*HP EliteBook 8570w Owners Lounge*

HP is shipping the EliteBook 8570W with Ivi Bridge I7 quad core, I7 dual core, and I5 configurations.

The Elitebook 8570W general product page is at:
HP EliteBook 8570w Mobile Workstation overview - HP Small & Medium Business products

Preconfigured SmartBuy models are at:
HP EliteBook 8570w SmartBuy Models

Configurable models can be found at:
HP EliteBook 8570w Configurators

 

I have pulled the triggger on an 8570W with I7-3720QM and 256GB SED SSD.

This unit will sport a fallow / non-populated MSATA slot. Note that in some configurations, the MSATA slot is occupied by a small 24GB MSATA SSD with a hidden partition dedicated to fast cashing operations.

Here is an interesting question: is the MSATA slot available to end-user installation of general purpose 3rd party MSATA SSD drives, or its use is reserved to HP only? Interestingly, the HP sales guys I have spoken to do not have a clear answer.

Opinions anyone?

Regards, Aloysius

 

I think it's user installable. Another good question: is the mSATA slot SATA III?

 

Hi Comal, I suspect that HP may be using the Intel 313 Series 24GB MSATA module described at:

Intel® SSD 313 Series (24GB, 2.5in SATA 3Gb/s, 25nm, SLC)

If my guess is correct, the module being SATA 3, it is likely that the MSATA slot may be SATA3 as well. Unfortunately, all drives for 8570W are rebadged parts, and HP declines to reveal their origins, therefore I can only make semi-educated guess about their identity.

 

Thanks, I read in a review that a user can install their own mSATA drive so I won't be using HP's SSD.

 

Comal, where did you read that? Could you provide a link? Would a SSD Drive show up as a partition?

 

By pouring over the detailed 8570W specifications, I have discovered that the 256GB SSD available for CTO configurations is a rather sluggish performer:

256GB SSD
Maximum Sequential Read: 460 MB/s
Maximum Sequential Write: 260 MB/s

Conversely, the 180GB SSD features much more interesting specs:

180GB SSD
Maximum Sequential Read: 550 MB/s
Maximum Sequential Write: 520 MB/s

Although HP is totally mum about the paternity of any of its SSDs, The specs of the 180GB drive match exactly the Intel 520 Series 180GB SATA 3.

The drive is already available on one 8570W SmartBuy, and on 8770W CTO models, but not yet on 8570W CTo configurations. As I intend to have a fast SSD on my new machine, I have temporarily cancelled my 8570W order. I need to decide whether to opt for an equivalent 8770W CTO, or wait patiently until the 180GB SSD becomes available for 8570W CTO configs.

Best, Aloysius

 

Hello guys

I got the new 8570w model B8V81UT last week, $1679 from costcentral.com, arrived in 5 days (from CA to Colorado)

the notebook looks exactly the same outside as 8560w (I got one of these too last year), and similar-heat issues (not too much but still) when playing a DX11 game

I'm little bit confused by this "mSATA 24 GB Flash Cache", i wasnt able to locate this initially in Device Manager, or in BIOS, the Win.Exp. Index for this model is:
~7.6 for memory,
5.9 for disk,
and 7.2 for everything else (cpu is i5-3360m, graphic is FirePro M4000)

so this 5.9 for disk looked pretty low to me for a hybrid drive/mSATA SSD cache and I was thinking the component is missing for some reason which would be very strange for a smart buy/preconfigured model...and then I 'found' it in an application called 'Intel Rapid Storage Technology/Smart Response ..." - there is a 'drive', sized ~22 GB in Raid 0... so looks like its there; however isnt this result 5.9 in Windows Index too low ? I've seen a Sleekbook notebooks with normal HDD with similar results;
what could I expect from Hybrid drive and what software could i use for testing/reporting this feature ?

 

Hi Longin, I wonder if there are some settings in the cache module application to tweak its performance. But if I look at the specs for the Intel 24GB Series 313 module on the intel site, it does not appear to be a speed-demon.

As for me, I have foregone the Intel Smart Response module completely. I am just waiting for HP to introduce the 180 GB SSD on 8570W CTO configurations for best performance. I suspect this drive to be an Intel 520 Series SSD. My HP rep indicated that the 180 SSD may appear on 8570W CTOs as soon as system testing are complete.... hopefully in early September.

If I see no 180 GB drive appearing on 8570W CTO by Sept 10th, I will order 8770W instead, which has 180 GB SSD already available on CTO configurations.

By the way, can you tell if the 24 GB Cache module is soldered or socketed? If it were socketed, and the operating system all resided on the 500 GB HDD, you might be able to replace the 24 GB module with a fast MSATA 256 GB SSD as a very fast "D" drive.

