From what I can tell from the system information given, my Laptop is:

Model: HP Pavillion dv6 Quad Edition
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
RAM: 8GBs of DDR3 RAM
BIOS config: F.19 - 05/21/2012 (0591110000204720000620100) - Sorry if this ends up being a bit off, I'm not copying and pasting
GPU(s) - Intel HD Graphics (3000?) & ATI Radeon 6770M - This is what I'm the most worried about. I'm having trouble updating drivers on Windows 7, Linux may well end up being a nightmare.
Current OS: Windows 7 64bit
Audio/Equalizer hardware and driver: Beats Audio (Another thing that may not be supported in Linux)

Hm... I don't know what else to add. I've looked up my model and how it handles Linux, but the thread I found was a year old, and they said they had problems using their Radeon 6770M GPU, which is mandatory for me. I also plan on installing Ubuntu (And change desktop environment to KDE) from the Wubi installer before i try anything else. I'm mostly interested in Linux again is because I get bored rather easy and tend to fiddle with technology. I recently rooted my Android phone and enjoyed tweaking it, and I want to experience that again with Linux.


So... what I need to know is:

1. Will my dedicated graphics card (Radeon 6770M) work and allow switchable graphics? (This is of the highest importance. If it doesn't, then I'll have to pass on it)
2. Do they have any Beats Audio drivers (Open source of proprietary) or an equalizer that works just as well, and if possible, utilize my Beats Audio hardware? (High priority, but not really a deal breaker if the answer is no, I'd just probably get be less inclined to continue using it)
3. How easy will finding drivers for my laptop be? I liked how Ubuntu just detected your hardware and installed proprietary drivers for you, and if that wasn't available, open source ones. I'd like to not have to look through tons of guides only to find that it won't work. User friendliness is what I'm looking for (Medium priority if there is a solution and I can find it, High priority if the solution can not be found, and if it's a crucial driver; something I use daily on Win7 I can't live without, then deal breaker.)
4. Will various other things work for my Laptop as well? Any problems/errors I should expect with my setup? (Priority varies from how severe the problem is)


Thank you in advance.

To try off the top of my head with some of your questions.

1. You'll probably get something going satisfactorily, but it may require work.
2. Check out alsaproject.org
3. Most things - easy enough. The weirdo stuff - fingerprint thing, fancy unique-to that-model stuff, forget it.
4. I suffered for a full month in the early days, and only obstinacy got linux going on this (HP 6715S) laptop but it's great now that I know what to do.

A good thing to try is to download a live cd iso file and put it on a usb stick or cd and boot from it. You will quickly find out whether your hardware works or not straight out of the box, so to speak.

Once you do get a boot you can use the "lspci" and "lsusb" commands to get a list of your hardware.

If the hardware is very recent (ie less than six months old), you may find some problems finding drivers. Nevertheless, I think, with such hardware you can have a more than acceptable Linux experience even without the best drivers.

1. Yes, it will work, but to switch the graphics chip you currently have to restart X. No seamless switching currently.
2. Don't know that hardware, can't say. If it is a somewhat standard sounchip it most likely will work, but may be not support all functions.
3. If you use Ubuntu it will give you additional drivers if found. From what you have described here your system should pretty much work out of the box.
4. I see nothing really special with that machine, just try it.

I'll try it on Saturday when I get back from college and I'll post my results. Thank you for the replies. I'll use a Bootable CD (I won't install on a partition though, I'm running low HDD space as is) to see if I have any problems. I'll also list all of the hardware information with the "lspci" and/or the "lsusb" command. Once again, thank you for your support; the community was always what I liked most about Linux distros