*HP EliteBook 8560w Owners Lounge*

To 8560w owners:

You should verify if your unit has been shipped with the faulty B2 revision of the QM67 express chipset, because there is, at least, 1 review claiming this. Review is HERE. If you have that revision, you should ask for a RMA as soon as possible.

I hope this helps.

 

Placed my order yesterday from HP for the $1,500 pre-config model (not sure the model number) and have an expected ship date of 8/15/11... I've been ecstatic about ordering this laptop but honestly all of these defects aren't making me feel to confident in my purchase. I was really hoping that the 8x60w models would be manufacturing-problem-free and thats obviously not the case.. I check these forums almost daily and I've only seen a handful of satisfied buyers. I didn't get DC2 so i'm on the edge of canceling and just getting something cheaper paired with a desktop.. I'm a college freshman and was REALLY looking forward to playing Crysis 2 and watching 720p videos all on a portable machine, but I don't know.. this may just be to good to be true at the moment.

I may not get a solid answer, but I'll ask anyways.. what do you guys recommend? Should I wait and see what is delivered to me or should I reallocate my $1,800 somewhere else?

Any and all replies are appreciated!!

 

Also, I read (i think in this thread) that HP offers a 30-day money back garauntee? Can someone please send me a link that verifies this? I'd be much more comfortable with my purchase knowing that I have that option.

Thanks in advance!

 

before anyone freaks out that there laptop is a B2 revision, look here: B2 stepping QM67 chips incorrectly reported by CPU... - Lenovo Community

CPU-Z and SIW both show revision 4(B2). Using the IMEI program that Lenovo says, I show 60005, rather than 60004, indicating that I actually have a B3 revision.

In other news....finished setting up my laptop. It's very very strange to be put in a position where I don't care about what's coming next. I picked up the last generation because I wanted quad. I picked up this on for the IPS screen. Other than a faster SSD which I can upgrade to in due time, there's nothing to really make me look forward to Ivy Bridge now. Guess I can just look forward to Kal El tablets instead for my ultraportable needs.

I think I'll need to look into a new backpack. The Ogio Epic will fit it, but just barely. I have to coax it in, fit is much tighter than on the W510 I bought it for. May need to look into a 17" bag instead; I know the new ones are included tablet sleeves, which will be nice.

 

I've only seen a handful of actual buyers

Edit: Here's a warranty link: http://h71016.www7.hp.com/html/infodesk/returns.asp

Non-Defective Product Returns
RGAs must be requested within 30 days after the delivery date, and are subject to a $15 restocking fee

 

Regarding the backlit keyboard light times - you can adjust this in the BIOS.

It might be possible with some of the software shipped by HP, but I typically save an image of a new machine and then wipe it and install only what I require. So if it's there, I haven't taken the time to discover it.

 

There's something in there for backlit keyboard software, but it fails to install on either their image or mine. I didn't see where to adjust it in the BIOS.

 

In the System Configuration section, select Built-in Device Options. Then scroll to the bottom and you can select several options for the backlit keyboard timeout.

 

Nope. Nothing present in the BIOS on my XU086UT. That would certainly help explain why the backlit keyboard controller program won't work.

 

Ok, it's good to know, thank you for your clarification. I'm sorry for the false alarm.

 

hii everyone ,, I am in the market for a workstation ,,, I had a 8510w for 4 years . still working great not even one hiccup during all this years ,,, I want to ask why the battery life of the w520 looks much longer than the 8560w ...

 

Quadro cards and Optimus, larger battery (9-cell vs. 8-cell) and good power management software...but a pre-config elitebook is cheaper with just as much power and better warranty (3 yr onsite vs. 1 yr depot)...

 

I've not had a chance to exercise the battery on my 8560W, but it's showing me around 3.5 hours on battery with full brightness.

Between the 8560W and W520, there's a few things to look at besides battery life.

I'll base this off my short time with the W510 I owned and T510 I've worked on at a client's.
1. Plastic construction vs metal construction
2. Better Trackpoint on W520 vs better touchpad on 8560W (I'm a Thinkpad Trackpoint fanatic, and the glass touchpad on my 8560W is enough to make me prefer it to the Trackpoint. My 8440W and 8710W couldn't make that claim)
3. Backlit (optional) keyboard w/ numberpad but funky arrow keys vs. Thinklight + keyboard without the numberpad.
4. HP's high end docks are far superior to the Thinkpad's.
5. Optional DreamColor (it was worth it to me, I love how this thing looks) on HP. The High Gamut screen on the W510 was nice, but not IPS; it does have the option of an internal color corrector.
6. More battery options on the Thinkpad, but the 8 cell doesn't stick out the back the way the 9 cell does.
7. HP does have the standard 3 year onsite, where it's an add on with Lenovo. Having worked with both of them, I can't really say one is better than the other as far as warranty repairs go. I had a screen replaced on an HP, and I've had a chassis replaced on a Lenovo. The techs I got in my area were both good.
8. Lenovo has BlueTooth 3.0, whereas HP is 2.1.
9. Lenovo doesn't have any logos that light up.
10. HP does offer a cheaper FirePro, plus the two Quadros that Lenovo offers.
11. HP doesn't offer Optimus, which is a shame. It should be something that simply gets disabled if you have the DreamColor display.

