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With its brushed metal-effect chassis and smooth curves, the dv7 is one of the best looking mid-range laptops HP has produced in a long time, but it has function as well as form. The five Beats Audio speakers, Blu-ray player and 17.3in screen could make it the ideal choice for multimedia playback.
It doesn’t have a full HD resolution, but the 1,600×900 display is big enough to make the Windows desktop feel very spacious. Contrast was reasonable, as long as we sat directly in front of the screen; with plenty of screen tilt, it’s frustrating that viewing angles are so poor. Colours weren’t particularly vibrant, even with the glossy screen coating, but the backlight was at least bright enough to help reduce screen glare from overhead lighting.
The much-lauded speakers were impressive for a laptop. They’re loud, making enough noise to fill a medium-sized room, but the small subwoofer couldn’t provide much bass. They was no distortion even at full volume, so you could easily watch catch-up TV without having to reach for your headphones or connect external speakers.
We appreciated HP’s decision to revamp the touchpad; previous laptops had an awful touch-sensitive pad that rarely worked, but the dedicated buttons used here are a huge improvement. The touchpad felt very responsive, and even lights up with the press of a shortcut key. The QWERTY keyboard has also been improved slightly, but the function keys still activate multimedia shortcuts by default which can be annoying. It was incredibly easy to type on thanks to the large, isolated keys that let us get up to full speed in no time.
This version of the dv7 is powered by an Intel processor. The dual-core i5-2410M isn’t the fastest we’ve seen at this price, but it still packs a punch in Windows thanks to its 2.3GHz clock speed. This jumps up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost, helping it reach 54 overall in our multimedia benchmarks. An ample 6GB of RAM will help with multitasking, but thankfully this performance doesn’t have a huge impact on battery life. We saw four and three quarter hours in our light-use test. However, at 2.9kg, you’ll certainly notice it in your bag when on the move.
It might handle multimedia well, but the dv7 is also capable of some light gaming. The AMD Radeon 6490M isn’t the fastest, but it still managed 25.3fps in our Dirt 3 test. If you turn off anti-aliasing, you should find that most games will play reasonably well. Naturally, the card can also decode HD video, either on the laptop in 720p or in 1080p on an external display using the HDMI output. Other connectivity is more than acceptable, with two USB3 ports, two more standard USB, a multi-format card reader and analogue audio outputs.
The latest dv7 is a return to form for HP, mainly thanks to the fact that the awful touchpads that plagued previous models have been ditched. This version’s Intel processor is certainly faster than the AMD equivalent, but you pay for the price; it’s over £300 more than the AMD-powered model the HP dv7-6000sa. You also get a slightly better graphics card and longer battery life, but the MSI GE620 is faster still and has a better warranty. Unless you prefer a bigger, higher resolution screen, the MSI is the better choice for most people.
