*HP EliteBook 8730w Owners Lounge*

Ok, but does the Hp come with a plate or something to house the new drive?

 

No HP don't come with any plate . You have to buy the Hard drive and the enclosure . But can not find any drive with enclosure including 320 gb with 7200 rpm . Only 120 gb , 7200 rpm , 250 gb , 5400 rpm . There is no 320 gb to do RAID O or 1 . And what about SSD PLATES ? Can we put only one SSD in the original HD place AND non in the dvd drive to make RAID WITH SSD ?
Too many questions without answers .
Best regards
Chris

 

The chipset supports DDR3 but not the 8730w motherboard. HP decided to go with DDR2 when they designed the motherboard. The memory sockets installed on the motherboard are of DDR2 type and DDR3 will not fit. I don't know why HP decided to use DDR2. For a high performance workstation laptop you would expect that they would use the best technology available at the moment. Up until now HP used PC-card slots in their business line when almost all other laptops has express card. That's also another example where they lag behind.

 

My original post clearly got lost in the shuffle of the whole DDR2/DDR3 debate. I really don't want to be a nuisance, but I am hoping to order my 8730 tomorrow, and there are still several things I am unclear about. Here is a copy of my original post:

Any help that you guys could give me would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Your post is a little strange because you are about to get a workstation for doing what ? This is a powerhorse and if you don't need such a laptop there are many other options out there .
Anyway . the batteries are in conjunction with the primary battery . And yes they make the notebook thicker . The 12 cell even more .
Better the graphic card bigger the power supply . for firegl v 5725 120 watt is good but for fx 2700 you need 150 w for maximum power supply. I have read elsewhere that for fx 3700 the need for 180 w power supply is very important.One of the most important part of a laptop is the graphic card . You will stuck with those one you will choose for a long time . So get the best you can .7200 rpm is a lot better than 5400 rpm and is the best thing you can do if you want speed .
You did not tell us what kind of screen do you want and the processor .
My opinion is that choosing low level components on this workstation ( 8730w) is not right . It would be better if you look at other brands . You will spend a lot less with better parts .
Best regards
Chris

 

Sorry to keep going back to memory... DDR2 vs DDR3.
I was wondering, can you get faster timed DDR2 memory that the Hp will support which will bring it in line with DDR3 speeds?

Regards,
Simon

 

It is already very difficult to get 4gb dimms . Searching the net i have only found from HP and Kingston . I dont know if they are the same thing but only those with PC2 6400 . If you have found others , tell us .
chris

 

Chris,

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback!

The system I configured online has Windows XP, 2GB of RAM, a T9400 Core 2 Duo processor (2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 cache), and a WSXGA+ screen (1680x1050). This machine will mostly be used for work. I am a commodities trader, and I will be using it on the go much of the time. I agree with you that a workstation such as this might be overkill for my needs, but there is a very specific set of features that I am looking for, and this particular model appears to have all of them. These include:

A 1680x1050 17" display.
The ability to run for 4+ hours on battery power.
A rugged design that will hold up to life on the go.
An express card slot.
An HDMI out.
An eSATA port.
An on-site warranty.

My current laptop is a high end gaming machine purchased from a small boutique company. I spent over $4,000 on it, and the thing has already broken twice in less than two years. Since I rely on a laptop to earn a living, I can't afford to be without one for any length of time. This is why I have turned to the 8730. I could be wrong, but it seems like the EliteBooks are built very solidly. I also happen to like the form factor. The 8730 is quite attractive in an understated sort of way, and it is also relatively svelte for such a powerful machine.

If you know of any other laptops out there that meet my rather stringent set of criteria, I'm all ears. Like everybody else, I'm certainly not opposed to saving money. Then again, I don't mind spending a little extra if it will provide peace of mind.

 

They do actually:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...3-1834651-329233-3762517-3762825-3872201.html
That bay fits in the space of the DVD drive in the notebook.
Also, the Advanced Docking Station has a similar space, so my plan is to put the DVD drive in the Docking Station, to have a DVD when docked, and in the laptop I'll probably put a bay with a 500GB HDD.

