HP Pavilion dv6 review

The 15.6in Pavilion dv6 bears HP’s characteristic black and chrome livery, and to be honest it looks a bit showy in a laptop of this size. The numeric keypad at the side of the keyboard is uncomfortably squished as well.

But from a technical standpoint the Pavilion dv6 looks good. All the important features are here – USB, eSATA, Bluetooth and so forth – and they’re joined by FireWire and a full-width ExpressCard/54 slot. The Altec Lansing speakers are lacking in low frequencies, but they go pretty loud, with a clarity that’s unusual for notebooks. The only slight disappointment is the screen, which seems a little lacking in vibrancy.

Inside, the dv6 enjoys a 2.26GHz Core i5-430M partnered with an Nvidia GeForce G105M GPU. There’s 3GB of RAM – plenty for typical desktop use – and a nice big 500GB hard disk, with a fast spindle speed of 7,200rpm.

As our benchmarks show, that’s a pretty persuasive formula. With an overall 2D score of 1.53, the Pavilion dv6 is a strong performer for desktop applications. The GPU has a certain amount of 3D power too, delivering 42fps in Crysis at the lowest settings – twice as fast as Intel’s HD Graphics, though there are other laptops with more powerful GPUs.

With its lightweight 4,200mAh battery we didn’t expect the dv6 to last long away from the power socket, but light-use performance was surprisingly strong, with the dv6 racking up a respectable 3hrs 55min of life. Under heavy use, though, it lasted only 57 minutes.

For that reason, road warriors may want to look elsewhere, as will gamers or purist aesthetes. But if you’re seeking a laptop for a mostly desk-bound role, the HP Pavilion dv6 is a powerful, feature-packed system, and when you look at the price it’s obviously a good deal.