HP dv2610us User Review

by Dustin Sklavos

At this point, I figure I change hardware as often as I change my underwear. Such was the case when my ASUS F9Dc-A1, which I just reviewed here, turned out to be a dud for me. It's by no means a bad laptop - quite the opposite in fact - but the battery life was wrist-slashingly frustrating, the 12" screen proved too small for me (scaling up fonts in Windows Vista makes the whole experience stunningly Speak-and-Spell), and honestly I'm just interested in having a nicer looking notebook.

Since I had a friend interested in buying the Asus off of me for most of what I paid for it, I found myself in the position to rectify my mistake.

Realizing I go through these things so fast, I figured I should probably curb my spending as much as humanly possible and just go for a "functional" notebook. Living on campus means no great need for a gaming notebook since my obscene desktop is always just a few minutes away. What I really need is something enjoyable to use that can last for more than five seconds on the battery. Can it take notes? Can it run Final Draft? Excellent, hired.

But it needed to be portable, too. When I had my ASUS A8Jm, I'd been profoundly hateful of the 14.1" screen and its (lack of) quality. So the market didn't seem terribly interested in finding me a new, cheapo laptop to do the job and do it right. Two models I expressed interest in were the Gateway T-1616 for $649 at Best Buy, and the Toshiba Satellite U305 for $899 at Best Buy and Fry's. I was particularly excited about the Gateway, but reviews online noted poor battery life - in the neighborhood of 2.5 hours tops. I'm a fan of Gateway after having the awesome 7510GX; I like their designs and they're always well-priced, and the T-1616 was frankly pretty sexy. But...the battery life kills, and without being able to confirm the existence of an extended battery available for purchase online, I had to sadly rule it out.

The Toshiba U305, at 13.3", is beautiful on the inside, but the outside shell is hideous, with that massive TOSHIBA logo on the lid. Elegant lines are woefully lacking on the unit, and the gorgeous keyboard has flex you can really feel when you type on it. Plus, online reports of battery life were all over the map.

With nothing compelling but a need to go to Fry's to get a new wireless adaptor for my desktop, I found "the one." I'm a big big fan of the styling of HP's current notebooks, and the dv2610us on display seemed to fit the bill. Oh, and what's this? All this can be mine for $699? And there's a $50 rebate on top of that? Surely you have none in stock! But wait...you say you have twenty-four, and that because you're the best retail store for computer nerds in the world, you keep massive stocks of most of your stuff?

SIGN ME UP.

The price was right, the specs were right, and with 2GB of replacement notebook RAM in hand for just $50, the dv2610us came home.

SPECIFICATIONS

The HP dv2610us is specced out as follows:

• CPU: AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58 (1.9GHz dual core, 65nm process, 31W TDP)
• RAM: 2GB (2x1GB stick) Patriot DDR2-667 (upgraded from 2x512MB generic HP DDR2-667)
• Hard Disk: 160GB 5400rpm Hitachi Travelstar
• Optical Drive: DVD-RAM w/ Lightscribe
• Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7150M Integrated Graphics
• Wireless: Broadcom 802.11b/g and HP Bluetooth
• Battery: 6-cell Li-ion
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Accessories: Built-in webcam and media reader, modem, ethernet, etc.
• Includes: Microfiber cleaning cloth, a pair of earbuds, and a media center remote that fits snugly into the ExpressCard slot.

Ordinarily not terribly exciting, but at $699 ($649 after rebate), come on. That's a lot of power for a low price, although the 1GB of RAM it ships with is grossly underpowered for Windows Vista. But given the RAM upgrade brings it to a still respectable $749 ... let's be realistic, it's the pricetag that's winning this war.

BUILD AND DESIGN

Glamour shot. (view large image)

I love HP's notebook designs. The lines are sleek, the imprint finish is beautiful, and even if it's a fingerprint magnet, it's still attractive.

Honestly, most of you guys have seen this shell before. HPs are incredibly popular and you've probably already formulated your own opinions on it. For those less familiar, I'll just say that ports are well arranged, vents are well placed, and the whole notebook feels very sturdy.

