*HP EliteBook 8540w Owners Lounge!*

Thanks for the update!

 

that is the deal i did as well. seemed like a really good deal. i wanted to modify somewhat, but, was tough to justify with that price.

we got the docks over a month ago. still awaiting the laptops..

 

I've been waiting for almost 2 months reading the agony some of you have been going through waiting for this thing to become available.

I'm looking to buy the 8540w, but noticed some of you are saying you're getting a free docking station with it. Is this offer still available? If so, do I just buy the laptop from the HP site and I automatically get one or is this some special deal? Is it still even available? Thanks guys!

** EDIT ** : Ah, nevermind. I see the link in another thread!

 

show of hands - how many of us are refreshing the hp order status page every 20 minutes, then come here to see if anyone else got a ship notice?

 

I'm waiting on my 8440w ne month and counting...

 

There has been an update from the Swiss University. The first few customers will receive their 8540w (without OS) by the end of the week. The ones with Win7 will start shipping at the end of this or early next week. But they don't get enough notebooks to serve all the customers. They don't know about the second shipment.
Off topic: The Lenovo W510is way more delayed, they don't have a clue on the shipping date.

 

Just found this HP Elitebook 8540p hands-on video on youtube.

 

Here's the associated review : http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/review-hp-elitebook-8540p-laptop-20100323/

 

Pretty weak review. Prefer to have seen the vertical viewing angle, hear the keys click, see programs launch. I would like to have seen the process of swapping the DVD for a 2nd HDD..

 

FYI: 8740w owners lounge here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=470406

 

my ship date has changed from 4/1 to 3/25. so, we will see if it ships tomorrow.

 

Our wonderful tech guy called HP and was told that my unit should ship 3/31 ("firm ship date"). They could not expedite the shipping, but will refund us the shipping charges.

 

Whats the actual performance difference between the M7820 and the FX2800M ...? Mind you, no interest in CAD, only an occasional possibility for a game or two. Is the difference worth $475???

 

And is there REALLY a good reason the 17" is cheaper than the 15.6"

 

Yes, HP uses the "monkey and a dart board" method of pricing.

 

Where are you seeing that? On the pre-configured models? I must be blind because the 17" looks way more expensive. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

 

Nobody knows. There are no benchmarks published yet.

What I've read ( here) suggests that the M7820 is "based on" the Mobility 5870. The 5870 is a top-tier card according to NotebookCheck. Interestingly, NotebookCheck ranks the Mobility 5870 above both the 2800M and 3800M, though the latter two rankings are only approximate (due to absence of benchmarks). It's possible that the M7820 is actually faster than the 2800M or even 3800M.

Considering that, I ordered one anyway. Whatever it turns out to be, I can guarantee that it will be a significant upgrade to my current notebook's GPU. I'm willing to do some benchmarks when I receive my system ... whenever that will be.

PS: I added this to the Owner's Lounge FAQ.

 

Try CTO. If you compare quad core CTO, you'll see list price is slightly lower on the 8740w. However, the 8540w get's a 24% discount while it appears one user here was only able to get 20% off from the 8740w. BUT...then you can "downgrade" the GPU on the 8740w to the ATI M7820 and shave $425 off the list price. Now you can also downgrade the GPU on the 8540w to FX880, but that only saves $285. It is speculated however that the "downgrade" to M7820 MIGHT be better or equal to the more expensive FX cards.

Anyway, when I spec out the 2 computers similarly (other than GPU) here is what I get.

8540w with FX880 after 24% discount: $2256
8740w with M7820 after assumed 20% discount: $2158

About $100 cheaper.

 

Exactly what I did... which, because when all other elements are made the same, I posted the question regarding the contrast of performance on the cards... and if the baseline card of the 17" is better than the 1800m, theyre really charging a premium for the smaller footprint... hence, monkey with a dart.

 

finally got a shipping notice on mine. arrives next wed. anyone actually have one yet?

 

I think your the first!

oh, speaking on behalf of everyone on NBR we expect a review by Thursday afternoon! (ok I kid).

but you do need to post first impressions!

 

I wish somebody could hurry up and get some pics and a good review in, so I can decide if it's worth it. I've been waiting 2-3 months, I think. Actually, I've been looking for a laptop since Black Friday and been saying I need one for the past 2 years, I think. lol.

 

Keep the dream alive my friends, for this laptop is now a reality.



