*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

To those looking for notebook sleeve, I recommend this one.
Perfect fit, really cheap and quite nice.
I bought it for my former 8710w and now using it on my 8730w.
Beats the hell out of wrapping it in your jeans.
notebook sleeve

And for those of you concerned about the weight of the laptop, I recommend this as an alternative.
notebook sleeve

 

Well I still find it hard to believe that its actual weight is 5 kg --- if that's really correct it isn't good.

A couple of things. One of the big advantages to the 8740w in my mind is that, like the previous elitebook models, it's relatively portable as 17" mobile workstations go, even if the weight has crept up a bit e.g. the Dell M6500 is bigger and heavier and is advertised to start around 3.9 kg/8.5 lb instead of 3.6 kg/7.8 lb.

Second, it would basically be false advertising on HP's part to say that the 8740w starts at 3.6 kg/7.8 lb and have the actual weight of standard model be 5 Kg/11 lb.

That doesn't make any sense to me though --- e.g the 15" 8540w has an advertised starting weight of 3.0 Kg/ 6.5 lb, and that's consistent with actual weight measured by a user

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...ebook-8540w-owners-lounge-87.html#post6229944

Are you sure the 5 kg weight (for your 8740w with standard battery and no power brick) is accurate?

 

I have a quite acurate salter at home but its got 10 kg min limin on it so I hat to stand up on the salter with the laptop in hands and than a second later I;ve put the lap away. Z - X = Y
Its 5kg

 

Hmm. I've done that before to weigh packages before shipping. Seems like a simple task, but I was surprised how inaccurate it was.

 

my salter is quite good Im a fitnes person so I weigt my body everyday morning on that scale and than before training (morning too) on pro manual machine and the result is identical so I believe that if that little silver thing say 5kg it is 5kg
Do NOT insult my salter I take it personal hehehe (joking)

Ill try to weight it on my kitchen scale tomorrow but I need to buy a 9v battery

 

Sorry to keep doubting... I just Want. To. Believe. that it's as light as a feather.

 

Yeah. I'm a little surprised as well, 5kg is way above the advertised weight. Not a big deal to me after gaming laptops that can hit 7k with a PSU, but still, something is wrong here. Maybe the FX3800M has a heavy heatsink, lol? And maybe your extra 2 RAM sticks are made of Pb?
Did you include the docking station by chance?

 

it will be...
here is a small tip how to make your 8740w as light as feather
1) find the biggest stone/brick/female neighbour around (but it must be possible to lift it/her) than hodl it/her in your hands for about 2-3 minutes..
2) drop it/her
3) lift the 8740w straight after that and...
surprise! the laptop will be weightless!

 

where did you get my picture ? But Im a bit more rouded around the waist and my hair look a bit flat but more or less ITS ME!

 

updated!

 

Wow, this thread looks like a "want to have the 8740w but I cannot yet" thread rather than a true "owner's lounge" thread. No pun intended, but I think the original subject is changing a bit... I know it's not your fault, but is HP's fault for delaying too much the DreamColor screen and the backlit keyboard.

However, I think you guys should keep next posts on-topic for the record. What would happen if an user is going to search for useful information in this thread? Keep in mind this thread has already 87 pages and only 1 user (xsrx) has got the machine so far.

 

Point taken, back to topic.
My order was last updated on 28th of April. The requested date was the 7th and the delivery date is 28th of May. Looks like if nothing extraordinary happens I should get the same backorder delay message from them next week.

 

Actually, SecretAsianMan has a point. I've found the scale can be off if hold what you are weighing with outreached arms (a vector force is created and transmitted to the scale via your toes I guess). But if you hug it to your body that technique should be accurate.

 

That's a good point. I'm sure xsrx wasn't hugging it to his body. But judging by his photo (lol) he couldn't hold the system with outreached arms either, hehe.

 

I always hold my laptop tight!.
Measured again.. sorry guys - 5kg

 

Inquiring minds want to know...has it shipped? If so, can you tell if it does indeed include the backlit keyboard?

 

hymm... I've weighted it on my kitchen scale and hymm 4kg.. damn looks like you are right.

When I go to buy some food I'll buy another scale and weight it again.

 

I have tried the same (big scale and holding the laptop) with my 8730w and it is also about 4 Kg, with my kitchen scale I only can weigh 2 Kg

 

Don't forget to use the food weight for reference

 

I feel like in school now hehe

 

4kg!!!!!
That is inconceivable!
That does it. I guess I'll be skipping the 8740w altogether.

