HP dv6 2150ev Notebook review

Editor's Score
Features:	Performance:
Value:
The Verdict: The dv6 is a good performer in our benchmarks but its big and heavy with a lower-than-average battery life.

Its a known fact that laptops have more momentum in sales compared to desktops. For reasons of portability and space saving, a good chunk of new computer buyers look at laptops and today we’re looking at the dv6 from HP which is not necessarily a very high-end laptop, but is good for those looking for a laptop that will mostly sit on the desk- be that your office or your bedroom.

Measuring 25.8cms x 37.85cms and weighing 2.88kg, the dv6 is not necessarily the easiest laptop to carry around with you. It has a 15.6″ widescreen with a resolution of 1366×768 which is easy on the eyes, however, I feel that a higher resolution would have helped as everything looks pretty big. On the plus side, you will certainly enjoy 720p hi-def movies on the dv6, especially with the Altec Lansing speakers. The graphics controller is powered by the Radeon 4650 graphics card with 1GB RAM which has plenty of muscle of show 720p on the native screen or 1080p through the HDMI port.

Along with the beefy GPU, HP uses the Intel Core 2 P8800 CPU which is a dual core 2.66Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM and a 500GB Hard Drive making the DV6 a pretty good performer. Rounding off the specs, you have a light-scribe enabled DVD Writer, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and 802.11n Wireless Networking and a webcam. An ExpressCard slot is also present for any expansion needs. Other than that, you have 3 USB ports on the device along with 1 eSATA port to connect storage devices. A DSUB is also present for VGA output to projectors along with audio outputs and memory card reader.

Usability-wise, the dv6 has a pretty big and comfortable keyboard along with the usual HP trackpad with a smooth glossy finish. I personally prefer a more textured finish to the trackpad but that’s just a personal choice as I know others who are happy with the HP trackpad. Because of the large size of the laptop, HP had enough room to fit in a keypad to the right of the laptop which is a plus for people that deal with lots of numbers. The unit never really got very hot to work on, however, the fan could have been a quieter and you continuously hear a bit of a humming in the background. With higher CPU utilization, the noise goes up a bit.

Performance on the dv6 was very much lives upto the specifications. Using Passmark, we got a CPU score of 2223, a 3D score of 572 and a hard disk score of 388.5. These are all good numbers and should allow you to use the notebook for reasonably powerful applications. We played a 1080p movie on the notebook without any issues although 3DMark Vantage refused to run because of the low screen resolution. Battery life on the dv6 produced just under two hours of general usage which is a bit underwhelming

Priced at AED 4,599 (US$1,250), the dv6 is a decently priced laptop as long as you don’t intend of moving around with it. It works great on a desk but the bulky form factor and less than stellar battery life don’t make it an ideal platform for someone looking for mobility.