*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

Can abybody stick this ling for the first page?
Hotfile.com: One click file hosting
I cant post here the direct link to their ftp (as their accidently posted to me) so I've uploaded it to hotfile

its a new HP FX 3800M driver !!! which fully suports CUDA
The link is from HP IT department - I've spent 4h on the phone to get them to give me a newest modified by HP driver for the FX Mobile cards. They will update it on ther web about mid June so this is a real HP certified driver - its tested and working a lot lot better than the one from HP Drivers DVD

enjoy!

 

the white led display for 99.9% is LG-Philips lp171wu7-tlb1 (used in Macbook PRO)

 

Seriously? If so, I might buy this. The MBP is all right.

How can you find out for sure?

EDIT: BTW, I added your 3800M drivers to page 1.

 

the name of the screen is showing in my Nvidia Properties + all the settings for the screen like separate channels adjustments etc etc. You can basicly adjust it perfectly to any pro screen.

to confirm 100% im sending my print screen

 

Thank goodness! At last a person working at HP in these forums to sastify all our questions! :yes: . Don't forget there is a person from Dell in the Dell forums of NBR. I think this forum is the most important for laptop matters on the Internet, so there should be a person posting for every major company (wish, of course).

I've repped you for this


My first question will be when the devil the 8740w will be released in Spain. If you can pass my question on to Mr. Staten, please NotebookGrail do it..

Anyway I'm not worried for the DC2 delay until June, because I guess this machine will not be available for me (at least) until that month.

 

Rep +1 to NoteBookGrail!

 

XSRX-

Thanks for all the info!

I have a few questions for you...

1) As far as the screen goes, is it bright enough to work in a room with a window shining on it? I have always felt you need 300 nits for this... but this one has only 180 or 200...

2) Since you work in the movie business, are you used to a screen that has a lower brightness? (doesn't the movie industry usually use screens at very low levels for editing?)

3) I noticed you bought a 720 processor but 1600mHz memory and a 3800M card... I imagine the 3800M was due to CUDA use in Adobe, but why the slower processor and the faster memory? Just curious...

Thanks!
SteveG

 

Looks like I spoke too soon earlier. See LG's specs page. The LP171WU7 is indeed only a 200 nit display. The WLED display is not going to work for me.

 

ad1 - Now after calibration by i1 display 2 (eye one display 2 xrite) my brightnes is set to 60-70%. Yesterday the weather was very good here and the light was coming straight to my room by a massive window (2m x 2m) the room is white and I dint notice any problem with the brightnes. I still could work as normal (usaly I use Eizo ColorEdge but I work on the laptop screen too)

ad2 - I always work with pro calibrated screens line Eizo etc etc. My personal preference is to -10% from the brightness.

ad3 - I like to buy fresh stuff and I hate to wait so I've bought that what was available on the market the cpu can be easly upgraded. I dont care about the warranty too much. So far I've changed the RAM to much faster CL7 and planing to go for more 4x4gb. I didnt want to spend too much on memory.. first I wanted to test the CUDA support (Mercury playback in not working as FX 3800M is not supported so far) but CUDA helps anyway. You can hack the Adobe Premiere by adding your card to supported but its not really safe (I did)
I've ordered today the i7-920 (just because the Mercury playback without hacking is not available I need a few extra Mhz to work with multiple layers in Premiere Pro CS5) + arctic silver 5.
I didnt concider ATI firepro because Nvidia owns the market and is always supported first or only supported as it happend with Adobe

P.S. sorry again for my spelling, gramma etc etc its not my native language

 

remember that after calibration you dont need to backlight your screen at 100%. This screen is quite popular in MacBooks and they are quite good in this business. Im not going to defend the screen... as I said before I never go too much technical about computers I just turn it on and like it or not
I like this one very very much.

 

Oh, I believe you 100%. The problem for me, specifically, is the crummy pair of retinas I inherited. I need all the photons I can get, even at the expense of color correctness. The DreamColor 2 is so exciting because it should require no such compromise. I can have my cake and see it too.

 

XSRX-

Thanks again for the info.

Strange... I called Adobe and they told me that both the 3800M and the 285M would be supported by Premiere for CUDA... I was very clear that it was the mobile cards, not the desktop versions too.

It seems that none of the salespeople know what they are talking about anymore!

Regards,
SteveG

 

the adobe package supports CUDA but not supporting 3800M for their new Mercury Playback (adobe premiere pro cs5). In conclusion you will have some benefits of the little GPU acceleration but you will not see such acceleration as other Quadro (desktop) users have. I believe that they will support M in future but as they say @there is not much juice in the mobile cards@ (I personally think its buls**t.

 

Hi guys,

I have just got my 8740w and it seems to be a good "little" computer. It has an I7-620m with Nividia M2800.

