*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

To see if it's true, run some games and check if the temps get higher (they should, if not that would mean that HP has the best up to date cooling system, lol).
Looks like the core clocks are 500 instead of 700 during the Furmark, that could explain the low temps.
BTW, what are your room temps?

 

Already did there...

Room temps is about 23°C (~73°F). Yeah, I know it's too high for my wellness, but I got ventilation issues...

And also, my question stills remains:

 

Oops, sorry missed that post.
Nice temps!

 

Hi guys,

I have an issue here:

I got a quote with i7 940XM (along with the part number)... and I know it is not yet released....

I posted about this earlier.Maybe i did not make myself clear.

Shall confirm the order.,

My Rep has confirmed from Singapore that I would get it by a month and a half, and I happen to know him personally too.

Is it alright to go ahead,then?

 

I don't see why not. Worst case is that they swap out the processor for whatever is available and refund the money

 

Ok... Alright

 

Mine showed up this morning (a day early)! I only managed to pull it out of the box before I had to leave for work. I'll be giving it a work over this evening and likely will get the additional RAM in tomorrow at the earliest. I'll keep you guys up to date.

 

Now I'll be expecting mine to arrive tomorrow (I ordered 1 day after you).

 

Pics & benches...pls:cry:
Congrats, to the new owners!

 

So, I've just started playing with the new laptop and here are some of my first thoughts:

1. Very nice and sturdy
2. The keyboard is bowed a little mostly around the #1 key
3. The backlight on the keyboard is very cool
4. The keys don't make a consistent sound - the top left area of the keyboard has a little extra 'tick' when you type. This is bothering me. Perhaps it is related to the bowing. Anyone have any thoughts about this?
5. I'm surprised at the lack of 'bloatware' on the system. I see little to no extra software. That is, after the initial HP registration and configuration app ran.
6. The button to open the lid is a little goofy. It doesn't exactly sit firmly in place when the lid is open.
7. It IS a little bigger than I expected - but not too big or anything. I think its just been a while since I owned a 17" laptop. This is nowhere near the size of a clevo.
8. I ran the winodws experience index right after booting. Attached are the results. Looks like memory (I'll be upgrading to 8GB very soon) and disk are holding the overall scores down.

Anyway, I'm off to play with it further. If you have any specific requests please give me all the details and I'll attempt to answer any questions.

I'll try to post some pics soon as well.

 

Do you have any games to try?

 

At the moment I really don't - I'm thinking about downloading the crysis demo and giving that a shot. Any suggestions?

So, back the the keyboard and the sound it is making. I lifted it up and noticed that the support legs are metal and run the length of the top row. I think the extra tick is these legs hitting the heat sinks. I'm wondering about attempting to cushion this just slightly. Obviously I can't put anything thick in there. Hmm...

 

@Tyraxus:

Can you make a photo with the keyboard backlight on? Thank you
And a photo with the bowing in the keyboard, please.

Are you happy overall? I assume all notebooks have their drawbacks... and nowadays you cannot expect any notebook (actually any computer product) without a minor glitch (it's sad though).

 

Wow, this owner's thread is actually getting filled with owners now! Who'da thunk it!

On a different note, now that I've waited for DC2 I'm torn as to whether I should wait for the i7-840 .... ugh!

p.s. glad my rep's been good to ya'all.

 

I've attached a couple of photos. I can't seem to properly capture the keyboard bow. It isn't really that bad and the fact that I can't get a good picture of it proves that.

Also, without flash the keyboard backlight (in action) shots are a little blurry too - sorry.

Anyway, the more I play with this thing the more I am loving it. I really dig the way the keyboard backlight fades in and out. It is disabled via 'fn' + spacebar. The way the touch keys respond by either softly flashing or changing color is cool too. The monitor is gorgeous as well - straight out of the box. A little tweaking will likely improve that even further. The speakers are not extremely loud and there isn't much in the way of bass, but they are clear and crisp. I'm happy with them. Granted none of these things are performance based, but they make me happy none the less.

My only annoyances so far are the keyboard tick (as described earlier) and the play in the lid button. Other than that I'm loving it.

