Home > Consumer Reviews > HP Pavilion DV6810US 15.4-inch Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-60 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

Pleez don't slam me for this not being a product review. I just got confused by noticing differing specs in the reviews on this page. After reading some replies to a few original comments, I see that I'm not the only one who is confused.

My conclusion is that Amazon is *combining* reviews from most (if not all) of the "DV68xx" series that appear in the pull-down menu at the top of this product listing page.

So, if you're writing a new review, and you want it to be truly helpful, then pleez be sure to include the specific HP model that you're reviewing. (It would also be helpful if existing reviews were edited by their authors to show this, also.)

Thanks.

P.S. I'm planning on buying a dv6880se. If so, I'll be sure to mention that model # in any upcoming review of mine.

This computer rocks! I've had absolutely no trouble ripping CDs or DVDs, converting the files and uploading to iPods or burn them on CDs or DVDs. The LightScribe feature is great too - it uses laser technology to label CD/DVD discs with anything you want: text, images, etc. The graphics are fantastic and the screen has perfect clarity and color. It also runs super quiet, and although warm it is much cooler than my AlienWare laptop. Load times would be improved with a faster hard drive, as the 320GB that comes with this model is a 5400 RPM drive. A 320GB at 7200 RPM would have been really nice.

I also love Vista SP1, and have had no trouble installing and running my XP applications. Only had to upgrade my old PGP application to a Vista compatible version.

This model is loaded with USB ports. The HDMI jack is a bonus too! The built-in wireless modem is great, and when used in conjunction with the network scanning (radar) gadget makes finding wireless networks a breeze.

HP also doesn't load up the computer with crap apps like other PC manufacturers.

It's sleek, lightweight and reliable. Everything that I could want and more.

Thanks HP!

Strengths:
Screen = Large Widescreen 15.4 in; Battery life = Long; Remote control for watching movies; Smart touch-sensitive multimedia controls; Good speakers; Dual audio outputs; Bluetooth and infrared connectivity; Multi-card reader; PRICE = REALLY LOW $600 after $185 rebate at Office Depot!

Weaknesses:
HDD = Small 160 GB; OS = Occupies too much memory Win Vista; USB Ports = 3; Win Vista does not come on a reloadable CD/DVD; No webcam.


After surveying more than 10 medium-sized compact laptops, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best available at this time (June 2008) in its class.
Sony's were a definite No-No because of their cost factor. Gateway, Acer and ASUS were on the other side of the cost spectrum which worried me! I have used 3 DELL laptops till now (and they have all been pretty good), so I wanted to try something else. Toshiba and HP were left to fight it out!

My minimum requirements were:
1. At least 250 GB HDD.
2. At least 2 GB of RAM.
3. At least 15.4 inch screen.
4. At least 1.6 GHz dual processor, preferably AMD.
5. Infrared/bluetooth connectivity.
6. DVD burner
The DV6810US met all the requirements except the HDD one.

At 160 GB, the HDD is SMALL! Especially with Windows Vista hogging so much disk space, you can feel the need for additional space. I still decided to go for this one because I have a spare 500 GB external HDD. I use the external HDD to store my multimedia files. The laptop HDD will be primarily used for loading software and temporary storage. Do keep in mind that the external HDD will take up one of your USB ports!

Although, I was looking for anything that had 2 GB or more RAM, I m glad that I bought 3 GB. I strongly recommend at least 3 GB with Vista. Again, although Vista looks smart and has some cool features, it eats any amount of memory you give it! So more the better.

The 15.4 in widescreen with the cool remote and touch-sensitive multimedia controls is one of the best things a multimedia buff will enjoy on this laptop. Watching movies, viewing pictures and playing music is as easy as 1-2-3. Now although, there are 17 in laptop screens out there (and all that real-estate can be pretty useful to artists who edit photos and movies), the factors to consider are cost, weight and portability. DV9810US gives all the same features of a DV6810US on a 17 in screen, and the cost-difference in Apr 08 was only $150. I would have gone for it in a heartbeat had it not been for the weight and portability aspect. A 17 inch laptop will barely fit on the tray-table of an economy seat in an airplane!!! It also consumes that much more battery! And if you don't need 17 inch worth of real-estate on your screen 100% of the time, I would rather buy a 20 inch flat-screen for around $200 and sit it on a table at home!

The DV6810US is powered by 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor. Though this is on of the faster processors in the market, Vista seems to slow it down (Only if Microsoft could have gotten out a better OS!)

I often connect my cell-phone to my laptop using infrared. This was a decisive factor when choosing between this one and Toshiba A205, A215 and P305 models. All of these are slightly superior to DV6810US on some other factors but lack infrared connectivity.

The Toshibas also lost because of the LabelFlash technology they used in their DVD burners. My study showed that HP's LightScribe was a better technology because of the availability of media and performance.

Most other laptops in its class feature a webcam, while this one does not. Again, I already had a good Logitech webcam, so I dint care a lot for the in-built one. Although, it will take-up another of your USB ports, it gives your more portability without having to move the entire laptop.

The weaknesses like only 3 USB ports (against 4 in some other models) and lack of webcam are pretty small, and are heavily outweighed by its strengths. The other OS related problems are inherent to Vista, and I believe would come with all laptops.

The other laptops I considered in my study were...
HP DV9810US
HP DV9820US
HP DV9830US
HP DV9720US
HP DV9730US
HP DV9740US
Toshiba Sat A215-S5848
Toshiba Sat A205-S5863
Toshiba Sat A215-S6804
HP dv6748us
Toshiba Sat A205-S5859
Toshiba Sat A215-S5849
HP DV9812US
Toshiba Sat P305-DS8818
HP DV6810US
HP DV6833US
HP DV6751US
HP DV6830US

I purchased this unit for my son who is entering his freshman year of high school. I have an HP unit for work that has been very reliable so thought I would give this a shot for him. He is very happy with it, works great for surfing and watching videos. We have not tried the Blue Ray player yet, but assume it will be nice. Having the 3 GB of Ram appears pretty crucial as I recently was upgraded (?) to Vista at work and my machine, which does not have that much Ram, runs pretty slow on it, but his works much quicker. Only drawback might be the wieght of this unit. It has an amazing battery life, but it comes at a heavy price, pun intended, the thing weighs a lot comparatively, but all in all, well worth the money and was very easy to fire up and start working on it right away.

The laptop has great ram (3 GB), great processor (rated at 6 GHz but runs at 4GHZ when needed), great ergonomics and design but what I hated is the card.
I have never seen a played in a computer that has a so cheap IGP (integrated graphic card) as the 7150m. It is a little better than my eMachines desktop of almost 4 years but not as much as I expected, but I least I can play games in the lowest resolutions with all desactivated (it does not good good at all).
And to run Vista Aereo you need at least a 3.0 rated card ant it is rated at 2.9 for Aereo and 2.5 for games.

And other bad thing, Vista, because without it, the laptop could perform way better in processing and graphically (that is why many games require better graphic card for vista to play a game with the same graphics with a lower card on XP).

To finish, this is a good laptop for a person that will do anything except playing demanding games as COD4 (playing but looks kinda bad).