*HP EliteBook 8440p/w Owners Lounge*

There doesn't seem to be an owners thread so I thought I should start one. Also the 8440p is now readily available across the World so this thread is timely IMHO.

 

Well done JamesFosterUK

Can't wait to get mine to share thoughts and all.

(by the way, be ready to keep the thread tidy )

 

Glad to see 8440 owner's lounge. Thanks James

I have been using 8440w(093ut) for about two weeks.
There seems to be some cons and pros so far. (this is personal opinion)

pros:
1. good building quality
2. keyboard
3. performance is good enough (I have compared with my desktop of E8400, it turns out i7 620m is slightly faster than E8400 when doing numerical calculation, such as multiplying a number one billion times)
4. come with 3 year warranty and you can get additional 3year warranty ADP, only with $99

cons:
1. the worst thing of 8440w is vertical angle. I never got consistent brightness between top area and bottom area (It seems to be impossible)
When I go darker, top is too dark, and brighter, bottom is too bright (become grey)
2. 16:9 display (also, there are some rooms for 16:10 with 1650x1080 instead of 16:9 with 1600x900. I think 16:9 is only good for watching movie.)
3. looks charm but not much
4. touch pad is really small although it works good.

BTW, I am still trying to figure out how to enable biometric device(validity sensor) without hp application.

 

EDIT: Sorry, wrong thread.

 

Was wondering why it wasn't created yet

I do have to agree with your cons. Even in my 2510p, I had the same problem. Vertical viewing angles are just not very good in HP business models it seems. It's acceptable... but definitely annoying. 6:

I don't mind so much the 16:9 resolution, especially with 1600x900 resolution it's just more than I need and makes the 14" screen seem much larger than it actually is.

For the charm parts, yeah... I guess, it's definitely not a stunner like the MBP line but I don't find it ugly or anything. I actually like the look, the gunmetal grey is pretty unique and good looking IMO.

For the touchpad, I agree completely. It works REALLY well. I've basically stopped using the touchpoint now since I'm now addicted to the gestures (two finger scrolling FTW) but the size is constricting sometimes.

I agree with all your pros though LOVE MY 8440w!

 

Greetings,
I received my 8440p yesterday afternoon. I carefully removed the packaging, installed the battery and plugged in the power supply. I let the battery get fully charged. It took maybe 2 hours.
I then turned on the machine and set it up. This was mainly painless but HP do install far too much crapware. I uninstalled things like "Business card reader" and "nvidia desktop manager". I was pleased to see recovery discs for:
1. Windows XP Professional SP3.
2. Windows 7 Professional 32bit
3. Windows 7 Professional 64bit
There was also a disc for software drivers and a disc for optional applications/utilities.

I have good impressions so far. The pros IMHO
1.This core i7 2.66Mhz machine is blistering fast (especially when installing software)
2. 802.11n has a much bigger range than a/b/g perfect for sitting in the garden. I already had an N router but had a/b/g on my old laptop.
3. The build quality is superb, there is no flex in the chassis. If you pick it up from the corner it feels like a block of metal. The Elitebooks all pass a range of US military hardware tests.
4. The thermals are very good. It stays cool and the fan is almost inaudible. But this is when doing basic computing. If I was a Photoshop/Autocad/Crysis man then I'm sure it would get warm.
5. Little touches like the touch buttons (like the old PS3s) on the grill, the keyboard light, the 2 keyboard drains.
6. Standard 3 year warranty is good. I can upgrade to 3 year next business day repairs and accidental damage for about £100. This service is called HP Carepack.
7. The keyboard is excellent and has a durakey finish. Plus it has a waterproof membrane underneath and the 2 drainage channels.

The cons IMHO are:
1. I've got mixed feelings about the 1600x900 screen. There is no question that 16:9 is perfect for video. But I think 16:10 is better for Laptops. I would have preferred 14.1" 1680x1050.
2. It is expensive.

Another good thing. These machines are assembled by Foxconn. My Elitebook was made in the Czech Republic. The American ones will probably be made in Mexico. I'm guessing that because these Elitebooks are made for HPs most demanding Corporate and Government customers then QA is very important. Having the assembly line an one hour away from HP Cupertino or Compaq Houston or HP Europe Paris makes it easy for HP to keep an eye on quality control. Also because of "China price" these fussy customers may feel a bit cheated if they buy a very expensive product and find it was made in the cheapest location possible. BTW the Chinese can make awesome hardware. But when they are asked to assemble something on a lowest cost basis then you can't expect champagne on beer money.

