*HP EliteBook 8540w Owners Lounge!*

Has anyone purchased a carrying case that fits the 8540w particularly well? It seems even HPs recommended cases aren't necessarily designed for this laptop.

 

I just got my 8540w. Since it doesn't come with the disc for Win 7 Pro x64, I was just wondering about what the success rate is for activating MS's direct download ISO for Win 7 Pro x64?

From previous post (surprisingly I've read every single one one this 116 page thread ), some say it should work while others could get it activated. I have the disc on order with HP, but if I have to wait for that it would mean I can't really start using it as it would be pointless to install everything again a second time when I install the x64 version.

Edit: Such an excitement killer booting into a 9 year old operating system on a brand new workstation notebook....

 

Actually, the Brenthaven Prolite III 17 inch shoulder bag fits the 8540w quite nicely. The bag was designed for the 17 inch MBP, but since the 8540w is a 16:9 notebook, it's only slightly narrower than the 17 inch MBP. I've used it for 3 years and it's held up quite well. You may still be able to find it in stock somewhere (Amazon still has a few), but it's recently been discontinued so it might not be around much longer.

If you want something newer, my guess is any 17 inch bag should fit. Finding something custom designed for 15.6 inchers might be hard as this size notebooks are quite new. If you want to see some in person just go to your local Apple Store as they usually keep quite a few 17 inch bags instock for the MBPs. The only drawback is if the airport checking people really decide to measure your bag, 17 inch bags are usually slightly above the required size. However you shouldn't have a problem.

 

Hey, I am planning on switching over to EB 8540w from the Envy 15 and had a few questions:

1) From Intoxicate's pictures and review (great by the way!), the 8540w seems to be a little thicker than the W510. I only ask because HP states that the 8540 is 1.28" thick while the W510 is 1.41" thick. If anyone could give me front and back thickness, I would appreciate it.

2) Who's 160 SSD is HP installing. Intel X25-M? Does it support "TRIM"?

Thanks in advance!

 

I don't know if Lenovo is doing the same thing, but it seems HP's thickness measurements don't include the feet. From the desk surface to the top of the 8540w the measurements are 38mm in the front and 41mm in the back. HP's spec figure of 32.4mm in the front is substantially less.

 

Personally (just ordered my 8540w, expected arrival of 6/25) I opted for the 250GB throw-away drive, and will be putting my own 160GB G2 X25-M in, to ensure that I end up with a G2 (Trim support)

I'm also planning to throw a Momentus XT into a newmodeus caddy as the 2nd drive...although I'm still debating with myself about which drive (Intel SSD vs Hybrid) should be the primary...

 

Has anyone had any troubles with overheating like the rest of HP's consumer line?
Any tests done with intensive cpu/gpu work for longer periods of time?
thanks

 

Any notebook running Windows 7 will support TRIM.

If you are using a SSD for a primary, just get a regular HDD for storage - it will be a lot cheaper and you can get more capacity without losing any performance. I would just partition the SSD into OS/programs and currently used files.

HP's Elitebooks are a completely different breed than their consumer lines. While there are lemons, on the whole, the Elitebooks have excellent cooling and much better built. They are designed for heavy load workstation use and at least the ones I've used (8530w) have had no troubles with overheating.

 

Not quite true - the SSD itself also has to support TRIM.
The G1 Intel Drives didn't, and according to Intel, won't ever.
The G2 Intels did after the (delayed because of bricking issues snafu) firmware update from November.

OCZ Vertex drives needed a firmware update, as did their Summit (Samsung) drives. (don't own any others so haven't kept up on any other firmware update issues)

I use the SSD as my primary in my 6910p right now, and have a 640GB Seagate in a newmodeus caddy in it (only went 5400 RPM because the bay on the 6910p is ATA inside) - this drive will end up in my USB 3.0 case.
The XT is already on its way - opted for it because even without the hybrid-portion, it still has the most cache (32MB) of any 7200 RPM laptop drive.

