[Review] HP Dv6-6135dx

Abyssalx

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HP DV6-6135DX Review

Specs:

CPU: AMD A8-3500m Processor @ 1.5ghz w/Turbo Core up to 2.4Ghz
Memory: 6GB 667mhz
Graphics: AMD Radeon 6620G integrated graphics
Graphics 2: AMD Radeon 6750m dedicated graphics
Hard Drive: 640gb 5400rpm HDD
Screen: 15.6" 1366x768
Optical Drive: Blu-ray
Purchase Price: $519 / Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158073&Tpk=dv6-6135d
Windows 7
Real World Battery Life: 4.5 hours
My Rating: Out of the box, 8/10. After some tweaking, 9.5/10

First Impressions:

I took it out of the box and it was really sleek looking, much more impressive than what I hadseen in pictures on the internet. I opened it up and the first thing I saw was the HP crazy configure+register screen and I knew right then there would be a ton of bloatware.

I was right, but it's not too hard to get rid of. All in all you start with about 550gb free out of the 640gb HDD. There is a recovery partition and plently of software that runs alongside windows, does the same thing, but just takes up more room than just using windows. Oh well, I kinda expected that.

I had worried a bit about the processor but it turned out great. Everything is lightning fast, save extraction and installation, but it's still pretty good.

Here starts the sectional reviews.

Physical Laptop:
It looks really nice, and I've only had one issue and noticed a few minor flaws but it's pretty good. The top left corner of the keyboard section pops out. It doesn't affect typing, but it's visibly noticable, and when you type it pops back in. You can temporarily fix this by using your finger nail and pushing the keyboard forward so the latch goes under the chassis more, but it'll eventually happen again. It's not really a big deal.

The other thing I noticed was that the bottom half of the laptop isn't actually flat. It curves downward, like it's too heavy for itself, but the laptop itself isn't very heavy at all. It just looks kinda weird but it's not really that noticeable.

The keyboard takes a bit to get used to but now that I'm used to it it's really nice. The trackpad at first wasn't great, but it seems to be pretty good now. Multitouch is meh, but I think that's more windows than the actual computer. The LED around the trackpad is pretty cool.

The screen resoltion is a little small, but in games it's perfect. It's a bit small for some websites, etc, but it's not as bad as people say. The screen is very nice. The viewing angles are meh, but the screen gets very bright and is nice and crisp.

The Beats Audio speakers are okay, they sound decent but nothing special, not really noticeably different from most other laptops. The Beats Audio Program, however, is excellent. Plugging in some nice external speakers, you get a really nice sound with a lot of control.

There's also a button above the keyboard that opens your default internet browser. That's all. I don't really see the point of it, I never use it, but maybe someone would like that.

The fingerprint reader is actually pretty sweet. I use it for my windows logon and some websites too. The only problem is is that sometimes when you wake the computer up, the fingerprint software fails to initialize or something, and when you scan your fingerprint, it will just blink at you and nothing will happen. Overall, I like it though.

The CPU:

The cpu, in my opinion, is fantastic. Programs open up super quick, the only thing that is a bit slower is installing programs and extracting them, but by slower, I mean on average 4 or 5 seconds slower than my Phenom II X4 @3.5ghz.

It uses much less power than most Intel cpu's too, which means better battery life. Even more so when undervolting. The CPU undervolts like a dream, I can get an average of a .35v undervolt and still have it stable. Even while overclocking you can undervolt and still have it stable. The CPU is great for overclocking also. I run mine at 2.6ghz at my max temp has been 77 degrees C. I've seen a 3ghz stable overclock with some cooling mods. Again, overall a fantastic CPU.

Memory:

The memory, in short, is a problem. I've had many bluescreens because of the memory in my laptop. Not only is it super slow (667mhz, what?) it's two different brands of for each stick. It's 6gb but windows reads 5.4gb. Memory upgrades are cheap and I will be doing one soon, and will make an amendment to this review when I do.

Graphics:

The graphics in the laptop are amazing. The 6620g integrated graphics will play many mainstream demanding games on its own, like Fallout 3 and medium settings, and Call of Duty Black Ops at medium-high settings. The dedicated 6750m will play everything but the most demanding (The Witcher 2, Metro 2033 etc) On highest settings. Crossfiring the two GPUs will further increase performance. I can play Crysis on some High/some Very high at native resolution and 2x AA. This, in my opinion, is phenomenal.

