HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition Review and Ratings

When it comes to notebooks, there's a fine line between gaming and entertainment. (Angry Birds is one thing; Aliens vs. Predator is quite another.) And then there's everything else you might use your desktop-replacement notebook for: watching Blu-ray movies, streaming Netflix content, and managing your photos, music, and videos. The HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition, equipped with a Core i7 processor, AMD Radeon HD6770M discrete graphics, a Blu-ray drive, excellent speakers, and a gorgeous 17.3-inch screen, is ideal for media enthusiasts, if not quite powerful enough for hard-core gamers.

Then again, at just over $1,600 for our tested configuration, the dv7t is not exactly a stretch for hard-core gamers, either; the truly hard-core ones usually get to choose between buying a serious gaming laptop and making a down payment on a nice car. Nonetheless, the dv7t's price is good for a well-stacked system with a quad-core processor, which is ideal for multi-threaded applications (such as Adobe Photoshop) and multitasking (such as playing one movie while you transcode another). If you're a power user looking to watch movies, play some (but not the most demanding) PC games, and listen to your music—and you want a large screen and spacious keyboard—this machine is for you. 

Features

The Pavilion dv7t's TrueVision HD Webcam is embedded in the black bezel, right above the screen. It's one of this machine's few true disappointments. The quality of video on the Webcam was very poor; in our tests, the lighting would flicker between bright and dark, as if we were attending a rave. This effect happened while we were using both the pre-installed Webcam software from CyberLink and while using Skype, so we think the hardware was the issue rather than the software.

Audio quality on the other hand, was top-notch; the internal microphone picked up our voices well while we videconferenced with a friend.

  

On the left, you’ll find VGA-out and HDMI-out video ports, an Ethernet port, two USB ports, a microphone jack, and two headphone jacks—a nice addition if two people want to watch a movie while keeping quiet.

 

Embedded into the glossy black bezel above the deck is the massive 17.3-inch glossy display, which has a 1,600x900-pixel native resolution. The screen displayed slightly above-average image and text quality, as well as very good video quality. We tested video quality by playing the 2009 movie Star Trek on Blu-ray. Detail and color were both rendered well, with space battles and explosions looking crisp and clear.

The speakers, which sit just under the screen, are another standout element. As is becoming nearly ubiquitous across HP’s laptops, the dv7t includes Beats Audio, which is stepped-up audio software, developed in consultation with rapper Dr. Dre, that delivers truer, better sound than you'll find on most laptops. The first thing you'll notice with the speakers is just how loud they get; you can easily fill a mid-size room with sound. The next thing you notice is that detailed audio comes through with both movies and music. The song “Under Cover of Darkness” by The Strokes has a nice mix of vocals, guitars, bass, and drums, and all those elements came through well here.

Performance

The dv7t offers strong performance, both in general and for the price. The starting price for the dv7t is $1,099, while the souped-up version we tested rang up at $1,604 in mid-July 2011. This model has a 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM processor (as noted, a four-core chip), along with 8GB of RAM and a dedicated AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics processor.

We started our testing trials with the 64-bit version of PCMark Vantage, a testing suite that measures overall system performance. Here, the dv7t scored an astonishing 14,200, a number we've seen only on much more expensive machines, such as the Maingear Titan 17, which cost a staggering $5,784 in our tested configuration. (We should note that while we compare this system to the Maingear Titan 17 quite a bit in this review, the two are not meant to be direct competitors. We compare them because the Titan 17 is a DirectX 11-capable notebook, and we've tested few DX11 machines so far.) The Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839, which costs a nearly identical $1,599 and also sports a Core i7-2630QM processor, 8GB of RAM, and a Blu-ray drive, scored a startlingly average 7,605. The Alienware m17x (3D) has similar specs and costs $3,000, but only scored a 10,091.

We then moved on to the 64-bit Cinebench 10 benchmark test, a CPU-focused test that exercises all CPU cores while it renders an image. The dv7t also posted above-average numbers for its price level. Its score of 17,054 bested the Aspire AS8950G's result of 16,672, though not by much. (The results were so close because both machines used the same CPU.) The Maingear Titan 17 beat this score by over 10,000 points, and it should, thanks to the pricey, good-as-it-gets six-core desktop processor that was in our test machine. Other top-of-the-line (and far more expensive) machines also outclassed the dv7t's score: the aforementioned $3,000 Alienware m17x (20,237), the $5,325 Malibal Nine X7200 (26,565) and the $4,250 Eurocom D900F Panther (25,961).