For a 14.1" notebook, the dv2610us is definitely on the portlier side, and is close to being as heavy as many 15.4" notebooks. Still, it feels pretty portable.

As a sidenote for the nerdier folks: the shell appears to be very similar to HP's 15.4" notebooks, and the keyboard and batteries are actually identical. I have a good friend who fried her dv6258se when she spilled soup on it, but the keyboard and 12-cell battery are perfectly intact.

When I get the chance, I'll be swapping in that shiny silver keyboard, which is an absolute dream to type on, thus doing my first mod of a notebook!

SCREEN

Surprisingly attractive. (view large image)

The 1280x800 resolution 14.1" screen on the dv2610us is surprisingly attractive. Viewing angles are less than impressive, but laptop viewing angles usually stink. This is nothing new. But the glossy finish renders colors crisp and bright.

One nice thing to point out is how sturdy the hinges are. Most people are used to a little bit of give or wobble on the hinges, but these babies are solid. You'll find that with most laptops you can flick or tweak the screen half and it'll wobble a couple times, kind of like the shocks in your car. HP's lids don't really do that. In fact, I can barely even tweak it to start the nonexistent wobble.

That said, it's still very easy to open and well-balanced.

At the top of the screen is the webcam, with two built-in microphones flanking it.

SPEAKERS

Abnormally good speakers. (view large image)

Laptop speakers are generally good subjects of ridicule. Tinny, bass-less, and really devoid of anything resembling desirable qualities.

While I'm not sure the Altec Lansing logo on the speakers of this unit are much more than a label - and my experiences with Altec Lansing desktop speakers have left a lot to be desired - I will say that these are some of the best speakers I've heard in a notebook this size. Sound is crisp and clear, and while you don't get the bass you want (that I doubt you'll really get in a notebook anyhow), they're plenty loud. This does seem to come with the territory with HP's mainstream notebooks, as I remember my old dv6258se having equally good sound quality.

PROCESSOR AND PERFORMANCE

Let's not set ourselves up for disappointment here: there's a reason most of the cheap notebooks use Turions. I'm platform agnostic, but AMD's Turion 64 X2s seem to always run hotter, less efficient, and play hell on battery life.

That said, the one in this notebook is based on newer process technology, drawing less power and thus producing less heat. At 1.9GHz for a dual core, it's also plenty for the average user and the occasional gamer. I'm going to dodge the typical benchmarks that get listed here and just say "it's more than fast enough." At this speed, it's probably competitive with a 1.5GHz or 1.6GHz Core Duo.

As for the RAM, if you don't upgrade to at least 2GB, you deserve all the heartache you experience, especially with RAM as cheap as it is right now. So the less said here the better.

Now ... the GeForce 7150M. I cannot possibly be the only person here interested in the performance of modern integrated graphics parts, but unfortunately this part is really the achilles heel of the notebook. Having the user interface of Windows operating smoothly is vital to the experience of using the notebook, and the 7150M just does not seem to cut it for Aero Glass.

I've reformatted the notebook. I've tried multiple different drivers from laptopvideo2go (to wit: they either never installed or they blue-screened the computer on boot) and had to stick with HP's for the 7150M. The sad fact is that Aero Glass runs horribly on the 7150M. Moving windows and scrolling within them is just plain choppy, and despite all my best efforts I cannot get them to render well. While most of you probably won't care, I'm too used to the silky smooth performance of Vista on my desktop. The pathetic performance of Aero Glass on the GeForce 7150M is damning and more than that, just plain inexcusable. I don't know if I should blame nVidia or Microsoft, but it's pathetic.

And unfortunately, this gets into the real meat of the problem with this notebook and why I wouldn't recommend it for most consumers: unless you reformat the computer - which most consumers don't even know how to do - you're in for a world of pain. Simply put, the notebook as it ships is ungodly, dog slow. Even with the RAM upgrade, it's horribly slow and unresponsive.

I know all the bloatware that comes with a notebook is what knocks the price down, but in the process it can render a unit borderline unusable, and that seems to be the case here. If you're a bit more of a do-it-yourselfer like me, or you know someone like that, you can probably comfortably buy the notebook, reformat it, and unlock its true performance. But if you don't know what you're doing, this thing's gonna be a dead end for you.