Dragos

 

Now you are speaking clear . I think that with this standards you are getting the right laptop because indeed it is very well built and all the other parts you mention are ok . So if it was me go for it but with fx 2700 graphic card . You will not regret it having a card with the potential in pair of an Nvidia 9700 gts.
This will give to your laptop a major future factor .
Dont forget to get the 150 watt supply and 7200 rpm .
Best regards
Chris

 

Dragos i thought he meant if they come together with the laptop .
I know that there is an enclosure but here in Greece you have to purchase separetely .
Chris

 

I think that makes a lot of sense. The NVIDIA card may be more than I need right now, but it will make the machine more flexible as well as more future proof. So if I go with the FX 2700 and a 7200 RPM drive, which second battery do you think I will need to get 4+ hours of run time? Will the 8-cell do the trick, or do I need to go with the 12-cell monster? I also have one last question. It is my understanding that there is no benefit to going with more than 2GB of RAM when running Windows XP? Assuming this is correct, how easy is it to add more RAM to this machine if I decide to put Vista on it somewhere down the road?

 

With the 8 cell extended battery ( look at the first post to see photos ) you can have easily 4-5 hours of run time .
With the 12 cell battery you get 10 hours of run time and fx 2700 card .
About the memory i would go for 2 x 2 gb dimms even if you can see only 3,25 gb of memory .
On my dell xps m1210 i have xp pro with 4 gb and i have running a lot of programms and i need more than 2 gb of memory for my processes.
So one thing is for sure . MEMORY IS NEVER ENOUGH .
.Putting in memory is a joke for children . The slots are under the laptop easy accessible and in 3 minutes you have put in another dimm of 2 gb of memory .
Best regards
Chris

 

How long should I expect to have to wait for my order to ship? Any horror stories for the 8730w (configured unit, not "pre-built")? I know the Dell thread for the M6400 has many horror stories of delayed shipments.

-Thanks

 

if you don't get Dreamcolor screen your preconfigured laptop will be very soon on your table . I know that only orders with Dreamcolor screens take 3 weeks or more to get delivered . All other orders are almost ready .
Chris

 

Greetings Friends,

I need a high performance mobile workstation for my software engineering business and I struggled with what to buy for several weeks. I wanted to buy the Dell M6400 for its performance and expandability specs and no-nonsense good looks for business. But there were some problems with it that kept me from pulling the trigger to order it; namely the plethora of build issues and hardware/software failures that I've seen reported. Also the keyboard apparently has considerable flexing, and its ergonomics for typing causes discomfort especially due to its trackpad location with respect to the edges of the system and keyboard.

I've never purchased a notebook from HP before, but decided that the 8730w was the best choice for my needs. I ordered a system in mid December, hoping to be able to claim the expense for 2008, but I am still waiting to see any change in the online order status, which seems to be stuck in "admin" (meaning I am not even sure if they realize yet that they have an order to fill..). I did call customer service a week ago, and was told the order was delayed and would ship this last Monday. But that was obviously wishful thinking.

Anyway, I had anticipated there would be delays and I plan to be patient, but a little more communication with their customers would go a long for assurances. I'll let you all know how it plays out.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to finally receiving the unit and getting it setup for use. I'm a little out on a limb right now without a good mobile system for my business.

I ordered the system with the new T9800 processor (2.93GHz), DreamColor display, 4GB Mem, 250GB HD, FX2700M. My intuition is that this will be a fine computer and will meet my needs, and I think the 8730w’s build quality and design is superior to Dell's current offerings.

I want to thank all of you and this forum for helping in my decision making process. These forums have proven to be invaluable - certainly a great and helpful online community.

Cheers,
K

 

Perfect choice . Congratulation. Be patient and you will enjoy it so much.
Today i was told from hp that they will deliver mine around 20/1/2009.
It was ordered 23/12/08. As you see almost 1 month. It is the dreamcolor option that make the delivery delay.
Best regards
Chris

 

Mine took around 6 weeks in total, again because of the Dreamcolor. I got it at the middle of December, while it was initially estimated at the end of November.