The dv7t is a strong package all around, with a good display, fantastic sound, and plenty of features.

The dv7t racked up great results in our media-file conversion tests. On our Windows Media Encoder test, in which we convert a 3-minute-and-15-second video clip to a DVD-quality format, the dv7t completed the task in 2 minutes and 17 seconds. In comparison, the Aspire AS8950G did the same task in a photo-finish 2:13. The Alienware m17x (3D) clocked this test in just 1:55, while the Maingear Titan 17 wins the title, with a time of 1:46.

Then there's our iTunes Conversion Test, which entails converting 11 standard MP3 tracks to AAC format. The dv7t completed the process in 2:37, the exact same time as the Aspire AS8950G. The Alienware m17x (3D) ran this test better at 2:14, while the Maingear Titan 17 again bested the competition (2:13). Keep in mind, however, for both these media tests, the fact that the dv7t is even close is impressive given the huge price chasm ($4,000) between the dv7t and the Titan 17. For the money, you’re getting excellent processor performance with this machine.

To evaluate the 3D-graphics capabilities of the dv7t's AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics chipset, we ran our 3DMark06 test. The dv7t had above-average scores of 12,662 at 1,024x768 resolution and 10,408 at its native 1,600x900. The Acer Aspire AS8950G scored lower, with a 10,754 at 1,024x768 resolution and 7,643 at its native resolution of 1,280x1,080. (To add some perspective, the $5,000-plus machines were above 22,000.) On a more-demanding version of the same test, 3DMark Vantage, the dv7t scored 6,323, which isn't great. We run this test on only the biggest and fastest machines that come through our labs, but even so, it was the second-lowest score of this elite class. Then again, the dv7t also has the second-lowest price. Only the $1,599 Acer Aspire 8943G-9429 scored lower, at 5,629.

As to how this translates to real-life gaming, we tested the dv7t by running our taxing Just Cause 2 benchmark, which measures frame rates with a recent DirectX 10 game. At its native 1,600x900 resolution, the dv7t managed 33.1 frames per second (fps) on Just Cause, which is playable and good for a machine at this price point. That’s on an arc with the Aspire AS8950G’s score of 23.6fps at its native resolution (a more-demanding 1080p). Again, serious gamers with deep pockets should look to gaming-specific rigs, whose scores more than double these. (The Titan 17, for example, managed 77.5fps on this game with the same detail settings at its native 1080p resolution.)

When we really push the system to deliver on its DX11 promise, however, the dv7t struggles to keep up at high settings. On our demanding Heaven test, it managed an acceptable 36fps at its native resolution, which is definitely a good sign. (The Maingear Titan 17 scored 45.5fps on this test, which, given the price and components of that machine, is about as high of a score as we expect to see for a while.) The frame rate fell to just 15fps on our Aliens vs. Predator DX11 gaming test, however, which borders on unplayable. You'll need to dial back the resolution and/or eye-candy settings to make this even-more-demanding DX11 game play as well as it should.

Finally, we ran our 3DMark11 benchmark, which is a synthetic test measuring, as you'd guess, DX11 capability. Here, the dv7t scored 1,552, compared with the Titan 17's score of 5,766. Again, the fairest conclusion we can draw here is that while this system is capable of DX11, it's not stellar with the very newest DX11 games.

On the whole, this is a good system for moderate gaming. If you’re all about the latest and greatest DirectX 11 titles, you’ll be disappointed. But if you rely on slightly older and less demanding titles to fill your downtime, the dv7t will deliver. Also, bear in mind that graphics abilities go beyond gaming, and this level of performance will most likely be just right for most graphics-intensive work, such as photo editing or moderate video editing.

When it comes to desktop-replacement laptops, battery life isn't something you expect to see much of. (If you’re not going to be taking your machine with you very often, what's the point of keeping a long charge?) However, this is still a laptop, after all, so some portability—even if it’s just across the room—is beneficial. In the case of the dv7t, its six-cell battery lasted a surprisingly long 3 hours and 25 minutes during our harsh DVD Battery-Rundown Test, in which we loop The Matrix on DVD with the screen set to 50 percent brightness until the battery dies. The Aspire AS8950G scored the exact same result. The average for this category of laptop is just under 2 hours, and the Maingear Titan 17 lasted a measly 40 minutes. So bravo to HP on this score.