HP Pavilion dv5t Review Discussion

[GaMeRxD]

i have a question.. Given that it has a 9600GT, will this have some heat issues with gaming since its the first hp pavilion that has a high end card?

[Johnny T]

Thanks for the review, and very nice pictures Chaz. Abit surprised by the GPU temps though. Although having seen a G1S's 8600GT run at 100C+ today, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised...

[icehell]

@chaz
hours before i buy!do you think dv7t run cooler than dv5t ?Cuz of large area for temp. dispertion.

[ZT3000!]

That's the first HP since my old ZT3000 that I want to own. The past few models were always straddled with low res screens and lame GPUs.

Sad to see the 9600GT still runs hot. Although, I'd urge anyone with this chip (and other nvidia equipped sterilizers) to invest in a high quality aluminum cooling pad when gaming.

[klas]

good review, but notebook is just so-so... also, I surprised to see someone say that screen is great, I checked out BestBuy model and I thought it did not enough brightness and bad contrast. Well, no wonder why a month later the offered $500 off on it

btw, I have Asus with 9600GS and notebook barely gets warm after 3 hours of Crysis and that's with notebook on a lap (CPU temp is at 52 degrees), so sounds like HP didn't do a good job with cooling in DV5.

[ninjatorpedo]

Seriously. Let us know when that GPU turns into liquid and pours onto your lap.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

Thanks for the great compliments. They made my day.

91 Dge C for the 9600 GT while gaming? Wow! That's frikkin' high.

Nice review Chaz.
Keep monitoring the temp and tell us if your GPU is defective

It is definitely a high temperature, though as Johnny T noted . . . not unheard of in this day and age. By lifting up the back of the notebook, the GPU temps dropped ten degrees for me.

Only time will tell about whether it will be a defective GPU or not.

@chaz
hours before i buy!do you think dv7t run cooler than dv5t ?Cuz of large area for temp. dispertion.

I haven't tested the dv7t . . . check the HP forum here though, since there are some owners of that machine posting there.

[Aleman]

I was close to buying one of these today--I can get your same config for $950 shipped with the coupon--but there are a few big drawbacks for me:

1. Battery life. 2.5 hours with the extended life battery just won't cut it.
2. Glossiness. I think glossy plastic looks cheap plus it's a fingerprint magnet.
3. Too many lights. Seriously, there are way too many LEDs on when the laptop is running. Can you change this in the BIOS?
4. Heat. I like to use laptops on my lap occasionally. Have same problem with my current HP laptop.
5. GDDR2. The 9600M GT would be like 25% faster if it had GDDR3 instead.
6. Touchpad. I had a problem with the 6500t's touchpad being difficult to use with wet fingers (lots of friction) and this one seemed even worse in the store.

Too bad though because otherwise this laptop is a steal for the price, especially with the coupon. I think I'll wait for a deal on a Thinkpad T500 instead. Switchable graphics solves the battery life and heat problems.

[Xirurg]

Great review Chaz!ithank you!a little off topic question-will you review the new gaming laptops(AKA sager 8660,AW m17x,etc.) any time soon?

[jessedorland]

Very nice notebook. However, I was hoping that you would have dual booted with XP. M$ is shoving this new version of ME at us, but most of us will be downgrading it.