?

The targus one is sold by hp for 29.99 and I was wondering if I should purchase it from HP or from elsewhere.

Also, how does the targus affect battery life?

 

Chaz, I want to know one thing that a cooler is necessary for this machine. are you using cooler with this machine ? I'm curious about this issue. I'm using Dv5t without cooler. Normally play MOHA on it. I"m planning to play crysis.i need your recommendation. thanks

 

am i the only one here that prefers the older dv6000/6500/6700 case design? Something about the new design... just doesn't do it for me.

Nice review as always though Chaz.

 

I had a Targus cooler, I definitely don't recommend it. It's made from cheap plastic, and mine broke apart within a month or two of use. Now I use a Bytecc cooler. It's solid aluminum, one piece, nothing to break.

 

Notebook cooler buyer's guide something for you to have a look at.

 

Great review Chaz, helped seal the deal for me, that and my mother's employee discount . Got a question though. Has anyone tried installing XP on one of these yet? I depise Vista and want to upgrade back to XP, but am worried about driver issues and the like, any insight on this?