- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- SAMSUNG Series 9 900X3A
- Sony VAIO F Series
- HP ENVY 17
- ASUS N53SM-ES71
- Alienware M Series M14x
- 17.3"
- 2.4 GHz Quad core
- 6 GB DDR3-1600
- 640 GB HDD
Released June, 2011
by LaptopMag (Jul, 2008)If portability isn’t as big an issue, but multimedia is, you’ll be happy with this big-screen machine.
- 15.6"
- 2.2 GHz Single core
- 6 GB
- 640 GB HDD
Released October, 2010
by LaptopMag (Jul, 2009)The display’s 1366 x 768 resolution is standard for this screen size.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the HP Pavilion dv7 compared to the Dell Inspiron 15
GHz2.4
Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Apr, 2012)While lower than the 1,920 x 1,080 (Full HD) resolution we might have expected at the price, it should still be plenty for most and is a step up from the 1,366 x 769 pixels found on many 17in laptops.
2.2 GHz
by LaptopMag (Jun, 2011)Unlike other Dells we've seen recently-such as the Inspiron 17R and the XPS 15z-the Inspiron 15 trades the hinge-on-the-deck design for a dropped hinge design, which we prefer.
screen size
17.3"
15.6"
Pavilion dv7 by NGC316--Nick (Oct, 2011)The processor and GPU are both top notch, the Beats Audio speakers are the best I've ever had on a laptop, and the screen is big and looks great.
screen resolution
Pavilion dv7 by Chris-Barish (Feb, 2013)Not only that the screen resolution looks better the sound quality is so good you don't even need headphones and the wifi works perfectly.
Inspiron 15 by LaptopMag (Jul, 2009)Like many consumer notebooks we’ve reviewed in the past 12 months, the Inspiron 15 has a wide, 16:9 display, whose extra pixels make it ideal for multitasking, as well as for watching movies (for the record: a 16:10 display would have been fine, too).
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 2.4 GHz | 3 GHz |
Inspiron 15 by LaptopMag (Jun, 2011)Compared to other mainstream notebooks, the 2.3-GHz AMD Athlon II P360 processor inside the Inspiron 15 M5030 didn't blow us away, but it's fine for getting online and completing productivity chores.
processor
Pavilion dv7 by Nameless-Moniker (Dec, 2011)FAST - i7 Quad-core with hyperthreading, makes the OS think it is using 8 cores.4 GB of Ram which is perfect for most people and HP was nice enough to use 1 4GB chip leaving upgrade space for another chip.
Inspiron 15 by J.-Hernandez (Sep, 2011)It's single core low powered Intel Atom processor is hyper-threaded, but that's not saying much these days.
memory
| 0 GB | 6 GB | 6 GB |
Pavilion dv7 by R.-Taylor (Feb, 2009)You are getting an HD monitor, built in webcam and microphone, silent keyboard which is perfectly sized for an adult, a beautiful interface, a lovely touchpad to turn up your volume, mute, play, fast forward and rewind... a 64 bit system with 4 GB of RAM capable of holding 8 GB of RAM... amazing.
Inspiron 15 by Gordon-Abbot--Gordon (Feb, 2011)My guess is 2 gig ram might help for more seamless video on the White Collar site, but I see no real need for additional ram at this point.
Performance Real world tests of HP Pavilion dv7 vs Dell Inspiron 15
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Dell Inspiron 15
| More cores | Quad core | vs | Single core |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 more cores; run more applications at once | |||
| Has a memory card reader | SD | vs | None |
| Read and write data from a camera or phone memory card | |||
| Bigger screen | 17.3" | vs | 15.6" |
| More than 10% bigger screen | |||
| Marginally newer | Jun, 2011 | vs | Oct, 2010 |
| Release date 8 months later | |||
| Higher resolution screen | 1600 x 900 | vs | 1366 x 768 |
| More than 35% higher resolution screen | |||
| Faster processor | 2.4 GHz | vs | 2.2 GHz |
| Around 10% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
| Sharper screen | 106 ppi | vs | 100 ppi |
| More than 5% sharper PPI; enjoy photo-realistic, crisp images | |||
Advantages compared to the HP Pavilion dv7
Sortable is not aware of any important advantages of the Dell Inspiron 15 vs the HP Pavilion dv7.
Reviews Word on the street
HP Pavilion dv7 | Dell Inspiron 15 | ||
 |   Rated by 692 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by red-riding-hood (Mar, 2013) Rated 60% by by Picturesque-Music (Apr, 2011) Rated 100% by by stud-duck--stud-duck (Mar, 2011) | Rated by 200 users at amazon.com Rated 60% by by C.-Gosselin (Oct, 2012) Rated 100% by by Mark-Hayakawa--QuietSunset (Jul, 2012) Rated 100% by by Dennis-M.-Carr (Feb, 2013) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | SAMSUNG Series 9 900X3A Really fast internal storage |
 | 2 | Sony VAIO F Series 3-way tie: Has a Blu-Ray reader |
 | 3 | HP ENVY 17 3-way tie: Biggest screen |
 | 4 | ASUS N53SM-ES71 Good CPU benchmark score |
 | 5 | Alienware M Series M14x 2-way tie: Average speed Bluetooth |
 | 6 | HP ENVY 15 Fastest processor |
 | 7 | Lenovo IdeaPad Y Series Y570 4-way tie: Largest amount of storage capacity |
 | 8 | HP Compaq Presario 1600 3-way tie: Biggest screen |
