Where are the Trinity Notebooks?

[box o rocks]

Is it just me being impatient, or doesn't it seem like the new generation of AMD APU laptops should be available by now? I'm dying to try out a new Trinity laptop with dual graphics. Preferably a high-end model. I saw one teaser from HP, but I couldn't find it on their site. Shouldn't the Trinity laptops be on the shelves or at the online retailers by now?

 

[dudewitbow]

I know that trinity laptops exist, im not sure if they exist with any dedicated card in them as well

 

[ryanrich83]

HP definitely has Trinity based laptops available.

Best bang for buck for a good one is the dv6z-7000 model. Best deal is upgrading the APU to an A8-4500M quad-core and adding a discrete 1GB Radeon HD 7670M for $50 each.

Dv6z-7000 CTO

 

[edit1754]

The HP DV6z 7000 is a Trinity notebook that also offers a dedicated GPU and a great display.

HP DV6z (A10-4600M, AMD Radeon 7730M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $699 + tax
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7371300
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-grade LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the Radeon 7670M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 7730M is a fair bit faster. the 7670M does supports crossfire with the integrated GPU, but drivers for this are buggy.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming.
- This configuration includes the backlit keyboard. I included this upgrade in the configuration because it is a popular upgrade and it brought the cost up just enough for the coupon code to work. Feel free to trade this out for something else.
- This configuration includes the AMD A10-4600M CPU. Downgrading to the A8-4500M probably won't yield too many performance drawbacks, but I am unsure about the A6. Benchmarks for these AMD CPUs are inconsistent.
- Consider: Larger/faster HDD.

Alternatively, you could consider the Intel-based DV6t (which offers a faster GPU) like so:

HP DV6t (i3-3110M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $724 + tax ($769 + tax w/ i5-3210M)
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7367534
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-tier LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the GT 630M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 650M is considerably faster.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming. Integrated graphics will probably provide disappointing game performance in the majority of modern titles.
- Consider: Backlit keyboard, Larger/faster HDD.

 

[box o rocks]

HP definitely has Trinity based laptops available.

Best bang for buck for a good one is the dv6z-7000 model. Best deal is upgrading the APU to an A8-4500M quad-core and adding a discrete 1GB Radeon HD 7670M for $50 each.

Dv6z-7000 CTO

Cool thanks. I'm going to build one now.

 

[box o rocks]

The HP DV6z 7000 is a Trinity notebook that also offers a dedicated GPU and a great display.

HP DV6z (A10-4600M, AMD Radeon 7730M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $699 + tax
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7371300
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-grade LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the Radeon 7670M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 7730M is a fair bit faster. the 7670M does supports crossfire with the integrated GPU, but drivers for this are buggy.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming.
- This configuration includes the backlit keyboard. I included this upgrade in the configuration because it is a popular upgrade and it brought the cost up just enough for the coupon code to work. Feel free to trade this out for something else.
- This configuration includes the AMD A10-4600M CPU. Downgrading to the A8-4500M probably won't yield too many performance drawbacks, but I am unsure about the A6. Benchmarks for these AMD CPUs are inconsistent.
- Consider: Larger/faster HDD.

Alternatively, you could consider the Intel-based DV6t (which offers a faster GPU) like so:

HP DV6t (i3-3110M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $724 + tax ($769 + tax w/ i5-3210M)
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7367534
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-tier LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the GT 630M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 650M is considerably faster.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming. Integrated graphics will probably provide disappointing game performance in the majority of modern titles.
- Consider: Backlit keyboard, Larger/faster HDD.

Wow! Thanks for all that. And the coupon code. I just checked it out and it worked. But they charged me sales tax. Does HP have a presence in Indiana? Last HP I bought online had no tax. Either way, than you.

 

[box o rocks]

@edit1754
Is the A10-4600M and its integrated GPU the fastest of the Trinity APUs? And is the HD 7730M the fastest of the discrete cards that work in Dual Graphics mode? I can't find anything on the AMD site except last gen APU stuff on dual graphics.

 

[edit1754]

The Radeon 7730M does not support crossfire with the integrated GPU. The Radeon 7670M does.

I don't know how well the crossfire works though. I've heard some good things and some bad things. But combined, the A10's 7660G integrated GPU and the 7670M can compare to the performance of the GT 650M, faster than the 7730M which works on its own.

I haven't very-often recommended the DV6z lately, favoring the DV6t configuration instead. The 7730M is slower than the GT 650M and does not support crossfire. The 7670M+7660G is supposed to be similar, but I don't have any confirmation that the drivers are reliable enough. As soon as I find a person or two who report that it works well, I'll probably start recommending the A10+7670M config instead of the 7730M.

I just have more confidence in the GT 650M, but that's mainly because I have so little information about the 7670M+7660G crossfire.

 

[box o rocks]

@edit1754
Thanks for that. My head is still spinning with all these APU model numbers, IGP model numbers, and Dedicated graphics model numbers. I wish AMD would put up a chart as to what goes with what... like they did with the previous gen APUs. I was really hoping the Trinity/Dual graphics would make for a good solid mid-cost gamer @ 1366x768. I'm afraid 1920x1080 will be a bit much for a gaming notebook.

I know the Intel + dedicated graphics will be faster, but also a lot more expensive. But I really appreciate the HP info you provided. I have to process that for a bit. ;-)

And thanks for the heads up that the 7730m is not Dual graphics compatible. I didn't even know AMD produced an APU with discrete card that wasn't DG compatible. I just assumed if it came with a discrete card, it worked with the IGP in DG mode.

 

[edit1754]

I'm afraid 1920x1080 will be a bit too much for a gaming notebook

Game performance should not be used as a reason to choose a 15.6" 1366x768 display instead of a 15.6" 1920x1080 display. This is a misconception.

For one thing, you can always make up for drawbacks in game performance at native resolution by lowering to a non-native resolution through game settings. However, you cannot as easily make up for the drawbacks in how much you can fit onscreen with 1366x768 resolution, nor can you as easily make up for the very poor image quality of a typical 15.6" 1366x768 display.

As a bonus, you will probably find games to look better running in non-native resolution on a 15.6" 1920x1080 display than they would look running in native resolution on a 15.6" 1366x768 display anyway, due to the significant difference in image quality between these two types of displays. While games will generally look better running in native resolution than non-native resolution on the same display, games will tend to look overall better running in non-native resolution on an excellent-quality display than they will look running in native resolution on a terrible-quality display.

But the GT 650M or similar is certainly enough to fluently run many recent titles in 1920x1080 under decent settings, so you won't always need to lower your resolution.

You're basically losing out on all counts if you choose a 15.6" 1366x768 display for game performance related reasons. Basically the only reason you should choose the 1366x768 display in the HP DV6, especially with the current coupon, is if you require its larger text for eyesight-related reasons.

 

[ukee1593]

Just as a side note, Samsung also have some laptops out which use the new trinity APUs. These are their series 7 laptops and can be found on Newegg. I'm not sure these are that comparable to the HPs detailed in the above posts.

Also, here is a brief overview of what the model no. mean: as I can remember

A10. : 4CPU cores, best graphics
A8. : 4CPU cores, lower graphics part
A6. : 2CPU cores, better graphics
A4. : 2CPU cores, lower graphics

 

[box o rocks]

Best answer selected by box o rocks.