HP Pavilion dv6z Review Discussion

by Jerry Jackson

The newest 16-inch notebook from HP promises to deliver great performance at a low price and might be very popular in 2009. The HP Pavilion dv6z features the latest AMD dual-core processors, your choice of integrated or discrete graphics, and all the ports and features you need. At a starting price of just $599.99 it might just be the most competitive desktop replacement notebook on the market. Keep reading to find out if this notebook is as impressive as it sounds.

Read the full content of this Article: HP Pavilion dv6z Review

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Nice review. Yeah, a higher vertical resolution would have been great, it's was the deal breaker for me when I got my dv5t in Dec (Dell didn't have higher res on their studio lines then I believe). Is there a choice for a 12-cell battery option?

 

Indeed, there is a 12-cell battery option with roughly doubles the battery life, but it also adds roughly another 0.8 inch of thickness to the notebook. Also, because of the way that the HP dv6 uses an off-center battery, the 12-cell battery makes the rear of the notebook slightly off balance ... making the notebook hobble slightly if you apply typing pressure to the upper keys.

 

Excellent review..however I am still not feeling these 16:9 displays with that horrible resolution.
I do prefer the Espresso Black imprint finish of this notebook to my dv5z's silver imprint finish, if there is one thing I didn't like about my dv5z when I got it was the silver imprint.
However I don't like the bubble pattern on the lid, HP should have stuck with the solid imprint finish which the previous dv5 line carried.

 

The Athlon X2 QL-64 is not only outdated in its architecture, it takes more power and produces more heat then the Intel core 2. For notebooks, heat is such a critical issue along with power consumption that I really don't see saving a few bucks on the processor is a good idea unless your really on a tight budget. Jerry mentions extreme heat exhaust on bottom and that with the fact this is a 35W TDP kills the deal. As much as I wish AMD had something to throw against intel.. they don't. AMD is only good for desktops IMO.

 

I agree that the screen resolution of 1366x768 lacks vertical space but is this going to be marked as a con and wailed at in every up and coming review?

 

Fair argument ... but Intel still has a ton of 35W mobile Core 2 Duo processors on the market that ship in many of the cheaper Intel notebooks. Simply having "Intel Inside" doesn't mean it always has superior TDP compared to AMD processors.

 

Only if there isn't a higher resolution option for the same notebook. You'll notice we didn't complain about the screen resolution in the 16-inch Dell Studio XPS 16 because Dell offers a 1920x1080 screen option.

 

The Turion Ultra processors compete pretty decently. Yes they do consume more power and produce more heat, but they are not too much slower and they are cheaper.

 

As far as performance goes, I agree there is not enough difference for most users to even notice the difference. But anything that can help in the heat department is worth paying for (IMO). Heat truly is enemy number one for laptops. I'm not willing to save money in exchange for more heat since that heat can definitely reduce the lifespan on a laptop.. at which point the savings is not so great. I understand that the price point is what matters for many and is probably why AMD has not been destroyed by Intel.

 

HP makes another laptop that gets hot....I wish they'd stop that. It isn't fair to people who don't know about reviews, and then just buy them because it looks good. Then it's too hot, and it's miserable using it. Exactly what happened to me. The notebook got so hot, that the GPU and CPU would start underclocking after only 45 minutes - 1 hour of normal usage just on youtube. Even Vista would slow down. It was pathetic.

 

Note taken.

Another sad story in these parts was with the "notorious" AMD-based hot-running dv2000 and dv6000 series, which in the hands of oblivious owners often met their maker in the form of dust-clogged heat exhausts / heatsinks. To much of the owners' frustration, this usually happened after the 1 year warranty had expired.
Regular 15,4" dv5-s, sold in retail, either Intel or AMD, are still still subject to critique when it comes to operating temperatures, even when new and dust-free.

 

HP and heat! Unfortunately, those seem to go together on almost every HP laptop with discrete graphics... and even some with integrated. I think the major problem is that HP is cramming the laptops with such a large port selection that there is no room for a heat exhaust except on the bottom of the laptop, which provides inadequete air flow.

 

I wish you chose the Turion Ultra instead of the Athlon. The Athlon is the Pentium Dual core equivalent for budget notebooks. I'm not saying Pentium Dual cores are bad they are in fact very capable.

 

Keyboard wise, I was playing around with one at bestbuy today, the dv6z/HDX6's keyboards seems to be alittle quieter and at the same time it's tactile feedback seems to be alittle softer in comparison to the dv7 and the dv5.

 

That's why the 12 cell should come standard. I noticed my fan came on less often once I put a 12 cell in there.. Then I put it into power saver and I barely hear the fan.. but that is with the intel/nvidia combo. But with power saver on and the 12 cell lifting up the rear.. it does not get very hot.. It never got over 55C even on performance mode.

As for the exhaust, I think the intake is on the bottom.... it is with mine.. the vent is actually in the rear.. But no matter, things heat up quicker with the intakes close to the surface.. and if they get blocked with blankets etc.. it'll get really hot really fast.

At any rate.. I keep my laptop running pretty cool these days.. I'm almost certain I have the bogus soder on the nvidia 8400m.

oh yes I agree, HP puts tons of ports.. I think my dv6500t had the most with hdmi, vga and svideo. Don't think there are too many with the svideo anymore.. I like it.

 

Doesn't help that HPs have really ****** ventilation. It's almost as if HP makes them last only so long, so you have to buy another or you end up forking over alot of money just for the warranty.

 

Good review, Jerry.

