HP Pavilion DV7-6101sa Review

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HP Pavilion DV7-6101sa Review

Posted by Edo Suseno Tuesday, November 1, 2011 0 komentar

Despite their budget prices, HP's Pavilion laptops are stylish, thanks to a clean design and tough aluminium construction. The DV7-6101sa is no different – the 17in chassis isn’t exactly compact, but its sleek appearance gives the impression of a much more expensive product.

Price when reviewed: £540

Buy it now for: £563

Considering its size, we were happy with the decent range of connectivity options; as well as an internal DVD re-writer, the DV7 also includes two USB ports, a USB3 connector, VGA and HDMI video outputs, three 3.5mm audio jacks and a multi-format memory card reader.

Underneath the textured metal lid, a black keyboard with large keys and a dedicated numeric keypad contrasts nicely with the silver chassis. The keys are well spaced and have pleasant springy actions. By default, the function keys are shortcuts to multimedia functions such as media playback and volume, but if you don't want to have to hold down the 'Fn' key to access keys F1 to F12 you can change the option in the laptop's BIOS. The touchpad buttons were better than those on previous Pavilion laptops, as they were firm yet responsive in everyday use.

The DV7's display has a glossy finish, which can reflect light sources and make the laptop hard to use in a brightly-lit room, but a very bright backlight and plenty of screen tilt go a long way towards compensating for the reflections and the screen's fairly narrow viewing angles. The DV7's screen also has a fairly high 1,600x900 resolution, which makes it easy to work on two documents at once or watch 720p video content.

The DV7's 1TB hard disk and great screen make it a good multimedia laptop, but the Beats Audio-branded speakers were a disappointment. There was definite distortion at full volume, although at lower levels we could listen to MP3s and streaming internet radio happily. There was even some bass, although you’ll still need to connect a set of dedicated speakers if you want to fill a room with sound.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	LS690EA#ABU
Review Date	1 Nov 2011
Rating
Processor	AMD A4-3310MX
Processor clock speed	2.1GHz
Memory	6.00GB
Memory slots	2
Memory slots free	0
Maximum memory	8GB
Size	36x416x275mm
Weight	3.0kg
Sound	IDT High Definition Audio
Pointing device	touchpad

Display
Viewable size	17.3 in
Native resolution	1,600x900
Graphics Processor	AMD Radeon HD 6515G2
Graphics/video ports	VGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory	512MB

Storage
Total storage capacity	1,000GB
Optical drive type	DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion
USB ports	4
Bluetooth
Wired network ports	1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support	802.11n
PC Card slots	none
Supported memory cards	SDXC, MMC
Other ports	minijack audio output, minijack microphone input, 2x USB3

Miscellaneous
Carrying case
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option	restore partition
Software included	Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition
Optional extras	none