*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

I don't need the DC2 for my work but my original 8740w order was "delayed" due to unavailability of the backlit keyboard. This feature is still not showing on the config page. Has anyone heard anything more on this? The newly announced Envy 17 that will be available on the 19th sports a backlit keyboard as standard. Thinking seriously about it as an alternative.

 

Yeah, my keyboard is not showing as well. But screw the keyboard, you can buy it separately later on when it's back. The screen however is a different story. One thing I know - get the best screen you can, indulge your eyes.

 

I suppose...if they ever release it. Has HP committed to an approximate date for it as they have for the DC2? No backlit kb is a deal killer for me as I do much work on planes and other low-light situations.

I found the 1080 matte screen on the Envy 15 a marked improvement over my older MBP 17. Altho JJB measured it as 180 nits and quite bluish, it was much brighter and easier to read, even with the higher resolution and smaller real estate. For what I do (software development and authoring) it was fine. Still might consider the DC2 if it ever gets reviewed.

 

You'll have no problem without the backlit keyboard as the system has the same feature as Lenovo's Thinklight. Push a small button in the right top corner of the lid and behold!

 

AFAIK, HP has not committed to any date, approximate or otherwise, for the DC2.

 

I was under the impression from posts read here and elsewhere that systems with the DC2 would be delivered end of June, but you would know better.

 

So I just discovered the 8740w and... wow.

Does the dreamcolor2 panel exist? I don't see it on the HP website, and it looks like they only allow lower-rez LCDs with the 8740w.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by lower rez...you can get the 8740w with an FHD display. The DC2 panels exists but release appears to have been pushed back. We don't have much more info than that but we're hoping someone from HP will drop by to answer some questions.

 

It's only available at 1680 x 1050 unless you CTO

 

three different resolutions are available: 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1200 with different models (no CTO). All LED, 16:10. The high (1920x1200) also with DreamColor2 option, as said.

 

Dream Color panels exist but will be available sometime this summer.

 

It definitely exists within HP. You can see it in action here:
YouTube - HP 8740w Mobile Workstation

HP's press release also mentions it:
HP Expands Workstation Series to Include Desk-side, Mobile and Small Form Factor Models

My uneducated guess is that come end of April, the DC2 was just not ready to ship as originally planned. It wasn't meeting HP's specs, or build quality was too inconsistent -- some sort of problem. HP had the choice to either shaft customers with a bad panel, or go back to the manufacturer and demand better. They chose the latter. Then, with the delivery date (and perhaps even specs) uncertain, HP chose to press the big undo button -- cancel existing orders instead of string these customers along for several more months. This is pure speculation, merely one plausible explanation for what's going on.

The lack of any official, hard information from HP certainly is frustrating.

 

What's the dis-advantage in going with CTO anyway? I can't imagine it's 'price'. Most everyone gets at least the 18% off that is shown in the coupon HP displays on the order page of their site (but that is not accepted by the system when you submit the order, LOL), or got more off on the order, on the order of 23% - 28% (mine fell right in the middle of that; but as it seems I'll need to re-order hope it's the same next time around ).

 

This feature, called by HP "Night Light" is not present in the 8740w, only in lower models (i.e. 8540w, 8440w...). It may be the light does not cover the entire size of the big keyboard of the 8740w. Even the old 8730w had not any light at all (of course, 8530w had Night Light).

So if you have no backlit keyboard, you won't have any light at all. Well, you still can buy an USB lamp, but it's not the same.

 

You may have been looking in the wrong place. There's a few here spec'ed w/the WUXGA+ display... they just make you pay for a lot of other options too:
HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation Small & Medium Business

 

FAIL, HP.

FAIL.

considering this thread is--in reality--comprised of only 4 or 5 of you who've actually bought this laptop with a DC2...I'm starting to feel like that isn't going to happen.

