Singapore Expats

Packaged in an HP Pavilion dv6 (model 3011TX). This is one swift laptop.

CPU - i7-720M, four cores
4 gig memory
500 gig, 7200 RPM drive
ATI Radeon graphics, 1 gig memory
DVD dual layer burner

And lots of other goodies.

Interesting thing is I was going to buy a Dell because I could customize it and get what I want at a very good price. I hit Funard IT mall and stopped in at Hardly Norman. Lo! A brand new HP. Just what I wanted and a very good price.

In fact, I checked about 4 other HP shops. None had yet received this model, and all were selling a similar i5 model for $100 more.

I had not expected to end up with HP... had mostly decided on Dell or Lenovo. But, I must say I am impressed with the build quality of this machine. Aluminum skin. Sturdy keyboard (both Dell and Lenovo had flex in the KB).

After my single core Centrino, this is heaven.

darn! i had a pre-production lenovo X201 tablet with the CORE i7 but because intel cant produce enough i7 chipset for lenovo, will have to downgrade to CORE i5 for the production SKU.

Hey SE. I'm joining the ranks!

My old P4 17 Dell 9300 finally took a crap Friday a week ago. Worst part about it is that there is nothing wrong with it that a new Graphics Card wouldn't solve! It crapped out completely (checking the various forum on that model/card it fit the symptoms to a 'T'). Found one after 3 days a scouring the net but they wanted $300 pounds for the sucker an only offered a 30 day warrenty (used). Not a good gamble to me.

So, according to Dell's online delivery schedule I'm supposed to get my new Dell Studio 15 on this Friday! YEAH!

Similar config as yours:

i7-740QM
8GB Ram
smaller screen 15.6"
640GB but slower @ 5400 rpm
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 - 1GB
Win7 Prof.

Will be a learning curve for me as I've never gotten acquainted with Vista so will be all new!

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Hey SE. I'm joining the ranks!

My old P4 17 Dell 9300 finally took a crap Friday a week ago. Worst part about it is that there is nothing wrong with it that a new Graphics Card wouldn't solve! It crapped out completely (checking the various forum on that model/card it fit the symptoms to a 'T'). Found one after 3 days a scouring the net but they wanted $300 pounds for the sucker an only offered a 30 day warrenty (used). Not a good gamble to me.

So, according to Dell's online delivery schedule I'm supposed to get my new Dell Studio 15 on this Friday! YEAH!

Similar config as yours:

i7-740QM
8GB Ram
smaller screen 15.6"
640GB but slower @ 5400 rpm
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 - 1GB
Win7 Prof.

Will be a learning curve for me as I've never gotten acquainted with Vista so will be all new!

Outstanding! And it aint Vista... it's Windows 7 and you will like it.

Yeah, but I heard Win 7 was similar to Vista (but faster and leaner). Anyway, just had a call from Dell. I'll give 'em credit. The website and the showroom personnel in Funan say 7 to 10 working days for delivery. I've never had a late delivery yet with over 30 Dells bought over the last 6 or 7 years. I just had a call from them and they will be delivering tomorrow night at home. Booking Date was the 14th (almost 9pm) and tomorrow is the 21st - one calendar week (5 business days!). Heck, even the online tracking on the website yesterday afternoon had estimated deliver as Friday.

Defo not complaining.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Yeah, but I heard Win 7 was similar to Vista (but faster and leaner). Anyway, just had a call from Dell. I'll give 'em credit. The website and the showroom personnel in Funan say 7 to 10 working days for delivery. I've never had a late delivery yet with over 30 Dells bought over the last 6 or 7 years. I just had a call from them and they will be delivering tomorrow night at home. Booking Date was the 14th (almost 9pm) and tomorrow is the 21st - one calendar week (5 business days!). Heck, even the online tracking on the website yesterday afternoon had estimated deliver as Friday.

Defo not complaining.

will be curious about the battery life, though.

me testing a lenovo X201 with i5 core and SSD HDD. battery can last a whole day and the bottom of the laptop is only warm to the touch.

nakatago wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Yeah, but I heard Win 7 was similar to Vista (but faster and leaner). Anyway, just had a call from Dell. I'll give 'em credit. The website and the showroom personnel in Funan say 7 to 10 working days for delivery. I've never had a late delivery yet with over 30 Dells bought over the last 6 or 7 years. I just had a call from them and they will be delivering tomorrow night at home. Booking Date was the 14th (almost 9pm) and tomorrow is the 21st - one calendar week (5 business days!). Heck, even the online tracking on the website yesterday afternoon had estimated deliver as Friday.

Defo not complaining.

will be curious about the battery life, though.

You are not buying an i7 machine for battery life... the total draw for this CPU is 45 watts. I get almost 3 hours out of my HP with wifi running and screen dimmed to about 80 percent of high bright.

You buy this laptop for transportable power, with the expectation that where you go, you will find an outlet... except for shorter periods... otherwise, you best find something with a weaker (read, less current intensive) CPU and smaller screen.

Always a trade off... and I am quite happy with this machine... piles through video conversions without any slowdown for things like writing notes to this forum.

Good poo.

SE, that's what I want to hear. I use my notebook as a desktop replacement. I look for processing power. The only time I use the batteries is when I'm on a plane enroute to the Farm (can't afford 1st class were I could plug it in). Once I get there, the plug goes in the wall and the dongle from Virgin Wireless gets put it and away I go. I don't take it to Starbucks or the beach or McD's as a poser. (more fun using my ancient dopod 900 for that - it's the original netbook!)

i've heard somewhere that certain dells have s*** batteries; that is, you can't even move the laptop 10 feet across the room without it turning off. not really expecting such a powerful machine to last hours of use. my flatmate's dell is like that--unplug the power brick and it dies. hence, my curiosity. no biggie, anyhoo.

nakatago wrote:i've heard somewhere that certain dells have s*** batteries; that is, you can't even move the laptop 10 feet across the room without it turning off. not really expecting such a powerful machine to last hours of use. my flatmate's dell is like that--unplug the power brick and it dies. hence, my curiosity. no biggie, anyhoo.

All laptop batteries will eventually get killed by being plugged in all the time with the battery in. I had a Lenovo like that; the cure is a new battery.

Strong Eagle wrote:

nakatago wrote:i've heard somewhere that certain dells have s*** batteries; that is, you can't even move the laptop 10 feet across the room without it turning off. not really expecting such a powerful machine to last hours of use. my flatmate's dell is like that--unplug the power brick and it dies. hence, my curiosity. no biggie, anyhoo.

All laptop batteries will eventually get killed by being plugged in all the time with the battery in. I had a Lenovo like that; the cure is a new battery.

no, these were the red shirts of laptop batteries. in any case, i think it's moot. i got curious enough to look it up: http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

i'm not scheduled to replace my laptop until next year the earliest

Yeah, I remember when those recalls happened as Dell sent every notebook owner an email with the information and the link as well. (I had an old Inspiron 4000 & of course, the now dead 9300). Neither were affected.

Looks like I joined the club without knowing it. Needed to refresh my laptop before heading down here and ended up getting an HP.

I was thinking I might be getting a Dell or Lenovo but ended up with the HP from Fry's.

They had a great deal and I am quite happy with the machine.

This is the HP Pavillion dv7 - Q720 @ 1.6GHz

600G storage
4G of memory - 2 2G - and I can expand to 8G if I need.

17.3" screen

Congrats. I must say I have been pretty much anti HP based upon experiences from a few years ago, but the build of my new HP seems very good, and cooling of the CPU is not an issue at all, even in non air conditioned rooms.