*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

3. Thank you for clarifying that.. I need to close my ears and focus on what I need..

2. M6500 starting at 8.5 lbs with DVD and 9 cell battery. I guess 8740W is lighter, but again it can house 3 Hard drives, but again, HP offers dreamcolor 2 display (will be offering, hopefully soon)

1. Sold on DC 2.

 

Then I guess it doesn't support switchable graphics, as the only thing it installs with this package is the turbo boost driver.
Maybe it will become available with a future BIOS update.

 

Weird, and sad. In the Device Manager, do you see anything there that would be an intel gma hd? It would be under display adapters.

 

Nope, only the ATI FirePro M7820.

 

Well that's disappointing. I'll ask HP about it tomorrow.

The sad part is that all the hardware is there!

 

in i7-5xx have you got 2 or 4 memory slots ?

 

I don't think a i7-5xx chip exists?

i5 and i7 620m have 2 memory slots, i7 720 and 820 have 4 slots.

 

sorry my mistake in cpu names

 

I've just sent an email to HP calling them unprofessional for releasing 8740w anc calling it workstation. Latest crashes are causeb by bad bios .. that for sure... also part of their system software is to old - for example HP power assistant it cant control the power of 8740w because 8740w doesnt exist in its database (program from dec. 2009) so in effect my laptop is overclocking in idle and going to idle when im working

 

That's strange, I don't seem to have these kind of problems...

 

i520 is quite cold and you have 4gb. In my machine I have 16gb currently all 1600Mhz (my sig is not updated sorry) and i've put i7-720 back (was 920) just to exclude CPU problems. I;ve noticed the same problem with 8gb on board. So if you have all 4 banks occupied than is very likely that you will experience the same problems as me.

 

also it can be a power issue... WUXGA + i7-920 +9800M + 16gb ram 1600mhz + 7200 rpm disc (I've changed to blue - faster series) + NAS server (4 bays 8TB) on eSata + 1TB WD usb 3.0

Its a bit too much for this laptop. Offcourse eSata and USB 3.0 hardware got its own power but its possible that can cause some software/drivers related problems

 

The problem is that I don't have 4 banks...

 

I know I know... I've addressed it to all futute 8740w users with quad-core cpus. So far 8740w is unstable.

 

Over 12K with 520M? Very nice! GPU Vantage will most likely be around 8k!

 

7546 to be precise.

 

Is that the overall or GPU only score? GPU should hit 8k, I insist!

Also what are the max GPU temps @ load?

 

An update to all tracking progress of the DC2 orderers...

My ship date was supposed to be today. Obviously that is not happening. But I was assured that my order has not been canceled and should not be, and will ship when the back-ordered parts are in. I did not speak to anyone rather received an e-mail reply to my phone call to my salesman [who was out of the office today] so I don't have any estimate to offer you of when the floodgates will open. But this does at least address the canceled/open order issue of orders w/DC2 included that's been discussed.

@ NotebookGrail. Please let Greg Staten know you have a Candidate here [me, I call "dibs" ] willing to be a guinea pig of a machine they deem meets their DC2 quality assurance targets.

 

hymmm I'll ask them for DC2 screens tomorrow. Their head of it is going to ring me regarding the overheating problems.

 

According to Charles from HP live chat in New Mexico:

Dreamcolor2 and backlit keyboard is premiering at the same time in late June.

Also, core i5 graphics switching will be possible via software according to him, but it isn't yet.

 

Well...
As I had changed my spec to non-DC2, the only missing part delaying my 8740w is the back-lit keyboard.

I did receive a call from HP's country PDM and was assured my 8740w will ship from China this Friday. I should receive it latest by next Friday or earlier if it got sped thru customs. I got the "you can take my promise to the bank" from him.

So it is only the DC2 availability problem...

 

I was just told by Janine (in NM) that dream color panel would be available by the end of this month.

 

To make sure I understand you, he said it is shipping Friday with the backlit keyboard?

 

What are good cases for the 17" Elitebook?

 

I seriously doubt any rep at this point can provide us with an accurate info regarding the DC2 panels. The only info we can rely on is the one coming from Greg Staten directly (thanks to NotebookGrail).
So far, the only hope for those who have pending orders is that they get delayed long enough into June and (if we're lucky) the screens will arrive.

 

Yes.

2010-May-14. My 8740w will ship from China, with a back-lit keyboard.

I should get it before 2010-May-21.

Sorry about my bad English.

 

@xsrx

Can you weigh your Elitebook please. They always say its "starting 7.8 lbs" I want to know how much a loaded machine weighs like yours.