I'll just pickup an 8750w in a couple of months.
DC3, 28nm Fermi, and to top it off, some COD MW decorations. That way everyone will know that I mean "business". LOL :laugh:

Oh, Hexacore CPU and 32GB RAM (even though in reality, I know I won't even be using 1/8th of that) just because I like to be "futureproof".
Well, at least for the next 12mo. anyway because when the the new models comes out I'll be upgrading again. :laugh:

 

Anyone with an i5 8740w - try unplug your laptop and see if you go to integrated graphics, or turn it off and turn it on without the power cable in?

Also, this might be a silly question, but the gfx card on a 8740w is MXM3 right?

 

I have to clarify this:
First,
Even though the 8740w chipset supports the IGP theoretically, to make it work you need 3 major things:
1) Physical circuitry on the mobo for hardware switching. All current systems with discrete graphics be it Nvidia or ATI lack that modification.
2) Even if you somehow hack the mobo (assuming you have a vast knowledge and skills in EE), you would still need a BIOS support. So you have to dump the BIOS and edit it (at a risk of bricking the system beyond repair)
3) You would still need to have it optimized on the OS/drivers level, and here there are no good news as well.

All in all the i5 (and i7-620M) integrated graphics can't be used in combination with the discrete ones. This tech lacks a lot still to provide a flawless hybrid switching.
Hopefully, when Sandy Bridge is in the game, we might see a different story, but that's still far away. I don't expect major improvements here till the H2 2011.

Second,
Yes, 8740w does have a MXM 3.0b, and will be capable of receiving a GTX 480M and its Quadro variants in the Q3-4 2010.

 

But two tech support people at HP said it works?

That's good news.

 

Yeah but with a 100W TDP, I doubt the 8740 would be able to run it on less than a 200W power pack. Not to mention the possibly larger heatsink required and potential overheating problems.

 

I didn't check the shipping status as I'm busy at the moment but will report back with photos once I got it in my hands next week.

Let me know what else you would like to see/know about the unit I'm getting so I can take photos when I'm changing RAM/SSD, etc.

My supplier actually wanted to document the machine so he can post it in his FB.

 

As I'll be swapping out the 250GB HDD to replace it with a SSD, I need your opinion. If you got the choice between a "smallish-faster" 160gb G2 Intel SDD vs. a "larger-slower" 256GB Kingston V+ (Toshiba), which would you go for?

Both G2&V+ are with me. I originally planned to give the G2 to a new developer joining us in June. I'm leaning towards the V+ as I need to have OSX/LucidLynx VM in 32-64GB/os and from reviews it's not _that_ slow.

Thanks guys.

 

well Im using NAS raid 5 eSata stetup. Using SSD as a primary disc is a waste of money.

 

I also have a RAID 5 NAS setup, but I found that the dual SSD on the Envy 15 was a lot easier to take on the plane.

 

I'd go for the Intel 160GB G2

 

do you need 150mb/s on a plane ?
You can easly work on 7200rpm hdd (premiere pro/after effect/3d max)
If you have situations that you need ssd than yes - buy it but if you want ssd because the windows loads faster than .. you know what.. its just waste of money...

I assume that he is not an editor because 160-250gb is not enough to deal with full HD/Red footages etc.

SSD is way to expensive to use with laptops so far and you can only see benefits of using it in very limited ocasions. I mean real benefits.. not like unziping a file or loading a system

 

The cooling system of 8740w is quite robust. Judging by the photos in the user manual, the GPU HS, fan and pipes are even bigger than in my M17X.
Currently, you can choose a FX3800M (100W!) and owners report very good temps so far. I seriously doubt that the upcoming 480M will be heavier for the system. BTW, the card is already listed in the hardware manual.
Yes, you'll need a 200W PSU but that's the standard option now.

Never trust a single word coming from any manufacturer's reps, be it a sales or tech department. Most of those guys don't have a clue of what's going on.
There are few models with IGP enabled, but those don't have a discrete graphics and operate solely on the integrated, AFAIK.

 

First, there is something intellectually satisfying about a machine with no moving parts. I have used notebook computers for many years and my current MBP is the only one whose HDD has not failed (yet).

On a more mundane note, I am currently working with very large time series--e.g., the ticks for all options traded on all stocks, involving over two billion data points per day. My interest lies in developing programs that use parallelzation of compute and data load to scale out processing.

