HP Pavilion dv6t (1030us)

by Cisco Cheng


HP is in a perennial fight to be king of the laptop hill, both globally and in the United States. A recent Gartner report showed HP's market share topping Acer's by 2 percent, making it the worldwide leader in laptop sales for the fourth quarter of 2008. Much of that success is driven by its retail partners, which sell HP-branded laptops by the dozen. The HP Pavilion dv6t (1030us) is a media-center laptop fit for a family, a college student, or a novice user who understands the value of a dollar. In addition to having a gorgeous 16-inch widescreen and an abundance of media-centric features, this laptop is available at Staples for $800 ($750 after $50 mail-in rebate). You'll have to uninstall some of that junk software, though, if you want to spend less time watching the rotating hourglass and more time with your digital hobbies.

Though the dv6t is a cheap laptop, it certainly doesn't look like one. The great thing about this line is that from the outside you can't tell a $1,500 Pavilion laptop from a $700 one. The dv6t is covered in a glossy finish, and one of HP's many signature imprints is laminated under the shiny coat. The imprint varies by configuration; this one has a subtle checkered pattern that is repeated in the chrome interior (it's evident on the palm rests). The finish has a tendency to pick up fingerprints and smudges, but the dv6t comes with a little piece of cloth that'll easily wipe them away. In my opinion, it's more attractive than the Gateway MC7803u and the Acer Aspire 6930G. Its 6-pound chassis is not the lightest for a 16-inch laptop—the Lenovo Ideapad Y650 is thinner and weighs a scant 5.5 pounds. Compared with the MC7803u (7.7 pounds) and the 6930G (7.2 pounds), however, the dv6t is a big load off your back.



The 16-inch widescreen is stunning and uses HP's BrightView option (supposedly it's more vivid than a normal display). The 1,366-by-768 resolution, however, is ho-hum for a screen of this size. Screen resolution is often an area vendors skimp on when they're trying to hit prices like the dv6t's. More-expensive 16-inch laptops, like the HP HDX16t and the Dell Studio XPS 16, for instance, have options for 1080p (1,920-by-1,080) resolutions, on top of their richer feature sets. The chrome interior, though sleek, has an unfortunate tendency to reflect light. So even though the typing experience with this keyboard is fabulous, glare is a potential issue when you're working under a fluorescent light. The numeric keypad, unlike the regular one, is cramped, but give HP credit for making this the only 16-inch laptop that includes one. (You'd normally find numeric keypads on 17- or 18-inch media centers.)

You really get your money's worth in features. The dv6t is stockpiled with goodies, including a pair of USB ports on each side. One of them doubles as an eSATA port, so if the included 320GB hard drive isn't spacious enough, you can attach an external one while taking advantage of SATA's blazing throughput speeds. The HDMI port is also handy to have, in case you want to share your photos, videos, and movies on a big-screen LCD TV. These ports aren't unique to the dv6t, though; all the laptops mentioned in this review have both eSATA and HDMI ports. Other features include a 5-in-1 card reader, built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n), and Bluetooth.

I'd recommend that as soon as you turn on the system, you get rid of most of the numerous third-party and HP-branded applications that reside under Programs and Features in the Control Panel. Many of these programs have no purpose and can potentially grind your system to a halt after a couple of months of use. Even booting up the system took noticeably longer than with the MC7803u and the Y650, whose software loads aren't as debilitating. The dv6t comes with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty.
HP Pavilion dv6t (1030us)

Were the dv6t running a fast processor like those in the HP HDX16t and the Dell 16, a bloated software suite wouldn't be an issue. The 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor is similar to the ones found in the MC7803u and 6930G and uses previous-generation Intel technology. We know that this laptop can easily perform general-purpose tasks like Web surfing and word processing, but it's also fast enough to handle tasks such as video editing, photo editing, and viewing high-definition video. It all depends on how quickly you want these tasks done. Both the 6930G and the dv6t have very similar video-encoding scores. Because the Lenovo Y650 uses a faster processor (2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400), its video-encoding score was more than 20 percent faster than the dv6t's. Similarly, faster systems—like the Y650, the HDX16t, and the XPS 16—scored 15 to 28 percent better on CineBench R10 than the dv6t.

Graphics performance is also a reflection of the price. This configuration is not a gaming machine. However, HP's Web site has options for powerful ATI graphics cards, provided that you're willing to pay the $150 to $300 premium. A 45-Wh (standard six-cell) battery produced a modest battery score on MobileMark 2007. Its time of 3 hours 3 minutes is nearly identical to that of the Lenovo Y650 (3:05) and a little short of the 6930G's (3:20). Unlike the Acer and Lenovo, several extended battery options are available through HP's Web site.

The HP Pavilion dv6t (1030us) is tailor-made for frugal fashionistas. It's gorgeously designed and packed with features made for digital hobbyists. As for speeding up this machine, the best place to start is by removing software that you don't plan to use. The Acer Aspire 6930G costs more, but it's still my pick because its features and graphics performance are more impressive. The dv6t's price, however, makes at least a hands-on session with the bargain laptop at the store worth your while.