Dragos

 

Hi Dragos , i can not find the order code of an enclosure without any hard drive in it . I need only the enclosure because i have a spare of a WD BLACK SCORPIO 320 GB / 7200 rpm and i want to fit it in . Can you help ?
And what about putting in the enclosure SSD drives ? Is it possibile ?
Chris

 

I'm pretty sure SSDs can be put in there. I am looking too for the option of ordering the enclosure only, without success yet.

Dragos

 

Ok the first one who will find this option will inform the other one .
Best regards
Chris

 

It's not to do with Vista or XP, rather it's to do with 32bit vs 64bit operating system. In order to take advantage of the full 4GB of RAM you need a 64bit operating system.

I.e. Vista 64 or XP 64

 

Interesting. Well I ended up ordering the notebook with 4GB of RAM despite the fact that it will be running a 32 bit version of Windows XP. Oh well, I suppose the extra RAM can't possibly hurt, and it may even come in handy if I decide to upgrade to a different OS somewhere down the road. Out of curiosity, Will I see any benefit at all vs. if the machine only had 2GB of RAM?

 

To clear up the RAM questions, here is the breakdown. It comes down to how much memory the computer can keep track of. i.e. if you have a form you have to fill out for houses on a street, picture a form with two digits for the house number. You can only talk about houses 00 throuch 99, so you can address 100 houses. But, unfortunately, there are not always 10 houses on a block, so some house numbers don't exist, and really you can only talk about 70 or 80 houses.

On the computer, there are two different memory limits. One limit is the amount of memory the operating system can keep track of. The other limit is the amount of memory the O.S. is capable of exposing to any single program at one time.

A 32-bit OS can address 4 gigs of RAM, but some of those addresses go to things other than RAM (a computer architecture thing) so you only see 3.25 gigs or so. A 32-bit OS can also only expose 2 gigs of RAM at a time to any single program, for whatever reason. So Photoshop can only grab 2 gigs, but if you launch Office apps they can use the rest.

A 64-bit OS gets rid of these limits, at least for now. Its limits are higher than the amount of RAM that can be put in a system right now.

On the other hand, sometimes there are problems with running a 64-bit OS. For example if you are an animator you will find that a 64-bit version of Maya will be incapable of using or writing to Cinepak compressed video files. (There is no 64-bit Cinepak.) Also there have been problems running Adobe Audition 3 in 64-bit Vista. 64-bit XP is nearly unsupported and MS has pretty much given up on it in favor of supporting more modern 64-bit OS, but on the other hand Vista is annoying and some software doesn't work in it. 32-bit software runs fine in 64-bit OS in general though and will even be able to address more RAM but will still have a limit. (4 gigs I think, but consider it unverified.)


I recommend putting 4 gigs of RAM into any 32-bit computer. That is because that amount of RAM is really cheap, and software is getting huge and bloated and using more and more RAM with each release. With more RAM in your system, you will be able to run more stuff at the same time and still be able to switch between programs without waiting for the other program's memory to load back in from the disk page file. You will also avoid running out of memory if you do something big like edit an 8 megapixel photo. Keep in mind that a good chunk gets used up by the OS, even if it is XP. I would never attempt to run Vista with 2 gigs of RAM.

If you throw serious work at your computer like major 3D rendering or highly detailed CAD models, compositing or video work, you want a 64-bit OS. But only if you feel you might do more complicated projects than your industry has been capable of doing prior to, oh, say 2004 or so.

 

I liked the 12-cell extended battery. It isn't the full width of the laptop, so if you hold the laptop in your lap it is comfortable. My experience running an HP 8710 with core-2 duo 2.6ghz and quadro fx 3600m, was that I could be working efficiently on demanding projects (4-million polygon model sculpting in ZBrush while simultaneously having Maya and Photoshop open), and the laptop was still snappy while on a power saving profile, and it would last for 7 hours with the extended capacity battery, 2.8 hours on standard battery. Transferring files via wifi, installing software, and running OpenOffice Word (all at once), it lasted 8.5 hours with extended capacity battery.