I've examined the keyboard in detail now and I'm probably going to attempt to cushion the metal support pegs with some small cuts of electrical tape tomorrow.

Also, I'm hoping Fry's will have the necessary RAM and I'll do some performance testing tomorrow as well.

Normally I do a complete wipe of any new system but I'm waiting to verify that the new BIOS fixes the four RAM chip issue first. Plus, it is giving me a chance to check out what HP is attempting to push on me. Honestly, so far I've been rather surprised at the package HP has provided.

Back with more later. I hope everyone is enjoying this - I know I am!

 

I can't wait for mine. It arrived in AK at 4am and left at 7:30am this morning (times local to me). I just might get it tomorrow!

 

You guys crack me up. LOL :laugh:
That's sad...

 

Just wait until you see my comparative review between my old system and new. Then you'll understand why I'm so I'm so crazy over getting it (as if you can't tell from my sig specs).

 

Meanwhile, the thread starter is not actually an owner.

The 8740w w/DC2 remains my top notebook choice, but I needed something to use until it becomes available. The MBP just wasn't cutting it for work. Unfortunately, if you insist on certain high-end features, the pickings are slim to none right now. Compromises eventually must be made. I tried to grab a M6500 on eBay, but it vanished into USPS. Some postal monkey helped himself to a nice machine. Today, I happened to find a W510 with 820QM and FHD panel actually in stock somewhere, and that became my Plan C. It should arrive on Friday.

Now, with a decent machine on the way, I'm much more comfortable to wait for the right time to purchase an 8740w. The DC2 will be out eventually, and so will the Intel chip refresh. 940XM + M7820 + DC2 sounds like my new next machine.

 

Or maybe 940XM+480M+DC2 ?

 

The HP 8740w *will* have the workstation variant of the GTX 480M soon

 

I know, that's why posted this. We got that info 70 pages back in this thread.
I wonder which of the two will run cooler. Both are powerful enough for my needs, even though 480M will probably be slightly stronger. It will also be much more expensive.
Anyway, we'll see soon enough

 

@Tyraxus: The backlight is very nice. It's just what I was searching for.

Thank you again

 

Hello All,

New Owner here.... I can't F'in wait! June 8th Delivery!


Quantity Unit Price Extended Price

*997212 513074-999 1 3,291.00 3,291.00
KMAT Armani WKS 1.x CTO
1232547 VG305AV 1 .00 .00
BU IDS QUAD 8740w
1232556 VM932AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
LOC Win7 PRO64 OR07 8740w US
2759634 VM943AV 1 .00 .00
LBL MS Win7 Logo
1232563 VC105AV 1 .00 .00
CPU i7-820QM 8740w
2872689 WC305AV 1 .00 .00
LBL Core i7 vPro
2678822 KX851AV 1 .00 .00
LBL eSTAR
1232598 WF730AV 1 .00 .00
Misc AMT Enabled 8740w
1232569 VG321AV 1 .00 .00
LCD 17.0 WUXGA+WVA f/CAM 8740w
1232564 VG318AV 1 .00 .00
WEBCAM Integrated 2.0MP 8740w
1232552 VG314AV 1 .00 .00
GFX nVidia FX 3800M 1GB 8740w
1232574 VC118AV 1 .00 .00
RAM 8G 1333DDR3 2DM 8740w
1232580 VC121AV 1 .00 .00
HDD 500G 7200RPM 8740w
1232583 VC124AV 1 .00 .00
DVDRW LS UB 8740w
1232587 VM937AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
KB DP 8740w US
1232590 VC128AV 1 .00 .00
WPAN BT 2.1+ 8740w
1232589 VC130AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n I3 8740w US
1232594 VM893AV 1 .00 .00
MODEM 56K v.92 MDC 8740w
1232595 VG331AV 1 .00 .00
SEC FPR 8740w
1232596 VM938AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
HWKIT 200w 8740w US
1232600 VC127AV 1 .00 .00
BATT 8C 73Whr 8740w
1232601 VM914AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
WARR 3/3/3 8740w US
1232603 VM899AV 1 .00 .00
Media DRDVD Win7 8740w
1232606 WD009AV#ABA 1 .00 .00
Media OSDVD Win7 PRO 64 8740w US
*353096 UF631E 1 109.00 109.00
HP 3y Nbd Onsite with ADP NB Only SVC

 

In regards to the 480M, I read this on notebookcheck:
"Compared to desktop GPUs, the Geforce GTX 480M is comparable to a underclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 465 (607/1200 clock speed) and therefore on par with a desktop Radeon HD 5770."

