Review HP Pavilion g6-2200sg Notebook

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. TOSHIBA Satellite L770 charger

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, not much little effort is needed for the lid. TOSHIBA Satellite L755 charger

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. TOSHIBA Satellite P700 charger

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Acer TravelMate 4740-352G32Mn charger

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).

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.