And no, the "tune up" the guy in the store tries to sell you is worthless. You need a straight up clean install of Windows Vista with none of the bloatware that comes with the notebook.

Oh, and the hard drive runs well. Seriously, what did you expect? It's a 5400rpm notebook hard drive, these things are standard these days. It's just fine for your needs. It stores your files and it lets you access them.

KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD

The two big stars of HP's lineup. (view large image)

The keyboard and touchpad of the dv2610us are, much like the rest of HP's lineup, fantastic. The keyboard is a joy to use, and the touchpad is very smooth and comfortable. It's a little smallish, but given the size of the notebook, that's livable.

The keyboard on my unit does seem to have a little trouble with being too clicky toward the bottom right, feeling like it's catching on something a little, but other than that it's quite nice to use.

Now what I've always loved about HP's notebooks is the inclusion of a touchpad disable button just above the touchpad itself. This little toggle is really a great inclusion, and is much better than a Function and F-key combo toggle. The one on my notebook, however, is stuck in a little bit, and I have to push it with my fingernail. I checked this against the ones in stores and they were all a bit recessed like mine, though not quite as difficult.

Your mileage may vary and it's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things anyhow. The fact that the button exists at all is a great touch on HP's part.

INPUT AND OUTPUT PORTS

(view large image)
Left side: S-Video, VGA, HP Expansion Port 3 connector, Ethernet, USB port that might as well just say "flash drive goes here," a very welcome FireWire port, ExpressCard slot used to house media remote, and a 5-in-1 flash memory reader supporting SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick PRO, and xD card.

The left side of the notebook is pretty much a "who's who" of useful ports ... and HP's expansion port connector, which I'm sure will be handy for the accessorizing user or the user who will be using this as their only computer.

(view large image)
Front: Wireless switch, IR port, two headphone jacks and a mic jack.

The two headphone jacks have always been a nice touch, and the wireless switch uses an appealing blue LED. Note that there's no latch for the lid; I've come to really appreciate latchless notebooks and it's something that works well here.

(view large image)
Right side: DVD-RAM w/ Lightscribe, 2x USB, modem, and power jack.

The optical drive is a bit loose and be warned, gripping the notebook from the bottom here may result in pressing in on it. The power jack has a nice blue glow around it when the power cable is plugged in.

The rear just includes a small vent.

There's pretty much something for everyone here, and the wide range of connectivity was one of the things that really appealed to me about this unit.

WIRELESS

Wireless connectivity is handled by the standard Broadcom 802.11b/g wireless adaptor. It does its job, but it's not terribly remarkable. The notebook also includes built-in Bluetooth, which feels like it's living a toggle-free lifestyle since the only way to disable it is abstracted through a bunch of different settings in HP's Wireless Manager, which doesn't even have a start menu entry and pretty much only pops up when it feels like it.

BATTERY AND HEAT

With a custom power profile in Windows Vista, wireless enabled, bluetooth disabled, and brightness at about 20 percent, this thing'll hit three hours pretty easily. That was part of the reason I went with an HP: battery life was pretty much guaranteed, and if it wound up being bad, their 12-cell batteries are available in retail.

As for heat, the notebook gets a little toasty, but it's never too bad and it's not worse than any of the other notebooks I've used. Fan noise is pretty minimal.

OPERATING SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE

This appears to be where the notebook is made to fail, and as I mentioned before, the bloatware choking the machine out of the box is staggering and murders performance. It's embarassing.

And then there's Windows Vista itself. While I've really warmed up to it over the past month or so, an experience like the one I've had with the dv2610us is the kind of thing that sends you right back to January 2007, when Microsoft dropped a miserably performing operating system into our laps and then expected us to all upgrade because it was pretty. The fact is, in my opinion, this notebook is just ill-equipped to handle Vista. While the processor is decent enough, the 1GB of RAM it ships with coupled with the GeForce 7150M isn't quite up to the task. While most of you aren't just bored out of your minds and trying to drag your windows around the screen as rapidly as humanly possible, the minor lag in Vista on this computer will gnaw at you.

