Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Review HP Pavilion g6-2200sg Notebook


For the frugal gamer. Pentium processor and Radeon HD7670 GPU give a cheap laptop for everyone. Our review reveals whether this notebook is convincing.


Editor's Note (December 18, 2012): The following review has not yet been edited for grammatical errors. A final draft of the review will be released soon.

For the original German review, see here.

A new 15.6-inch model form HP's Pavilion product line-up entered our tests. HP equipped it with an Intel Pentium B980 dual core CPU, an AMD Radeon HD 7670M GPU and six GB RAM. On paper, this should result in a cheap, gaming-capable laptop. Our test reveals if this is actually the case.

We use the following competitors in order to classify our test sample: Acer's Aspire V5-571G (Intel Core i5-3317U, Nvidia GeForce GT 620M) and Samsung's NP355V5C-S05DE (AMD A6-4400M, AMD Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics).

Case

Just like the Acer Aspire V5-571G's and the Samsung NP355V5C's the case of the 15.6-incher is entirely made from plastics. However the two competitors use matte surfaces while the Pavilion uses glossy ones. The color of the notebook is called Sparkling Black as the surfaces sparkle in various colors when light falls on them. Generally, the stability of the case is satisfying. Merely the keyboard and the palm rest areas (above the DVD burner) are slightly unstable and give under pressure. While the base unit can hardly be twisted, the lid can so with little effort.

Apart from the bottom side all surfaces are glossy

The case is a magnet for fingerprints

A single maintenance opening is available

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Connectivity

The connectivity of the three laptops is almost identical. The computer from Samsung has one USB port more than the others. All laptops offer at least one USB-3.0 port.

left side: VGA, HDMI, Ethernet, 2x USB 3.0, mic, headphones card reader (SD and MMC)

right side: Kensington lock slot, USB 2.0, DVD burner

Communication
Our test sample is equipped with the RT5390R WiFi module from Ralink, which supports standards 802.11 b/g/n. To our surprise, HP only use a Fast Ethernet chip from Realtek for wired networks. In 2012, we'd also expect GigaBit Ethernet in low-cost devices and the competitors from Acer and Samsung have such. As the Pavilion does not have a Bluetooth module, you will need to use a Bluetooth stick if needed. But, comes with a built-in web cam.

Accessories
In the shipping box there are the usual accessories: a quick start guide and several small booklets with safety instructions and warranty information.

Operating System and Recovery
The Pavilion g6-2200sg comes pre-installed with Windows 8 (64 Bit), but an installation DVD does not belong to the scope of delivery. A Recovery is done via HP's recovery system, which is launched by pressing F11 at boot. Please note: The process will delete all data created and applications installed by the user.

Maintenance
RAM, hard drive and WiFi module are hidden behind a service door. However, the fan is not accessible. The Pavilion has two RAM slots and supports up to 8 GB RAM and comes standard with 6 GB RAM. The hard drive can be replaced with a few steps. Attention: HP uses a hard drive which is 7 mm high while conventional hard drive are 9.5 mm.

Warranty
HP grant a pickup & return warranty of 12 month for the Pavilion. In a warranty case, the notebook will be picked up at the user site and brought back afterwards. Samsung and Acer grant 24 month for there computers. But, the warranty of the g6-2200sg can be upgraded: HP offer two Care Packs. A pickup & return warranty of 3 years, e.g., costs 95 Euro. Adding accidental damage protection will rise the total price to about 140 to 170 Euro. Spilling a drink over your laptop is an example for an accidental damage.

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Input Devices

Keyboard
The main keys of the Chiclet keyboard are 15 x 15 mm and have a medium stroke and a crisp pressure point. Merely the area above the DVD burner flexes when typing, the others don't. There is a small manufacturing flaw in front of the space bar: The keyboard does not sit flush with the case here. Overall, the keyboard is decent. A nice feature: The WiFi, Mute and Caps-Lock keys each house a small indicator LED.