Arrived at the office yesterday, but I didn't get it until today. So yes, they are shipping

 

That looks sweet MentatYP! Thanks for the pic! Turn it on and take pics of the screen! Review! lol.

 

Hey guys, lets agree on a list of things we would appreciate a review to cover the details of...

Performance of the video card!!!!
Programs included
Boot time from off.
How loud the buttons on mouse and keyboard are.
The vertical viewing angle range.
How difficult it is to swap a CD for HDD

Other ideas guys?

 

If you have a FX 1800M then please post some benchmarks about GPU performance first before you go into other details.

 

Sorry, I got an FX 880M in mine. Would be happy to run some 3D benchmarks if anybody's curious. Just let me know what to use. People still using 3DMark these days?

 

FX 880M? Is this a joke?

Or is it the "successor" to the FireGL V5725 of the 8730w?

 

Eh? If it's a joke, then the joke's on me I guess. It's what Device Manager says I have, and it's also what HP's website says, so... I don't get it? What's so joke-y about it?

I'm off to bed for now--been crunching code all night, and it's time to take a break. I'll probably be pretty busy in the morning and I'm in no way a laptop expert, but I'll try to answer any questions I'm qualified to answer

 

sorry, wrong thread my fault... I was looking for the 8740w...

what kind of model is the picture above showing?

 

Some people are selfish, presumptuous s. Please disregard the guy who thinks if it doesn't serve him, its not valuable to others. That said, yes, PLEASE DO benchmark your 880m... as well as report back to the other list of curiosities I have if you'd be willing...


Performance of the video card!!!!
Programs included (bloatware)
Boot time from off.
How loud the buttons on mouse and keyboard are.
The vertical viewing angle range.
How difficult it is to swap a CD for HDD

 

you should read, first, too

I meant the 8740w, and I was looking for that model. I thought I knew the VGAs for that model (FX 2800, FX 3800, M7820) and since I looked at that picture and did not know that there is a keypad version already for 15" (I still have one 15" without) I thought at the first sight it was a 8740w with a downgraded VGA...

the "joke" referred to a 8740w out of specification with a VGA downgraded by HP...

Sorry for mixing the models in the first place again and for the confusion, I was not "insulting" anybody for his computer or something at all!

I am waiting for your apologies, too

 

Sorry Sotton - I didn't mean to imply I was insulted.. my point was that this guy who was willing to give a review, who has a total of ONE POST on the whole forum... was just told, "nah, don't bother" ... AND MIGHT NOT COME BACK! A product many people (not I) have paid for or are on the fence for, and want a modicum of 3rd party testing. But.. I laugh about it now.. with you.. because these things happen in life. My concern was over the misunderstanding's consequences... not that I could take offense over disagreement in product preferences. ... however, on behalf of the guy who might have taken your remark as offensive... I think we all know what its like to experience immediate buyer's remorse - so, a shred of sensitivity to that crossed my mind as well. Anyway, thanks for clearing it up on your end.

 

no problem, I was stupid enough to post the wrong post in the wrong thread anyway

So, please MentatYP, post your Benchmark...

 

Wooo, nice picture. I would be very interested if you could show us the vertical viewing angles ^^
No shipping notice yet, but I got an information that my laptop should arrive... someday. Maybe by the end of the next week.
A friend just received his 8440w, I believe there were delays for this one too.

 

MentatYP,

I noticed you mentioned coding. Have you been doing it on the laptop? If so, how is the resolution, screen size, etc. for that purpose? Is the 1600x900 resolution (assuming that's what you have) good enough? Do you use Visual Studio or some other environment? Thanks again for any info you may be able to provide.

 

No worries, fellas. I might be a noob here, but I've done my tour(s) of duty on other fora. I try not to be confrontational, but I'm not a wallflower either Anyway no harm done, obviously just some misunderstanding. Let's get back to the good stuff.

I got a preconfigured 8540w, so no fancy options for me. A quick rundown of specs here:

i7-620M (dual-core 2.66GHz)
4GB RAM
320GB 7200rpm HDD
NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M, 1GB
15.6" 1600x900 LED-backlit screen

3DMark06:
Total: 7091
SM 2.0: 2851
SM 3.0: 2767
CPU: 3003

Anything else I should try that's free?