As for the rest of the notebook, the wireless manager - when it feels like making its presence known - and a couple of other HP programs give it a nice feel.

I want to point out that making the recovery media on this notebook was a long and drawn out nightmare. My first burn of the first disc left me with a coaster, though mercifully I was able to burn a new one. But the sheer amount of time this thing takes - about two to three hours just to get to the point where it'll consider putting together the recovery discs themselves - is pretty baffling.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT

While I've never personally had to deal with HP's support, I've heard horror stories. Mercifully, software bloat notwithstanding, the notebook seems well-made enough that this shouldn't be an issue for you.

HP's website is also pretty complete driver-wise, at least if you're planning to run Vista. XP and 2000 users are up the creek without a paddle. This is especially disappointing given that about the only way you're going to get smooth performance out of the operating system is a downgrade to XP.

CONCLUSION

I desperately want to like the HP dv2610us. The specs are pretty nice for the price, I love the design, and it's got the battery life I want. Maybe I'll be able to get past how sluggish Vista feels on the GeForce 7150M.

It's hard to say. There's a lot to like here, but my laptop buying history is checkered with mistakes. Maybe I'm just the type that'll never be satisfied. And while I joke that pretty much everything at Fry's is "for rent" given their outstanding return policy, I really don't want to return this notebook. It smacks of dishonesty to me to buy a notebook, review it, then return it, but at the same time how else are you - the potential consumer - gonna know this thing has problems unless someone says so?

As a geek, it often completely slips my mind that the average user doesn't just reformat when they get a new machine, that they actually use it pretty much as it came out of the box. I think that's a mistake a lot of us here make when we write our reviews. And the fact is, out of the box, this laptop is a dog. If you have the knowledge or know someone who does, that's not a problem, but if you don't...

Bottom line: if you can live with a slightly sluggish Aero Glass, and you know someone who can give you a fresh install of Windows, the dv2610us is nice for the price and will serve you very well.

PROS

• Great price.
• New 65nm AMD processor improves performance and battery life while reducing heat.
• Solid battery life.
• Aesthetically pleasing and well built.
• Rife with connectivity options.

CONS

• Slow without a clean Windows install.
• GeForce 7150M barely up to the task of handling Aero Glass.
• Only ships with 1GB of RAM.

 

how much was the ram upgrade and was it tough to install?

 

RAM prices vary, but you should be able to buy a 2GB (1GB x 2) RAM upgrade for $30-$60 if you look online.

All you have to do is take a screw driver and remove a couple of screws from the RAM module cover, remove the cover, remove the old RAM, insert the new RAM, and screw the cover back on.

 

I find that strange considering that the 7150M is the replacement for the Go6150 and from my personal experience runs Aero as well as any integarted GPU. There was a post in the HP section of the forum from another 7150M user who noticed that the GPU never woke up from the low power state (100MHz) which caused this issue. Manually setting the clock to the default(425MHz) seemed to cure the sluggish Aero for him atleast but at the cost of decreased battery life.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=196730

 

Nice review. Only thing missing is a picture of the lid.

 

Thanks for the review. I am surprised that the Nvidia 7150 integrated graphics are that poor at running Windows Aero. I would think it is a driver issue, as even the Intel GMA 950 seems to run Aero quite smoothly.

 

nyc deal you got there!
well i personally own a Dv5000 and dnt find the touch pad on the new ones to my taste
but thats strictly a personal preference
the keyboards and buildquality wise Hps excel as compared ot dells in my opinion
thanks for the great review
cheers

 

ROCKET SCIENCE

 

I really think almost all the bloat, at least in terms of performance problems, is coming from Vista. Maybe the SP1 Release Candidate is worth a shot. Isn't SP1 supposed to address some performance issues and make Vista really snappy with 512MB of RAM? Or maybe I'm thinking of SP3 for XP.

Anyway, nice review, as always. And Fry's really is great.

 

Good review.

However, I can't see how anyone can find the glossy touchpads used on Pavilions even usable, let alone likable. They're awful. The glossy surface provides far too much friction to be of any use whatsoever.

