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HP DV6516

By: Jayesh Mansukhani | Jan 21,2008

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The year that went by was an eventful one for HP. It was an year when HP took over the mantle of "the world’s largest manufacturer of laptops". This was made possible by the strong sales of its DV range of multimedia laptops. The range has come to symbolize good VFM at every price point, offering good performance and sterling features.

Does the 6516, which we are reviewing today, live up to the promises of the formidable DV range? Let’s find out…

At first glance it’s easy to see why the DV series of laptops has come to be widely regarded as the machines to emulate. The DV6516, like previous products in this range, sports a silver-and-black chassis, a glossy black LCD panel, a silver accented keyboard area with jet-black keys, and an art-deco finish to the lid.

The generous use of silver and black might seem a bit much, but when you factor in the smooth finish it makes for a very pleasing product. Now if you are wondering why I gave only a fleeting mention of its looks, take a look at the photograph above. It’s difficult to describe the looks of this laptop in words... it’s that good.

Physically the laptop is as sturdy as they come. The materials used, including the hinges, are very strong and there's no discernible flex. Furthermore it's surprisingly lightweight. The machine is a bit thick, but that's not really a problem as the style easily offsets that.

However, this polished look is not without its issues. The art deco finish can be a bit overawing and may not appeal to everyone. It’s also a fingerprint magnet and in dusty settings can begin to look rather bad.

The keyboard of the DV6516 is top-notch. It offers a very comfortable typing experience, thanks to the well-elevated keyboard area and soft finish of the keys. The touchpad is a tad large but there's nothing to complain about as it offers excellent traction and makes using it a pleasure. The same goes for the mouse-keys which offer a surprisingly 'deep-click' experience that's pleasant.

The LCD panel of the DV6516 is a 15 inch job with a native resolution of 1280 x 800. In comparison to products from Dell and Lenovo, it’s average but offers good levels of contrast, color and brightness. The panel itself has a glossy finish which looks good overall but offers poor viewing angles. This can be a headache if you try to work anywhere except on a level surface.

Connectivity-wise the laptop is strictly okay. It offers three USB slots, standard selection of Ethernet connectivity, 5-in-1 card reader and a lightscribe dual-layer DVD writer. Keeping in mind that the graphics of the DV 6516 is powered by an 8400M GS chipset, HDMI is present along with the standard s-video and VGA connectivity options.

The DV6516 sports a very basic T5250 Core 2 Duo processor and an 8400M GS chipset. However its storage is adequate at 160GB and it has 2GB of RAM, which allows it to run Windows Vista just fine. The lack of processing power was exposed in our 3DMark and PCMark tests. In the former, the laptop scored a rather poor 1359.

The PCMark score was not much better, with an average of 3580. Both scores are on the lower end of the spectrum and considering the fairly premium finish of this laptop doesn’t reflect well on HP. A stronger processor should have been offered even for the base-level model.

The battery life of the 6516 was a disappointment too. Under a full-strain test, it folded in less than two hours, which is not very good. While this can be improved with a bigger-cell battery, it will nevertheless be on the lower side even then.

The DV6516 is a very average laptop. It looks good and is stylish, but offers mediocre system performance and less than stellar battery life. At its price of Rs 51,700 it does not offer VFM when compared to (say) a Dell at a similar price point. We'd suggest you look at a more beefed-up version of this laptop – or consider the Dell Inspiron 1520.