However, i have two issues with it:

1. the screen is blue/grayish and a bit unsharp. Then it flickers a bit. After only 20 minutes working on it i get tired in my eyes. I can't use it, so i have gone back to use my old trusty 8710w instead.
anyway, i have field a compaint to HP about it.

2. As mentioned above, the computer has an I7-620 but the KVM feature is not present. HP can not provide any info about this.

This is my findings so far.

 

Join the club!

What screen do you have?

 

Hmm, how do i check that?

The product number on this machine is WD940EA#AK8 (which seems to be a scandinavian specific model).

It has 1920*1200 in resolution.

 

Mine is in DHL hands now. Can't wait to test the M7820 and confirm/infirm HP Fan's claim. Just a bit concerned about Michelle's comment and the fact that she didn't post 3DMark06 results...

 

HP should think about their numbering... the WD940EA#ABD e.g. has the 1440x900 screen, other specs same

 

Instal the driver from the first page - Its HP cerfified driver from 04/05/2010 (not that from their web as is not updated there)

But it looks like you have a falty screen/graphic card/connector/backlight. Mine is OK... i didnt experience that kind of problems.

 

Don't worry, I'm certain the 7820 will even outperform the FX3800M (except for the pro apps, maybe)

 

pfffffffffffffffff

 

Would you still go for Nv. even if you didn't need CUDA?

 

Good question...

Nvidia seems to have the bigger outside development staff working with the program vendors... It seems they get proprietary stuff put into the programs, which makes it run faster with Nvidia... at first. Eventually, ATI gets caught up and they run the same speed.

ATI spends less in that area, so their prices are lower for a more powerful card earlier in the product cycle... so on non-optimimized programs, they are better bang for the buck.

Tough call... both have benefits.

Seems to me if you have a program that will benefit from Nvidia, pay the extra. Otherwise, ATI.

Regards
SteveG

 

there is much much more filters and other tools just for nvidia (no CUDA). Its just supported better.

In all other computers I use I have ATI cards. Only my workstations are based on nVidia.

For gambling I would buy ATI for sure.

 

That's exactly the point.
I might consider Nvidia when the new Fermi 480M arrives for 8740w. It's supposed to be about 300-500$ more expensive than the 7820 and be about 10-20% more powerful.
Other specs known so far: 100W, 2GB GDDR5, DX11 support, 40nm.

 

but do you need such power in your laptop ? From my point of view i7-920 + 12 gb RAM + FX 3800M can do pretty much everything I need... (HD full edits, 3d renders etc etc)

 

In comparison, the i7-820 is a bargain. $160 more for about 10% perf increase over the i7-720 ... I keep laboring over whether it's worth it. I'm saying 'no' for now, hoping there will be a chipset compatible CPU released in the months to come [or next year] that will give us a 20-25% increase over the 720 but with the heat and price of the i7-820.

 

Maybe I'm being impatient and not giving Greg enough time; is it pre-mature for me to ask you to fill us in? Inquiring minds and all that...

 

man...the delay was very unexpected.

reading over all you guys posts (all 5 of you) is pretty entertaining.

 

I was impatient too and mailed him asking again if i can publish what he told me and he says he will get back in a day or two (he cited the trouble he can get into for posting on forums himself).
The bottomline HP is delaying is becos they want to be 100% satisfied with the new Panel. They have tested a few batch of samples and so far its close to their expectation.

Edit:For me it's no big deal to go and post what he said, but just don't want to screw-up the only channel we got.

 

Well, I cancelled my order with HP and purchased the Dell M6500, specs below. I ended up getting the dell for about a grand less. Now that is with a partner discount though. Good luck you guys!

Base Unit: Mobile Precision M6500, Carbide Silver (224-8511)

Processor: Intel Core i7-920XM Quad Core 2.00GHz 8MB for M6500 (317-2584)

Processor: Intel Core i7 Extreme Label, Latitude/Mobile Precision (330-9156)

Memory: 8.0GB, DDR3-1600 SDRAM, 4 DIMM for Dell Mobile Precision (317-3295)

Keyboard: Internal Backlit English Keyboard, Dell Mobile Precision (330-5876)

Video Card: nVidia Quadro FX 3800M, 1.0GB DDR3 Discrete for M6500 (320-1125)

Hard Drive: 128GB Encrypted Mobility SolidState Hard Drive, Dell Mobile Precision (341-9491)

Hard Drive Controller: Internal Swipe Fingerprint Reader for M6500 (313-8681)

Screen: 17" UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB LED Display for M6500 (320-1131)

Webcam: Integrated megapixel VGA webcam with single digital microphone, M6500 (313-8682)

Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional64-bit, w/ media, Mobile Precision, English (421-1610)