 

I'll when I come back home

 

my setup weight exacly 5kg = 1 pounds

 

Nice! That's about 1kg less than my M17X.

Also, how hot did the 920XM run at max load?

 

i've taken the cpu out for a few days and trying to check what is causing that shut downs problems. HP is monitoring my logs (as im sending it to them).. I dont wat them to see that a mirracle happend and i7-720 turn to 920

 

5 kg = 11 lbs. That can't really be what you mean, can it??

 

11 lbs sorry

 

Wow that's actually a lot heavier than the 8 lbs they claimed.

 

Regarding the shutdowns, I think it's a power issue associated with a BIOS tables for RAM slots 3 and 4. So far 3 out of 3 people who got their systems with 4 RAM slots reported the same. Leaving only slots 1 and 2 populated should fix it for now. HP should address the issue with the new BIOS fix. I don't think you need to send the system to their labs. Usually, techs break more than they fix.
I'd keep it with 2 DIMMS and wait till the update.

 

Yah --- I really hope that's not correct. The actual weight of a notebook is always more than the claimed starting weight, but not by 3lbs+.

 

@xrsx: Did your 5kg weight include just the notebook? Or did it include power brick, accessories, etc.?

 

.... :SLEEP:

 

Or that gold bar you're always carrying around with you?

 

just the laptop. The power brick is heavy 3-4 times weight of any other normal power bricks.

5 kg is not that heavy guys Kids have more weight in their backpacks when they going to school (2 bootles of booze, pack of cigaretes, 2-3 cans of coca-cola and 2-3 guns

Work out more see some benefits of the weight.. you can do biceps by lifting it on your way to work...

 

How do the dual core processors compare to the quad core? Are most applications using hyperthreading now and taking advantage of all cores? And maybe I don't understand what the Turbo Boost is all about either.

These seem to be cheapest options for i5 and i7:

Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor (1.60 GHz, 6 MB L3 cache)

 

With the i7-620M, half the cores, less cache, but higher speed per core.

No. Most applications are not optimized for multicore CPUs. However, there's also the use case of running many of those apps simultaneously.

IIRC, when one ore more cores is not in use, the system overclocks a bit. I haven't paid too much attention to it, because it sounds like marketing more than technology.

 

Currently, very few applications and games can utilize all 8 virtual cores of the quads (with HT). Quads are just more futureproof. But right now, for example 620M (dual) runs better in benchmarks and games than 720QM (quad).
The only advantage (IMHO) of having quads today is that it gives you 4 RAM slots (only 2 with dual cores, Intel is to blame ). Otherwise I'd go for a 620M and have 3.33GHZ on a single core instead of a 2.8 with 720QM.
520M is not a bad choice, my M17X has it paired to 4870x2, and no bottlenecks in games. Not even thinking of upgrading yet.
Hope this helps.

>>> TB works different in laptops than in desktops:
All cores can be only slightly boosted, but when there's a bigger demand 2 out of four cores will shut down providing a higher boost for the remaining 2. When even more juice is required, all cores will shut off providing max boost to the remaining single core. Still 620M will boost higher than 920XM, hehe (3.33 vs 3.2 on a single core)

 

My company is looking to buy 8740w with i7-820.
Do you mean that 8740W can only support 2 SODIMM with i7?

 

no. i7-720 and above (820 too & all the quad core cpus) will and do support 4 memory slots.

 

Well, my system's line item detail, under the 'More Info' link, went from 'SCHED/Scheduled' to 'Estimated/Backorder/BCKO' this morning. Gonna ping my rep again.

 

Well it should make The Coka Cola Company proud to be included in such rarefied company.

I highly recommend TOM BIHN Bags - Laptop Bags, Laptop Backpacks, Laptop Cases Tom Bihn back-pack computer bags. I haven't researched if there's a large enough padded insert for this beast of a computer, but I have to assume there will be and I'll be getting the largest one to go with the one I already have which I'll continue to use for my smaller notebooks.

 

Same here. Seems we're all in the same boat. At least something is moving, even if not in the desired direction. At least now the feedback system available to is accurately reflects reality.

 

my laps usually end up beign wrapped in my clothes and put in a hand luggage. Its always funny to see faces of the board security guys when they ask me to unwrap "that thing hidden between your clothes".. btw last time when I was flying from Poland to UK I had syringes looking pens (promotional stuff) and a laptop wrapped as usuall in my mess... they dont have any sense of humour but I cant tell you what they did to me later ...


or I do...


they've broke all my pens

 

I really want to get the i5-540 in the 8740w, but I also want the 4 RAM slots. What to do...