Anyway these are my initial impressions. Feel free to ask me any questions or comment on message. And I will upload a couple of photos later on today.

 

Your 8440p came with a 64-bit Windows 7? Lucky... I had to call in to receive mine. I hope future shipments with more than 4GB come with them, seems like common sense really.

 

Hi
Can someone tell if there is a RAID support in 8440p ?
I would like to be able to put second HDD in place of DVD/BL and make RAID 0 or 1 ..

regards
buster

 

According to the official HP website ( http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/my/en/sm/WF06a/321957-321957-64295-3955549-3955549-4097189.html):

"Upgrade Bay for easy optical drive upgrade or optional second hard drive for RAID 1 Mirroring or RAID 0 Striping, the optical drive can be replaced with an optional 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive"

So, yes it does support RAID.

 

Hi JamesFosterUk, Thanks for the info I take it you have the UK model, I was very interested in this one but the windows 7 32bit was really putting me off. Very glad to hear that they shipped it with the 64bit also.
Any chance you could take some snaps please

Also were you able to use the HP 10% cash rebate with this one?

 

Does anyone know where to buy the hard drive caddy if you want to swap out the CD drive? I can't seem to find it on the HP website.

 

You Can find info here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6149742&postcount=523 and buy the model mentioned here: http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=216

 

Great! Thanks antsiou!

 

Yes I the 10% rebate does apply on this model. You will see the Laptop on this page:
http://h40059.www4.hp.com/promotions/vodafone/notebooks3.html

You also get a free Vodafone mobile broadband USB modem when you apply. You get a 30 day trial with a 3GB usage cap.
The other thing I did was apply this code when the Laptop was in the basket: HPDISVR5.
This code gives you a 5% discount on anything in the HP Store (in the UK).

BTW I should point out that Windows 7 Professional -32 bit is the installed OS. If you want the 64 bit edition you will need to install it from the 64 bit recovery disc. But at least they are now including the recovery disc in the box for those for want to access more than 3GB of RAM. And there is also a recovery disc for Windows XP Pro SP3.
Also the default installation includes Windows Virtual PC if you want to run any incompatible apps in Windows XP mode.
The other pleasing thing is that there is very little driver chaos like there was when Vista first shipped. I would recommend the Elitebook 8440p to anyone and Windows 7 is excellent as well.
And for the record the model number of my machine is VQ664ET:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/321957-321957-64295-3955549-3955549-4095872-4156585.html?exp=direct

 

Hi JamesFosterUK, Big thanks for the info really hoping to order one by the 30th to take advantage of the 10% rebate plus the 5% discount code.

Very glad to hear they are putting the 64bit in the box ready for you to wipe it clean, really don't see the point in shipping 32bit OS with 4GB of ram!

Thanks Again.

 

My 8440w only came with a Windows 7 32-bit Recovery... no 64 bit or XP... damn, now I have to call for my XP disc too?

 

I just received a pre-configured 8440w i7-620m model. It's a very nice piece of kit.

My only complaint is the sound of the exhaust fan. It's noticeably audible at all times, even with no programs open during idle.

Anyone else experiencing this? Any way to quiet that exhaust fan down? Maybe mine is faulty?

 

My 8440p is the same as your machine except you have the Nvidia Quadro NVS 5100M and my one has the NVS 3100M. I believe the 5100M has a much higher TDP. We both have the Core i7 620M.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
According to Wikipedia the 5100M has a TDP of 35W and the 3100M 14W. I'm not trying to be annoy you but unless you really need the extra graphics horsepower (ie AutoCAD or Photoshop) then I would see if you can return the 8440w for a 8440p.
I have tested Adobe CS5 and AutoCAD 2010 whilst plugged in and the 8440p runs them with ease.
The fan on my machine is very quiet. In fact it is alot more quiet than my old HP Compaq NC6220 which has a Pentium M 740-1.73Mhz. I am also very very happy with the thermals. I'm wearing shorts and the underside doesn't even feel tepid or warm.
BTW I have two questions:
1. Does anyone use the touch buttons on the grill, I'm using the browser and email shortcut keys all the time.
2. I've just paid £94 (about $135) for next day on site repairs and accidential damage cover. Has anyone also upgraded the standard 3 year C&R.