NIC: Dell Wireless 420 UWB 1/2 Minicard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision (430-3530)

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive: 8X DVD+/-RW slot load for Mobile Precision (313-8694)

Processor Cable: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) 1/2 MiniCard for VPRO Latitude E/Mobile Precision (430-3362)

Additional Storage Products: 250GB secondary Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM, for M6500 (341-9831)

Feature
9-Cell/85-WHr Battery for Mobile Precision M6500 (312-0222)

 

Thanx very much NotebookGrail. It does seem then as if the delay is in rigorous QA/QC [perhaps w/HP announcing and opening the ordering of it a bit pre-maturely] and not due to inability to source it, which was my greatest worry; for example, as I think this is an LG display, as a result of AUO putting an injunction on LG from selling/supplying it. I for one think the AUO display in my Dell E6500 is the best of all my notebooks, so if they want to force HP that they supply the IPS displays for them, I'd be down for that just fine.

 

What trouble? There already are representatives on these forums, for example, havoctex is a Dell product manager, AFAIK. This forum allows posting to product managers under a few restrictions (he needs to read the rules first)

Come on, bring Greg to us!. I'm pretty sure it would be very appreciated by many people from this thread

 

I agree... in fact, he could probably sell some machines if they could deliver some concrete specs on the Non-DC2 screens...

Personally I could get by without DC2 if the brightness on the base screen is sufficient.

SteveG

 

After much thought and consideration, I will be picking up the 8740W (again) when it's released (again).

I simply am not willing to compromise further on my "flagship" system. There simply is no system out there that I'm interested in in comparison to what I hoped to have with the 8740W.


That being said, if anyone knows of a cheap game-able system, I'd really like to get off this intel HD video and the box upstairs (PD 2.8ghz, 80gb hdd, 768MB RAM, HD3450) that I'm playing Left 4 Dead 2 on right now. 15" and under, as I'd like this to become my work computer when I'm done.

 

For many the DC2 is the reason to switch away from Dell M6500 and Lenovo W70Xx.
We have a deal now in Canada for W701 ~ 2.2k CAD for a decent config with RGB LED.

 

Here you go. I doubt you can find a better 15" gaming system, and the price is fairly low, IMHO.
Those are gaming Clevo's known for the absolute cooling system, high build quality and best performance.

A review

 

@NotebookGrail:

E-mail received. Thanks. I've also replied to you, please read it.

 

Aikimox-

2200 seems very good... When I price the W701 on the US site, its way more (than the dell and the HP with similar configs)... and that is after applying a 15% coupon they have running now.

What is the deal in Canada?

SteveG

 

30% OFF till 9th of May

Save 30% with eCoupon CAPMOTHERSDAYEMPLOYEE when your configuration is $1,500 or above on ThinkPad notebooks.

 

Wow!

Too bad that cannot be used in US!

 

Thanks, but the driver did not fix my problem. Right now i'm waiting for HP get here to fix my screen.

 

I'm of the same opinion and it is good to know I'm not the only one!

After reading more (much more!) about wide vs. standard gamut articles and weighing all the pros+cons - I've changed my spec from DC2 to the normal screen - I can live with it.

The bonus savings? I'm getting 256GB SSD for my VMs. For my eyes, I'm getting HP ZR24w IPS (at ridiculous discounted price!).

I've also written a "all-HP-goodwill-lost" email to my supplier that has been bumped to HP notebook product manager and up again to HP country manager... hope to get my 8740w next week.

now, waiting and more Heineken...

 

Im going to do a little surgery on my 8740w
first the cpu - from 720 to 920
second hdd - 7200rpm to SSD 250gb
third - arctic silver 5 on cpu and gpu

 

Nice. I'm staying tuned for the results

 

Not worried about voiding the warranty?

 

I dont really care about the warranty - its cover by accidental damage by another company so I can always drop it from our company roof . Anyway the sticker is very easy to remove If I need I can always put the old cpu back. 8740 is very easy to open and DIY.

 

That's the spirit!

 

Just for my/our edification, I is there any risk that steps #1 or #2 could/would void the warranty? I ask this because the machine can come that way from HP. So is it only the use of a 3rd-party thermal paste the thing that may risk void of warranty? Or is it possible steps 1 & 2 can void the warranty for some reason I don't realize? Because that can have a bearing on if I were to spec my machine w/a 720 or 820 presently.

 

Generally, removing the sticker, replacing the CPU/GPU/paste will result in voiding your warranty in case a mobo/GPU replacement is needed from HP.
But if you have enough budget to get a 720 ->920 upgrade, you probably don't need to worry about the warranty as you can always get another mobo/CPU/GPU from HP or Ebay and DIY. That what I'd do for sure!