I found the 12-cell extended cap. battery lifted the notebook up to a comfortable typing angle and actually made the notebook "fit" nicely on my legs without blocking fan intakes. I actually left it on even when it was plugged in, on the table at home, because of the angle. It did not make the notebook too heavy (for me), and I never even noticed that it was in my backpack when traveling, even doing big 12-hour stints on my feet running around convention centers for SigGraph 2008.

Without the extended capacity battery the laptop easily got 4 hours when set to an aggressive power saving profile and minimal screen brightness. The 8730 configured with a Quadro 2700 should get slightly better battery life than the 8710 with the Quadro 3600, judging by nvidia's power consumption specs.

Keep in mind your batteries will weaken with time. Lithium Ion technology is great, but it has a downside - Li-Ion batteries gradually lose capacity over time, regardless of whether they are used, how they are charged, or how they are stored.

So - I say you can run on just the laptop battery for now, assuming you can charge the unit to full every time you go unplugged. But, the extended battery is reeeally nice for long airport trips with connections, or all-day outings with unreliable access to power. Do not buy a spare battery to use later when the main one starts to degrade. (Because the spare will also have degraded.)

 

misterbk,

Thank you so much for your enlightening tutorial on system memory and lithium ion battery technology. It sounds like I made the right call going with 4GB instead of two. I figured it was only an extra $100, so why not.

So a lithium ion battery will degrade over time even if it is not being used? Now it all makes sense. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why HP was offering a one time primary battery replacement for $85 when you could purchase a spare primary battery along with your laptop for only $49.

 

Hello

I received my 8730w today with these specs

EX9100,Dreamcolor,4 Gb Ram,320Gb HD, Nvidia FX3700,BD-RE

and I haven't spent much time with it yet but I will say a few words about the display which is the first thing you notice. The colors are extremely saturated and you might want limit the range for normal use. I'm not sure if the dreamcolor is worth it but if you have the dreamcolor you have at least the possibility use what range of colors you want. The brightness is good but not as bright as you would expect, not brighter than the CCFL versions. There is a substantial backlight bleed through the screen though quite evenly throughout the display. True black will never be achived or even near it. My screen had a few scratches when delivered but it didn't affect the picture when it is on. One noticable thing is when the screen is completely white, the lower left corner has a red tint in an area of 1 cm2 which is gradually disappearing. I don't know if this is because the LED is defect or it just is that way. Can anybody with the dreamcolor display verify if they see this red tint in the lower left corner. Otherwise I think I have to have it replaced. For premium money I expect a perfect display.

 

Congratulation for your beast . My dreamcolor did not arrived yet , but i can tell you that another one from London who has received the same configuration with mine ( T9600 ) his dreamcolor in the left corner and in the right corner has a green tint . He has contacted HP to change the screen because he can not accept to have paid a lot of money and not to have a perfect screen . SO DO I WILL DO IF MY DREAMCOLOR WILL NOT BE PERFECT . I WILL DO ANYTHING TO RETURN THE SCREEN AND PRETEND E PERFECT SCREEN . This is my opinion and thats it . Ask a replacement because all of us have got the 8730w with 80% for the Dreamcolor screen .

Chris

I forgot to tell you about the friend in London he has this green tint when the screen is white . Just us you .

 

Thanks for the answer, so as it seems there is an issue with RGB LED screen with probably as I see it uneven distrubtion in the corners of the three components. On the other hand the rest of the screen is perfect and I haven't found any dead pixels. If I swap it I might get a worse one. There is always a risk. I will contact HP next week and hear what they think about this. Obviously this will be a regular error with this screen.

 

Please inform this forum about what hp will tell you so we can share our opinions and understand what is going on

Chris

 

Now when I've spent some time with the computer I must say that the screen marvelous. More vibrant than I've ever seen. The screen is actually much brighter than a CCFL variant. I just haven't switched off the light sensor and could give the background LEDs a very bright light.

Reds in it's default state is cerise and that color might have to limited in some way. Also the other component might have to be limited. The HP mobile display assisant is extremely bad and don't let you control the gamut in any way other than predefined settings which are either too washy colours or too vibrant. Somewhere in between is needed. This screen is really good if we just could have a nice color calibration application.