I program the kdb+ database in the extremely performant vector language q. It is easy to saturate the IO capability of a 7200 rpm HDD with a single process. My interest in the Envy 15 i7 w/ SSD was the 8 virtual cores and the fact that the Intel controller apparently appears as 10 channels with no seek delay. I wanted to see how much parallelization I could get.

My quick and not-too-dirty benchmarks with 250 million rows showed that 3 parallel slaves were fully saturating the 200MB/s bandwidth of the RAID0 configuration of the machine as shipped. I did the tests while on a two-week trip to London, so unfortunately I didn't have time to un-RAID the drives and reinstall everything to see if I could access the drives in parallel. But I was already matching the performance of a Sun Thumper w/ a disk array.

As far as expense, the dual Intel 160GB option was $550 on the Envy 15, which I consider quite reasonable for the performance.

 

Some update on the temperatures:


This screenshot was taken after 2 days uptime. The computer was either:

• idling
• surfing
• running (and compiling under) VS08
• running recent games (BFBC2, CODMW2, SW:TFU)

Good luck with decoding the probes' names...

BTW, does someone know of a monitoring tool to track fan speeds? Speedfan cannot recognize HP's chips. Thanx.

 

Thanks PhatCat, TechAnimal and xsrx.

@PhatCat:
Good point about mobility and none moving parts – maybe I should use both the G2&V+!
I can safely say I do not continuously run very IO intensive apps as you do.

@xsrx:
I have left my 3D rendering and multimedia days behind - it was a hobby. I was then helping the previous company I worked at to get visualization of their steel structures, erection methods and some virtualizations done so they got an edge during tenders/bids. Nowadays I concentrate on R&D and software development. However, I am using those 3D-visual know-how/skills in software projects and editing/composition was very useful during my wedding!

@PhatCat, TechAnimal and xsrx:
I have a storage vault for offline/archives. My 8740w upgrade bay is fitted with a 500GB HDD and a 500GB WDPassport is for backup when out of base.

For me, the justification to using SSD is efficient productivity from a cross platform and compilation POVs. Aside from running 2 VMs (with dev-sdk-tools installed), I was aiming to *quickly* tests codes, functionalities, presentation and validation across 3 OS-platforms (Win, vmOSX(xcode+iphone+ipad), vmLinux) with each own idiosyncrasies *without* resorting to maintaining and carrying 3 separate machines (will definitely weight more than xsrx’s 5kg).

It is frustrating when compilation is slow and stutters/pauses are not conducive to research and when writing principal codes.

With the G2 160gb: -80gb (win), 32gb(osx), 24gb(linux) = 24gb balance discounting source codes, object files, resources, etc. This is also below the 20% free space recommendation.

With the V+ 256gb: I get 120gb balance.

I am sorry that I was lazy.

I was thinking of taking a shortcut. I will first try the V+ to see how it performs.

Thanks again.

 

Bad news guys... looks like 8740w is badly designed and they calling my lap back as they cant fix the hardware memory related problem. Looks like the motherboard is not designed to work with 4 RAM slots. They just cant fix it by bios. I said I want just 2x 8gb fast RAM so I can forget about 3rd and 4slot but I didnt receive an answer so far.

 

this is indeed sobering... beer jokes aside.

xsrx, could you _please_ check your motherboard revision number and post it here. i'll compare the revision with mine when I receive my 8740w some time this week.

thanks.

edit: I do need 4 working RAM slots!

 

A tough call. If you are not into Virtualization 2 slots should be enough. On the other hand, the system is very young still, meaning most spare parts should be brand new. You might let them fix it. If they screw up - you'll get a new system.

 

@xsrx:
... and it'll truly be a waste to have such a machine plagued by this problem and any other hidden ones. I remember reading you previously had problems with an unplugged cable for the touch pad.

If the revision# don't match, and the problem of 4-filled slots still exists then I'm dropping.

I've never encounter this level of QC failure from HP before, I guess there is alway a first time.

edit: knock off an email to HP country PDM - seeking confirmation.

 

Sorry for the noob question, but what's PDM?

 

I remember that some had problems with their 8730w, too, the battery was drained in a few hours even if the notebook was off, I think there was no fix but I am not sure, this tells a lot about HP...