 

I'm actually using Photoshop and Illustrator on this machine and enjoy the extra graphics horsepower.

It's just that I've read several reviews of the 8440w and they all mention that the exhaust fan isn't audible under normal load, including this review here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5453&p=2

I was hoping maybe somebody else tackled the same problem, or could at least confirm that their 8440w is silent/noisy/whatever.

 

That review has some basic mistakes. The Core i7 620M is not a quad core CPU. It is a dual core CPU with 2 threads on each core. The 700 series, 800 series and 900 series have four cores but they also have a higher TDP. The Envy 15 uses the 720M and some customers are complaining about fan noise and overheating.

 

I just flashed the latest BIOS from support.hp.com and it has quieted things down quite a bit. I can still hear the fan when idling, but it's a very faint whisper. Prior to the BIOS update, it was as if the fan were constantly running under high load -- very annoying.

Now that I've got the fan fixed, I'm a very happy customer. You really can't beat the value of this machine. Very impressive.

I also purchased the extended coverage plan, but it has not arrived yet. I'm waiting for it so I can register my laptop on the site. It was a no-brainer in my case -- 85USD.

I'm loving the web touch button at the top. I use gmail, so the email button isn't as useful. The volume buttons are just plain awesome. I like that you can just hold your finger over the up/down sensors and it'll incrementally adjust the volume without having to repeatedly tap. It's a really quality feel.

As far as graphics horsepower, it's also worth noting that the 14w vs 35w difference is really only peak draw power. When I'm not doing anything graphics intensive, My system reports a 22-25w total energy consumption -- with bluetooth in use and wifi running. So, even though my GPU has the capability to consume that amount of power, it doesn't do so under normal system load.

 

Speaking about the BIOS the 8440 series are the only PCs I've ever seen with EFI (UEFI). I know Macs have had them for four years since the Intel transition. Does anyone know why HP use them in the Elitebook range but most of the competition doesn't?

 

Hi all,
I'm 3 days to get my 8440w from the US (after many many delays) and I have one or two quesion i hope you can help with.
I'm in Norway and planning to change the US keyboard for a norwegian one.
Should I get a hp partner to change it for me or can I do that and still be under warranty.

Also, I'm wondering if I should add a SSD as OS drive and only use the stock HD as data one.
If I were to do that, is that ok to use the ssd in the caddy (upgrade bay or similar) or should I literaly swap it with the current HD.
What about the HP 3D DriveGuard?

Cheers

 

Actually the 8440w uses the Quadro FX380M GPUs and not the NVS 5100, which has a TDP of 25W. But anyways, my 8440w is usually really quiet. With a normal load (10+ tabs in Firefox, Windows Live Messenger, Zune Marketplace playing music), the fan is rarely on and if it is, barely audible. Only under a heavy load like gaming do I actually hear the fan and it can get pretty loud sometimes but not ridiculously so...

Glad to know the BIOS update fixed the problem, maybe I'll update mine in the near future after I upgrade my Windows 7 to 64 bit.

 

Did you purchase a custom build or a pre-configured machine? Is it i5 or i7?

I'm still hearing my fan more than I think I should.

 

I've got a 8440p (hopefully) arriving this week (finally!), and a X25-M arriving later this week/next week, so I can tell you how it goes.

That's my plan eventually.. haven't ordered a caddy yet though.

Not required for SSD, since there are no moving parts.

 

Hey krazyd,
Cool that we are following the same plan.
I've ordered the caddy from newmodeus and will go get the Intel X25-M 80Go in the next week or so.
It'll give me a week to play around the 8440w and then make the switch once I'm sure it's not a lemon.

My plan so far is to:

1. Use my laptop "as is" for a week or so to see how it behave (W7 32bit i believe)
2. Get the caddy and the SSD
3. Take out the original hard drive (OHD) and replace by SSD
4. Instal SSD as main drive (no partition) with fresh w7 64bit
5. Keep the HP_TOOLS and partition with no drive letter and keep the rest of the space for data.
6. So basically I'll have a C: drive SSD and a D: as data.
7. (I want to be able to switch back the OHD if I need to get the machine repaired).