As for the Radeon 5870:
"Compared to desktop graphics cards, the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 should perform somewhere between a Radeon HD 5750 and 5770 according to the specs (shader count of 5770, clock rate of 5750)."

Personally I'd stick with the Firepro 7820M! It uses half the wattage of the 480M!

 

5/25/2010 4:13 PM - Order Confirmation
Jun 1, 2010 1:32 AM - Shipment information sent to FedEx
Jun 3, 2010 9:49 AM - Delivered

9 days from order to delivery
56hrs from China to MN
~5hrs until I get home to see it!

 

It's not that simple. AMD's TDP is for the chip only (with the GDDR5 memory all in all it's about 70-75W) while Nvidia specifies the total TDP - 100W. In addition, they both have differently calibrated temperature sensors, so it'll take some time to figure out which card runs cooler. Would you prefer a card that gets ~75C on the core but ~90C on the MEM @max load, or would you choose the one that has 80C on the core and MEM?
There's a lot to think about. I'd prefer the RED's as well, but only because of the huge frustration with Nvidia for the past year or so (poor drivers, stuttering issues, overheating, etc).

BTW, don't rely heavily on Notebookcheck as these guys do not dig too deep. We can realistically say something only after an extensive benching of both cards and so far we can't even get the full picture of the 5870 as the drivers are still far from being perfect. It will take another 3-5 months to get the comparative review that we can more or less rely on.

 

Exactly as stated above.

 

But we will be forever greatful to you for doing so, and hopefully your continued maintenance of its first posts.

 

anybody running Vectorworks with this rig?

 

I guess I was oversimplifying things. Anandtech recently reviewed the desktop version of the Geforce GTX 465 and posted power consumption and temperature #'s:

Radeon 5770 / Geforce GTX 465:
Idle Temp: 40 c / 44 c
Load Temp: 77 c / 91 c
Idle Power: 163 watts / 172 watts
Load Power: 243 watts / 349 watts

Based on the specs, the Geforce 480M is a lower clock/memory/shader speed version of the desktop Geforce GTX 465. Not a perfect match obviously, but a good starting point of comparison.

 

There might not be any hard numbers available yet but i'd bet the 480M will be much more power hungry than the Radeon card. Ditto for temperatures.

 

Maybe. Though MR5870 is already pushing the temp limits. Furmark (@max clocks) will easily bring it over a 95C. Many games will push the memory to 85C+. That's quite dangerous on the long run as the memory will fail sooner.
Ideally, I'd like to see the max temps constantly below 75C while gaming, but looks like it's hardly possible.

BTW, @AlbertRaccoon, could you run any of your games again for an hour or so, keeping both GPU-Z (select display the max temp on the memory sensor) and HWMonitor open? I wonder if the card always downclocks itself to 500mhz. If you could post a screenshot again it would shed some light.

 

looks like the BIOS update fixed the memory issue! So far no crashes!

 

Great first pictures! LOVE the dark grey front and back bezel around the keyboard. Not impressed by the backlit keyboard... Why can't they fix the light leak issue? Haven't seen ONE backlit keyboard that I liked, the backlight leak is simply too distracting...

From the picture it would seem the front and back keyboard surrounds are similar as those on the 8730w, except for the dark colour... Would make a great replacement for me! Could you send or post higher resolution images?

 

I have mine up and running. I'll post some decent pics of the backlighting later. It's my wife's birthday so I have to get going for now. But my first impression is that this is an awesome machine. It is everything I hoped it would be, which is saying A LOT.

I don't see any bowing in the keyboard or hear any tapping from keys.

 

You tease

 

Told ya This is a great system and you should be thankful

Congrats! Pics! And game benches!

