Features & Specifications:
For a machine that costs a lot of money, the dv6-7206tx does have a fairly well stocked specification sheet. This is powered by an Intel Core i7-3630QM quad core clocking in at 2.4GHz. Compare this to the Intel Core i7-3612QM that clocked at 2.1GHz in the IdeaPad Z580 and the Vaio S that has a dual core Intel Core i5-3210M processor clocked at 2.5GHz. On paper, you would assume that the HP Envy dv6 would be the quickest machine, considering it seems to have the numbers on its side on the spec sheet. Additionally, both the dv6 and the Z580 have 8GB of RAM each, so that is an even platform.
While this is not positioned as a gaming machine, there is the Nvidia GeForce GT630M (2GB) graphics. Incidentally, the Z580 has the same chip, but the 1GB dedicated memory version. Again, on paper, the HP dv6 has the advantage. But we shall talk about comparative scores of the two machines in the Performance section.
The Envy dv6-7206tx’s 15.6-inch display, straightaway, looks brighter and slightly crisper than the one on the Z580. More on the performance in the next section, but we are a tad surprised that even for laptops in this price category, the resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels is still going strong. This in a time when phones are now sporting Full HD resolutions! This is a huge disappointment, also because globally, versions of the Envy dv6 sport a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution.
There is a lot of storage space on the Envy dv6-7206tx with the 1TB hard drive. HP preloads Windows 8 on the machine, which will surprisingly start off with Hindi set as the default language. For someone like me who isn’t very proficient with the local language of this country, it is generally appreciated if HP does not mess with the tried and tested method of letting English be the default language on the Windows installation.
While the price of this and the Z580 is pretty similar, HP does not find it relevant to pack in a Blu-ray drive with the Envy dv6. While this is not a major point for most users, the finicky category of users would probably opt for the one that does have that extra feature.