Thinking I might use it as the primary because:
the hybrid aspect will get more benefit from OS/App files than generic storage files...though I usually work from cloned/snapshotted VMs, and usually split the files - so I could end up caching a base vmdk or 2 if that's what it senses gets used the most from the big drive.
I run a ton of VMs and disk I/O is my biggest bottleneck, so, hosting mostly VMs from the SSD seems like it might provide the best overall throughput (less contention for the 10 threads when the OS isn't also loading from it, maybe)
The thought of my hyberfile.sys, given that I'll have 16GB of RAM eating as much space as it will on the SSD just sickens me...

Still, having the SSD as my primary has been wonderful on the 6910p

 

Hello everyone, I have a new question. I have just got my new 8540w yesterday and I'm quite happy with it. There's only one thing that bothers me, maybe you guys can help.
I like using the fingerprint reader, but I rather use it natively from Windows 7 than from all the HP Protect Tools software, which slows the system. In my old 8510w I could use the fingerprint without having to install any added software, just the drivers, then Windows would offer me the possibility of using the fingerprint or the password to log in, "natively", without anything extra (so I could uninstall the whole ProtectTools stuff).
I have tried the same on the 8540w machine, the drivers are ok, but I can't find anything about assigning the fingerprints to the users.

I know the HP ProtectTools soft is great, is secure, safe, etc. but I just don't like it, and it slows the system considerably.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

 

That's where my Seagate went, it vibrated to much for me. I replaced it by a western digital.
I put the SSD in the upgrade bay, think the normal hdd is safer in the internal slot.

Sorry I don't have a solution but a question. How does the Protection Tools slow your system considerably or how do you notice that?
It's the best fingerprint software I ever used. In fact I didn't use the fingerprint readers on former notebook due to the bad software. Only the Thinkpad fingerprint reader are even better, because you can start your notebook by using the fingerprint reader and don't need to wait for the login.

 

I notice that it slows the system easily: uninstall all HP stuff, reboot the computer, and see how long it takes to boot, first up to the user login screen, then also into windows after the user selection. You will notice a big difference. You can see it also each time your standard user requires the admin privileges for any admin operation, the pop-up screen is lighter and smoother if it has only Windows native stuff (and it does include the finger swipe option, of course) than if it has to include all the HP options.

My intention is not to use any other software than the one coming with Windows natively, like I did on the 8510w. In my personal experiencie, that is always the best way. Please note that I am not saying that the HP software is bad, I just don't like my system to be flooded with 3rd party software than the one I strictly require for my work, and swiping a finger is not a requisite so I would rather not install the whole HP Protect Tool package just to use a standard feature than can be easily and well managed by Windows itself.

Thanks a lot for your help anyway.

 

I used the 8540w first without any HP tool and now with all Tools installed (Driveguard hdd protection, Powermanager useless , Protection Tools just for the fingerprint reader, Wireless Assistent indepently turn bluetooth on/off). Honestly I can't feel a different, the HP Tools only get active when you use them.

I do unterstand that you want to use windows as clean as possible. But if you want more speed and less delays the best would be to upgrade to a SSD. That will boost your system a lot more than pass on some compfort and useful tools. I just made a little video with two Elitebooks (the SSD 8540w has all HP Tools installed, the HDD 8540w none yet), booting is just one thing, but working with a SSD is much more fun, no waits no delays:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO7KaM2WALk&feature=youtube_gdata

 

I have the feeling that you are trying to sell me something... It's easy to understand: I do not want to use the HP ProtectTools. I don't find them comfort nor useful, my system slows down unnecesarily. I don't like them. I don't want to use them. Not much more to add. I think it's great that you love them, go ahead and use them, but my question is simple: how to use the fingerprint module without using the HP ProtectTools (or a 3rd party software besides the native one from Windows 7, as I could do it on my old 8510w)? And you answer is: install an SSD hard drive. Er... sorry but that's not my point, of course an SSD would increase speed, so would a faster processor, a better machine, and so on, but my "problem" has nothing to do with that, I think it's a pretty simple question.