 

How can I tell this ? I guess I should open/unmount the back panel or something ?

also - is it normal for a SSD-cache NOT to appear in Device Manager ?

 

Hi Longin, yes you will have to remove the bottom plate of the 8570W to find the 24GB module. As for not finding the module in device manager, you should call up HP technical support and ask them if it should appear.... And ask them what you need to do to ensure that the module is enabled and operational.

 

You don't have to buy the HP mSATA. You can install any mSATA drive you want as well as memory and any SSD you want.

 

Hi Comal, where did you read that 8570W is compatible with third party MSATA modules? Could you please post a link? I have not found any information on the Internet yet that would support your hypothesis... Yet I wish it very much to be true!

I have asked this very question to an HP inside sales rep, and he told me that the 24GB Intel cache module is soldered to the mother board, and that that particular connection seems reserved to cach-only operations.

What's the real story?

Thanks, Aloysius

 

The fact that the msata flash cache does neither show up in the parts catalogue nor in the maintenance and service guide backs the statement of the HP rep.

Since you can not buy the msata module from the part store and the maintenance manual does not provide any information on the msata drive´s existence, partnumber or replacement procedure can only mean that the msata flash cache is a part of the mainboard that is not meant to be replaced. Very likely it is soldered to the base unit and won´t allow replacement.

This might also be the reason for the msata drive not showing up in the device manager. Even if you would try to unsolder the drive and install one from another manufacturer i would not be surprised if the intel msata-drive is on the whitelist ( allowed device id´s) of the mainboards bios, making it very hard to install another drive without tampering with the bios.

to sum it up i guess the rep you had contact with did tell the truth about the msata-drive.

 

The mSata module is not soldered down. It's much like a tall narrow DIMM.
If the 24G mSata is used as a cache, it will not show up in the disk manager
as a drive. I am not sure about the device manager. The mSata module
is directly accessible by removing the bottom cover, a much better arrangement
that on the Ivy dv6 and dv7 where it is under the keyboard.
Go to

 

Hmm...
Go to HP Support and Drivers
Enter 8570w
select any of the 3 shown
On the left select Repair videos and animations
Select Remove/replace videos
select mSata

For info about mSata as a cache, go back and select manuals.
Scroll down to White papers and select the one about Intel Smart
Response Technology (SRT).

 

Cause I installed one in mine but it appears to be SATA 3.0 Gb/s not SATA 6.0 Gb/s. I ordered my 8570w without an mSATA installed.

The socket is on the back once you open the back case. It says MSATA right there. I installed a 256 GB mSATA from Crucial and it recognized it. Haven't installed an operating system yet so don't know how it performs.

 

I took picture(s) but can't post them now maybe later/Monday

It's definitely Intel 313 capacity 24 GB model SSDMAEXC024G3H; and doesnt look soldered to me

Also is labeled "replace with HP spare# 694682-001 CP1270"..

 

Thank you Comal...

What model of Crucial MSATA 256 GB module have you installed?

Is it possible that the system is currently configured to see all MSATA drives as a 3Gb/sec device, and so needs to be reconfigured for the device to perform at its full potential?

Are you planning to load the operating system on the MSATA module and run it as your C drive?

Please keep us posted!

 

BIOS is set to 6Gb/s for the SATA interfaces.

SSDs I installed are
CT512M4SSD2 512GB SATA 6Gb/s speed
CT256M4SSD3 mSATA 6Gb/s speed

The system I'm running is linux but not the latest updates yet. Also haven't yet install the latest HP BIOS. Maybe someone else can confirm the speed of the mSATA slot.

Also the mSATA doesn't show up in the BIOS as a boot drive, at least when the boot setting is set to UEFI Hybrid but haven't install a system on the mSATA yet. I'm planning to install linux on it (no need for drive letters on linux, just folders).

 

Do all the 8570w Dreamcolor screens look like they are glossy? Mine is a little antiglare but it's definitely not matte. What does your Dreamcolor screen look like?

 

here are the pics of model B8V81UT bottom: Intel 313 mSATA 24 GB module



I did a little 'testing' : restarting&cold booting (measured to a point where 90% of HP crap-software is loaded)

a) without SSD cache disabled in Intel RST software: apx. 55-57 seconds
b) with SSD cache ENABLED in Intel RST: apx. 30-34 seconds (first boot after enabling excepted, its ~50 sec i think its normal)

so obviously there is some benefit of SSD caching
I still have to run some overall (HDD) synthetic benchmarks, maybe PC Mark 07... any ideas anyone ?