Touchpad
The Synaptics Touchpad is slightly recessed into the palm rest. Its surface of 9.6 x 4.6 cm is sufficiently big for multi-touch gestures, which can be enabled and disabled individually in the configuration menu. The surface of the touchpad is covered with tiny dots, which do not have a negative impact on the gliding traits. The touchpad can be switched on and off by double tapping the small depression in its upper left corner. Its two mouse buttons have a short stroke, and crisp, clearly audible feedback.

Comfortable keyboard

The touchpad supports multi-touch gestures

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Display

The Pavilion is equipped with a glossy 15.6-inch display with a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels. HP does not offer other options. The average brightness of 189,8 cd/m² is lower mid-range, but the two competitors do not perform better. The display of the Aspire (177,6 cd/m²) is even slightly darker than the HP's while Samsung's (207,4 cd/m²) is a little bit brighter.


183
cd/m² 171
cd/m² 177
cd/m²
196
cd/m² 207
cd/m² 197
cd/m²
191
cd/m² 191
cd/m² 195
cd/m²

Information
X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 207 cd/m²
Average: 189.8 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 83 %
Center on Battery: 208 cd/m²
Black: 0.3 cd/m²
Contrast: 690:1
ICC File (X-Rite i1Pro 2)
Distribution of brightness
Pavilion g6-2200sg vs. sRGB

Pavilion g6-2200sg vs. AdobeRGB

While the display is standard fare in terms of brightness, its contrast (690:1) and black value (0.3 cd/m²) are very good. Even much more expensive laptops frequently do not achieve such good values. The display can neither completely cover sRGB nor AdobeRGB, but sRGB coverage is pretty good.

Low brightness and reflective surface actually prevent outdoor usage. Thanks to the high contrast, the displayed content can definitely be recognized, but you should avoid too bright a place.

Again the display is only standard fare in terms of viewing angels. Moves in vertical direction will quickly have a negative impact on the image, while the viewing angles are wider in horizontal direction.

the Pavilion g6-2200sg outdoors

viewing angles: HP Pavilion g6-2200sg

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Performance

With the Pavilion g6-220sg, Hewlett Packard deliver a multimedia notebook for frugal customers, which is currently available for about 480 Euro. Its performance suffices usual tasks and can also run 3D games smoothly. While our test model is only available in this particular configuration, HP also offer a lot of other Pavilion g6 models, some of them with AMD others with Intel CPUs.











System information HP Pavilion g6-2200sg
Processor
The Pavilion g6-2200sg is equipped with an Intel Pentium B980 processor, a dual core Sandy Bridge CPU with a clock rate of 2.4 GHz. Unfortunately the CPU does not use Intel's Turbo technology.

As the CPU constantly runs at full speed in the Cinebench tests, it performs as expected. Furthermore, the HP notebook bests Samsung's NP355V5C-S05DE (AMD A6-4400M, AMD Dual Graphics) in CPU-intensive tests, because of its faster CPU. But both of them are outperformed by Acer's Aspire V5-571G (Intel Core i5-3317U, Nvidia GeForce GT 620M), which uses the fastest CPU of the three contenders. But the Pavilion performs better than its competitors in the GL tests as the combination of Pentium B980 and HD 7670M GPU is more powerful than the CPU/GPU combinations of the others.