 

That issue was eventually solved (it took several months to find the cause). The problem had to do with the ambient light sensor (a bad connected cable or whatever caused this). But I think this fault (the 4-slot issue) in the design is much more worse than a battery drain (unacceptable on a computer of this range). I don't know what's the purpose of huge testing before releasing a part/model if then that part/model doesn't work as expected (backlit keyboard and DreamColor screen are STILL in testing, let's see how these parts work when released, fingers crossed).

@xsrx: Are some keys a bit uneven in your laptop? Some people are posting this issue in the 8540w's owner thread.

 

I think it might be Product Delivery Manager but not sure

 

Oh, I see. Thanks.


<<< BTW, my shipping date is 24th of May. Will see if it gets delayed/cancelled

 

I could not wait any longer. My current development project now takes so long to build and run its test suite (on my early 2008 MacBook Pro) that I have time enough to take a coffee break. Practicing TDD fairly religiously, those tests have to run many times each day. There is a real productivity loss because I don't have an adequate machine for the job.

Trouble is, at this moment, you literally cannot purchase any business notebook with a high-end screen from the manufacturer. HP removed the DreamColor option from its CTO configurator and cancelled the open orders. Dell no longer lists the normal M6500 on its site. Currently they offer only the Covet variety ($1500 for orange paint and a sheet of glass -- what a rip-off!), but you know the order will be delayed to near eternity. Lenovo will still let you order a W700 with a RGB LED panel, but that will kick the availability out to "ships in more than 4 weeks". I don't know what the problem is, but it's affecting all of the big three brands. There's a shortage of some sort -- display panels perhaps? This has been a problem for months now, yet there has been no coverage in the tech media.

So I activated Plan D and bought a M6500 on eBay. It's not the perfect configuration, and I didn't get the discount I wanted, but at least I'll have some good metal to compile this project. It will keep me productive until either the 8740w w/DC2 or 8750w is announced.

EDIT: Looks like the M6500s are back already ... with a "Preliminary Ship Date" of 6/15/2010. Very preliminary, if recent experience is any guide.

 

This is still perplexing to me. I have the DC option (and the backlit keyboard) and my order has not been cancelled. There must be some serious internal turmoil over this machine at HP.

 

Put together the World cup in June, Manufacturer's need to get out 2010 HDTVs (2D and 3D) before then and I think we have a feasible explanation. I suspect things will free up in June.

 

HP is just C R A P. I've so angry now.... they told me they can collect it from my company but they can NOT tell me when because their IT needs to think about it... what ? think when to collect ? how about NEXT DAMN DAY ?
I've asked how long would it take to repair.. again.. WE DONT KNOW & we dont have any timeframe limits for how long we can keep yout machine. It can be weeks... lol.. I just hate HP now.. Its time to go back to DELL.

 

@Aikimox:
Product Development Manager. Last, I heard he was boarding a plane - hopefully he is not in China for the WorldExpo and conveniently bringing my 8740w back... he will then really be: a product, delivery, manager.
Brownie points for him regardless.

Frankly, I'm paying attention to how he is trying to provide good service and salvage the situation; obviously a PDM can pull some strings but I digress.


Yup! I'm guilty as charged when I say we usually got sort-of excited about getting a new "toy" to play with; the initial euphoria when we got our hands on them; going into "cuddling-mode" (be honest, you wash/polish/wax your newly bought car daily!).

(Can't use the girlfriend analogy, unless... never mind...)

After that... it will be another tool, a business tool.

I think design; build and material quality, QC-procedures and specs are what drive us to buying something billed as a business range product. In our case, a business workstation notebook, the HP *EliteBook* 8740w. It is about reliability. It is also about reducing risks. We do rely on a trusted business partner.

If the motherboard design problem is true, then HP is not a good business partner in this particular case. The long wait is already affecting my work planning, quality and productivity. Imagine if I had ordered 3 units thus affecting my team... which I didn't want to, because I expected some teething problems.

It is OK when BIOS flashes can fix problems or if it is a material problem, a replacement part, all of us make some mistakes - I do. I did not diss nVidia when they got "material problem" with their manufactured parts.

However, there is a lost of trust - easy to lose and hard to gain.

This design problem is disturbing.

How am I to trust my new cuddle-toy... ummm... tool? When things start to fail, I will go bonkers. Oh... those disruptions... will be quite stressful I assure you.

I am still awaiting confirmation, tomorrow morning - if the design problem is true, I will hear out HP's corrective action plan and sincerity before deciding further. HP will need to gain back my trust if they want my future businesses and recommendations.