HP Pavilion dv6t Quad vs. Dell XPS 15: Multimedia Powerhouses Discussion

The most popular laptops in the US in terms of sales are 15.6-inch desktop replacements. These notebooks aren't the most portable PCs on the market but you get a lot of bang for your bucks. We selected two of the most popular models from HP and Dell and put them head-to-head!

Read the full content of this Article: HP Pavilion dv6t Quad vs. Dell XPS 15: Multimedia Powerhouses

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Dell seems to be lagging more and more behind HP in the mainstream market.

 

Lagging behind HP? Have you ever seen a HP DVx series? It's definitely an entry level product as far as the perceived quality.

At the price range, users might be well advised to look at a Macbook Pro 15" or a business quality workstation, or perhaps even a gaming notebook. It depends on how the individual want to use higher end hardware.

I think we all might argue that the XPS 15 is a midrange entertainment notebook, while the DV6 is lower end consumer unit. Either way, it might make sense for consumers to looks at a HP Elitebook 8560w versus a Dell Precision M4600, instead of this odd couple.

Of course for this money, you could also get an Asus G74, depending on your needs. You could also get an early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" for the same money. For $1,500, you have a lot of choices.

 

I meant the mainstream consumer market, as in the dv6 directly vs. the XPS 15. Though HP's offerings in the business segment are better than Dell's as well.

I have owned a dv6 and in terms of quality it is at least on-par with with the XPS 15 that a friend in one of my classes owns. His screen looked slightly better than mine, though I could use mine outside, and I would have liked a backlit keyboard but that was the only thing the XPS 15 had over my dv6. Everything else was even as far as I was concerned or in my dv6's favor.

I agree at this price range you are better served with a gaming notebook or a workstation but HP regularly gives 30%/$450 off coupons with the dv6 so you can get the exact specs in the article for ~$1000. In fact, there is a coupon to do so right now. You can get one with an i5 for ~$800.

 

MBP 15? It's $1800 with a 1440x900 screen; that's 50% more than a dv6 with a 1080p screen and a stronger GPU. Different price point. Same is true of Dell Precisions and HP Elitebooks.

I think a third laptop that could have been added here is the Vaio F. Higher starting price point, but once you start talking i7 and 1080p, it's actually a lower price than the XPS 15. With an i7, a 540m, 8 gb of ram, and a 750 gb HDD, it's $1,259, $220 cheaper than the XPS 15. It's got weaker speakers but a better keyboard and more pleasant fan behavior; otherwise the two machines are pretty equivalent. I cross-shopped both the dv6 and xps 15, but ultimately went with the Vaio F. All three offer good value in different ways, and the Vaio F was the best mix for me.

 

And once stock runs out at Micro Center, it's $1800 minimum.

 

Arguing HP vs. Dell is a bit like Coke vs. Pepsi. They're both sweet until you get a stomach ache.

Elitebooks are sold in a very different way than Latitudes and Precisions. HP favors resellers as opposed to direct sales.

There's always some sort of HP or Dell promotion. At this point, I don't think that very many people take the retail pricing of a Windows PC very seriously.

 

In terms of perceived quality, I'd say the dv6t one-ups the XPS 15 this time around. HP's done well in crafting a quality-feeling and affordable multimedia performer with the dv6t, while Dell's design just feels unnecessarily bulky and "last-generation." Judging from what my less-technically-inclined friends' opinions, quite a few people also hold that view.

 

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if when the early 2011 15" Macbooks run out, we'll see a similar promotion on current models, or at least that's what we see after the 2012 refresh.

Apple seems to be discounting through Microcenter to lower inventories. It's a smart move, since the B&M only deal doesn't compete with online retailers, and Microcenter has a great reputation. I'd drive a few hundred miles to buy from Microcenter but I wouldn't cross the street to go to a Best Buy.

 

I would say it is more like like Coke vs. Sam's Cola, at this point.

Not really. HP's business store may not look the best but it is not like you can't very easily order from them.