 

Now xrx, go to the thread on HP's site about the memory problem and remove the posts where you tell the world not to buy HP. j/k... you're free to do anything you wish.

 

Here are some pics for your enjoyment. now that it's nearly dark out, I'm REALLY loving the backlit keyboard.


















smaller is 120W for Sony, bigger is 200W for HP

 

That is one beautiful machine!

 

And a beautiful house and office to boot.. Love that desk!!!

 

3DMark06 - 12,373
SM 2.0: 5,111
SM 3.0: 6,020
CPU: 3040
res: 1280x1024

I can now see the keyboard bowing, but is is not severe and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. There is also some flex around the numpad area, but nothing like you get with an Asus. The keys are actually getting smudged, which I think is going the be biggest annoyance. I'll also have to find a good safe cleaner for the metal finish. It is does not show finger prints like a glossy finish, but they do leave a mark. This is all picky superficial stuff though. I wouldn't trade this for anything at this point. No regrets (yet).

 

How is the mouse-pad? Any issues while using it?

 

But knight427, you must not have ever hear the saying (from the M&K folks I believe) "there's no speaker grills like no speaker grills!" So do I spy Tannoys there behind the grill or Lowthers or other FR? (tho I'll admit while I keep my Tannoys exposed I do keep my M&Ks under wraps as dust sticks to the tweeters)

 

@83bj60: Thanks, we bought this house in March and I got my desk in April (after bootstrapping my business from the kitchen table in my townhouse for 5 yrs). The desk is at Macy's, I can probably find it if you happen be in the market for a desk.

@m8o: Good eye! Tannoy Sensys DC1 to be exact. Got them cheap from a manufacturer's rep (their demo pair). I love 'em, super flat (measured the freq response myself). And I'd rather keep them dust free than gain back that 0.01dB which no one can perceive anyway (they might think they can, but try a double blind test).

Oh, and speaking of sound. This laptop is very quiet. When I ran 3Dmark06, it was as loud as my Sony is when it is under light use. I'll do some actual measurements later, got lots of other stuff to do for now.

@Mahathey: I haven't used the mouse pad much. I'm trying to train myself on the pointing stick. I've always hated mouse pads and used a portable bluetooth mouse with my Sony (trying to ween myself off that and only use it for AutoCAD). I just tried some gestures, didn't do anything. Do I need to turn them on somehow? I don't care to much, but I'm happy to play around it for others.

EDIT: why do I have a Program Files folder and Program Files (x86) folder? Everything I've installed has gone into the (x86) folder by default.

 

The (x86) folder gets 32-bit apps, the other gets 64-bit. The separation is actually rather handy, especially if you run two versions of the same program.

Also, as a longtime thinkpad user, I have to say the trackpoint is a wonderful wonderful thing.
(Is the pad multi-touch, and if so do you get different buttons for different numbers of fingers tapping? I love this feature on my Eee 1000.)

Also also, anyone get the SSD and know what make it is? I have a question in but haven't gotten a reply yet. If it's a decent one I might cough up the premium to get it from them for the system preload convenience (which is stupid, 'cause I know I'll want to reinstall in short order prior to dual booting, but meh).

 

hehe maybe later It took me so much time to force them to work on the problem. It should not be like that the user must ring them 1000000x times to get some simple answers. The driver on their web is still not CUDA supported. Its just stupid that Business Laps are not up to date.

I've contacted all heads of IT (UK, USA, Turkey - Sophia) etc etc to force them to focus on the memory issue and check possible solutions. I just cant believe that they didnt test the unit before release.

They hate me there and I hate them
I still think that 8740w is crap. M6500 is much better.
BTW because of HP stupidity I had to buy m6500 a few days ago Guess which one Im going to sell on ebay ? ... HP!

 

Got the problem too. It seems the original drivers from HP don't have multitouch stuff.
What I did was follow what's explained there and it's now working fine.
Haven't tried the latest 15.0.17.2 though.

 

with my 8730w I have used the track pad a lot (and also later drivers with multi finger touch, BTW, works fine) and so the color faded where the hands rest

I guess since it is only a different (darker) color the 8740w will suffer the same problem?