 

I didn't notice that the hp doesn't had Optimus, I thought they both have it . That's a shame

 

Hello from Germany,

today i received my 8560W with a Monitor ID LGD0220... (Dreamcolor)

Any other IDs here?

 

FYI - if you want to do something similar to what I'm trying to do and buy an SSD to replace your primary drive and then use the shipped platter drive in the upgrade bay (where the optical drive is) then you need to order these two parts:

655547-001
SPS-HDD UPGRADE BAY

644694-001
SPS-HDD HARDWARE KIT

The first part is essentially a plastic frame that resembles the optical drive and provides an adapter for the SATA connector so that the second part, the hard drive mounting bracket, can be seated within it.

The hard drive mounting bracket is the same for the normal hard drive bay and for this upgrade bay adapter.

Just thought I would share since I ordered the upgrade bay without realizing I needed the hard drive mounting bracket and wasted some more money on shipping. :/

 

bkleven, where did you order these replacement parts?
Online?

seems I can´t order these replacement parts (yet) in Germany.
I´m already looking at a chinese seller on Ebay for a bay.

 

HP Parts Store: HP Parts Store - HP Computer Parts - HP Printer Parts - Compaq Parts

I have no idea how you get to that site via any means other than Google. But that's where I ordered my parts.

You can go to partsurfer.hp.com and it might work for ordering as well, but I'm not certain since I haven't tried it.

 

Hi Sander,

I plan to use my 8560w with Cubase 6. I also have an RME FireFace 400 connected to it. I haven't yet gotten everything installed and up and running, but you can find the results from DPC Latency Checker below.

Cheers
Johan

 

Update: Seems my config will arrive 19.08.2011 – I can live with that.
Already using the new 24” display – quite a difference to a normal HP 22”

 

I got my 8560W yesterday.

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM
15.6-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD+ WVA anti-glare (1600 x 900 resolution)
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M
8GB 1333DDR3 2DM Memory
320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive

Thought of going for the full hd screen, but it seemed pointless on a 15" display. got a hp IPS 24" monitor anyway. Was planning on replacing the hard disk with a ssd as soon as I got it. But.......

This thing came with a faulty screen. It has these red flickers all over the screen that are like static in the background. It must be a bad component connection as indicated by a few online forums. So in the process of getting it replaced.... Disappointing....

 

8560w Order Cancelled

I ordered an Elitebook 8560w a little over 2 months ago and was just informed HP to expect another delay in the ship date (the third one).

I have cancelled the order and have ordered a Dell M4600 instead.

I really like the build quality of the HP and it would have come with a very generous discount, but I depend on my computer for my living, and cannot wait forever.

The configuration for the HP (and the Dell) is basically completely maxed out.
The only thing that I held back on was the 32 gigs of RAM (16 is enough for the work I will do on the laptop)

I hope that HP clears up it parts supply issues, but as a professional, I will not do business with them until they prove that they have a realiable production system.

 

My 8560W order is delayed by a month again too. It was scheduled for shipping last Thursday but now its August 28. No notification - I had to chase them.

 

Mine was delayed too, so I cancelled it, I have not yet decided what I want to do...

 

Just got my XU084UT from buy.com. I can confirm it also has a backlit keyboard. Powered up and everything seems to we working fine. Very happy with the build quality. @bkleven thanks for the info, just ordered the parts, will be swapping in my old X25-M

 

Got mine yesterday. Has a 2630qm and quadro 1000m. Its a Belgian version so there's no backlit keyboard unfortunately. However, I am very pleased with the laptop. Overall build quality is extremely good, but you guys probably already know this.

I haven't run any real stressing programs on it yet, but i plan to do some CAD'ing in a while. It has the long life battery and battery life is very pleasing. On Word and Excel, with wlan turned on, i managed to get a decent five and a quarter hours on the machine. Considering the specs I think this is good enough. Idle power consumption is about 9.2 Watts. Word and Excel usage was 14W I think. Screen brightness was however turned down completely. The screen is very bright, so this wasn't that big of a concession to make.
(its not the DC screen).

About the screen, i really think this is a very good screen, colors are bright, contrast is good and illumination is very good. A better screen than my p2370hd, but I'll compare it to a dell u2311h in a while (that shipment is due next week).

In conclusion: very good laptop, sturdy, powerful and usable as a laptop (not too heavy but extremely tough)


P.S. hdd really is the weak point in my opinion. I'll get a 64gig M4 ssd in a bit because i don't need the dvddrive. Then it'll be perfect for me

 

Now that you mention the non-Dreamcolor screen, can you show some pics of it? Specially viewing angles (vertical) would be interesting...

 

I ordered my 8560w (2630QM, 4 GB Ram, Quadro 1000, 500 GB HDD, FHD non-Dreamcolor) a week ago and delivery should be tomorrow. I can't imagine that HP Germany is so fast. But anyway, I got a good price because I've access to the corporate benefits portal.