How's that sound? (I'm not being too technical now since I haven't done my homework about the details of such instal but will read here )

 

It's the pre-configured FN093UT ( http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...-3740645-3955549-4097189-4097193-4121917.html) with Core i7-620M.

 

Thanks for the link.. that's pretty much my plan except I'll be running Kubuntu instead of Win7. I'm also going to use the laptop for a couple of days first without doing any upgrades to make sure it doesn't have any other issues, and also do some benchmarks to see the real difference between HDD and SSD.

 

Good to know -- I purchased the same model. Even after updating all drivers and the BIOS, I'm still not satisfied with the fan on this laptop. I've been to the BIOS and unchecked the "Fan always on while on AC power" option, but the fan never shuts off, regardless.

All the reviews I read it seems that the fan shouldn't be running at an audible level at all times. I called the unit in to tech support and a technician is scheduled to replace the fan module in the next day or so. I doubt it'll fix the problem, but you never know.

In the meantime, I'm still on a search to quiet this beast down.

 

My FN093UT#ABA will be delivered tomorrow. So I'm a bit excited....
I'll check about the fan issue and other stuff over the coming days, and finally will payback all the good advices I got on the board....

Can't wait.

 

After messing with my laptop for quite a bit, I've narrowed the fan problem down to this bug here:

EliteBook 8440P Bugs

My 8440w exhibits the exact same behavior.

While waiting on my fan to be replaced, yesterday, I got a call from someone else at HP wanting to have my laptop sent in for replacement. It sounds like they are aware of the issue and are trying to mitigate the problems ASAP. They sent out a new laptop -- next day delivery -- that I'm waiting on this morning.

So far, I'm really impressed with HP's business support channel. Top-notch customer service all the way. I couldn't imagine a consumer warranty *cough* Apple *cough* providing the same level of service.

 

One question, if anyone could help out- I am looking to pull the trigger on a 1600x900 8440P, but the screen brightness issue is holding me back. The HP rep stated that the max brightness is 200 nits, which is not very helpful to me without a reference point. A few posts in this thread state that the maximum brightness is not very high, which is concerning- I was hoping that with the LED backlighting, this would no longer be an issue.

For reference, I am very happy with the brightness on my 2530P. On the other hand, the CCFL screen on my T60 widescreen is a few notches lower than I would like.

 

I'm running my screen with 80-85% backlit brightness which is adequate for bright indoor lighting conditions. For this screen, brightness is not the problem, but the default contrast and vertical viewing angle are.

Now the fan noise issue is hard for me to judge. I can definitely hear the fan at all time, but it's not objectionable--much softer than my Asus, Acer, and an old HP. Once in a while I notice the spin-up of the fan under more demanding load. However, my fan behaves in the same way other people had described as "Elitebook 8440p Bugs"-it runs at full-speed after resume with AC adapter. The questions are: (1) are we talking about defective fan modules or is this something that can be fixed with a software/firmware/bios update? (2) What is the norm? Soft fan noise or inaudible fan? Are most 8440p/w owners reporting zero fan noise at idle or are we speaking in relative terms?

 

New numbers for Nvidia control panel under driver version 197.16. I have a 1600x900 8440w. YMMV.

Under Desktop color setting: Green/Red/Blue
Brightness:40/40/27%
Contrast:55/57/27%
Gamma:0.99/0.99/0.99
Digital Vibrance: 60% Hue: 0

Under video color setting:
Brightness:54%
Contrast:48%
Hue:0
Saturation:50%
Gamma: 1.00 for all colors
Dynamic range: Full 0-255
Edge enhancement:25%
Noise reduction: 58%

 

Definitely. I find it sad that most people dismiss HP because of their lackluster consumer support service and quality when their business line is definitely top notch in terms of support and quality.

I have the 1600x900 8440w screen and brightness is definitely not an issue. It's more the contrast and vertical viewing angles that are a problem (as sad above), but even those I've grown used to and it's actually not even that bad. You don't have to worry about the brightness. I came from the 2510p (which is the predecessor to the 2530p) and the brightness is pretty comparable with the 8440w slightly brighter.

 

Sorry for double posting... but a great review by NotebookCheck. The 8440p earned a great 92%

Notebookcheck: Review HP EliteBook 8440p-WJ681AW Notebook

 

Woohoo! got mine today

all hardware seems to work fine on kubuntu 10.04... excellent.