When loading the machine the graphics card gets really hot but the heat transfer to the exaust works well and you can really feel that the air is hot. The keyboard gets quite hot but not enough to feel uncomfortable. When going back to idle the heat disappears rather quickly which suggests that the heat transportation is well designed. Now I did this test in 20C but I wonder how the laptop can handle a hot 28C summerday.

 

What about the red tint ? Is it gone ?
28c !!! Here in Greece in Summer we have 35-38c or even more .
Will this laptop be only for Winter ? I am joking .
I think i will use my NZXT Cryo Cooler permanently in Summer .
But on the Docking station without cooler it will get hot i think . So the only way is to undervolt the cpu.
Did you measured the standard battery with your configuration ? How long did it last ?
Regards
Chris

 

Indeed the HP assistant is bad. I actually like it's sRGB preset, don't think it's washed out but pretty good. The problem is that it doesn't give you control, it's just a preset.
Anyway, with a calibration tool you can make it good, but with tweaks and hacks because the display assistant is not helping in any way.
Does anyone know of a tool which lets you adjust the display curves in the graphic card (and so control the brightness and contrast and RGB values on a lower level than the color management system? This is what I'd expect the HP assistant to do (actually serving the same purpose as the front controls of a high-end desktop monitor).
I do sense a very very slight red "shadow" in the lower-left corner of the display, but it's practically un-noticeable unless you look for it on purpose. I saw the problem described on the Dell M6400 threads too, so it seems it's an issue of the LG panel.
I wouldn't define mine as getting "hot" in no way. It is sometimes warm, and the exhausted air on the left might get very warm, but I never felt the keyboard as hot or the system as a whole. The warmest part I noticed is sometimes the hand rest pad on the right, where the hard-drive is located.
BTW, I use it on a docking station lots of time, and it actually helps the ventilation, making the system cooler, not hotter.
But I have the Quadro 2700 and the T9600, so it's by default a colder config than yours.

Dragos

 

The red tint is still there and not going away unless you exchange the display and maybe you get a better one.

38C will be very tough for the 8730w espcially with 3700M card. It will be interesting to see how it manage that ambient temperature.

I haven't run much on the battery. Windows estimates when it is idle that a full battery will last about 2.5 hours. I expected this and I think it is acceptable for that type of laptop.

 

So if this is a problem with this display, if I change it, there is always the risk I end up with the same affliction with the new panel.

My red tint is quite noticable when the screen is white,gray or yellow.

Since this is well known fault I wonder if HP consider this to be a valid guarantee errand.

 

Dragos which docking station do you have ? I have ordered the Advanded HP docking station with 180 w power supply but i still don't have found the part number to put a secondo hd in the laptop bay and then to put in the docking station a dvd drive or bette e blue ray with it will be available .I will try to manage to put the cryo cooler under the docking station if i can so it will be much cooler . I don't know if it is possible
Chris

 

That's the one I have. It raises the back of the laptop when docked, so the airflow it's better. Also the typing position is better when docked.

Dragos

 

I had an idea today . Is it possible to use the calibration software of the Hp dreamcolor LP 2480 ? It has Hp assistant utility , hp lcd first aid utility and hp adjustment pattern utility.I don't understand why your hp display assistant don't allow any correction because when i googled it i found the hp display assistant and i saw a lot of calibrations .
What do you think about it ? Is it possible ?

Chris

 

Has anyone had issues with their system freezing? Mine won't make it through the first part of a Vista install, but XP and Ubuntu both install fine (which is okay with me because I hate vista, but it is a bit unsettling to have it freeze in the Vista installer).

Mine is slightly different from the ones everyone else has because it was an HP prototype that I bought from a scrap dealer who thought he had rendered it unusable. A couple hundred dollars of replacement parts later and I had a working system. The only noticeable difference seems to be that my NIC has the PCI device ID of 8086:10BE instead of 8086:10F5. In linux the NIC works great, windows freaks out though.