I will say, however, that the keyboards on the pavilions have improved quite a bit since the original dv2000/6000/9000 design. There's not nearly as much fles as there used to be.

 

Interesting review. Looks like that 65 nm shrink of the Turion X2 really helped with its battery life.

Can't help to notice though, people either really like their Asus notebooks or hate them to the point of reselling it within the first 6 months.

 

That's odd, I've never heard of Aero Glass being "slow." Usually the graphics that would run it too slowly just aren't allowed to.

 

"I think that's a mistake a lot of us here make when we write our reviews. "

This line, and the review overall, is very refreshing. Thanks for the honest answers and avoiding the technical details.

I like, and agree, with some of your implied assumptions for budget users and buyers. Some of which I didn't even realize until I read this review...
a) Hard drive speed is irrelevant. It stores and access your files. Well said.
b) User interface is key. So a sluggish Windows Vista experience is a very key point as opposed to Photoshop benchmarks or Xvid encypting times
c) Not all users format their harddrives and re-install Windows. Even myself, an experienced computer user, am always hesitant to reinstall Windows if I can avoid it. Each version of Windows install brings with it new nuances and activation mechanisms that can be hassles.

Again, great review and a refreshing take on review style.

 

This post is definitely right; it looks like 100MHz is just too slow for the 7150M in Aero.

The problems I run into here are many, though:

1. My drivers/hardware seems to actually be straight up clock locked at 100MHz on the desktop. I've tried RivaTuner, nTune, and ATITool, and NOTHING can force the clock above 100MHz.

2. The computer REFUSES to use any driver other than the exact one from HP's site for the dv2610us, so if the GPU is clock-locked by the driver, I'm pretty much SOL.

3. At this point, I think about the only way I can change the clocks is to actually HACK THE VIDEO BIOS. While it's not something I've done before, I'm pretty confident I could do it correctly, however...

4. Why should I have to hack the video BIOS of my new laptop just to get it to work right? What the hell? And furthermore...

5. If I know what I'm doing and I'm ripping my hair out, what the heck is the average user going to do?

 

Yes, it looks like the 65nm shrink has solved most of the power and heat problems, but the Turion is still dog slow compared with the Core 2 Duos. I'd definitely pay the extra $100 or $150 for an Intel based model. And it looks like the GMA X3100 is doing better than the Go7150 as far as basic performance goes - I've never run into a problem with Aero on the X3100 machines I've used, they seem to do just as well as my W7S. Even the GMA950 machines seem to do just fine...

As for the love/hate thing with Asus notebooks, I've seen that too, but surprisingly, I don't come under either category....Its a pretty good notebook - small, light, fast, but has some flaws, like the rather short battery life, as noted by Pulp, and a not so good touchpad. Its a pretty decent notebook though, I don't have any problems with it.

Good review!

 

I could not get any non-HP drivers to work with my 7150M either until I tried
WhiteTigerX7's custom INF along with the 167.45 drivers over on Laptopvideo2go. You might try it, if you haven't already.

I just fired up Ntune's monitor view and no amount of moving windows would kick the GPU over 100mhz. It wasn't until I launched 3Dmark03 that it bumped it up to 425. It went down to 250 after 30 seconds or so after that, then back down to 100 again soon after.

Having only Vista Basic, I don't know if that matters at all; what is your Aero WEI? Mine is 3.4 and 2.6 for games. I'm curious what the difference is from a Sempron to the Turion.

 

Nice review there I would definitely try different video drivers though. Laptopvideo2go.com for sure

 

As I said in the article, I tried laptopvideo2go. I tried something like six or eight different drivers. And as I said, I received either a blue screen on reboot, or the driver simply wouldn't install.

Swear to God, the whole thing just feels like it's completely artificially locked up. The only way I can see fixing the GPU speed is hacking the BIOS, and that's insane.

 

Pulp, sorry to hear you experience, but in your review you noticed the notebook gets to "somewhat but manageable" heat level with your GPU clock locked way low. Could it be possible that HP deliberately locked the clock so that the heat level doesn't explode in your 14" laptop (I noticed that other people that have luck with video drivers are using HP 15" or 17" ones)?