 

Hmm, after seeing in 8540w I was kinda certain that it's present throughout the Elitebooks. Too bad it's not so. Thanks for the correction.

 

Possibly. Another possibility is FAIL, PANEL MANUFACTURER. Who knows.

Some people have received 8740w units with the WLED panel. xrsx, for one.

But I agree with you. Without official word from HP, the DC2 is more "up in the air" than is comfortable. There's at least some chance that the DC2 could morph into some other offering, or get cancelled altogether.

 

Well, my email conversation with HP SMB customer service has been resolved.

They would not provide the brightness of the WLED panel.

No matter; the evidence says it's 200 nit, which is not good enough for my poor eyes.

Looks like it's WLED or nada for the moment:

Then, the rep who initially took my 8740w order got in touch. The previous emails were all from a different person. My rep said:

Interesting. We have another suggestion of a June/July time frame for DC2. Still, it's just one sales rep, not a press release or publicly announced release date.

So, my order is sitting at canceled. Being a bit burned out from this drama, I'm going to sleep on it for a few nights and then decide either to go with my second choice (W701ds) or to wait it out for the 8740w w/DC2.

 

Does anyone have a 8740 with regular LED? Is it a good quality screen?

 

1. Yes. 2. It depends. You will find much discussion of it in the last 15-or-so pages of this thread.

 

Intel is going to add 2 core i7 cpus in the near future, a i7-740QM (1,73Ghz to 2,93 Ghz) and a i7-840QM (1,86GHz up to 3,2Ghz!).

 

Oh my God! The 8740w is already sold in Spain! :yes:

Now I'm waiting for the "DreamColor thing", like most of us... I hope NotebookGrail clarifies this regard and, if possible, bring Mr. Greg Staten (HP DreamColor specialist) to this forum... I can't wait!!!!

 

David from live sales chat says dreamcolor will be available in mid-late may. Take with grain of salt.

 

I hope this is true. Otherwise if my order gets cancelled, I'll consider buying a Clevo x7200 instead (i7-980X desktop CPU + GTX 480M SLI + 3XHDDs)

 

The info I got from my sales rep was a launch date of around June 1. Take with another grain of salt.

 

Mid-May... June... Nah, I will bet on late July. Based on no evidence, just pessimism and a poor track record at such things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Keep_Me_Hangin'_On

On the bright side, with the 8740w fund not needed for a while, I'm going to pay off my car with it.

 

What's up guys?
Anyone else received their laptop yet?

I heard the 8750w is just around the corner.

 

indeed. when nobody knows, I think it means they're still testing. they can't realistically become available until they've ironed out the issues and gone into mass production.

the dates they're quoting to people in these chat support calls are simply to keep you on the hook longer. no more and no less. Asus did the same thing with their G73. you need to ask yourselves if you want the DreamColor 2 display or not...and if you're willing to wait as late as August to get it.

If so, keep waiting. If not, get the regular display and enjoy yourself or buy something else.

$0.02....from someone who was *really* hoping the 8740w + DC2 would be a possible option before mid June when I make my purchase.

 

I cancelled my 8740's order

 

Mine is somehow still in DHL 'slowness' hands.
Seems I don't have a valid tracking code + the DHL support service is mainly german-speaking here in Switzerland.
Crap.

EDIT: gonna pick it up in 4 hours. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait !
I feel like a child on Xmas Eve...

 

get i7-720 and replace it the sticker is easy to remove.
The screen can be replaced too - its the same as macbook pro 17 so Plug and play

So far my i7-920 is doing well... I cant run 3dmarks because of strange problem with nVidia PhysiX since I have new unofficial drivers from HP. I;ll sort it out and post some results.

 

Congrats on the upgrade!
How hot does the 920XM run?

