HP Laptop Coupon: Pavilion dv7t Core i5-2430M 2.4GHz, 6GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, 17.3" 1920x1080 LED, 1GB Radeon HD 7690M, Blu-ray, WiFi N, Win 7 Prem $650 + Free Shipping

HP has issues in everything. it's part of the risk buying an HP.

17 inch? What a beast!

Does this have VGA? Yes I need VGA not HDMI :-)

Quote from by4x5 : HP has issues in everything. it's part of the risk buying an HP.

Not making this easier...

Isn't 650 i7 money?

Will i notice a gaming difference between this and a the quadcore i7 that HP usually has in these models? I plan on playing SC2 and League of legends.

about to pull the trigger... i just bought an i5 asus a month ago but it doesn't have a dedicated 2gb graphics cards... it doesn't have a dedicated card at all. a 2gb card will tremendously help with applications like lightroom and photoshop... am I correct? thanks!

Quote from xinpig : Will i notice a gaming difference between this and a the quadcore i7 that HP usually has in these models? I plan on playing SC2 and League of legends.

It depends what model you're comparing. What ever has the highest clock speeds will show a difference.

Quote from platinumnikka21 : about to pull the trigger... i just bought an i5 asus a month ago but it doesn't have a dedicated 2gb graphics cards... it doesn't have a dedicated card at all. a 2gb card will tremendously help with applications like lightroom and photoshop... am I correct? thanks!

he'yeh

Quote from fustate : Not making this easier...

Let me make it easier for you. This laptop will give you an average of 3-4 years of good life, then it will become a paperweight. If you want a 6-7 year laptop you should go with a premium brand like sager, but that will cost you over $1k. Also, you run the risk of about 5-10% early failure rate, meaning less than a year or just after warranty for HP mid range like this.

If it lasts it is a great deal for a good product. TU OP

ok thanks a bunch.. the wife just got into photography and needs a good build to edit and mess around with photos.. i think this is the rig for her. thanks!

Is the high capacity 6 cell worth it? I also decided to pay an extra 20 for the extra .1 ghz.

Is this a good video card? What about i5 v i7.... big difference?

I got a dv6 (15 inch version of this, otherwise identical), and there are a few things to note with this machine, and all of the Pavilions in general:

1. Total tool-less upgrade bay doesnt need prying to remove or replace...you just move the battery eject button in the opposite direction, and the door comes right off. Very easy to upgrade the RAM, HD, and wireless card(*)

(*) - You need to flash a bios with the whitelist removed to use non HP-sanctioned (overpriced) cards.

2. The light leakage from the LEDs around the chassis pretty bad. It will peak through near where the HDD LED, and the Power LED are located. In general it shouldnt be that bothersome, but it shows you that the fit and finish of this machine isnt exactly top tier.

3. To date, there is no backlit keyboard mod for this machine yet, even though the connector for the backlight is actually silkscreened and installed onto the motherboard inside.

4. You can switch between Intel and AMD graphics pretty easily...either leave the BIOS as is, and let windows choose dynamic switching, or you can go into the BIOS and tell it you want to manually adjust it, and then in windows you just choose when to hit the gas.

5. The 6 cell should last a little under 3 hours with videos and browsing. Might be a bit worse since this is on my machine, which has identical specs, except for the screen size and the i7.

6. No eSATA like on the old DV series laptops, but it has USB 3.0 ports. The lack of expresscard limits your IO options.

Overall, this machine is very cheap for the amount of power and utility you get out of it, but the build quality is a bit flimsy. Having a metal cover and palmrests makes it feel more solid...and the hinges are very tight and secure. The screen can be opened a full 180 degrees.