CB10 Rendering Single 32Bit 3118 points

CB10 Rendering Single 64Bit 3885 points

CB10 Rendering Multi 32Bit 5027 points

CB10 Rendering Multi 64Bit 7316 points

CB10 OpenGL 32Bit 5564 points

CB10 OpenGL 64Bit 5709 points

CB R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit 1.84 points

CB R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit 34.11 fps

Help
... in comparison
Cinebench R11.5
OpenGL 64Bit
HP Pavilion g6-2200sg
B980, Radeon HD 7670M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
34.11 fps∼39%
HP Pavilion g6-1352eg
A4-3305M, Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics, Samsung SpinPoint M8 HN-M500MBB
17.44 fps∼20%-49%
Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Hitachi Travelstar 5K750 HTS547575A9E384
18.4 fps∼21%-46%
Lenovo IdeaPad N586-MA663GE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G, WDC Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT-24HXZT3
21.04 fps∼24%-38%
Acer Aspire V5-571G-53314G50Makk
3317U, GeForce GT 620M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
27.41 fps∼31%-20%
Acer Aspire V3-551G-10468G50Makk
A10-4600M, Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS
27.61 fps∼31%-19%
Fujitsu Lifebook AH532
3210M, GeForce GT 640M LE, Toshiba MK7575GSX
33.86 fps∼38%-1%
Cinebench R11.5
CPU Multi 64Bit
HP Pavilion g6-2200sg
B980, Radeon HD 7670M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
1.84 Points∼17%
Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Hitachi Travelstar 5K750 HTS547575A9E384
0.98 Points∼9%-47%
Lenovo IdeaPad N586-MA663GE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G, WDC Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT-24HXZT3
1.13 Points∼11%-39%
HP Pavilion g6-1352eg
A4-3305M, Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics, Samsung SpinPoint M8 HN-M500MBB
1.16 Points∼11%-37%
Acer Aspire V3-551G-10468G50Makk
A10-4600M, Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS
2.01 Points∼19%+9%
Acer Aspire V5-571G-53314G50Makk
3317U, GeForce GT 620M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
2.38 Points∼23%+29%
Fujitsu Lifebook AH532
3210M, GeForce GT 640M LE, Toshiba MK7575GSX
2.89 Points∼27%+57%
System Performance
The computer system runs smoothly without stuttering and the results of the PC Mark 7 benchmark meet our expectations: The Pavilion's performance is between Acer Aspire V5-571G's (Intel Core i5-3317U, Nvidia GeForce GT 620M) and Samsung NP355V5C's (AMD A6-4400M, AMD Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M), but the results of the three laptops do not differ much.

5.1Windows 8 Experience IndexProcessorCalculations per second6.3Memory (RAM)Memory operations per second7.3GraphicsDesktop performance for Windows Aero5.1Gaming graphics3D business and gaming graphics6.5Primary hard diskDisk data transfer rate5.9

PCMark 7 1723 points

Help
... in comparison
PCMark 7
Score
HP Pavilion g6-2200sg
B980, Radeon HD 7670M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
1723 Points∼26%
HP Pavilion g6-1352eg
A4-3305M, Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics, Samsung SpinPoint M8 HN-M500MBB
1313 Points∼20%-24%
Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Hitachi Travelstar 5K750 HTS547575A9E384
1600 Points∼24%-7%
Lenovo IdeaPad N586-MA663GE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G, WDC Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT-24HXZT3
1626 Points∼25%-6%
Acer Aspire V5-571G-53314G50Makk
3317U, GeForce GT 620M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
1858 Points∼28%+8%
Fujitsu Lifebook AH532
3210M, GeForce GT 640M LE, Toshiba MK7575GSX
2165 Points∼33%+26%
Mass storage
HD Tune

CrystalDiskMark

HP equip the Pavilion with a Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 hard drive (500 GB, 5,400 RPM). CrystalDiskMark reports a read rate of 84.71 MB/s and HD Tune an average transfer rate of 80 MB/s. Both values are more than fine for a 5,400 RPM hard drive compared to slower hard drives often found in cheap notebooks.

HD Tune
CrystalDiskMark 3.0

Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
Transfer Rate Minimum: 45.6 MB/s

Transfer Rate Maximum: 103.5 MB/s

Transfer Rate Average: 80 MB/s

Access Time: 19.9 ms

Burst Rate: 137.7 MB/s

CPU Usage: 1.1 %

Graphics Card
Two GPUs work inside the Pavilion g6-2200sg: Intel's HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) and AMD's Radeon HD 7670M. The Intel GPU supports DirectX 10.1 and runs at a clock rate of 350 to 1150 MHz while the graphics card from AMD is mid range, runs at 300 to 600 MHz and supports DirectX 11. The two GPUs do not work together, but the one which is more appropriate for a particular task is selected.

At the end of 2012 Nvidia's graphics switch (Optimus) still works better than AMD's. We had to manually configure that the Radeon GPU should be used before running benchmarks and games. Otherwise, the system nearly always used the CPU from Intel. Especially inexperienced users could get annoyed at games stuttering.

