Typical price: £740
What is it: Stylish 15.4-inch widescreen laptop
What we think: We like its attractive design and multimedia features, but don't expect this Core 2 Duo laptop to break any speed records
HP Pavilion dv6000 (Core 2 Duo) Review
Reviewed on: 4 October 2006
We reviewed an early version of the HP Pavilion dv6000 that was built on a 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 processor, however that processor will not be offered on the system initially (for now, the dv6000 will top out with the 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 chip). The rest of our configuration will be available, though -- 1GB of fast 667MHz RAM; a 100GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; and an Nvidia GeForce Go 7500 graphics card with 256MB of VRAM.
Performance
On CNET Labs' application benchmarks, the Pavilion dv6000 excelled at the processor-intensive iTunes encoding test, completing the tasks noticeably faster than the PC Club Enpower ENP680 (also based on Core 2 Duo) and Dell Inspiron E1505 with a previous-generation Core Duo processor.
The dv6000 didn't come out ahead on the multitasking and Photoshop tests, though, probably because it has less RAM than its competitors. Even with half the RAM, we expected the dv6000 to beat the Dell Inspiron E1505 on all three of CNET Labs' new benchmarks -- that it took longer than the Dell to complete our Photoshop test shows that Core 2 Duo systems are not leaps and bounds ahead of older Core Duo laptops.
When it comes to battery life, the Pavilion dv6000's 2 hour, 35 minute battery life is somewhat disappointing -- we'd hoped for at least 3 hours. In short, the dv6000 should give you all the power you need (especially if you kick in a little extra to upgrade the RAM right away), but you aren't likely to get much time away from the wall socket with the standard-capacity battery.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
BAPCo MobileMark2005 battery life in minutes |
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BAPCo MobileMark2005 performance |
System configurations:
Dell Inspiron E1505
Windows XP Media Center; 2GHz Intel Core Duo T2500; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC-4300 533MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon x1400 256MB; Samsung HM120JI 120GB 5,400rpm
PC Club Enpower ENP680
Windows XP Home; 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC2-5300 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce GO 7600 GS 256MB; Seagate Momentus 7200.1 80GB 7,200rpm
HP Pavilion dv6000
Windows XP Pro; 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo T7400; 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 256MB; Fujitsu MHV2100BH PL 100GB 5,400rpm
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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