HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition

July 2012: Note, this configuration is discontinued, but other configurations of this budget laptop remain available. -- Editor

November 2011: The 15.6-inchHP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition laptop (Discontinued) won't break the bank and provides enough performance horsepower that it can serve as a suitable desktop replacement, experts say. It's a member of HP's dv6 and dv6t family of laptops, which are both diverse and well received.

In addition to a second generation 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5-2430M processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 750 GB hard drive, the HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition laptop includes a lot of value-adding extras like Beats audio technology, a fingerprint reader and several connectivity options. Reviewers prefer to add a discrete AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics card, which adds $75 to the cost of the PC. That build meets or exceeds benchmark scores set by laptops with a similar price tag and, thanks to the AMD graphics, can even play mainstream games at a reasonable clip.

PCMag.com achieved a 41.2 frames per second rate in "Crysis," a title that won't even run on many budget laptops. However, the HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition comes with some bloatware installed, and its battery life, while still more than six hours, is shorter than the battery life of some competitors. If you're not a gamer, the Sony Vaio E15 SVE1511AFXS (Discontinued) might meet your needs. Experts say its more powerful third-generation Core i5 processor, 6 GB of RAM and 750 is plenty of power for most tasks, gaming excluded..

While a number of sources review HP Pavilion dv6 and dv6t laptops, only PCMag.com covers the Select Edition specifically. PC World covers a dv6 configuration that uses the same internal components as the dv6t Select Edition, which makes its feedback useful. HP.com is an outlet for owners of the laptop to voice their opinions.