 

My ship date is supposed to be tomorrow. I think we all know there's about a 1% chance of that as I ordered DC2 & backlit kb. So if I'm not getting it for another month, and that 840 becomes an option, I may just alter my order to opt for that (that is, if it doesn't delay me yet another few months before they can actually deliver wthe 840 installed )

But thanx for the fyi regardless. I definitely don't want to go for the 920 due to the heat; the 840 looks like exactly what I was hoping for. Timing just might not be good.

 

I didnt have enoug time to test the cpu (heat & performance) but I think everything will be just fine

BTW eSata port is not "hot swap"

 

Guys-

I gave up and ordered an M6500 with an RGB screen...

I really wanted the 8740w, but the low brightness on the standard screen was not good enough for me and I didn't want to wait for the DC2 since there appears to be no definitive timeframe.

Great discussion here... Thanks for all the help!

Regards,
SteveG

PS - Hopefully for you guys, my purchase decision will probably engage the "Whenever I wash my car, it rains immediately" law and you will get your DC2 very soon!

 

What happened with the eSATA port? Hot swap should be a standard feature. Have you updated your chipset drivers?

 

I'll ask HP guys tomorrow. Everyday morning they ring me from US to ask if everything is ok with the gpu driver, motherboard etc etc . Im their laboratory rabbit
So far my list of issues:
- in bios when you finish testing for example the memory at the end your screen will go black... than you need to move your coursor around to refresh the screen
- random crashes - the fan rarelly goes mad and crash the system (I assume its a power issue)
- still a bit of problems with the GPU driver (PhysiX)
- top menu (toughable) - there should be an option to turn the backligh off or slighty down
- HP Power assistant - problems with their product database so the program is not balancing the power well which can cause overheat problems.
- last they should pay more attention when they stick all the intel, nvidia stickers mine are not on the same line what drives me creazy hehe

sorry for missuse of "the" and "a" for me it makes no sense to use it hehe

 

you can get those stickers using ebay... so maybe you should try this

 

And that kiddies, is the reason why it's better exercise patience and wait until they iron out the kinks, before plunging thousands of dollars on new electronic equipment.
That's the price compulsive buyers pay just be "one of the first".
Well, that and the original premium price.

 

I didnt pay that much approx $2700usd I think.. in uk base model costs about $4k

 

you're taking this quite well.

I'll be damned if I spend damn near $3,000 on a piece of hardware and put up with that kind of sh*t, let alone exude pride for being a lab rat.

maybe if they gave it to me for free, I'd subject myself to guinea pig testing...but really, they have employees that they *pay* to do this kind of testing. Let them do it. professionals should not have to deal with scores of issues at launch.

maybe I'm the only one that feels like that.

 

I am trying to decide between M6500 and 8740W. Now, from what I understand is that DC 2 will not be available possibly till august.

My questions are:
1. Is there a significant amount of difference between HP's DC and Dell's RGB LED E2E? Significant amount of difference meaning, is it worth the wait?
2. Is Dell's M6500 much heavier (weight) than 8740w?
3. I hear talk about 8750. I can't find anything that possibly makes me think that 8750 is even being thought upon. Who heard it, where and any other info?

 

If anyone has a 8740w with i5, does it have graphics switching for power saving?

I've been doing some research and it seems the mobile i5s and the i7 620m (but not the quadcore i7s) have a gpu on the same chip as the cpu. I know the PM55 chipset on the Envy15 prevented graphics switching, but according to the HP website, the 8740w has the QM57 chipset.

The QM57 chipset, according to: http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/qm57/qm57-overview.htm
has Intel® Flexible Display Interface, which I believe is the enabling feature of the chipset that allows an i3/5/7 620m to use its integrated graphics card.
The HM55 ( http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/hm55/hm55-overview.htm) also has the FDI and it is known to allow graphics switching, and the PM55 ( http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/pm55/pm55-overview.htm) does not have the FDI.

This also says the QM57 chipset has integrated graphics: http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=43185

So it seems (don't quote me on this) that a 8740w with the i7 620m or an i5 chip has switchable integrated graphics.