Hard Drive:

Not much to say about this. A 7200rpm HDD would be fast than the 5400rpm in this. I'll probably upgrade eventually. It has 640gb advertised but the total size in windows is about 600gb, recovery partition included. You start off with probably about 550gb free.

Battery Life:

For what it is, the battery life is amazing. I get probably 5 hours with web browsing and text editing. If Idle, with the lowest brightness, at 99% with the laptop being on and idle for about 5 minutes, windows says 7 hours and 21 minutes, and Mioplanet Battery Meter shows 7 hours and 54 minutes. Gaming with onboard graphics will get me about 3 hours of battery and with the dedicated card I get about 1:30 to 2 hours.

The battery is a 6-cell 55wh battery. HP sells a 9cell 93wh battery for this laptop for $100. If for any reason you need to replace the battery, you could probably get about 8 hours of use and 10+ hours of idle. That's amazing.

All in all, with a little tweaking and some cheap upgrades, this laptop is awesome. I bought it refurbished off Newegg for only $550. You won't find a laptop with any features like this and performance like this for anywhere near that price. If you know a decent amount about computers, I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to game on the go, be productive for long periods of time, and doesn't want to burn their wallet.

If anyone notices anything missing from this review, let me know, and I'll add it. I plan on getting some pictures up pretty soon so check back for updates.
 

trobface

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Thanks for the review! I've been looking at the dv6-6135dx, and you helped a lot!
I was just wondering though, I've found the dv7-6135dx at bestbuy for just about $600... and I don't know which one would be a better deal.

the dv7 seems to have a much better processor, the Intel i5-2410M 2.3GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost 2.9GHz
8gig DDR3 memory
17.3" display, 1600 x 900 resolution
750GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics 1GB GDDR5 (seems to be a lot worse than the dv6 graphics card)

Here's the link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factory-Refurbished+Pavilion+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+-+Dark+Umber/3811072.p?id=1218433533551&skuId=3811072&st=dv7-6135dx&cp=1&lp=1

So it seems to be a decision between either the graphics card of the dv6, or the processor of the dv7... Which one do you think would be more for the money? Anyone have any ideas here? I'd really appreciate any input. Thanks again for the review!
 

djp317

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Hi, i was wondering how you overclocked the CPU? do you use a program or just do it from the BIOS? i have the same exact laptop and was hoping to OC it to at least 2.2ghz, and also for undervolting the cpu do you do it from the BIOS as well or use a program like k10stat? any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
 

Abyssalx

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Trobface, the Dv7's 6490m is quite low-end compared to the dv6's GPU setup. The battery life improves because of this, and I think the Dv7 comes standard with a 9 cell battery. I wouldn't expect it to last 9 hours, but 7-8 might be possible. The 6490 isn't a horrible GPU, it's worse than the 6750m but it'll play a decent amount of games pretty well. The i5 is a better processor but it's not as dramatic as you make it sound. You won't really notice it for everyday tasks and I doubt you'll notice it in gaming. I find the A8 to be more flexible in a lot of places.

Djp317, I use k10stat to overclock the processor. I run 2.4ghz 24/7 with it so 2.2ghz would be easy. I use k10stat for undervolting too. I can give you the exact voltages/frequencies I use for each state if you want.

Also, sorry for the late replies, I'll have pics and screenshots soon.
 

djp317

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that would be awesome dude, thanks. i would really appreciate a type of outline on how to put my processor states. Also got two more questions, the DID at default were all set at 1, so am i suppose to put all my processor states at DID 1?? and also with k10stat, do you know how i can set it up so it automatically starts at start up, so i dont have to manually turn on the program everytime. I always have to manually turn on k10stat AND switch the profile for it to be running. And thanks again for the info and will be waiting for some guidlines/screenshots on your k10stat settings.
 

trobface

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Good points abyssalx, thanks a ton for all the help. I really appreciate it :)
I decided to go with the DV6, should get here sometime next week. Thanks again for the informative review and the advice!
 

Abyssalx

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These are three setups that I use. The farthest left is a full OC with no undervolt. The Middle is a smaller but still substantial OC, and it even has a small undervolt, too. The farthest right is a straight undervolt. I probably could have undervolted much further but I haven't played around with it that much. I saves decent battery at those voltages so I'm okay with it.

21j3xpj.jpg


The top state, B0 is the turbo core speed. It seems that the higher you OC the other states, the less the turbo core kicks in.