The results of the 3D Mark benchmarks are as expected. If all 3D Mark versions are taken into account, none of the notebooks achieves a clear victory. On contrary, their 3D-performance does not differ much. Thanks to its Radeon GPUs working together, Samsung's 15.6-incher wins the first price in 3D Mark 11. As the the impact of the CPU on the result is lowest here, the computer with the weakest CPU can score points.


3DMark 05 12194 points

3DMark 06
1280x1024 7536 points

3DMark Vantage 4582 points

3DMark 11 1233 points

Help
... in comparison
3DMark 11
1280x720 Performance
HP Pavilion g6-2200sg
B980, Radeon HD 7670M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
1233 Points∼12%
Lenovo IdeaPad N586-MA663GE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G, WDC Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT-24HXZT3
747 Points∼7%-39%
HP Pavilion g6-1352eg
A4-3305M, Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics, Samsung SpinPoint M8 HN-M500MBB
996 Points∼10%-19%
Acer Aspire V5-571G-53314G50Makk
3317U, GeForce GT 620M, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380
1145 Points∼11%-7%
Fujitsu Lifebook AH532
3210M, GeForce GT 640M LE, Toshiba MK7575GSX
1385 Points∼13%+12%
Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE
A6-4400M, Radeon HD 7520G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Hitachi Travelstar 5K750 HTS547575A9E384
1458 Points∼14%+18%
Acer Aspire V3-551G-10468G50Makk
A10-4600M, Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics, Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS
1988 Points∼19%+61%
Gaming Performance
The Pavilion g6-220sg is definitively gaming capable. It can even run modern computer games in medium to high graphics quality at its native resolution. The laptop merely cannot achieve decent frame rates in brand new and very performance demanding games like Hitman: Absolution. Although we explicitly selected the Radeon GPU, we cannot exclude that the GPU switch did not work in the Hitman benchmark. We faced a similar problem with F1 2012, which refused to start with active Radeon GPU.

low med. high ultra
StarCraft 2 (2010) 133.8 48.6 31.1 18.3 fps
CoD: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) 94.3 55.4 35.8 20.2 fps
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) 52.6 36.7 27.8 14.7 fps
Mass Effect 3 (2012) 49.9 34.8 21.9 fps
Dirt Showdown (2012) 53.6 29.2 23 10.8 fps
Counter-Strike: GO (2012) 98.2 79.3 64.6 44.9 fps
Fifa 13 (2012) 136.5 108.7 94.6 58.3 fps
Hitman: Absolution (2012) 15.9 13.6 8.7 fps
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Emissions

System Noise
Fortunately the Pavilion runs quietly while idle. The noise level amounts to 31.3 to 32.6 dB here. When using the DVD drive the noise increases to 35.6 dB. Unfortunately the clacking of the hard drive is quite audible time and again.

Under full load (stress test: Prime95 and Furmark), the fan accelerates and the noise reaches 48.7 dB while the g6-2200sg works at a tolerable noise level of 38.1 dB under medium load (3DMark 06). The noise of the Aspire V5-571G and the Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE, which are only significantly quieter under full load, is on a similar level.

Noise Level

Idle 31.3 / 31.3 / 32.1 dB



HDD 32.6 dB

DVD 35.6 / dB


Load 38.1 / 48.6 dB




30 dB
silent 40 dB
audible 50 dB
loud
min: , med: , max: Voltcraft sl-320 (15 cm distance)
Temperature
HP's Pavilion g6-2200sg during the stress test

Regardless of the load the surface temperatures are fine. While idle the temperature only increases to 30.1 degrees Celsius on a single area (underside below the touchpad). Under full load (Prime 95 and Furmark run in parallel) the temperatures only rise moderately to 21.7 and 40.8 degrees Celsius. So, the laptop can be used on the lap in any case. Acer's Aspire V5-571G and Samsung's NP355V5C cannot compete with the HP here and develop more heat.

