*HP dv6t & dv7t (70XX / 71XX series) IVY BRIDGE Owners Lounge*

[Ice H4wk]

Guy's im pretty darn sure the finger print reader wasn't removed for 3 reasons. One, its still on the overview page, and just says it has it in the specs. Bellow the customization specs. Two, it had great reviews and was well liked, in fact i think early models last year used it as a fairly big selling point. Three, they have pictures of the model and a video of it with the finger print reader, so the frame is already meant for it, and they would need to make you model frames (although not really a drastic change) to fill the hole where it goes lol. I think hp just ether forgot to say they put it in on the customized page, or they just don't advertise it, kinda like how they never really advertised the back-lit keyboard.

As for the webcam, that might have changed due to supple, but i still doubt it. Its probably the same one just named differently. And maybe they forgot about the Norton thing so they added it, which i don't care for, i hate Norton.

Edit: the price increased on the graphics cards 25 dollars each. I guys HP realized the significant demand of the gt 650m

[sigh]

Guy's im pretty darn sure the finger print reader wasn't removed for 3 reasons. One, its still on the overview page, and just says it has it in the specs. Bellow the customization specs. Two, it had great reviews and was well liked, in fact i think early models last year used it as a fairly big selling point. Three, they have pictures of the model and a video of it with the finger print reader, so the frame is already meant for it, and they would need to make you model frames (although not really a drastic change) to fill the hole where it goes lol. I think hp just ether forgot to say they put it in on the customized page, or they just don't advertise it, kinda like how they never really advertised the back-lit keyboard.

As for the webcam, that might have changed due to supple, but i still doubt it. Its probably the same one just named differently. And maybe they forgot about the Norton thing so they added it, which i don't care for, i hate Norton.

Valid points.... I was wondering how they would go about entirely re-making the case sans finger reader thing. I guess I just figured maybe they would just stick a flag in it with 'protected by norton' or some such. It is also true that the hp webpage is subject to massive flailing at times. My mind is set to ease that HP wouldn't be /that/ dimwitted as to choose some free antivirus over a handy piece of equipment.

[Falco152]

Well, HP isn't very good at documenting stuff on their own sites.
Just because was written or has pictures on the site doesn't mean it is available or as standard on the product.

In the end, it's what on your receipt and part invoice determines what you got.

[autobulb]

Games will eventually require the 2GB's of VRAM, meanwhile the mSSD is overpriced. HP sells it at about $1.5625/GB. Buying a retail price SSD is at $1.40/GB.

A Note to those confused about 1GB vs 2GB of video memory, the mSSD, and Optimus:

A graphics card can't utilize large amounts of video memory if the processing cores are not fast enough to handle it. A mid range card such as the 650m will not benefit in any significant way from an extra GB of video memory because there is limited memory bandwidth and the cores are not clocked very high. Large amounts of video memory (2GB+) is useful in high end cards that have lots of memory bandwidth (256bit or more I'm guessing) and are able to game in very high settings at 1080p resolution or GREATER. The 650m has a 128bit bus and will not be able to play many games at 1080p. Perhaps older games or newer ones with the settings turned down low.

It's not a matter of "games don't use 2GB video memory but they will eventually," it's a matter of whether the rest of the components on the videocard can make use of it. The 650m, in my opinion, will see little to no benefit from the extra 1GB and it's simply a marketing gimmick to get you to spend more money. You can look at professional reviews of cards that offer 1GB and 2GB models (where the rest of the specs are the same) and the results are always similar. You don't see benefits until you reach really high resolution settings and since the 650m is mid range, you won't reach those high settings anyway making the extra memory a waste of money.