I am still at my old VAIO S170, and the heat level (and performance) changed a lot from the Sony factory default to normal ATI MR 9700 clock setting, which is merely 50MHz higher. You are talking about 325MHz difference here.

 

Why not use the Vista Basic interface? Sure it's not the main selling point of Vista, but I'd much rather have an interface that runs smoothly than one that looks snazzy. And frankly I don't even notice the difference most of the time.

HP always does seem to have lots of bloatware, but at least in my experience their service is good. I like the honest view in the review and the down-to-earth nonsynthetic experience.

 

Aero is pretty much the only reason to run Vista (other than the fact that it comes preinstalled on nearly everything).

 

If I just ran it in Vista Basic, why even bother packing it with Home Premium? Why ship it with Aero Glass running?

No, I paid for Home Premium, on a computer designed to run Home Premium. This is a design flaw in the 7150M, and I'm not going to just suck it up when the computer is supposed to run it properly.

And that's why the notebook is going back. If I have to hack the video BIOS to get the proper desktop performance out of it, clearly there's something wrong with the computer.

 

Yea, thats pretty poor on HP's part. They should at least make sure that it works properly before selling it.

What are you considering now?

 

An Excellent "real world" review! I have had a few notebooks, over the past 12 months, and either sold them or exchanged them, so it was somewhat comforting to hear how hard it was, (is) to satisfy you....I had the HP for about a week, (17" version-otherwise identical)and noticed the same issue, regarding the graphics and lack of coordination with Vista (which I personally like!) to the same extent, I tried other drivers, and finaly said the heck with it. Returned to CC and took the re-stocking hit. I have the the Gateway P-6325, and had contemplated doing just the sort of succinct review that you have done, which I hope to get to soon. I would urge you to return the HP, if you have not already done so, stick with Intel Core 2 Duo. I think the Turion notebook platform is an order of magnitude behind it.

 

The move to 65nm does bring slightly improved battery life, but it doesn't boast a performance increase. AMD chose to use higher latency cache in the 65nm chips to accommodate larger L2 cache sizes in the future. Larger cache, not necessarily for greater performance, but for marketing purposes (consumer demand more cache, and AMD thinks it can provide it even though they are cutting corners on its performance). The only benefit consumers see is energy efficiency.

It seems that when AMD sings of their improvements, they fail to mention who sees the benefits. Essentially what consumers are getting are the same clock speeds, same cache sizes, same PR rating. The only changes of interest to the consumer: Higher cache latency and slightly better energy efficiency.

Anyway, nice review. I absolutely love the design of the DV2500's. Perfect size (not too big, not too small). And at a reasonable price. I hope the 7150M underclocking issue gets fixed and all that works out for you.

 

Good review. I was also puzzled about the low Aero performance when reading the review.
Hopefully HP will fix the default clock with a new driver release.

 

After pulling my hair out with the dv2610us, I grabbed a dv2615us in the store, which resulted in a forthcoming direct AMD vs. Intel comparison.

I'll let you guys anticipate that one, but after experiencing the kind of disappointment with the GMA X3100 that I haven't felt since seeing "28 Weeks Later" and before that, the original cut of "Battle Royale II," I finally just got pissed off at HP.

To show them how angry I was at them, I custom ordered a dv2500t from them using the 25% off coupon from the Laptop Deals section of NBR. For LESS than I paid for the dv2615us, I was able to get:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2-667
160GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS 64MB
Intel 3945ABG w/ Bluetooth
High-Capacity 6 Cell Battery

Basically the same laptop, just better in every way.

Boy, I sure stuck it to HP, didn't I? Teach you to tick me off with crappy notebooks, NOW I'LL BUY SOMETHING FROM YOU!

 

Pulp, you seem to switch notebooks around more often that I do!

 

That I do, sir!

I can't help it, I'm a rabid technophile. I'm actually frustrated with how little there is I can upgrade my desktop with.