During our stress test (Prime 95 and Furmark run for at least an hour) CPU and GPU run at full speed on mains power. While CPU speed is not reduced on battery, the GPU's clock falls to 400 MHz and the CPU temperature levels off at 80 Grad Celsius.

Max. Load
Idle

25.2 °C 27 °C 25.1 °C
26.8 °C 27.1 °C 24.7 °C
29 °C 26.1 °C 24 °C



25.6 °C 29.2 °C 27.2 °C
24.7 °C 29 °C 27.5 °C
25.1 °C 30.1 °C 28.9 °C

Maximum: 29 °C
Average: 26.1 °C Maximum: 30.1 °C
Average: 27.5 °C
Power Supply (max.) 34 °C | Room Temperature 22 °C | Voltcraft IR-360
Speakers
The stereo speakers of the notebook sit above the keyboard beneath a perforated grille. "Altec Lansing" and "Dolby Advanced Audio" suggest decent sound and this is not completely wrong. The speakers' sound is loud, but lacks bass. Speech is clearly audible and watching films is indeed possible without external solutions.

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Battery Life

Power Consumption
Similar to Samsung's computer our test device needs about 9.2 and 13.9 Watt while idle. Unsurprisingly, the Aspire V5-571G is significantly more frugal than its competitors, as it is equipped with a frugal ULV processor. Under medium (3D Mark 06) and full load (Prime95 and Furmark) the power consumption increases to 50 Watt and respectively 69 Watt. The Samsung (64.6 Watt and 67.1 Watt) is close to the Pavilion under full load. But, thanks to its frugal components, the Aspire (42.1 Watt and 49.5 Watt) performs better again.

Current consumption

Off / Standby 0.1 / 0.3 Watt
Idle 9.2 / 13.2 / 13.9 Watt



Load 50 / 69 Watt




Key: min: , med: , max: Voltcraft VC 940
Battery Life
In idle mode our test sample achieves a battery runtime of 6:03 h minutes, while the Acer already shuts down after 5:43 h and Samsung's NP355V5C-S05DE runs for 7:05 h. The maximum battery life is recorded by means of the Battery Eater Reader's test with energy saving profile, lowest display brightness and disabled WiFi-modules. Under load the notebook achieves a minimal battery life of 1:21 h, which is similar to the competitor's (Acer: 1:32 h, Samsung: 1:23 h). The Battery Eater Classic Test is used for this test with highest display brightness and enabled WiFi modules.

In our WLAN test the HP achieves a runtime of 3:48 h (Acer, Samsung: 3:15 h). Here our looping script simulates internet surfing by automatically loading new web page with different content every 40 seconds. During this test the display brightness is set to about 150 cd/m² and the energy saving profile is active. The DVD test, run at maximum display brightness and with energy saving profile (or higher if the DVD does not play smoothly) already ends after three hours. But the competitors have even shorter runtimes in this scenario (Acer: 2:42 h, Samsung: 2:22 h).

The battery runtimes of the Pavilion and the Samsung notebooks can be easily compared to each others as their battery capacities are nearly on par (HP: 47 Wh, Samsung: 48 Wh). On contrary, the Acer is equipped with a smaller battery (37 Wh).

Battery runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)

6h 03min
Surfing with WLAN

3h 48min
DVD

3h 00min
Load (maximum brightness)

1h 21min
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Verdict

HP's Pavilion g6-2200sg.

The Pavilion g6-2200sg is a good deal and a decent notebook for all looking for a cheap general purpose notebook. It delivers a fair system performance, which suffices most users, works quietly under low load and comes with a very contrast-rich display. Furthermore, the Pavilion is also interesting for gamers who do not like to spend 800 to 1000 Euro for a fancy gaming computer. The cons of the 15.6-incher are a short warranty period of only 12 month, the lack of GigaBit Ethernet and the inconvenient graphics switch.

Acer's Aspire V5-571G is basically interesting for user looking for an especially thin an frugal device. We also recommend the Aspire if maximum CPU performance is required while we suggest the Samsung NP355V5C-S05DE if a long battery life and/or a matte display are buying criteria.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-Pavilion-g6-2200sg-Notebook.86145.0.html

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