Secondly, whether or not the mSSD that HP offers is worth the money from a dollar per GB point of view is dependent on a few things. Comparing the $/GB ratio to cheap cards on the market is not a good comparison because of difference of throughput and more important if the memory is SLC or MLC. Also, form factor. The mSSD is likely a miniPCI-e card instead of a 2.5" drive format which are usually a little more expensive. Secondly, if HP is awesome and actually offers a nice SLC drive it will justify the extra cost. However, until people start getting their units in and can give us specifics on the model numbers of the mSSD cards, we won't know for sure. Finally, it's also an indirect comparison to compare a HDD + cache SSD with just a SSD drive because with the HDD + cache you are able to fit a lot of storage space with the benefits of fast application loading for a small amount of money versus a single SSD drive that you either have to compromise on space or spens a LOT of money to get a large drive.

And regarding Optimus, unless HP made a major, major, MAJOR error this machine most definitely has Optimus. There's no reason for it not to. All the modern mid range Nvidia graphics cards that are paired with Intel HD use Optimus. The only example I can think of that doesn't is the 660m used in the 3D model of the new Asus gaming laptop (G75?) and that is because of something to do with the 3D aspect of the laptop. Hell even the 670m, which is going into "high end" territory is able to use Optimus which is a nice improvement over the 500m series which capped out at 555m.

The bigger question is if the GPU will work with Nvidia's vanilla drivers or if we have to wait for HP to release their specific OEM drivers. My guess is that the regular Nvidia ones should work (since their Optimus drivers merged with the main drivers) but HP has been known to pull off some weird OEM crap like that before.

[Falco152]

Only if HP don't deviate from Nvidia's implementation for Optimus.
Both the normal Intel and Nvidia graphic drivers work simply by double click.
Even from a clean install.
Just make you install in order, Intel first, then Nvidia. Otherwise, Nvidia driver would complain and ask you to install Intel's first.

[russjames]

So I've made my decision on the hard drive. I'm going to avoid the 32GB mSSD and just go with the 750GB 7200rpm for now. Maybe sometime in the near future I'll look at purchasing a bigger SSD. However, that raises a couple more questions...

1. Is there any compatibility issues that come with purchasing a SSD or will any Solid State work with the 750GB 7200rpm and HP Dv7t?

2. Is it complicated to install a new SSD or can you just pop it in and be good to go?

3. Do you have any particular SSD that you like or prefer? and is there a certain size I should look for to accompany the 750GB 7200rpm HDD?

4. Or should i just stick with the mSSD+HDD

Thanks.

[kitsune556]

So I've made my decision on the hard drive. I'm going to avoid the 32GB mSSD and just go with the 750GB 7200rpm for now. Maybe sometime in the near future I'll look at purchasing a bigger SSD. However, that raises a couple more questions...

1. Is there any compatibility issues that come with purchasing a SSD or will any Solid State work with the 750GB 7200rpm and HP Dv7t?

2. Is it complicated to install a new SSD or can you just pop it in and be good to go?

3. Do you have any particular SSD that you like or prefer? and is there a certain size I should look for to accompany the 750GB 7200rpm HDD?

4. Or should i just stick with the mSSD+HDD

Thanks.

Make sure you get a 2.5" SSD SATA II or III and you shouldn't have any problems. I'd recommend SATA III 6 GB/s (it will be much faster). They're pretty easy to install, highly recommend a fresh OS installation. Use the SSD as the primary drive for the OS, programs, etc. HDD bay should be easily accessible. Intel tends to be the most stable, stay away from Hitachi or Samsung. OCZ is probably the most bang for your buck.

[autobulb]

So I've made my decision on the hard drive. I'm going to avoid the 32GB mSSD and just go with the 750GB 7200rpm for now. Maybe sometime in the near future I'll look at purchasing a bigger SSD. However, that raises a couple more questions...

1. Is there any compatibility issues that come with purchasing a SSD or will any Solid State work with the 750GB 7200rpm and HP Dv7t?

2. Is it complicated to install a new SSD or can you just pop it in and be good to go?

3. Do you have any particular SSD that you like or prefer? and is there a certain size I should look for to accompany the 750GB 7200rpm HDD?

4. Or should i just stick with the mSSD+HDD

Thanks.