The dv6 series is a reasonable budget machine but it's dead in the water next to the Dell Studio 15 in my book; the dv6 only offers a pathetic 1366x768 resolution. 768 pixels of vertical space? The mid-1990s have come and gone - manufacturers need to realize this. I have a theory that productivity is directly associated with available screen resolution - the more screen resolution available, the more you can get done (naturally it has its limits).

I agree that HP needs beefier cooling systems; my HP is ridiculous. It must be on a notebook cooler while playing games or at the very least have the back raised up. Without a cooler my 9600M GT gets to nearly 95*C. On a cooler it gets into the high 80*C range. The surface and bottom of the whole left side get dangerously hot - it literally almost burns to touch. Not very safe if you ask me. It does not appear HP has changed their cooling system design with the dv6.

Jerry - what is the mAh rating of the battery in your dv6? I have the "high capacity" one in my dv5t and it gets around the same life as you report.

 

I'll be sure to double check when I get into the office tomorrow. I'm actually on the road today meeting with some notebook manufacturers. That said, I "think" the one used in the battery tests had a 4200mAh rating.

 

The DV5 was almost too good to be true.. Such a powerful system in such a small package. Manufacturers need to develop better heat management... especially on gaming systems. I think Toshiba did a better job on their A355 with controlling heat.. a much better job. As for the mAh, my 12 cell is 8800 and is a must for any HP machine that can support the 12 cell. With the intake on the bottom, its the only way to go.

 

Seems like a perfectly suitable laptop for many folks.

To me, anything over 5-6lb and 16inch is a desktop replacement (esp. in 2009 when you can get a <3lb netbook for $200), so things like heat and battery life are not as important; heat you can manage with coolers or by putting it on a desk. The battery is really just an emergency backup UPS.

I would agree that 720p on a 16 inch LCD is sad.. thats the same res as my 11.1 inch ultraportable.

 

I heard it was bad saudering on the video output units or the GPUs. I had a v6000z series, didn't help that I overclocked it but it died only a 1 year and 6 months into it's life, and the wireless adapter died about 3 months previous to that.

 

Sorry for double post. Asus, at least in their larger, more gaming centric machines use very well laid out heat pipes+slot cooler designs. I remember about a week ago, hanging out with some friends, one of them noticed the slot cooler on my Asus just pumping out lots of heat, unlike his HP dv7 series 17 in which has measly little vent on the bottom. I'll tell you what, it works excellently, since all the heat is moving out that cooler, and not out through the plastic that might be resting on my lap. Even the Asus N81p (C2D T9550, ATi Radeon 4650) has a slot type cooler it seems towards the screen hinge on the right side (looking at newegg pictures). The Asus F81 series (C2Ds, ATi Radeon 4570) has what looks to be a slot system on the very back. Even if they are not slot coolers of the same caliber as an Asus G50 like mine, they large dedicated vents made to dissipate heat efficiently. I know HP is trying to make their computers all attractive and thin, but they could make a small slot type cooler that's reasonably thin and still maintain the asthetics of the laptop. I don't think it would be that difficult, especially in larger laptops such as the dv6z/t series. It's bigger than my Asus G50 in footprint!

 

Yeah, it wouldn't be. Like the other poster said, I owned one of those dv2000 AMD based laptops, it would underclock really badly after only 2 months of ownership. Everytime it was used for more then 30 minutes of youtubing, it'd underclock. It was also really hard to open up the case and clean the heatsink or vents, since you literally had to take apart the whole laptop just to get to it, unlike my Studio 15. I had to put a fan between my legs and then put the laptop on top of the fan that was between my legs....Let's just say it wasn't comfortable. Even when I used it on a desk, it would underclock. It was just terrible. They make great LOOKING laptops, but I'd never buy HP again. The worst thing is, when I tried to tell this to warranty, they said it was normal for laptops to get hot... SCREW THEM LOL.

 

Heat is one of the main reasons I went with the Thinkpad T500. It packs a quite-powerful Radeon 3650 DDR3 (faster, indeed, than the dv5t's 9600GT), and yet remains very cool because it has 2 side heat vents (in the left corner or the laptop) and numerous bottom heat vents.

I wish more manufacturers left off perhaps just two nonessential ports and added more room to accomodate a good cooling system.

 

A few months ago I decided to save a little money and opted for a dv4z instead of a dv4t. The Turion Ultra processor is fast--I notice no difference between it and the Core 2 Duo computers I use reguarly--but I would not buy it again.

Big problems: noise and heat. The fan kicks in at high speeds even at the power saver settings and the air coming out of the vents is extremely hot. The notebook itself doesn't get too hot but that air does. Plus I don't know if the dv6 has the same problem but the vents on the dv4 are idiotically placed--they're always blocked unless the laptop is on a hard surface, so using it on my lap or on my bed doesn't work well.

The upside is that the Radeon 3200 integrated graphics on the AMD laptops are way better than Intel integrated. I can play games like Company of Heroes, Red Alert 3, Civilization IV, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 2 at 1280x800 with medium/low settings. Very happy with that.

 

Couldnt tell who's Hd was in the unit...?

The resolution I think hits a sore spot only for people who game on the laptop..the standard res is fine for pretty much everything....

Too bad about the heat. Maybe if it had intergrated graphics it would be cooler.....dont really know, havent played with this unit.

 

As long as vendors keep cheaping out this way it should be.

Gamers typically like lower res btw. People who want to be able to see web pages and do word processing as well as view video want a higher res which they certainly should have on a screen this size.

You keep making me want a T500...

If you want a really cheap and entirely ordinary laptop that excels at nothing. Many people do as long as its cheap.

 

That's why i warn everybody who's buying a laptop with an amd processor. These get just too hot.

 

But you could always upgrade the display to something like WSXGA or something right.