HP Pavilion dv6-1240ea review
in Laptops
1 of 2 
Verdict
An excellent laptop, that's keenly priced. As long as you can live with its glossy, eye-catching looks it's a very good buy
Review Date: 7 Sep 2009
Reviewed By: Sasha Muller
Price when reviewed: £608 (£699 inc VAT)
Overall Rating
Features & Design
Value for Money
Performance
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Part Code | DV6-1240sa |
| Review Date | 7 Sep 2009 |
| Price ex VAT | £608 |
| Price inc VAT | £699 |
| Overall rating |
|
| Features & Design |
|
| Value for Money |
|
| Performance |
|
| Warranty | |
|---|---|
| Warranty | 1yr collect and return |
| Physical specifications | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 379 x 258 x 45mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 2.840kg |
| Travelling weight | 3.4kg |
| Processor and memory | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel PM45 |
| RAM capacity | 8.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR2 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 |
| Screen and video | |
|---|---|
| Screen size | 15.6in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,366 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 768 |
| Resolution | 1366 x 768 |
| Graphics chipset | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 |
| Graphics card RAM | 512MB |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 0 |
| Drives | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 500GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 466GB |
| Spindle speed | 5,400RPM |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 |
| Hard disk | Toshiba MK5055GSX |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer |
| Optical drive | LG GT20L |
| Battery capacity | 4,200mAh |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 |
| Networking | |
|---|---|
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
|
| 802.11b support |
|
| 802.11g support |
|
| 802.11 draft-n support |
|
| Integrated 3G adapter |
|
| Other Features | |
|---|---|
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
|
| Wireless key-combination switch |
|
| Modem |
|
| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 1 |
| PC Card slots | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 4 |
| eSATA ports | 1 |
| PS/2 mouse port |
|
| 9-pin serial ports | 0 |
| Parallel ports | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 3 |
| SD card reader |
|
| Memory Stick reader |
|
| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
|
| Smart Media reader |
|
| Compact Flash reader |
|
| xD-card reader |
|
| Pointing device type | Touchpad |
| Audio chipset | IDT HD Audio |
| Speaker location | Above keyboard |
| Hardware volume control? |
|
| Integrated microphone? |
|
| Integrated webcam? |
|
| Camera megapixel rating | 0.3mp |
| TPM |
|
| Fingerprint reader |
|
| Smartcard reader |
|
| Carry case |
|
| Operating system and software | |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit |
| OS family | Windows Vista |
| Recovery method | Recovery partition |
| Software supplied | CyberLink DVD Suite, Microsoft Works 9 |
| Battery and performance tests | |
|---|---|
| Battery life, light use | 3hr 0min |
| Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 14min |
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.10 |
| Office application benchmark score | 1.21 |
| 2D graphics application benchmark score | 1.19 |
| Encoding application benchmark score | 0.94 |
| Multitasking application benchmark score | 1.06 |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 45fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low |
From around the web
Grat bit of kit, how do I get one?
Having read the review I am really interested in getting one of these. However... they are not available from Amazon or other online retailers and after phoning the HP Direct sales line they tell me its not in stock to buy from them and they can't tell me who has stock. They best they could offer was to "Google the part number".
Long live the direct sales channel I say!
By Hayden on 9 Sep 2009 
Grat bit of kit, how do I get one?
Having read the review I am really interested in getting one of these. However... they are not available from Amazon or other online retailers and after phoning the HP Direct sales line they tell me its not in stock to buy from them and they can't tell me who has stock. They best they could offer was to "Google the part number".
Long live the direct sales channel I say!
By Hayden on 9 Sep 2009
DV6-1240SA
Hi there
For some reason there are two identical part numbers doing the rounds for this laptop.
One is DV6-1240EA and the other DV6-1240SA. The EA is seeming strangely elusive...
There is a solution, however. Pop DV6-1240SA into Google and you should find links to PC World and Dixons popping up straight away. :)
By SashaMuller on 14 Sep 2009
dv6
hi there, i have one of these laptops, though slightly different spec... it has a 2.2 amd turion x2 instead of the intel, and only a 320gb hard-drive. so far, i've had only one problem with it, and that is that DoW2 will not play on it as it says the graphics card is incompatible and i should install a new driver, though i can't find the actual card on the ati site. other than that, it's worked fine for the 2 months i've had it, and it'll be getting a windows 7 install when it arrives :-D matt.
By marshal_matt on 22 Oct 2009
I wouldn't recommend this laptop!
hi, i've been looking around for anyone with the same problems as me but am yet to find anyone :S i have had 3 hp pavilion dv6's sinse christmas and each one has broken in the same way! my first one started losing pixels after the 2nd week then something went wrong with the os and it never turned back on properly. my second replacement dv6 seemed to be better but after another 2-3weeks it lost loads of pixels in the top right hand corner. obviously i was not happy so i sent it back and they replaced it again! this time it has lasted me 4ish months but again i have lost a pixel in the top right corner :( hp dont seeme to have a complaints email address and i've had enough of ringing staples for a replacement! anyone got any ideas? :(
By k0braz on 10 May 2010
keyboard problems disaster
What ever you do, DO NOT buy an hp laptop. They have a terrible keyboard problem, which is very well known. See http://tinyurl.com/3a52kz8
amongst other places!
By jamesbrooke on 14 Jul 2010
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