Thanks for your help anyway, and btw, great videos

 

It's so easy that you and noone else could answer yet

A faster cpu or better machine would not (!) be faster in such things, because the hdd is in a lot a processes the bottleneck! Even your 8510w with SSD will be faster in most things than a 8540w without.
I said above that I don't have a solution for your problem, so it wasn't my answer for your question! It was just a hint, a suggestion because I thought if someone cares for such small performance improvements like not installing a little tool for the fingerprint reader (which slows a pc with a normal hdd down, because the hdd is slow in accessing different data), he'd be crazy about the improvements a SSD would give. I didn't thought a SSD could improve all day computing that much, but a friendly user pushed me to try one That's why I arrogate to suggest a SSD from time to time, at least for a notebook that costs as much as the 8540w

Sorry, I have to dissapoint you, I will keep my SDD
But I understand, no more input beside the fingerprint only use thing

 

Tip: a simple question does not necessarily imply an easy answer.

I'm 100% convinced that an SSD makes it all much faster, but at this point I'm pretty sure it's clear what my issue is. Even ig it's not all about speed, I prefer a cleaner system, and to me that means not installing anything that I don't like or need, and I don't see why Windows 7 does not deal with the fingerprint module itself as it does on 8510w. The answer is pretty obvious: the fingerprint on the 8510w model is older and hence Windows 7 deals with that hardware natively, so I was wondering if anyone had come up with the same situation and then the solution, on this new 8540w model.

Anyway, I guess that for the time being I'll have to deal with the HP tools, and will try to learn to configure them so they have a minimal impact both on the system and aesthetical (though this would open a total different line of discussion: an aesthetically nice pc with windows is all a paradox, but that's another story )

Again, thx a lot for ur help, m8.

 

as is a mac with the latest hardware ^^

 

hehe, that's an easy one: latest doesn't always mean best, and there's not much of a difference between the macbook pro 15" currently available at the apple store.

This said, I'm not an Apple defender, at all, but it's undenniable that so far they are the only ones investing on aesthetics... and please do not try to convince me now that you don't care about the aesthetics of things... whether you like the apple's design or not, that's another story, they have earned quite some designing awards, for a reason. And of course, in my work this is especially important.

Anyway, please let's not move this into an endless pc vs mac war I would actually find it much more useful and interesting if you explained, for instance, how to get rid of the "smart card" thing appearing on the login screen and each time the admin pop up screen shows? that's driving me nuts and i don't need it at all

 

I loved my MacBook Pro mid 09, the most beautiful piece of hardware I ever had! Probably would never been sold if I didn't had some problems with Sata 2 drives. If the mid 10 MBPs had included Sata 2 (or 3), had USB 3.0 or at least the expresscard slot I'd buy one again in a heartbeat, so you probably see how I suffered by myself when I wrote that statement

You can remove the smart card here:



Did you tried browse the website of the original supplier of the fingerprint reader? Perhaps there is a lighter Version of the Protection Tools: DigitalPersona

This is the software you need to use with modern fingerprint readers. Seems even the Microsoft readers use that software for their products, strange. Perhaps it's a security obligation so only older readers will work with win 7 tools, didn't find an direct link but I got the idea from here: The Fingerprint Registration Wizard does not run after you install the Fingerprint Reader and the DigitalPersona Password Manager software and then restart the computer

Perhaps you can use the protection tools just to register your fingerprints and deinstall them afterwards.

 

I was referring to his Intel G2, not SSDs in general.

 

I had already unchecked that flag on the smart card but it keeps on appearing, I guess there's still something else I need to do, but I can't find it, that's I was asking.

And yes, I had already checked on DP website, but I couldn't find anything. I guess sooner or later it'll be a workaround, of course.

Thx!!

 

You can go to services.msc and kill smart card services entirely if you didn't use 'em.

You can also kill a lot of other stuff of minimal/no utility for improved security, performance, and sometimes stability:
Windows 7 Service Configurations by Black Viper

(His helpful guide to WinXP services is a major component of the tweaks that have kept my 6-year-old laptop plenty usable to this day.)

 

A different, but related question: How can I configure a SmartCard and use it for logging in? Where do I get 'empty' SmartCards?

 

Yeah, this doesn't work for me too.

And I noticed that HP ProtectTool really decrease boot speed. I think it's because of hard drive encryption.