The DID I used kinda depended on the clock speed. I'll give the exact stats for the Full OC:
B0:FID:23,DID:1
P0:FID:20,DID:1
P1:FID:17,DID:1
P2:FID:26,DID:2
P3:FID:24,DID:2
P4:FID:20,DID:2
P5:FID:16,DID:2
P6:FID:12,DID:2

The stock settings go down to DID 4 for the 800mhz state.

I set the up% and down% to 40/20 so it will clock up faster when you do something with the CPU.

The up(ms) and down(ms) are set to 0 for the same reason.

And yes, you have to manually set the profile every time you turn on the computer. It seems to be picky, too. Sometimes it will make me set the profile even after just being asleep, sometimes not.

I use the program CoreTemp to show me the clock speed of my processor. It just sits in your taskbar and can display Processor Load, CPU Temp and CPU Frequency. I Strongly recommend running both the Temp and Freq in your task bar so you can monitor OC temps and try things out. Sometimes it kinda bugs out though, the other day it showed me my CPU was running at almost 900GHz and almost 40,000 degrees C. But usually it's fine.

And no problem trobface. Glad I could help.
 

djp317

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thanks alot this was a HUGE help :]. And btw just curious but which graphics driver do you think is the best atm? i believe im running version 8.861.1.2, not sure which is the best optimized. Either way really appreciate the k10stat table sets
 

djp317

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btw i found a way to get it working on startup manually.

start button>all programs> startup folder> rmb to open it> drag a shortcut of k10stat> rmb go to properties> add: -lp:1 -StayOnTray -nw behind the targetted selection and your good to go on every startup :]
 

Abyssalx

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Update - The laptop is only $519 on newegg now. I can play skyrim on this laptop on High with 4xAA and FXAA, with a 30fps average and the minimum being 18. (which is actually still very playable)
 

griff55

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I've been thinking about getting a Sager NP8150 with the ATI 6990M and a second generation i5 or i7 for around 1500 for playing Skyrim and BF3 on a laptop. They have a deal right now to give you a hundred off for opt'ing up to that GPU and another hundred off if you spend more then 1500 total.

This laptop makes me question my research. Why does it sound to good to be true?

Btw, I checked out the lenovo Y570 deal that was posted on another thread that this laptop was mentioned, and the offer was over (even though the coupon said good until tomorrow). The laptop (normally 1500'ish) is on sale for 1100, but the 300 coupon (dropping it to around 800 with free shipping) is no longer active.

This still leaves my first question. I see this rig practically spammed on boards about Skyrim Laptops and it worries me. Would the sager kick the *** out of this or is this really just a great deal?
 

griff55

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I also wanted to mention that best buy has a 1600$ HP - Pavilion Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 17.3" Display - Steel Gray for sale on Black Friday for 650'ish. Idk how I feel about Best Buy or the Intel® HD Graphics 3000 (does that make it un-upgradeable?) but I thought I'd mention it. Probably easier said then done though as I hate black friday crowds.
 

djp317

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Yes, indeed i can play skyrim with all settings to high and decals settings even set to ultra at 1380x768. And yes, it is a FANTASTIC deal getting a mid level gaming laptop for 519.99, but the only catch is that they are refurbished. Out of the 48 reviews it has 5 stars but only 2-3 people have gotten lemons, including ME. my Dv6 6135dx has been giving me BSOD issues since the day i got it and it still is to this day. I FKKED up and threw away the box and CD's voiding my RMA to get a new one. So just beware that they are refurbished but you have a good chance of a getting a great one.
 

venerati

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I was wondering if you had done any overclocking of the gpu. So far I have had great success with overclocking the cpu but when I attempt to overclock the gpu the only one that is recognized is 6620g. I have attempted to use the msi afterburner as well as ati tray tools. Both only recognize 6620g.
 

mcopinger

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Can I ask what memory you ended up going with? I'm looking into buying a refurb but also saw the memory speed and almost fell over. I was thinking corsair 2x4gig @ 1600 but would like 1866 if the board/CPU would support.
 

maxwellmelon

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my overclock using k10 stat
2733 1.175 25 1
2000 0.9625 24 2
1750 0.925 19 2
1550 0.875 15 2
1333 0.825 24 3
1100 0.775 6 2
875 0.7125 19 4
650 0.6625 10 4

note that the bios only supports 1333mhz ram so 1600 wont help to much( I bought 1600 ram and though it works it only runs at 1333). a ssd though helps a lot and so does 16gb of ram (I have swap file disabled for ssd life)