Reviews of HP Pavilion DV6-1280US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

Customer Ratings:

My wife and I purchased this laptop for her mother and I have been very impressed with the features and build quality. It is well constructed with a metallic toned black plastic exterior. Take a good look at the shell art since it is something that may not appeal to everyone but my mother-in-law definitely appreciated having something a little more individual than the usual dull grey exterior. Despite the glossy exterior we haven't noticed much in the way of finger prints or any scratches despite the helping hands of our kids who love to "help" grandma with her computer.

The specs for this model are set well above what the average home owner needs today which (in my mind) future proofs it nicely. If you are on a tight budget you can get what you need for less (look at the HP Pavilion G60 line). If you have a little bit more to spend and you want some headroom to handle your computing needs for the next few years this is a great choice.

CPU The dual core Turion is a solid notebook processor. It can handle two threads which means you can have the virus scanner running while you surf the web with no noticeable slowdown. No it's not the most aggressive notebook CPU out there but it's a solid mid-tier processor that runs cool and has a great power envelope. Outside of gaming CPUs are not the performance bottleneck in notebooks so most users should aim for a mid-tier CPU and spend their budget on things that will get them more tangible enjoyment (like a nice display and good graphics).

RAM The 64 bit Windows can utilize more RAM than the old 32 Windows so why not through a lot of memory at it? It's cheap and a better path to improved performance for the average notebook user than more CPU horsepower. 6 GB of RAM might seem like overkill but this is one area where too much now = enough later.

HDD 500GB plenty is far more space than you need now but again, I like the future proofing. Some people may not like that it is 5400 RPM vs. 7200 RPM but the performance difference is nearly zero thanks to the 6GB of RAM and the reliability of 5400 RPM drives makes me prefer them in notebooks which are hard on hard disks (because they move around while in use notebook HDDs suffer far more failures than desktop drives)

Graphics The integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 is vastly superior to the usual low-end graphics that plague notebooks. You can actually do a little gaming on this notebook which is a truly rare thing.

Display HP has a reputation for high-end displays and this one delivers. Tuned slightly for indoor use the HP Brightview display is good enough for outdoor use though not as much as a more matte display. Indoors it is brilliant with surprisingly strong blacks (too many notebook displays are all brightness with no depth). I like that the 16" wide screen provides a decent amount of vertical space without overdoing it. The difference between this and a 14"-15" is surprising.

Sound Surprisingly good sound for a notebook. The speakers are well positioned and deliver a good range. I've heard better but it was on a $3K notebook.

Battery For years the retail notebook market has been plagued with cheap six cell and even four cell batteries that could barely deliver 90 minutes of real computing use. To see HP bundle a 12 cell Li-Ion battery in with this notebook is hopefully a sign the industry is recognizing the note users want good battery life. With a 12 cell battery you can realistically plan to go all day without plugging in. This does add slightly to the weight but few users will notice.

I don't have any serious "cons" for this computer. The "Touch Media Controls" for things like the volume (as opposed to buttons you push) are a little odd at first but we got used to them quickly and hey, they look cool when they light up.

To wrap it all up: you can always buy more features for more money but if you are looking for a laptop with some higher-end features and upscale build quality this is an excellent choice. HP spent money in the right places and has created a high-end laptop at a mid-tier price.

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This laptop delivers especially for the price. 64 bit Vista with upgrade to Windows 7 included, Turion X2 64 Ultra dual core mobile processor rocks, 1Gb dedicated graphics memory and up to nearly 3Gb with memory sharing on a Radeon HD 4650 stand alone video card, WiFi a,b,g,n and bluetooth built in, 6 Gb DDR2 RAM, 500Gb HD, Bright View screen is super clear, built in scrolling on the synaptics touch pad, if you use a mouse you can turn the touch pad off and more. I've been playing EQ2 online and playing music CDs both at the same time with no problems. This machine will run high end games. The only things I don't like about it is the 5400rpm HD which is not really that big of a deal and especially all of the preloaded software offers and trials that took me two days to identify and remove.

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I bought this laptop a few months back ...

I have had nothing but problems with it !!!

With in the first month the heat sink stopped working, had to send it back to Hp to get it fixed.

That took almost 8-10 days..

Then the laptop started crashing every time i would run movies or videos.

I thought it was a problem with the operating system, but technicians at Microsoft told me

that the error number suggested that it was a hardware problem(mostly with the processor or motherboard)

So I had to send it back again to Hp.

I took them 2 weeks to figure out what the problem was even after i specifically told them what was

happening, because the call center person who i spoke to entered the data wrong(even after i repeated it twice)

Now since last week i m again having problems with the laptop.

Its heating up like crazy & shutting down.

I plan to send it back & ask Hp for my money back,

I have learnt my lesson, NEVER to buy Hp again.. Bad products & worse support you will ever find.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion DV6-1280US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

HP Pavilion DV6-1280US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

You can't beat this laptop for the price. I actually got this on sale for $949.00 and then a $50.00 rebate on top of that and the Widows 7 free upgrade. I have had many laptops prior to this one and my last one was an HP with an AMD processor, never had a problem with it, in fact it still runs, but it's over 4 years old and can't keep up with today's technology or my needs.

Personally, I would not pay the extra money for an Intell processor when I have never had a problem with AMD and AMD is a few hundred less.

Great laptop, fast machine with good graphics.

My only complaint is Vista 64 Home Premium. You cannot create a real ADMIN account and I think I might need to upgrade to the business or professional version which you do not have the ability to do when order this laptop from Amazon. However that said, you also can't beat Amazon's price on this machine.

The only other thing is that I would have also preferred a 17 inch, but could not pass this laptop up with 6 gigs of ram, 500 gig hard drive and with my rebate it only cost me $900.

You won't be sorry if you purchase this laptop.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion DV6-1280US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

Plenty of power for hungry Vista. This laptop packs as much if not more punch than most desktops. Great for gaming & media apps. Intensive graphics capabilities. Great battery life.