It's sad but fingerprint works only with 3rd party software =/

 

I know there were some posts a while back (~ page 84-100) but there wasn't any resolution yet. Has anyone else noticed that the right speakers on the 8540w seem to be more muffled and located somewhat closer to the centre (going by the sound when balance is shifted all the way to one side) than the left speakers? It's really quite noticeable. It's definitely not the balance settings as I've checked and it's also perfect fine with headphones.

 

On the carrying case question...

I was looking for a sleeve for the 8540w so I could stick it in a backback but have the edges and corners protected. It turns out that most sleeves have very little edge protection. The models at the Apple Store that fit the 15" MacBook Pro were a *very* tight fit for the 8540w. I ended up going with an "init" NT-NB101 notebook case from Best Buy that fits the 8540w perfectly. It's not a sleeve, exactly, but it's a minimalistic case with very good edge padding that fits in a backpack. It also has a pouch big enough to fit the high-wattage power supply.

 

hello

i've got a question about this : when people uses a newmodeus caddy to add a second hard drive into the 8540, how do they then do to use the original DVD drive ? I suppose they fit it in an external usb case ?

thanks for reply
anthony

 

You can use it in advanced dock station.. maybe there is some usb or esata cable for those drives.. but I dont use dvd drive.. USB keys are much better for me.

 

Hi all, first post. I've been using my 8540w for over 2 weeks now (i7-720, FHD, 4GB memory, 500GB disk). I'm generally happy with this laptop except for two issues: 1) occasionally on power-up the system freezes on either the HP bios startup screen or Windows logo screen, and 2) the FHD Backlit LED screen when compared to an HD+ 8540w morel has less brightness and less vibrant colors.

I have called HP support and the rep asked me to update the BIOS (from F06 to F08); and if that does not work, he will organize an MB replacement. For screen the rep is unsure whether there is something wrong, and myself I don't know if it is normal for an 8540w FHD screen to have less brightness and contrast vs an HD+ model.

I'm thinking to just insist for HP support to replace the whole laptop... will this be unreasonable? Not even sure if they will consider this.

 

I think people have been saying the HD+ screens are the brightest and most vibrant, and the bootup issue shouldn't have anything to do with your other hardware, so the mobo replace should do it if the BIOS fix doesn't.

And better to at least try the BIOS fix than get a wholly new one and risk new problems with currently-fine hardware. (Also, not sure they'd be willing to . . .)

[Also, windows start-up freezes could be a software issue (esp drivers). Other causes are possible though - does the machine run stably under high load?]

 

Hi,
Freezing can be related to USB 3.0 if you use your mouse plugged in USB 3.0,
Updating USB 3.0 firmware that can be downloaded from hp drivers page solved the ploblem for me.

 

I have a problem with creating and using a system image on a USB hard drive. Windows 7 64 Bit.

Goal use the Windows 7 system image feature so that I can recover from a catastrophic hard drive/operating system fault. I usually use Norton ghost but it is not happy with the need for 64 bit drivers. So I thought that I would give it a go with the windows 7 software.

The problem is that when I boot with a recovery CD it doesn't always see the USB hard drive, which is where the (85 GB) system image is located.

I have tried it with three different drives,

1. An older Western Digital My Book Premium II 1TB drive. Model WD10000C033-000 (Works)

2. A 1 year old Seagate FreeAgent Desk model number 9ZC2AG-500 external 1 TB hard drive (works)

3. A brand new Seagate FreeAgent Go 640 GB drive Model 9KW2AT501 (Does not work).

The drive is not seen and it asks for a driver.

I did try booting off of the FreeAgent Go using the procedures found at:

Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7 (Or any OS) | Windows 7 | Windows Tools, Help & Guides

which was a bust as it crashed the computer and I then had to use the recovery CD to "repair" windows so that it would work.

Unfortunately I would really like to use drive 3 for my backup drive as it is small enough to carry with me when I go on travel.

The HP guys are looking into this and have found that they have at least one hard drive that does the same thing.

Is anybody else using the Windows 7 system image and system repair disk features on a external hard drive. If so what other drives work/don't work.

Any other hints as to how to get drive #3 to work.

 

Haven't used the Win7 system image software, but you might try PING - Ghost-like but free and open source, so worth giving a try. It's a LiveCD, so if it fails completely, no harm done.