 

Except you are wrong. Yes, Vista is not the snappiest OS by default, but amount of crap HP puts in even for their business line is insane. I have HP 8510W laptop, with 2.4ghz dual core, 8600gt video, and 4GB of RAM. The default HP install was so bloated that it took forever for any simple task on this laptop. One reinstall later, making sure to disable majority of HP software, excepting the quick keys one, and some tweaks, and Vista is running like a champ. I have Aero, all the usual office apps open, many many browser windows for both IE and Firefox, VMware Workstation 6 running with 2 VMs (XP and Ubuntu) consuming 1.5GB of RAm, and everything is snappy.

So, it is the HP bloatware, and you have to make sure to kill it.

 

If you think HP business bloat is bad, check out a Pavilion (one of the notebooks reviewed in this article).

Actually, the HP business bloat is not bad. When I had both the 8710p and 8510w grace my desk for reviews they had maybe 3-5 applications installed that I had no use for. And yes, the HP business software was bloatware and has to go!

 

Nice.....So, both the integrated graphics solutions suck, and you get screwed either way....Thats a pretty nice configuration, but I think I would have gone with the standard 1GB memory (unless the 2GB was free) and upgraded with a $25 2GB stick from newegg Cheap RAM ftw.

And yes, you do switch notebooks very often. I was on my way to doing so, switching notebooks every two weeks, but then I decided that it was probably a really bad idea, and bought from somewhere that I couldn't return to (newegg) so that I would be forced to keep it. It was quite tempting to order my W7 from Costco so that I could return it in a month if I needed to, but Newegg was cheaper, and I decided that I did not want the option of returning it.

 

The sweet thing, actually, is that HP had the following deals going:

2GB DDR2 upgrade for just $25.
Free upgrade to the 160GB hard drive.
25% off coupon.

But yeah, unfortunately with the IGPs you're pretty much SOL. It's a shame the 7150M is unfixable, because it's a great IGP otherwise.

My review of the X3100 has been submitted and should be up in a couple weeks, and my experience with it was decidedly mixed. I'm not even a fan of the Half-Life games, but in my experience, Source is the most efficient and scalable game engine ever coded. Watching the X3100 choke on it actually felt like an abomination. I felt blasphemed against.

I really need to take this stuff less seriously.

 

Ouch. From what I've heard, it seems like X3100 would be fine for what I do (NFS Most Wanted, TrackMania Nations, and Quake III Arena), but I'm not a traditional gamer.

HP has some really sweet deals going on now, yea. My friend is buying a dv2500 with exactly the same specs, though I think hes not going for Bluetooth.

 

I have a question about the fan in the dv2610. As soon as I turn the laptop on the fan starts and has never turned off once. I can't see that as normal. The cpu is showing between 25c and 33c

This is my 4th hp laptop in the dv line, but first with an AMD chip. None of the previous ones had the fan on full time. To me this seems like it would be a drain on the battery.

If anyone has an opinion I would appreciate it.

 

I'm curious to know your custom power profile, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me the main changes you made in the power profile so I could try them out on my notebook as well. I've got a dv6405ca and the absolute maximum I can get is just a few minutes over 2 hours but you say you manage to hit three hours pretty easily. I've got an Athlon X2 processor though so I guess that might be it but one entire hour's difference seems insane. Also about the video drivers, with the GeForce Go 6150 none of the 16x drivers worked well, I'm down to 158.45 which is very stable and offers much better performance than the drivers HP provides. I know you said you tried a bunch of drivers on laptopvideo2go.com but if you haven't tried 158.45 and the driver from HP is not newer than that, then I'd recommend trying it out. Your choice of course. Nice 'real world' review btw.

 

I have sim model, HP dv2718us X2 TL-62 from Office Depot. I agree that the sys. is very slow with all the bloatware. But I have no problem with heat, the palm rest is barely warm, the underside (hdd area) is moderately warm and actually cool near the fan vent.
As for "Fan noise is pretty minimal" it only applies a moderately noisy environment. In a quite room or the library, the noise can be unbearable in the sense that the fan runs constantly, probably due to the design of the intake vent which is tiny about 1/4 of the fan size.
I'm getting the intel ver, T9300, hope that the vent would suffice.