HP much more often than Dell, though, and usually better.

 

The discount game is really just HP and Dell, not all PC manufacturers. Sony doesn't do much in terms of sales, for example, but their non-sale pricing is much more reasonable (as I noted, a Vaio F undercuts a similarly-priced XPS 15 by hundreds of dollars, when comparing list price to list price).

 

I don't think that's entirely true for HP and Dell's business segments, but for the consumer market, HP has historically had a far more prominent B&M presence than Dell.

Only recently has Dell actually made some moves to stock more of its computers in-store, and even so, only a few models are normally seen. Meanwhile, at Fry's Electronics, one can easily find HP G-series laptops, higher-end dv laptops, and the top-end Envy laptops, in addition to an assortment of HP netbooks and subnotebooks.

Probably one large reason for HP's continued dominance over Dell.

 

that's comparison occur to me 8 months ago,
initially, I preferred dell xps because it have better speakers and screen
but, since I couldn't find one with FHD I had to go with hp dv6, which so far is a decent laptop.

 

If they had put a backlit keyboard and 8 cell battery on the DV6 I would have bought one. If they put a 7690M/6770M in the XPS 15 I wouldve bought that. If both had each, (DV6 had a backlit keyboard and the XPS 15 had a 6770M), Id probably still go for the XPS 15 because of in home accidental repair and the nicer speaker system

 

On topic, here is how I look at these 2. I only have experience with DV6 but I read the "review".

It all come down to the used definition of "multimedia". Some people don't game and opt for max "true multimedia" pleasure, some people would want gaming option for on their computer.

Dv6- Definitely more powerful GPU but "multimedia" is lacking compare to XPS.
-no backlit keyboard (you seriously want to find the volume button[fn+f9/f10] in the dark when you watching a movie?)
-"beats" audio - nothing spectacular imo ,cant commend on XPS as I never have experience with one.
-HDMI + VGA . VGA is meh, displayport won hand down.(and by alot in the long run)
nVida vs ATI, CUDA definitely help on the "multimedia" spectrum. Yes, it is weaker but enough for "multimedia". Pretty much equal if gaming is not concerned.

Dv6 does show a much better cost/performance ratio, and they have frequent aggressive coupon .

 

XPS speakers are generally known as the best out there, at least in this price category. I'd definitely call the XPS the better "multimedia" machine, though the dv6 kicks its butt at gaming. The Vaio F isn't quite as good at multimedia as the XPS, and isn't quite as good at gaming as the dv6, but can be mentioned in the same sentence as each, and I think has the lead of the three in terms of refinement.

 

It is SONY and the look is awesome. The only thing I don't like about SONY is their price tag.

 

Didn't I mention earlier in the thread that the Vaio F is $220 less than a similarly-equipped XPS 15? There's absolutely no "Vaio premium" with the F23's pricing. None. It's highly competitive on price with competing Dell and HP models.

 

Whats the point of coupons exactly? I mean more so in the fact that HP and Dell are constantly pushing out coupons to lower it to be about the same price all the time, instead of just lowering the price permanently? If that makes sense.

 

I just checked and WOW. I mean for many years, people have to pay a premium to get SONY.

 

Yeah, it's a frequent assumption, but simply no longer correct. The SA (13" portable performance), SE (15" portable performance), and F2 (16" desktop replacement) are all totally in line with their HP/Dell/etc competitors price-wise. Even the flagship Z2, which doesn't really have any direct competition price-wise, is pretty reasonable on that front. It's 50% more than a Macbook Air 13, but when you consider the extra pixels, the more-powerful CPU, and the power media dock (an external GPU and optical drive), and the lower weight (carbon fiber instead of aluminum construction), even the Z2's price is reasonable and doesn't appear to reflect any sort of "Sony tax."

 

Yes, but it's also an odd in-between sized form factor. I don't know of anyone other than Sony using a 16.4" screen.

