The HP Pavilion dv6t-6000 is the best of any other.

HP Pavilion dv6t-6000

The HP Pavilion dv6t is a solid improvement on HP’s previous 15-inch mainstream consumer laptop with numerous tweaks, bells, and whistles, but the wide variety of options means you’ll get wildly different systems based on what you can afford. Big midrange laptops are like standard-size cars: most of the time, they’re just not going to be very exciting. The HP Pavilion dv6t-6000 falls right into this category like a square peg into its inevitable hole; this 15.6-incher is a highly configurable model at the heart of HP’s mainstream laptop line, much like the Dell Inspiron 15R.

The Pavilion dv6t is considered a “hig- performance” laptop on HP’s Web site, but its configurations throttle more into the mainstream: a processor ranging from second-gen Core i3 up to dual-core Core i7; midrange AMD graphics options; and an optional 1080p display and Blu-ray. The highest-end elements of the dv6t are its trimmings: a built-in fingerprint reader that can launch apps and Web pages; a Beats audio-powered above/below-keyboard speaker array; USB 3.0; and an HD Webcam.

The dv6t starts at a reasonable $599 for a second-gen Core i3 CPU, Intel integrated graphics, and a 500GB hard drive; our $849 version had a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M CPU, 1GB AMD Radeon 6490M graphics, a 640GB hard drive, and 6GB of RAM.  Though that may sound like a good package to some, this bulky laptop still lacked some high-end media laptop features at our $849 price, and it wasn’t excellent at playing games. If you’re interested in spending up to add better AMD graphics, 1080p resolution, and Blu-ray, the dv6t can become the dream machine you’re looking for, but at a higher price. Some might consider picking up the low-end config along with its more upscale bell-and-whistle trimmings, making the dv6t a more sensible buy.

As far as audio’s concerned, the Pavilion dv6t has gotten a little overhaul. The much-talked-about (mostly by HP) Beats Audio technology built into HP Envy laptops a few years ago has since spread across much of HP’s laptop line. Its inclusion in the dv6t amounts to circuitry and software (for sound amplification and equalizing), not the speaker hardware. The speakers aren’t bad; a top sound bar above the keyboard accompanies two stereo speakers situated under the laptop, toward the front and below the keyboard. There are quad speakers but no subwoofer. We pumped up movies, music, and some Beastie Boys music videos, and got output that was much better than average. However, it wasn’t what we’d call spectacular. Laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and Toshiba’s Harman Kardon-equipped Satellites had even better-sounding bass and treble clarity to our ears.

With its included six-cell battery, the Pavilion dv6t ran for 4 hours and 49 minutes using our video playback battery drain test. A hair under 5 hours for a 15.6-inch laptop is very good, but we’ve seen better out of products like the Apple MacBook Pro. For a Windows laptop in 2011, it’s better than average.

HP offers a standard one-year warranty with the Pavilion dv6t. A variety of other warranty and service options can be added point-of-sale on HP’s site, starting at $99 extra for a two-year Care Pack pick-up-and-return service to $199 extra for a three-year Care Pack House Call service with accidental damage protection. HP’s Web site and phone service are easy enough to navigate, although with all the variations in configurations, matching your specific laptop can be a bit of a challenge.