I want to upgrade the Ram. Does someone know the latency of the built in modules, is it CL9?

 

Will do wii. But you'll have to wait till tomorrow night/tuesday. Sorry.

@Bendemann: I also got it less then a week after I ordered it and I was very surprised as well to get it that fast, but it's a non-reconfigured model so i guess that really takes a lot less time .

 

Hey all. Just to let you know I am interested in trading my several hour old Precision M4600 for a DC2 8560w. My M4600 is spec'd right out other than the IPS display. This could be a great opportunity for someone with a XU086UT to get a big upgrade. I placed it up in the FS forum. With that said, does anyone have any idea why HP has had so many delays?

 

Is it normal to get a white spot in the middle of the screen when it powers up or down? It's a little weird. It quickly diminishes in size and then quickly goes away. It ie s not noticeable when the backlight is on. I only see it when the screen turns on or off or changes resolution (while the backlight is off). Has anyone seen this before?

 

I get the same thing in my non-Dreamcolor. Doesn't seem to be a big deal.

 

Is it the backlit HP logo shining through?

 

that's what i thought at first but it's not because it fades away while the logo stays lit.
It's not noticeable in a daylight environment. Mine is a non-dreamcolor screen too.
Does someone have a non-DC display that doesn't have this problem? (go to some dark room and turn on your laptop)

Thanks

 

You won't see it when the display is powered since the liquid crystals are blocking any light from passing through. If the display goes to sleep or if the display is off you will see the light passing through. The same thing happens on Apple notebooks.

 

Could you give me a favor?
Could you try to use headphones to check that you could get bass part of sound too?
I am planning to do some recordings using microphones and wondering if fan noise will be audible. Audio Application is not hungry for CPU or any Video loads. I hope the fan noise will not be audible in this case.
What do you think?
If you are just browsing Internet, do you have any fan noise?
Thanks in advance.

 

Does anyone know how to enable the grayed out BIOS/UEFI options?

found it =>have to login as guest and set an admin password

 

Just received two 8560w, one with Dreamcolor and another one with regular 1920x1080 screen, review soon, should I just post it here or dedicate a new topic for it?

 

new topic, please
really curious what you think about the two... mine with DC is still a couple of weeks away

 

I got for testing from HP Germany the 8560W with the Dreamcolor display, which i am primarily interested. First i could not install my profiling software, so deleted the HP Mobile Display Assistant and now it works. Profiling this display is wonderfull!! The best laptop i have ever seen!!!

Then installed the HP Assistant again - and now both work. Gamma and color temp now perfect in every mode. Looking in the help you should use native User mode for own calibrations.

But i could make a icc profile in sRGB mode too and can load it - you clearly see it works at changes on desktop picture. But not sure if the profile is loaded too or only calibration (gamma, color temp...). after it hdtv movies look phantastic - with same quality as you see only with ISF calibrated tv or beamer... very natural colors - emotional picture.

deltaE is very low and consistent.

I think for my main purpose - working on my photos on the road - it is perfect. Had no possibility to test the Dell Precision unit too.

Best, Walter

 

@bkeleven How can you mount the frame inside the caddy once the hdd is in?

=> never mind you have to mount the frame inside the caddy before the hdd and use the bottom (vs side) screw holes to fix the hdd

 

I'll try to take some pictures later today. Some important things to remember:

- The four screws that came with the plastic caddy are important - don't lose them. They screw in from the bottom of the laptop once you have inserted the caddy with mounted drive

- The connector in the caddy can be pulled up (perpendicular to the caddy main line profile) so you can insert it into the drive and then slide it back into the caddy

- The only screws securing the HDD bracket in the caddy are the two secured screws in the bracket back by the SATA connector

These things may not be obvious at first but hopefully some pictures will clarify it.

 

Walter, do you have internal WWAN = UMTS?
I´m asking, because in the 8760w threadsomeone says that they had to add the WWAN antennas on their own

Walter, hast Du das interne UMTS Modul? Funktioniert das?
Ich frage, weil im 8560w Thread jemand schreibt, dass er selbst die UMTS-Antennen nachgerüstet hat beim Dreamcolor Display...

 

no UMTS - it's only a demo unit from HP.

There is one negative side with the IPS panel too. If you look at bigger areas with same color and brightness - there is this typical IPS shimmering. With glossy display that would be better... not dure yet if i like it.

Any opinions? Somebody made comparison with glossy Mac Book Pro here.

 

Here you go:

[thread]601043[/thread]

 

FYI: the newmodeus enclosure for the 8560p is NOT a proper fit.

 

Thanks...I have an 8560w in transit with a Crucial m4 waiting to go in. I suppose I'll wait a bit on the tray or buy the hp parts instead.

 

They said it would be a while. I think if we're in a hurry, HP might be the route to go.

 

Just a heads up for current 8560w owners -- BIOS update F.03 is now available from HP:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp54001-54500/sp54160.exe

You can also visit the BIOS release thread for additional information.

 

It'd be nice to know what this BIOS is supposed to change. "- Provides the BIOS update. NOTE: If the sytems has the B.90 BIOS, the SPI programmer must be used to update to F.03." tells me nothing.