You might want to read my post a few posts up. The mSSD that HP offers is very likely some form miniPCI-e card that fits in a slot much like a wireless card. It is not a full sized (2.5") SSD. If you end up wanting to get a full sized SSD you will have to replace your HDD or find a caddy to fit in the optical drive slot so that you can use the SSD in the original HDD slot and the HDD as storage in the optical drive slot. Often notebook manufacturers use a slower port for the optical drive like a SATA 1.5GBPS port instead of the full 3GBPS so it would not be advisable to put the SSD in the caddy.

Whether or not HP uses a standard format for their mSSD we will find out if someone that ordered one is able to access the port and tell us. Unfortunately previous manufacturers that have used this combo have created their own proprietary format so finding an aftermarket mSSD might be difficult. There is also a pretty decent possibility that if you do not order the mSSD that the miniPCI-e slot will not have the required connections to use a mSSD so even if you had access to the port and it was standard, an after market mSSD wouldn't work. These are all just guesses and we won't find out until someone gets a model with mSSD and tells us what the model is as well as someone without a mSSD tries one to see if it works. I'm just assuming more on the "can not" side because OEM manufacturers tend to limit upgradability if it saves them money.

[PaKii94]

im thinking about buying the quickship model and having the laptop in 5-7 days just to check out and play around with ivy+kepler... return in 20 days and wait for envy ivy bridge :O... i dunno if i should do it or not haha

[Unblinded]

1. Not really, most any will fit. Dv7 allows you to choose any two drives you want basically since it has two slots.

2. Not complicated to install but there are some tweaks you can do to optimize SSD usage. Check out Elpamsoft.com Home of the SSD Tweaker for Windows to get the SSD Tweaker.

3. Well Intel and Crucial are known to be quite reliable and Crucial M4 probably one of the best values. I mean if your doing a ssd boot os and 750gb as storage drive. 64gb is usually good enough, but some people prefer 128gb to install more games and also you get faster write speed with larger ssd sizes.

4.This option is really more for dv6t users which really hasn't been cleared up since both models don't have same amount of hard drive slots. DV7t users in my opinion should not waste their money on a $50 32gb cache drive. Since you have two slots, just get any ssd you like and clone the 750gb drive to the boot drive using acronis or other software. Then format the 750gb for storage and you an an optimal desktop setup.

But for DV6T users, you need to decide whats more important to you speed or capacity. I myself want a storage drive and ssd boot drive. But since we have only 1 slot, Msata is the savior to get the best of both worlds in a laptop that has only 1 drive slot (without compromising the blu-ray drive in this case). Yes it's only a cache drive, but it will still be much faster load times all around. I mean the best seagate hybrid drive is 750gb and has only a 8gb ssd cache on it and yet they sell very well because there is a noticeable speed increase. And the 500gb version only has a 4gb ssd cache and it has been recommended on most top review sites for a few years now. So the 32gb mssd cache should technically perform much better if HP sets it up correctly of course, lol.

Now ideally I want to get a 64gb Msata ssd and install the os on that to replace the 32gb cache. Well you could install os on the 32gb, but it will be cutting it close as you install programs. But since we don't know if HP will whitelist certain Mssd, we'll have to wait and see if this is a viable option. But for most people looking to get faster than the normal 7200rpm speeds, the 32gb cache will be good enough. However, if you don't care about space and just want all speed, then by far go ahead and get a 256GB or 512gb SSD if you can afford it and don't bother with mssd at all.

Lastly I will say I feel people are underrating how powerful an MSSD can be. Check the link below for overview and benchmarks of it's possible capabilities and of course this depends on the model HP decides to provide us. Hopefully they don't skimp on us and that's really the truth. We can only speculate or rather hope that HP would give us something worthwhile if their offering it, but hey until someone gets one and posts real benchmarks anyone can be right really as it being worth it or not. So note that the link below is a more quality MSSD drive, which there is no guarantee we will get.

But look closely at the PC compatibility as it states it can work the HP Envy 14 Beats Edition. So that is some good hope in my opinion.

http://mydigitalssd.com/msata-ssd.php