HP DV6-7200 15.6" i7-3630qm Quad Core Extreme Performance Gaming Laptop with 256GB SSD Hard Drive &

After days researching laptop computers, I had a list of components I knew I would need to make my next laptop lightening fast when running and switching between multiple photo and video editing software. When researching laptops, components and price, I looked at benchmark results, offerings from the big PC chains, newegg and various custom-built laptop websites. This system won outright.

First and foremost was the Solid State Drive and this rig delivers a nice 256GB SSD. Second, it needed to have a powerful CPU and after hours of serious research, I concluded the CPU in this rig was one of the most powerful available. Yes you can get more powerful CPU's, but the cost increased disproportionately to the real-world results, therefore I happily settled on the 3630qm. Furthermore, the CPU in this rig is more powerful than the top-line MacBook Pro (see below). Next, I wanted at least 8GB RAM running at a fast 1600MHz this laptop doubles that with 16GB. I also wanted it to have 1920x1080 full HD so the display when editing photo's or previewing movie edits would be sharp and flawless. Finally, an often overlooked component on laptops is the graphics/video card. The GT 650M on this laptop is probably its weakest component, but it has 2GB of GDDR5 (note the $2,100 MacBook Pro also employs the same GT 650M but with only 1GB GDDR5 RAM, instead of 2GB GDDR5 RAM found on this laptop). Having said that, the video card is still excellent but would not allow you to play demanding games like Battlefield 3 at maximum settings in 1080p (expect to pay 2 grand if you want that on a laptop).

Geeky stats aside, this is a very nice laptop. It has a beautiful slim design, nice brushed industrial-metallic look. The finger-print reader with HP SimplePass is wonderful quick and easy to set up and allows you to log in to the PC and any website with a swipe of your fingerprint. The display is a beautiful matte non-glare style which can be seen from various angles and choosing a laptop with anti-glare (matte) displays is essential if you ever think you'll use the laptop outside or in a bright room. Its slim, lightweight and operates at an amazingly low temperature. The SSD means no moving parts and no vibration and also extends battery life. The keyboard feels really good and the off-center touchpad which I've heard some reviewers criticize is not, I repeat not a problem. The USB 3.0 ports make it easy to add a fast external hard drive if you need more hard drive space. Start-up and shut-down is hideously fast 11 seconds from dead to fully-on (try to honestly count your current laptop). Again, you can thank the SSD for that (a hybrid drive is not as fast).

Finally, a word on why this laptop is only available from one company (Eluktronics). I was initially a bit skeptical, but I went to HP's website and began to custom-build the same laptop. I noticed these components in their 'menu' and saw how the seller had obviously gone through a similar process picking components from arguably the best PC builder in the industry (HP). Therefore, you're not getting 3rd party components thrown into a HP shell, but the same quality components HP would put into their own custom-built laptops. Best of all, the seller prices them a couple of hundred bucks less than HP and is able to ship them asap. All other boutique laptop builders I looked at wanted a lot more money AND 3-4 weeks to build your PC before they even ship it. Result is I knew I was getting a bargain, quality components and a brand I can trust. (One final word: HP's website stopped offering the SSD and instead only provides the 'hybrid' 750GB drives on this laptop. I got the opportunity to try out this exact same laptop with the hybrid drive and it is way slower than the SSD.)

Finally, I confess this laptop is more than what I need right now. My wife wanted a MacBook Pro (the $2,100 model) and I knew this would compete. When you stack this up to a MacBook Pro, you have the following:

.................HP Envy DV6-7200.....................MacBook Air MD103LL/A..........MacBook Air Pro MC975LL

Processor....i7-3630QM Processor 2.4 GHz.......i7-2620M Processor 2.3 GHz....i7-3615QM 2.3GHz

PassMark....7628.........................................4164...................................7533

.................(can boost to 3.4 GHz)...............(can boost to 3.3 GHz)...........(can boost to 3.7 GHz)

Display........1080x1920 (2.07 million pixels).....1400 x 900 (1.29 million).........2880 x 1800 (5 million IPS)

RAM...........16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz.................4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz..............8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz

Video Card...2GB GT 650M............................512MB GT 650M....................1GB GT 650M

Hard Drive...256 GB SSD...............................512 GB mechanical drive.........256 GB SSD

Optical........Blu-Ray / DVD...........................DVD....................................?

USB 3..........3 ports...................................2 ports

Cost.........$1,400......................................$1,600.................................$2,068

Conclusion: The best MacBook has the better display with its IPS 5-million pixel retina display, BUT the CPU is slower, it has half the RAM, half the video RAM, and costs 50% more. The mid-range MacBook Pro shown above which costs two hundreds dollars more is pathetic when lined next to this HP model. Its CPU is almost half as fast, has a quarter of the RAM and a terrible graphics card. Winner HP Envy.

I run my computers through a bit of abuse. I was looking for a fast starting lap top that could also handle my 16 tabs in chrome, 10 tabs in photoshop, and 5 in illustrator sort of abuse (on a light day). This seems to be doing well so far. I've had it just a few months but I'm happy with the upgrades that were installed on it. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a little more power out of a laptop and has no patience to wait for the thing to start up (thank you solid state drive).

Buy HP DV6-7200 15.6" i7-3630qm Quad Core Extreme Performance Gaming Laptop with 256GB SSD Hard Drive & Now

Its been less than a week and I have tried several different games on this thing.

Sniper Elite V2Ultra settings, 20-30 fps (this game goes no higher than 31? even on lowest settings.)

Battlefield 3 Ultra settings, 18-27 fps (low settings 40-50 fps)

Trackmania Canyons highest settings 18-22 fps (low settings stays pinned on 31 fps)

So far nothing has been unplayable on the highest settings. SO im very impressed with the performance of this laptop. However if you are a fps stickler, it might not be for you for the super high end games. You will spend another 800 bucks to get anything much better than this one.

I like the design, the keyboard is great with little to no flex, its backlit so you can type in the dark, which is a huge plus for me. The only things that im not a big fan of is the trackpad buttons, kinda mushy, you cant tell if you have clicked or not. And the up and down arrow keys are tiny, so that will take some getting used to.

Overall 9/10 would buy again.

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and I broke that promise. When HP sold me a Netbook that had an obvious flaw and burned out the mother board (reported on by numerous parties) and HP acknoledged the problem but would do nothing about it, I swore off of them. I went back on my word however and purchased this PC. I have had nothing but issues with it, culminating in a "BIOS UPDATE" from within windows 8 that black screened my computer upon reboot and now I have to send back the entire system to HP for "repair". Nice machine, unfortunately built by HP who feels that they can put all sorts of stuff on their machine to make it "better" yet does nothing but cause problems.

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