HP Pavilion with Ivy Bridge

[mattspeer01]

My wife needs a new laptop to replace her four year old 17" Dell Inspiron. I see that HP has some pretty good deals on the brand new DV6T and DV7T Pavilions with Ivy Bridge in them. The problem is, we had an HP laptop prior to the Dell, and it was a complete piece of junk. Has HP improved in the past few years or do they still suck? I can get the following DV6T config off HP's website for about $1300 including tax and shipping using their current promo coupons.

• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3710QM Processor
• 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 1GB GDDR5 memory
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory
• 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
• FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype + FingerPrint Reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Backlit Keyboard

 

[mple]

http://slickdeals.net/f/4304748-HP-...QM-2GB-Geforce-650m-8GB-RAM-1080p-BluRay-1015

Not sure if the 300 mhz clock increase from the 3720QM is worth the $170 premium over the 3610QM.
Ditch the mSSD in favor of your own
7200rpm vs 5400rpm is a matter of preference, but with an SSD, I'd be fine with 5400rpm
Also, the one I linked has a 2GB video card. Not sure if that makes much of a difference.

 

[mattspeer01]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. My original question still stands though: does HP still build crappy quality computers or are they reliable enough now to justify purchasing one?

 

[RU482]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. My original question still stands though: does HP still build crappy quality computers or are they reliable enough now to justify purchasing one?

HP doesn't build computers. HP sells computers

 

[mattspeer01]

Let me rephrase my question then: are the computers that HP sells worth my money?

 

[nardz84]

I've had 2 HP laptops over the past few years, one is mine the other for the wife. Mine had an initial overheating issue but they fixed/shipped it back pretty quick and since then it has been just fine, the wife's has had 0 issues. I think they have done a good job with the recent Pavillion DV series, especially compared to their lower end models, they feel very solid. Obviously its no Thinkpad but those cost a bit more for similar specs.

 

[nardz84]

Should add, I just ordered one of these IB dv6 models, mostly because HP was the first I saw to offer one with a nvidia 650m.

 

[Termie]

Should add, I just ordered one of these IB dv6 models, mostly because HP was the first I saw to offer one with a nvidia 650m.

This is a great deal. I hope you used the $400 off coupon: NBY3752

Link: http://shopping2.hp.com/webapp/shop...stination=review&config_id=7152117&aoid=35252

Honestly, absolutely amazing specs at $1000 - my brother's using the older Sandy Bridge version and loves it. But this one ups the older one on price/performance. Check out this build:

•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
•3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
•NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 1GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
•FREE Upgrade to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
•750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
•32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
•6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 6.0 hours of battery life +++
•15.6-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
•FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
•HP TrueVision HD Webcam
•802.11b/g/n WLAN

Cost: $1000

 

[edit1754]

Don't get the upgraded CPU unless there is a particular need for it. The 3610QM is already faster than most users need.

 

[effingee]

Any opinions on whether the GeForce GT 650M 2GB is worth $50 over the 1GB version?

 

[Kevmanw430]

Get the 1GB. It'll be fine at 1080p, and the card is limited most likely by bandwidth and core clock and not amount of memory. Also, get the lowest CPU. With the 3610QM, you'll always be GPU bound.

 

[cjacksonlasd]

DO NOT BUY HP, WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUILD COMPUTERS. GO TO HP.COM AND CHECK THEIR FORUMS, LIKE MINE @ http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebo...M-GPU-HP-HORRIBLE-DRIVER-SUPPORT/td-p/1254859

All their components and graphic cards are not real graphic cards, they are purchased from 3rd party vendors, and nvidia and amd drivers dont support them. They also dont follow their own warranties. I personally am preparing to take them to court on false advertizing and failure to follow warranties under California Civil Code violations. Do your research, HP is a horrible company with horrible track history on computers, every model and design fails. Dont look at the specs and cost, look at manufacturer reliability, HP is at the bottom.