 

I received my replacement laptop yesterday, and it too has the same fan problem related to sleep mode. Doesn't seem like HP has a handle on this yet. That said, I'm hopeful they'll figure it out. I'm going to return the new unit they sent me and keep the original that I purchased.

I think this is key. I had a replacement unit sitting next to my original and both had a very soft fan whisper. For someone that is used to a silent laptop, it can be somewhat off-putting at first, but I don't think it's that bad. What is disappointing is the fan spin up issue that occurs after sleep.

Both units also have problems resuming from a powered down display (just prior to sleep mode being activated). When you touch the mouse or the keyboard the display's LEDs light up, but nothing shows on the screen. You have to close the laptop lid to put the machine to sleep and then resume as normal. Unfortunately, this then activates the fan bug I've been complaining about so much.

So, basically, you can't use sleep mode or power down the display consistently. Sleep mode is fairly important to me in a mobile unit.

 

Just received my 8440w and going through the automatic XP process.
So far this machine is beatiful and the quality blow my Asus in the water big big time.....
I'll take pictures, videos and the whole shabangs over the coming days....

I'm about to have a geekgasm now....

 

antsiou,
Good luck with 8440w
I am pretty satisfied with 8440w. It's been almost a month now.

 

My fan does not seem to work at idle (I noticed it when the laptop was opened). Then when I am doing light work, the CPU (when one of the cores reaches around 50°C) starts spinning for a few seconds then get back to "silent" mode until the CPU temp reaches again 50°C.

The fan and heatsink have been changed by HP support but it did not change anyhting.

Does anyone notice the same behavior with its 8440p/w?

 

I've run into a bit of an issue with video. When I try to play some online flash videos, I get stuttering. I tried playing the same video on a mac that's a few years old, and don't have the same problem.

Could someone else try playing a video like this Capitals vs. Canadiens Preview Video - NHL VideoCenter and let me know if they have the same stuttering? It's not severe, but it definitely is noticeable. I don't have this problem with all online video, so I'm not sure why it is happening. But I'm still in the decision making process of whether or not to keep this machine and I want to make sure these things are not related to the computer.

PS. I have the 8440w with WinXP and using Internet explorer 8.

 

I'mplaying the video at the moment and it's really fluid, I tried full screen and window mode and all good on mine.
See my sig for the config...
Do you have the latest version of flash player?
I played the video with chrome and W7

 

Okay, thanks. Must be an update issue.

 

My 8440w(fn093ut) has fan noise, actually it is spinning almost all the time. whatever I do. But it doesn't get hot and I can hear some hissing sound if I am in my room on my own.

Is this a problem?

 

No stuttering on my end. 8440w FN093UT stock config.

 

Hi. I'm a new user here that purchased an 8440w a few weeks back. I also grabbed the FN093UT pre-configured model.

It sounds like some people here are confused about the noise coming from the fans on this notebook. Here are some observations I've made in my short time with this machine:

Loud fan when resuming from sleep
This problem isn't really specific to this model or HP. Google around for problems with notebooks waking from sleep on Windows 7 and you'll see that it's a pretty widespread issue. Some people are attempting to remedy the problem with the following command:

Code:

powercfg -energy

It spits a report out detailing any issues with the power configuration of your system. My laptop with F.06 BIOS shows problems with USB devices not powering down properly and ACPI definitions that are missing.

I haven't been able to fix things, though.

Fan operation when at idle
My notebook has a faint whisper that is audible at all times. I've narrowed it down to the 7200RPM Western Digital (WD3200BEKT) hard drive in the system. This isn't really a surprise. Most 7200RPM notebook drives make some sort of noise.

If you remove the factory HD from the primary bay and boot from USB media, you'll notice that the faint whisper goes away. This is when you can really appreciate how cool and quiet this system can be. Gotta love the thermal profile of these Arrandale chipsets.

 

I have tested powercfg-energy and it turns out 13 errors,9 warnings, and some informational. I also could see the problem on USB, according to the report.

Do we need to request a warranty service ?

 

@iamthingy

I'm not really sure it's a warranty issue. If you call it in they'll most likely offer to have a tech come out and replace the fan.

I'm hopeful that a future BIOS or driver update will fix the problem.