HP Updates Pavilion dv7t, dv6t with Core i3/i5

HP Updates Pavilion dv7t, dv6t with Core i3/i5

HP has refreshed its popular Pavilion dv6t and dv7t notebooks with Core i3 and i5 processors plus new graphics options. The notebooks are cosmetically unchanged.
The dv6t and dv7t have been refreshed with the following:

• Intel Core i3 and i5 processors (i3-330M/350M, i5-430M/520M)
• 512MB Nvidia GeForce G105M base graphics card
• Optional 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M graphics card ($100)

The Core i3 and i5 are both dual-core processors; the Core i7 quad-core processors are available in the dv6t and dv7t Quad Editions. The Quad Editions also received a slight upgrade and have the 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M graphics card as the sole option.

dv6t Product Page
dv7t Product Page

 

What exactly is a GT 320M? Nvidia's website lists a 48 shader 325M and a 16 shader 310M -- there is nothing in between. That said, I wouldn't touch these regardless because of the display resolutions. The dv6t is particularly bad: 1366x768 on a 15.6" screen? In 2010? That should really be the province of laptops under $500.

 

Wait, isnt the GT320 below the 4650HD?

 

For the matter, so was the GT230M.

 

But the Dv6 was using ATI....right?

 

It was.

I'm thinking the reason for companies switching back to nVidia would be simple - its cheaper for HP.

Its no wonder that dv6 15,6" is 1366x768 - cheapness for the manufacturer and indifference/ignorance on the part of the average Joe.

 

NVIDIA actually being cheaper than ATI? Well, for a lesser GPU, I see why.

A friend of mine got the Dv6 with ATI 4650HD, besides that he hates laptops, but needed one, came to me for advise. It was the most bang for the buck, being 650-700 EUR that one, and the cheapest. He doesnt want to accept it, but it has quite some power that ATI, even rivals my 4830HD under some conditions, granted I use the WUXGA for any game and he has WXGA.

The point is that what a shame HP is doing this "upgrade" to a lesser GPU...and lets face it, as much as I am an ATI person, NVIDIA still has a lot of followers and fans, even believing that NVIDIA is better just because.

 

nvidia has better linux support :O

 

It's a shame to see so many devs going with nVIDIA just because it's cheaper. Come on now, regardless of the new 3xx tag, it's still "old" DX10 technology compared to ATI's DX11 HD5xxx series.

 

Agreed. 1366 x 768 on a 15.6" these days is plain insulting. I would have expected it back in 2008, but not now. Kind of like the 1680 x 945 on the Toshiba P505. which is an 18.4".

 

Damn double posts lately...

 

Thing is, people like us, tech people, know about this stuff, but we are the minority, and HP knows this, that average Joe has no idea what DX is, or what it does, even what a GPU is they get what HP suggests, this is WXGA, a low-end GPU sold as high, and more RAM just because...unfair, yes, but the truth most of the cases.

 

That's a strange resolution.

DX 11 isn't exactly prevalent either. Sure, it's a plus, but not a necessity.
How exactly does HP sell this GPU as a high-end GPU? If you look at the product page, there's absolutely nothing about gaming, just entertainment. They do call it powerful Nvidia graphics, and yea, it is, compared to the integrated GPUs on most consumer machines. Is it a downgrade from the GT230M? Possibly, but that was a decent midrange gaming card, most of HP's larger consumer machines have had decent midrange GPUs. And with the lower resolution, the comparative weakness of the card compared to more powerful machines is reduced. On the other hand, it also mentions the ATI GPU on the dv7t page. :laugh: Probably wasn't updated. At any rate, the previous generation weren't advertised as high end gaming systems either.

Resolution is very much a personal preference. Personally, I think WXGA is fine with up to 14" laptops, anything higher should get a higher resolution. My first laptop was a 15.4" 1680 x 1050, and it was quite fine, I had expected the 1440 x 900 17" machine to have been disappointing, but I found that acceptable as well. A number of buyers may have never seen a resolution above WXGA on a 15.4" and below, since most 15.4" sold in store were sold with WXGA previously, and for them, that's perfectly acceptable.

 

Dang, if it had even a 48 core GPU I'd be interested, but they're still selling 32 core ones

That's not bad for today's games, but you can do better in the price range. Everything else about the systems looks nice. If they just had like a 360 GTS or something....