 

Could you run specviewperf 11 ?
( Download GWPG Benchmarks)

 

Just got my 8570w about a month ago. I also owned the 8560w which I sold. These machines are near identical. I noticed HP also removed the auto-dimming feature that's been on their business line forever. The only difference under the bottom cover is the additional mSata slot.

 

Is your mSATA slot only SATA II or III. Mine seems to be II and doesn't show up as a boot drive.

Also if you have the Dreamcolor screen does it look glossy or matte?

 

I can't tell. I have a Seagate Momentus hybrid and my mSATA is empty. And I only have the standard FHD screen.

 

Hi guys,

I was wondering if HP 8570w has Nvidia Optimus technology and can use the internal intel hd 4000 graphics. As i gather some information over the net, i found that the 8560w doesn't has this function. What happened if we had a machine with Dreamcolor IPS configured? Do we lose the Optimus function?

Thanks

 

The HD4000 doesn't support 10-bit displays (DreamColor is a 10-bit IPS screen). I would assume that HP did the same thing with 8570w as they did with 8560w (even if there is an option for a normal TN 6-bit display, you can't use switchable graphics).

 

The old 8560w DC screens were really anti-glarey with a lot of grain, not glossy at all. Maybe they improved on that a little too much with the 8570w .

 

Has anyone been able to install win7 on an mSata drive?

I have been able to go through the initial install process multiple times, but am getting stuck after the initial reboot. It says that there is a problem with winload.exe.

On the dreamcolor screens, mine is matte.

 

Hi Cookie01, what brand/size/model of MSATA drive have you installed? Have you made it startable/bootable?

 

I have a Mushkin 120GB. I've made it bootable and it works as a cache and storage drive. I think the issue is that the BIOS does not support booting from a MSATA drive. I've also tried editing the boot loader using EasyBCD.

 

Thank you Cookie01, have you installed the latest BIOS? Have you contacted HP tech support and asked if boot from MSATA is in the works for a future BIOS release?

Thinking about it, have you followed all incantations implied in the Smart Cash Technology white paper to enable storage mode?

"To replace the cache device with another cache device that is pre-configured as RAID (cache) or storage mode, follow these steps:
1. Disable the Intel Smart Response Technology acceleration feature using the Accelerate tab, or the OROM UI. NOTE: If this step is not performed, the OS will not boot from the hard drive.
2. Shut down the system, and replace the cache device.
3. Power on the system. The OROM displays the new cache device as one of the following options, and then continues the boot sequence:
Disable-If the new cache device is pre-configured as the RAID (cache) mode Non-RAID disk-If the new cache device is pre-configured as the storage mode
4. Access the Intel Rapid Storage Technology GUI, and enable Intel Smart Response Technology by following these
steps:
a. In the RAID (cache) mode scenario, select Disassociate in the Accelerate tab, and then re-enable Intel Smart Response Technology.
b. In the storage mode scenario, select Enable acceleration in the Accelerate tab, and then re-enable Intel Smart Response Technology.

Replacing the cache device without disabling Intel Smart Response Technology
To replace the cache device without disabling Intel Smart Response Technology, follow these steps;
1. In the OROM prompt, the main HDD will be displayed as Disabled, and the boot sequence could not be continued.
2. Enter the OROM UI by using CTRL+I, and select R to disable the acceleration feature.
3. Exit the OROM UI, and continue to boot the system into Windows. Access the Intel Rapid Storage Technology interface, and enable Intel Smart Response Technology.

Admittedly, I am not terribly confident.... There may be reasons why the existance of the MSATA slot is all but ignored in EliteBook literature. An entry in the FAWQ at the end of the white paper seems to imply obliquely there shall be "no cigar"...

"Q: Should the user remove the cache device before performing a system recovery on the system? A: Yes. Users are advised not to install a system image on the cache

 

I've tried disabling cache mode, keeping the cache mode active and installing on the additional space with no success. I haven't had a chance to contact HP yet.

 

Mat XXXL on

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-business-class-notebooks/657317-8770w-elitebook-4.html

concurs that the BIOS is preventing enablement of MSATA modules to operate as boot devices. Mat has installed a Crucial 128GB module in his 8570W, and can access it only as a non boot drive. He states that all other type of devices can be enable to boot, including HDD, SSD, CDROMS, DVD, USB, but definitely not MSATA. The problem can still be reproduced with the BIOS driver dated 08-15-2012.

an inquiry with HP tech support is in order to determine if HP plans a future BIOS enhancement that would enable operating system boot from MSATA modules .

 

I called HP technical support about failure to boot from MSATA. According to the specialist, boot from MSATA should be possible. the following should be performed before MSATA devices can be selected for boot:

1. During Boot, go into the BIOS F10 option;
2. Select system configuration;
3. Select Built-in device options;
4. scroll to MSATA;
5. Check MSATA.