Update: According to Janine on live chat, located in Rio Rancho, NM, graphics switching does work on the 8740w. She also said dreamcolor and backlit keyboards toward the end of the month, and if you want free shipping and the coupon to work, go on live chat and ask for both.

It's been more than 4 hours, and since you seem to be the only person with an i5 8740w, does it really switch graphics to integrated? Any problems with the laptop? Take pictures!

 

I'll start backwards...

3) Did more than one person mention it? Regardless, you'll need to learn how to read the implied "tongue firmly planted in cheek" in posts; yes, can be difficult on the interwebz without the facial expressions. If you don't understand what that means, that means one person joked about the 8750w because it's taking so long for the 8740w to come out that by the time we get them they'll be getting replaced (no they won't, but that's the joke!).

2) weight comparo, maybe someone knows; if I wanted to know I'd go read the specs that are listed on both websites.

1) Yes! For one, it's DC2, not DC. For two, it's a 10-bit display [!!!]... that equals the ability to display over 1 billion colors; that's dramatic when you consider most laptops can only display 262K colors, and until now the best could do 16.7 million colors. For three, it's an IPS display. [if you don't know what that buys you, you can Wikipedia it; I did, and I was sold on it. Then I realize one of the things that makes my HP 2335 display fantastic is, it's an IPS display; and I was sold some more]

That all sums up to arguably be the best display that has ever been put in a laptop/mobile workstation. ....BUT, if you don't do work that requires such a capable display and you just do programming, business writing, excel spreadsheets, you really won't need such a fantastic display. Spend the money on other options.

 

1) - Nothing. It's not really a problem and you don't even need to worry about. HP might address it with a BIOS fix.

2) - Too many causes can be here from bad drivers and OS image to hardware issues. Look deeper into the Event Viewer and Technet for details.

3) - Welcome to Nvidia. HP isn't to blame. That's why I prefer ATI currently and am so happy with my 4870s. Not a single glitch for 3 months with heavy gaming.

4) - Could you explain that? What top menu?
you should have a Fn+ ... to change the brightness. If it doesn't work, that could be a driver issue.

5) - Never ever rely on manufacturer's bloatware. I'd remove it in a blink and use the OS tools.

6) - Nothing


So if that's all - we're lucky! For a new product that's a very short list of issues, IMHO.

 

Personally, I would rather have an 8740w, with issues, right now. Anything to get me off of this MacBook Pro.

Hear that, HP? I would gladly be a beta tester for you. If we have a deal, you know how to contact me.

 

Yep, with the current alternatives in business sector HP has a real chance to grab the crown for a long time.

 

Sorry about that, but I got home after picking it up yesterday and I don't have internet access @home.

Now, for the good news (on random order, I'm not gonna make a full review):
- the WSXGA+ screen is very bright compared to the WUXGA I had on my Dell Precision M90. Can't be more accurate, as I don't have a way to measure brightness. Maybe it's juste WLED compared to CCFL backlight, but I'm stunned.
- as HP Fan mentionned, GPU-Z can't identify the M7820 (no info on how many stream processors, ...). However, some specs (core/mem frequency, bus width, ...) are similar to a Mobility 5870.
- good news also for the people wanting for DC screens. There is a special setup page in the Catalyst drivers to enable 10-bits colors output.
- the fan is really more silent than what I had on the M90 (although it was dual fans), even under 3DMark06.
- and last but not least, the 3DMark06 score: 12191 points! Yeah! In your face, overprized nVidia Quadro cards! By the way, 3DMark06 sees the M7820 as a HD5870. Oh, and the VRAM is GDDR5.

Don't know how to check if the integrated graphics is used. Any idea?

PS: pictures will come as soon as I get my hand on a good DSLR. However, xsrx has already posted some earlier.

 

Try install the integrated graphics drivers:  Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows 7* 64 and Windows Vista* 64 (exe)

That's for win7 x64.