Sorry, no idea. First thing I did was a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit, so no bloatware for me. Just as a note: mine came with XP installed and a Win7 disc. I guess businesses still like XP.

From power button press to first Windows 7 loading splash screen: 15 seconds.
From power button press to Windows 7 login screen: 35 seconds.
This is with drivers, Avast antivirus, and Office 2007 installed. And some Windows updates and 3DMark06.

Keyboard keys are nice and quiet. I have a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000--best keyboard ever for my money--that's a fairly quiet keyboard. The 8540w's is quieter.

Maybe I'm just too in awe with this being my first business-class laptop, but I can detect no flex in the keyboard. It feels completely rock-solid to me. Typing on it is easily the best laptop typing experience I've ever had. I'm sure there are better (the keys could be made a bit sturdier-feeling), but it's the best I've personally used. The number pad is a plus for my programming work, although I can see how some would be put off by the keyboard no longer being centered on the laptop because of the number pad.

Touchpad buttons are very, very quiet. They make a kind of soft clunk (but not loud) instead of a click, if that makes any sense. The buttons have a lot of travel to them, which makes them also feel like they're soft to the touch, although obviously the buttons are plastic so they're not soft at all. I like them.

Speaking of sound, the whole laptop is quiet. The HDD is practically silent (I have to put my ear up to it to hear it, and it whirs instead of clicks) and the fan runs quiet. 3DMark06 got the fan running a bit, but even then it wasn't loud. Makes a kind of soft swooshing sound with no high-pitched whine. We'll see once I start stressing the system more, but for now it's surprisingly noiseless.

Instead of just trying to define this verbally, I've taken some pics instead. I tried to get straight on, 30 degrees, and 45 degrees, give or take.

Straight on:


30 degrees:


45 degrees:



Straight on:


30 degrees:


45 degrees:



Straight on:


30 degrees:


45 degrees:


Even taking into account the fact that the camera always seems to exaggerate any apparent problems with screens (it's much, much better looking in person), I'd say it's obvious the screen doesn't have great viewing angles. I didn't expect it to have a great screen, so no surprise there. On the plus side though, uniformity seems pretty good. It's definitely worlds better than the Dell E1705 I've been using, but that's not saying much. That has to be one of the worst laptop screens ever. By comparison the 8540w's is amazing, but since I use pretty good IPS monitors every day I can tell that it really isn't that great in absolute terms.

I'll leave that to somebody else since this is a work laptop, not my own, so I don't want to do too much dismantling.

 

I haven't had the chance to code on the laptop yet--it's crunch-time weekend for me so I'm more concerned with getting my work done on a working laptop then getting a new one completely setup the way I need it to be productive--but yeah I'll be using Visual Studio on it.

1600x900 isn't nearly enough for coding. It was bad enough when they went to 16:10, and now it's down to 16:9. Pretty soon we'll be on 2:1 aspect ratio screens My main setup is a dual external monitor setup--26" 1920x1200, and 20.1" 1600x1200. I would consider that a bare minimum these days to minimize window switching and moving stuff around on the screen. Since I have external monitors I'm not really worried about the 1600x900 resolution. It'll do in a pinch when I'm on location or working on the road.

What's cool is the laptop has DisplayPort, which means if (when? ) I get a 30" 2560x1600 I can use it at native res with this laptop. The docking station has 2 DVI and 2 DisplayPort, so I could even go with 2 x 30"-ers! I briefly considered the new Dell 27" 2560x1440, but abandoned that idea since the pixel pitch on that would probably be too small for me.

 

Thanks so much for the review/info, Yohan! I just ordered the exact same model with the docking station on Monday. Regarding Windows, was the 64-bit version of Windows 7 included on the disc from HP? The sales rep told me that the models with XP pre-installed only included 32-bit Windows 7. Any licensing or activation issues with your 64-bit clean installation?

 

Nope, only 32-bit was included. I installed Windows 7 Enterprise since we have an MSDN subscription. No issues with activation, and the various drivers I downloaded from HP's site seem to be doing fine.

 

@MentatYP

Thanks for such a thorough and professional review. I too will be using the laptop for development (VS2010/F# and kdb+ amongst other things) and am concerned about screen real estate. I have a pair of 21" 1920x1080 monitors at my home office but I'm wary of a 15" screen when traveling (which I do frequently). I'm currently trying out an Envy 15 with 1080p screen which is crisp and readable at 120% but will likely return it for an 8740w hoping it's readable at 100%.