Also can't get the BIOS update to be happy, the BIOS update seems to work, but I keep getting a warning that the BIOS update didn't complete, which could be because it looks like the BIOS update tries to flash the video card firmware too, and since I have an engineering sample 2700m it isn't happy and fails.

 

Actually the NIC driver that came with install CD was for another NIC than included in my laptop. Then I downloaded the NIC driver from HP web and that was the correct one.

I can't help wondering how you got the hands of a prototype. Usually HW companies are very strict that prototypes never leaves their office buildings.

 

It was in a gaylord of prototype laptops, 99%+ of them were rendered completely unusable, but whoever at HP (or the scrap place) that was in charge of making this one unusable just did a poor job of it. It also has an SP9400 cpu in it, which doesn't seem to be offered as a config. Things like this are the reason I like to go to scrap dealers, you almost never find anything good, but once in a blue moon, you strike gold. I mean I'm pretty sure I can never sell it or HP would be on my butt, but I don't have plans on ever selling it, I'll use it until it falls apart.

 

No. The included software is the *Mobile* Display Assistant. I actually downloaded the Display Assistant (the desktop one) and when started it only has available the Options tab. It won't let me access any of the adjustment features.
Indeed, what we need are the features of the desktop Display Assistant, with the OSD mode (like here or here).

Dragos

 

First of all I want to thank everyone in this thread because you gave me a lot of help reading the posts to be ready to check various thing on my new 8730w.

I ordered in the begining of Dec the following configuration:

Core 2 Quad Q9100
DISPLAY : 1920 x 1200 Dreamcolor
GPU : FX 3700m 1 GB
RAM : 4 GB DDR 2 (2 dimms in Dual channel mode)
250 gb , 5400 rpm
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Blu-ray
8 cell Battery
Web cam
Fingerprint
Upgrade bay 250GB 5400 HDD to use it in RAID 1.

My core business is Color Management on all fields. Digital Imaging and Industrial. That was the reason I have choosen the 8730w with the Dreamcolor.

Unfortunately the notebook came without the web cam and with one memory module instead of 2.

The memory problem could be fixed by changing the dimms but for the camera I think that the whole system should be replaced.

I am very disappointed and I did not wanted to do any test on the system. The only thing I noticed is that the red "shadow" in the down left corner existing also to my Dreamcolor display although it is noticable only when you have white or light grey color in this area.

I would return the system back to be replaced.

 

For the kind of money you spent on your system, you should absolutely return it if it didn't come as you had specified. I also wouldn't accept a defective display, especially considering it was a $400 upgrade.

 

I absolutely agree . You must return the system as must every otherone do with the dreamcolor defect because only then HP will understand that the LG screens provided to HP are deffective. There is a quality issue and and we all are without luck . This problem will be fixed in the near future but for now we who have ordered in this period the specific laptop will have a nightmarecolor display payed a lot of money .
I dont know all of you what you will do but i will for sure return the Laptop if the screen will have any of the color issues .
Best regards
Chris

 

I am tracking my system's shipment now, and expect it to be delivered Tues. or Wed. As soon as I can get it setup and running, I'll post my impressions. Hopefully I'll be lucky and the display will be perfect, but it doesn't sound very likely.

-T9800
-DreamColor display
-FX2700
-4GB
-250GB, 7200

Cheers,
K

 

Please tell us about the display when you get it. We are interesting to see how common the "red shadow" problem really is.

 

Hello all,

Has anyone had any luck tracking that drive bay down yet?
Also, would the RAID if anyone could find this be hardware based or software?

Regards,
Simon

 

Raid is hardware ( ctrl +l ) on boot time .
Not yet found any part number . I asked at HP and they told me there is no enclosure yet for 320 gb /7200 rpm .
I can not believe this because there is no logic about this . We have bought a workstation and this means there must be a lot of upgrades and if they ship with primary hard drive 320 gb so they must sell and upgrade bay with 320 gb . If not i will be very sad about it .It is out of question to do a Raid configuration with an upgrade bay with 250 gb /5400 rpm .
Regards
Chris

 

I guess at the worst you could buy the part with the hard disk and sell that on ebay?

Still would be great to have the option to order JUST the bay empty.

Regards,
Simon