Sony also damaged the Vaio F line by sticking with CCFL backlighting way too long. Sony was invested in CCFL technology in a big way, probably even lead in CCFL towards the end, until it became obsolete and a liability in terms of marketing.

Sony products no longer command an across-the-board pricing premium in most market segments. When it comes to the Vaio line, I think that a lot people assume that Sony is demanding a premium, since the most memorable products like the now defunct Vaio P netbook and Vaio Z ultraportable were very, very expensive. But Sony does have an unremarkable, low end notebook offering at just about every Walmart, and it can be argued that the Vaio S offers unique value because of the unparalleled features and packaging.

Not the topic of discussion. The world's most expensive Windows ultraportable doesn't have much to do with the XPS 15 or DV6, does it?

 

For frak's sake, it was a one-post tangent to respond to something another person said (like you have any reason to complain about tangents). The Vaio F, which is how we got to Vaio pricing, sure has a lot to do with the dv6 and the XPS 15. It's a direct competitor.

 

Not a direct competitor, as it does have the really odd 16.4 inch form factor.

 

It's not identically-specced, but it's still a midsize multimedia-oriented desktop replacement. I've cross-shopped the Vaio F and the XPS 15 and based on the WNBSIB forum, a lot of people have. Even though they're not identical machines, they're competing for the same buyers, which in my mind makes them "direct competitors."

 

Sony F, XPS15, and DV6t QE are all multimedia dtr laptops, they are direct competitors with each other in the multimedia dtr laptop market.

btw, I wouldn't call either the Z or the P an overpriced products. The Z2 is definitely a very expensive product, but for what if offers, though there isn't really a laptop whose price we can compare, the Z2's price isn't really all that unreasonable. It's an extremely thin and light laptop that fits a a standard voltage CPU and an excellent 1080p screen and has unique features like the PMD. The P is very over priced if you compare it to netbooks, but it isn't a netbook, its a UMPC and a reasonably priced one at that.

 

I have recently been in the market for a Laptop in this category. I was looking a the 2 units discussed here, along with the Sony F series, and also the "boutique" Sager, Clevo units.

With a coupon, I ended up getting the HP DV6TQE with the 2670QM CPU, 8gb RAM, 1920x1080 Anti-Glare LED, 750gb/7200 RPM HD, BluRay Player, with the bottom line price after taxes, etc. of $954.

I would have liked the backlit keyboard of a comparably equipped Dell XPS 15, but didn't like the lack of a numeric keypad, and about a $165 difference in price tag, even after an additional $100 discount offered by the sales rep.

I also looked at the Sony F, but with similar specs, was looking at $350 more. Not exactly in the same price category, and definitely a large, odd-sized display.

The Sager, Clevo, Mythlogic units were also appealing, but again had at least a $200 to $300 higher price. Looking for the best "bang for the buck" I went with the HP.

The HP is due to be delivered in a few days. Comes with a 21-day no-risk return, but am hoping it will prove satisfactory and meet my needs. If not, I guess I'll have to revisit the choices, but wanted to throw this in the discussion, for what it's worth.

 

I'm not sure the XPS 15 is comparable to the dv6t.

The XPS 15 trades portable form factor, graphics card and keyboard number pad for its speaker system. It then leverages its main strengths (high-quality glare display, speakers) to define itself as a non-gamer desktop replacement and therefore understate its weaknesses.

The dv6t is more of a general use computer. It has a relatively portable form factor and the anti-glare display makes it useable in any environment. The number pad is essential for productivity users and the GPU is enough to satisfy most gamers. To be honest, I'd say it's the anti-XPS 15.

The dv6t's greatest strength is its versatility and its low price. I'm not sure anything on the market can rival it for those points. It's greatest failing is that it gets outperformed in specific roles by more defined notebooks at slightly higher price points.

 

Well, HP has a completely different marketing strategy than Dell, with the DV6 brand spanning multiple categories. Depending on the hardware configuration, a DV-branded HP might be competing against an Inspirion or an XPS something or other.