HP Pavilion DV6-2140CA AMD M520 4GB 500GB 15.6IN HD Radeon HD4650 HDMI Windows 7 Premium Notebook

Comment:
I bought this to replace my old Merom Dual Core Pavilion notebook which had recently suffered from a broken hinge and display problems. One of the key things I was looking for in a replacement was a discrete graphics card, and this unit did not fail to impress, especially at the price.Although the unit can't really be compared to current gaming notebooks, it also isn't in anywhere near the same price range. Nevertheless, I've been impressed by it's performance, especially compared to other, integrated, graphics options on the market. While I haven't tried out any of the higher demanding games (this obviously wasn't purchased as a primary gaming machine), I've found that it runs some mid-range games very well, including those powered by the Doom 3 and Source engines. Beyond that, it's more than powerful enough for older games or those with lower requirements, such as Trine, Torchlight, or Laura Croft and the Guardian of Light.The media centre aspect works well, with sound that's more than adequate, multiple options for playback (I usually default to WMP, but others may like HP's option or Windows Media Center), and a handy remote that tucks into the side of the unit. The build quality seems sturdy enough, but time will tell. The hinge seems to be of better design than on my previous HP; replacing a dual hinge configuration with a sturdier, single hinge. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to be quite as loud or get quite as hot as my previous unit. Even when gaming.If you're looking for a low priced laptop for productivity purposes, you can't go wrong with the 15.6" screen and full number pad - perfect for spreadsheet work. And if you'd like to break that up with some light-medium gaming and/or media playback, you'll find this unit more than fits the bill.

Comment:
Bought for 599.99 and feel I got a good deal. Its not a gaming laptop, but its very good at what its meant for, and games decently.Battery life is good enough, but its only a 6-cell batt.My biggest gripe is that the brightness keys sometime do not work. I believe it to be a bios/driver issue. I heard updating will fix it... have not tried this yet.

Comment:
Solid laptop. It is pretty fast and even games half decently. There is a lot of bang for your buck here. Would have given 5 stars without the extremely annoying, poorly placed backslash keys... Would gladly give up the numpad to get rid of that!

Comment:
A co-worker bought this on my recommendation when it was on sale for 750 plus free shipping. He got me to set it up for him, and it was even better than I was expecting.Here are some more detailed specs.GPUZ->HD4650 PCIe 16x, 128bit, 1024MB GDDR3 Ram, gpu clock 550MHZ, mem 667MHZ (1333 effective) 320 shaders, DX10.1/SM4.1 (core and mem idle lower though)CPUZ -> Turion II 45nm, bus 200 mhz, htt=1800mhz, 512KB/core L2 cache, 128KB/core L1 cache. 785G mobo chipset.Ram 4GB (2x2) Samsung DDR2-800 6-6-6-18-24 1.8VLan Realtek PCIe RTL8168 GBEWLAN Atheros b/g/n 9285HDD - Hitachi HTS725050A9A364 7200RPM 500GBAlso no dead or stuck pixelsAnd Windows Experience IndexCPU - 5.8Ram (memory) - 7.1Graphics - 6.6Gaming - 6.6HDD - 5.9If it was still on sale with free shipping I would buy one for myself, but I am poor :(Even if this can be found for $800 I would say its worth it. This review was modfied by poster @ 06-09-10 10:46 AM