Ben Herila

I recently purchased a HP dv7t quad edition. I couldn’t find any decent reviews of the quad core/i7 model online, so I thought I’d write one up. This is my first review ever, so any comments would be welcome.

First off, the all-important specifications:

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
• 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M – For i7-720QM and i7-820QM Processors
• 17.3″ diagonal HD+ High-Definition HP LED BrightView Infinity Widescreen Display (1600 x 900) with webcam
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• No TV Tuner w/remote control
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Integrated 56K Modem

Before you totally discredit me, I only got the 56K modem because I needed it to use a $300 off coupon. Besides, it was only $10. The system was just over $1000 before tax and after about $500 worth of discount coupons and savings.

The computer arrived slightly less than two weeks after I ordered it, earlier than the estimated arrival date by about a week. It arrived in the typical laptop box, although system restore discs were not included. There was a slightly less-than usual amount of crapware preinstalled (Norton trial), and I followed the prompts to create a set of system recovery DVDs (four 4.7 GB discs were needed).

I then promptly wiped the hard drive to install my own retail copy of Windows 7… only to find that none of the drivers (except for ethernet) could be automatically detected and installed by Windows Update. No problem, I thought, and downloaded the correct drivers from HP’s web site. No luck. Graphics card wasn’t detected, sound didn’t work, nor did the Bluetooth, wireless card, or basically anything else. A quick search revealed that only the drivers preinstalled with the notebook were guaranteed to work. These were promised in the C:\swsetup folder I had so recently reformatted over. With a sigh, I dug out the restore discs I had just burned, and proceeded with the restore.

The restore process was a breeze, and didn’t reinstall much of the junk (like the Norton Trial). It did reinstall HP MediaSmart, which I was okay with because it doesn’t load on boot or disrupt much of anything. The restore discs also didn’t restore the 20 GB recovery partition which I also nuked (intentionally) during Windows setup. The restore took a long time – probably about two hours – but afterwards, everything was great (except that I was running Home Premium rather than Ultimate), and I proceeded to set up the rest of my programs.

One of the main reasons I got the laptop was to be able to work with CUDA on the go, and I had some trouble getting the CUDA drivers to work. If you’re so inclined, you’ll need the Cuda 2.2 SDK and toolkit, and *not* any of the drivers from NVIDIA’s web site. The preinstalled drivers for the GeForce GT 320M included version 2.2 of the CUDA runtime. None of the drivers from NVIDIA’s web site were compatible with the GT 320M, and they will not be officially available until the next quarterly driver update in March 2010.

You might have noticed that I sprung for the “infinity display” upgrade. This means that HP installs the screen so that the whole thing is one flush surface (like on the MacBook Pro). The display looks great and is sufficiently bright (although not blazingly bright, especially for a LED backlit display), and the infinity upgrade really adds a lot in terms of look and feel. To me, it was worth the modest upgrade

Despite all of the horror stories I’ve heard about HP’s build quality, I found the laptop to be solidly built. The keyboard isn’t as good as the ThinkPad keyboards, but it’s certainly not bad. Even though the lettered keys are off center (due to the numeric keypad), it didn’t feel unnatural to type or to use the touchpad.

While the HP’s glossy surface looks really nice out of the box, I found that the dark surface shows fingerprints and smears far too well. I thought my hands might have been too greasy, but even a thorough hand washing (yes, with soap and water) didn’t stop my fingers from leaving marks all over the case, touchpad, and keyboard. I expect that the same will go for the customary scratches, etc. that go along with normal laptop use over the next few years. I don’t understand why HP ships with this option by default, let alone charges extra ($25!) for the white case at the time of this writing.

The good:

• It’s fast. Really, really fast. The 7200 rpm hard drive is the bottleneck and the 6 GB of RAM is luxurious. It would absolutely scream with a fast SSD – or even two, which brings me to my next pro:
• RAID in a laptop. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to test this feature out personally.
• Wonderful discrete graphics that easily supports my 26″ external screen at 1920×1200.
• Great sound, with a subwoofer to boot.
• Nice assortment of ports, including HDMI and VGA, eSATA, firewire, and 3 USB 2.0 ports.
• Infinity display means nothing’s getting in that little crack between the screen and the trim, and it looks amazing.
• Restore discs don’t restore crapware.

The bad:

• No Blu-Ray offered on the CTO models (I heard something about a Blu-Ray shortage?)
• For a laptop, it’s heavy and only barely fits in my standard-sized backpack. For the specs, the weight is certainly not excessive.
• Shiny HP finish showcases fingerprints and smudges like nothing else.
• Huge, ugly, brightly-backlit HP logo on the back of the screen.
• I can clearly see my reflection in the screen when there is ambient light.
• It comes preloaded with all sorts of goodies you probably don’t want, like a free trial of Norton AntiVirus.
• The subwoofer makes an annoying “pop” when the laptop is turned off or enters suspend mode.
• The graphics card can’t compete with my GTX 260, which is okay, but not what I really expected, given the fact that my laptop is brand new and my GTX 260 is nearly a year old.
• Battery life, but I’m listing this one last for a reason. What do you expect with a Core i7, 6GB of RAM, and discrete graphics?

The HP dv7t quad is one powerhouse of a laptop, perhaps a bit too much computer if you’re going to be taking it all over the place, but certainly a great candidate for a development or gaming machine.