According to the technical materials available to the technician, this Should allow enablement of MSATA to boot. The tech asked me to let HP know ASAP if the steps outlined above do not enable boot from MSATA... So, I do not have 8570W yet, so I can't try things out myself... Please try things out, and posts results here.

 

mSATA was checked in the built-in device options. In the boot option, there is no mSATA option. There is an eSATA option, but definitely no mSATA option.

I am going to try to install from a clean version of windows tonite to see if HP supplied version of windows is the issue.

 

Yes that is correct ! I can see and write to mSATA SSD without any problem, but i can not made in bios, that computer will boot from mSATA, i have all another possibility also eSATA, SD card all only from mSATA i can not made boot. Is any posibilty to made like boot from SD and then i have on SD card only allocation table that comp must start from mSATA..... ???? Is maybe somebady allready do that ??? I will first wait to answer from HP what they thing to do.

 

I allready do that on 8570W, but i still do not have any possibility that i made, that computer will made boot from mSATA. And yes without that built in device and checck mSATA it will not shown as non boot device, so that was first what i made, but i still do not have possibility to boot from mSATA, they must repair Bios i thing !

 

Mat XXL, I have contacted HP tech support again. The technician could not open a formal ticket because I do not have a machine yet. However, he has sent a note to engineering describing the problem. At their discretion, someone on engineering might contact me via Email. I will let you all know if anything useful turns out.

 

Yes please inform me, so they must in Bios put possibility boot from mSATA, and what that will do on that machine you will understand, when i will told you, that then i test that mSATA Cruicial SSD 128GB on one another classic PC with Gigabyte MB with mSATA slot, before there was clasic SSD Intel 520 128 GB and machine full starting in aprox 35 seconds, than we made the boot from my mSATA Cruicial 128 GB it started in 17 seconds i yust made big eyes... I thing, that was, because it is without cable ................ So HP must have a wery big interes that their machine will be in future speed rocket.....

 

Guys, I have ALT+F4 not working. Anybody else has this? Windows 8 Enterprise 64-bit.

 

I have that, what is your problem ?

 

I found this video about bbot HP 8770W from mSATA disk, so as i thing it is problem only at 8550 model ???

HP EliteBook 8770w+ssd Crucial M4 128Gb - YouTube

Here is something also about that problem from German HP support : HP Elitebook 8470w/8570w - bootfähige mSATA-SSD mö... - HP Kundenforum

Maybe will be the best solution to contact HP and give them link of this theme and they will understand , what we need.

But that person can not be me, because my bad English, i hope you can understand all. Best regards

 

How do you know that the drive in the video is mSATA? I think it's just a standard SSD instead of a HDD.

 

I posted the mSATA question to the HP forum's expert day and received the following disappointing response:

 

Ok guys, that HP response was expected - it's Intel SRT and we won't do anything that is outside the spec.

I am wondering though if there isn't a very easy work around for this - might cost 3s on boot, but you should be able to boot from this cache-SSD. If this SSD can be configured to behave like a normal harddisk, then you can just boot off the main harddisk and use the windows bootmanager to boot this HD. Just like you can use a bootable CD to boot any HD in your computer or even a floppy.
Of course that only works if the cache SSD is indeed a HD and not just a win7 driver thingy.

I should be getting a 8570w (B8V72UT) soon (HP exchanges my broken device, but left me now completely without anything for over a week already - I'm really pissed). If it has that SSD I'll put XP on it and can explain the procedure. Basically it's the same as booting Linux or DOS with ntldr - you need the first sector of the drive in a file and add it to the boot.ini.

 

I can not understand, that HP can be soo uncooperate, because we all know taht mSATA they use like cache SSD in Intel technology, but time go.... and now it is new possibility to use that port, and that port work perfect with mSATA SSD , which is use only like SSD disk, not cache..... only problem is, that HP must add possibility to bios boot from mSATA , only that mising, and then who want will use that port like now like mSATA Cache, and another user will use it like mSATA SSD disk and boot system from mSATA SSD and have all another data on clasic non SSD HD. And their notebooks will be a lot better than another and at 15,6 nootbeook we will have possibility to have 2 disk in one computer (1 HDD and 1 x mSATA SSD) and also CD/DVD ..... I hope that HP is smart enaugh that they will seen their benefits !!! SO HP ADD POSSIBILTY BOOT FROM MSATA TO NEW BIOS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Any FirePro M4000 benchmarks / experiences, guys? Thanks in advance.

 

Also: how easy is it to access the fan / heatsink (for repasting and cleaning)?