Would love to hear your impressions of VS on the machine once you have a chance to let it rip. If I can figure out how, I will send a rep your way.


Edit: Rep sent

 

We salute, applaud, appreciate, and any other words of adulation you'd care fill in the sentiments with. That was eloquent, descriptive, articulate, GREAT! Thank you very much for your time to giving us this.

How has wireless performance been... any chance of comparing the LAN speed to wireless-N differential via speedtest.net or whomever... to show wireless overhead?

Any chance you'd load a video... mpg, note lag prior to playing?

Load a youtube video and see what the processor runs at?

I'm sure forum members have other questions I'm failing to think of, but irrespective of that, again, THANK YOU! :-D

do you use a CPU monitor? I kind of like the one below..

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=587ef54f-e121-418b-b258-e583e105a0d6

 

I'm too waiting for the Visual Studio reviews on this. I'm seriously considering. Thanks.

 

beautiful machine. its better than i expected. lol might just sell mine and i wasnt really tempted to get this line unless the 1800m or m5800 is really high in performance.

 

@ MentatYP

3DMark06:
Total: 7091
SM 2.0: 2851
SM 3.0: 2767
CPU: 3003

is this score with resolution 1280x1024 or 1280x800?

 

Thanks for all the comments, guys. Y'all are very generous in your praise. Just wanted to help out with some quick impressions and answer as many questions as I'm able to. My "review" was really just that. I'm sure there will be some real reviews coming soon from others.

Yeah, 1080p at 15" is quite a small pixel pitch. I wouldn't want to go that small myself. For me, if 1080p is a requirement then go 17".

It'll be a few days at least before I get to that, but I'll try to remember to come back to this topic. I can already say this though: 900 lines of resolution is cramped for programming. Then again you probably already know this. I'm glad I won't be using the screen as my primary display on a daily basis because of that reason.

Sorry, still on G here--no N. I'm waiting for my wireless router to die, which could be any day now since it's flaky about dynamically handing out IP addresses. Is wireless overhead really that big of a deal with broadband speeds not getting anywhere near the max speed of G let alone N?

Silly Windows 7 N. I had to go download WMP before I could do this. Thanks, Europe! It took 3 seconds from double-click to start of play on a 1GB MPEG.

Tested this video in Firefox 3.6, let it download all the way before playing it in 360p:
Iron Man 2 trailer 2

I used the CPU monitor you linked to and watched the usage. To be honest I'm not exactly sure how to interpret the results with these new i7 CPUs. It's a dual core CPU with 2 threads per core, so in Task Manager and this CPU monitor it shows as 4 cores. While playing the Youtube video the overall CPU usage showed about 10-12% on average, the breakdown of which was Cores 1 & 3 in the mid-20% range while Cores 2 & 4 practically 0% with occasional very small single-digit percentages. So does this mean the Youtube clip used about 10-12% of CPU power or double that to 20-24%? My interpretation is that the 10-12% is accurate, but this is my first dual-core-masquerading-as-quad-core so I'm not sure. Prime95 makes all 4 "cores" go to 100% though, so I'm thinking that 10-12% is accurate.

Hey, thanks for the link. Downloaded it. Nice little app. Now I can see CPU usage without having to open Task Manager.

Isn't it? Quite striking, I think. Didn't buy it for the looks, but it's a nice plus.

1280x800. I just ran it with default settings.

 

I'm seeing strange behavior: when waking up from sleep, the CPU temps are high and the fan blows at what I think is full blast, and the temps don't come down. Normal idle is about 50-60. After sleep it's 70-80 and stays there with almost no CPU usage. Weird.

 

Try to disable turbo boost in the bios and see if it changes anything.

 

i thought turbo boost is an option of the cpu for overclocking it over a limited time. is it activated by default?

 

I don't fully understand your question.

Turbo boost allows the CPU to overclock itself if it's stressed and has enought "leg room" concerning heat. If you turn it on in the bios, the CPU will try to overclock itself as it sees fit (it is not overclocked all the time). Since turbo boost is a new feature of the new i5, the feature isn't well tested yet and it is possible that HP's bios has a bug that causes the CPU to overclock all the time (for example by feeding it wrong heat information). Just a theory.

YES, the feature is activated by default in the bios but NO, the CPU should not overclock by default - only when it's necessary and possible.