I've used it on a bunch of systems and only had trouble making it work once (and again, it doesn't touch the system, so it didn't cause any problems).

[You can use it both to back up and restore; you can also restore some image types from other environments. The site has step-by-step screenshot instructions.]

 

Has anyone heard when the DC2 display will be released? I've been reading all of the posts on the thread for sometime and this is what is keeping me from handing over my card #. Thanks!

 

June 21 is what we've heard [FOR THE 17" 8740w ONLY].
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...book-8740w-owners-lounge-120.html#post6326892

Edit: whoops, sorry, not paying attention to thread. Thanks for the correction, sgogeta4.

 

There is no DC2 screen for the 15". As stated above, it's in the 17" 8740w.

 

I read the whole thread and I thought folks were saying the 8540w FHD screen is brighter than the HD+??? Is it the other way around? Would appreciate a confirmation.

I'll try the BIOS upgrade first rather than have an MB replacement, w/c I would rather avoid. I have also changed my mouse from a USB3 to a USB2 connection as there was a comment the USB3 driver could be causing the startup freeze.

 

The FHD display should be slightly brighter than the HD+ display (by 20 nits).

 

I thought there was something about the matte finish being different though, which may cause the effect he's seeing? I'm probably thinking of the wrong notebook series, sorry.

dnnaudio, are you sure they're calibrated/set the same way?

 

Yes pretty sure, I compared all the Nvidia and power settings during the comparison and both were same. Both have matte non glossy finish. The HD+ is just slightly brighter than the FHD I have, not a big difference, but clearly seen. I'm not sure on whether I just ignore this, since the FHD set at 95% brightness is already acceptable to me, or to get HP to replace the LCD. They have also offered to replace the MB related to the freezing issue. I'm just not comfortable having a near b/n laptop having its MB and LCD replaced at the 1st month.

 

Heh, a valid concern. My worry would be that after successfully arguing for a complete replacement, I'd get a new machine with a perfect mobo and screen, but something else busted that was fine on the original.

Repairs often use refurb parts, so I try to avoid having more things replaced than I have to . . . the question with a "new machine" would really be whether it would be actually a new order or a total replacement built entirely of refurb parts.

 

Gosh I was not even aware the spare parts replacement like MB and LCD could possibly be a refurb. Thanks for the tip. You would think they will fit in b/n factory parts. Now i'm having more 2nd thoughts. Unfortunately I don't think they will agree to a complete replacement, have tried to argue this already but HP support tells me they are not in a position to do that.

 

Has anyone of you noticed big amount of blue color in FHD display?
Compared to other screens I have at home, it's really big difference and I don't like it at all.
I tried to calibrate color over nVidia panel, but without big success. Would a proper calibration using Spyder3 help?

 

Good Morning,

IMHO very blue color temperature is typical for todays W-LED displays. If you adjust RGB, you must go down with Blue very much... I feel that is better done with serious calibration. I measured with several W-LED displays in notebook color temp. far above 10000 Kelvin... - you should achieve 6500K.

Best, Walter

 

Has anyone tried the 8540w with nvidias 880m or 1800m with the new Premiere Pro CS5 Mercury playback engine? Does GPU acceleration work like it's supposed to?

 

peppa,

My 8540w came from the factory with the FHD display white point reading 4700K. That's very warm/red and not blue at all. I have an 8530w for work that had a ridiculously cool display, though, (~10000K). I was relieved to see that they had at least come *closer* with the 8540w, and had erred in the right direction. I'm surprised yours is so much different.

 

How did you find out display white point?

Does anyone have a ICC color profile of FHD display?

 

Why does the 8540w have a lower display resolution than the 8530w? (1920x1080 vs 1920x1200)

Thanks
-DR

 

Because it's 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 16:10.

 

Business notebooks really need to find source panels that aren't targeted to for entertainment use. 16:9 panels may be getting popular, but 16:10 panels definitely do still exist. Apple for example, the latest revision of the MBP all still use 16:10 panels, if Apple combined with corporate notebook manufacturers continue to use 16:10 panels there would still be a sizable market for them.