*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

What does 10 bit panel mean ? Any links to where i can do more research on the matter ?
Can't that pannel be bought separatly and placed inside other laptops ? It seems to me it's one hell of a panel.

 

That the shades of red, green and blue in every pixel are each described using 10 bits of information, giving (10+10+10) bit = 30 bit color depth. This is what gives the panel the ability to display over 1 billion different colors (2^30).

 

Monitor Specifications

 

The number of colors displayable is (2^10)^3, as there are 3 primary colors. Most notebooks only have 6-bit driver hardware, allowing for 262144 actual colors (2^6)^3; additional colors can be simulated through dithering. The more modern and/or capable laptops began employing an 8-bit screen, capable of 16,777,216 Million colors (2^8)^3. When one has a RAW image with 12-bits or 14-bits of color information saved in the file, this new display allows for more colors to be displayed to more accurately see the more subtle of gradient variations, as (2^10)^3 = 1,073,741,824.

You can only put this display in another computer and get the 10-bit color depth if you have a card, cabling (and maybe add'l circuitry?) capable of driving a display at a 10-bit depth in the notebook, and driver that will work in the machine given any conflicts that may arise. It's more likely that you can put this display in another machine if the cabling & plugs match, perhaps operating at only a 8-bit color depth.

Personally I'm skeptical 10-bit is actually working in the only program I have I know it is supposed to work in, Photoshop CS5; it's a debate I'm still having but I see identical results of a 'test' whether I operate at 8-bit or 10-bit. ...Yes, that's the catch. Windows at the desktop and in most all the programs, will not make use of the 10-bits. So for the time being it makes more sense to remain operating in 8-bit mode within Windows and appreciate everything else the display has to give you; that it is an IPS display and gives me an ultra-wide viewing angle while hardly affecting hue is what tipped the scale for me over all the other very good TN RGB-LED equipped machines out there.

 

2^10^3 = 2^30. 2^6^3 is not 1.07 billion.

 

Argh, one typo can ruin a whole post.
Yup, knew that as I'd stated it earlier in the paragraph. Thanx for pointing out my typo. I corrected by post.

 

Here is a dumb question for you guys. I am ordering a Crucial C300 SSD for my 8740w. I know that it supports 6Gbps in addition to being backwards compatible. Can you guys tell me if 8740w internal and/or external controllers are 6gbps?

 

Nope..its Sata II (3gbps). But, if you want you could buy a Sata III Express34 card (if one available) and external the C300 - which defeats the portability purpose.

 

Well I guess then OCZ vertex would be a better choice than C300.

Another dilemma that I want to buy SSD and place it as a primary Drive and place the HD that I have primary right now into the upgrade bay. I know that I would need a upgrade bay kit, which HP rep is telling me that they don't sell separately. Suggestions?

 

I got my first BSOD yesterday.
1st time in 6 weeks it's not bad I guess.
From what I've read before, those who have the problems with 4 RAM sticks usually get crashes on a regular basis.
Hopefully it was just a regularly scheduled random crash from windows.

I bought this for my old 8730w and now I'm using it in my 8740w;
HHD upgrade bay
It comes with the curved black bezel, so it's a perfect match.

 

Thanks NotebookGrail and RampageII. I guess the problem is solved.

Anyone has an advice for me for a SSD, in terms of performance. I am looking for 256 gb or more space. Should I buy right now or wait for the next gen to come out?

 

The crashes we get (4 sticks or 2) are not BSODs. As you said, you probably just got your regularly scheduled windows crash.

 

I was in the same boat as you - urge to get an SSD, got a OCZ Vertex 2 240GB, now i had returned it back and decided to wait it out till the G3 comes out.

 

Hmm, waiting it out also means that next gen (G3) would be more expensive and it also means that prices of the current ones would come down.

 

Max discount I got was 28%, thanks to NotebookGrail and his rep. My colleague (being very jealous ) is also looking to buy one now, any one else got more discount than 28%??

 

I'm pretty sure 28% is the max discount anyone has received around here unless your order is excessively delayed or messed up in some major way.

 

Oh, I misunderstood then... I thought the crashes implied BSOD...
So when you guys say the system crashes, you mean the system just shuts off completely out of nowhere?

If that's the case, I guess my incident was a false alarm.
It was just Windows executing one of its routine tasks. lol

 

from my problems roster:

 

The question is....will it really be worth it?
Are you one of those people that has to have the latest and greatest?

Here's the thing.....
The OCZ Vertex2 240GB you bought and returned is considered the top choice right now and currently sells for about $660 before discounts ($540 with rebates and CB). CB alone is $100 off. That's a pretty decent price.

Now, will Intel G3 drives be faster than the current sandforce1200 SDDs and match it in physical capacity? Perhaps.
Lets say they improve transfer rates to about 320MB/s (still well within SATAII limits) and they match the ocz in capacity.

Three things I see here;
1- Pound for pound, Intels fetch a much higher premium. I wouldn't be surprise if they offer a 240GB G3 for over $800.
2- Bing CB will be over by then. So no more hefty discounts. You'll have to make due with the occasional $20-$30 rebate. Some might argue that there will be another CB promotion by then, but it's uncertain at the moment.
3- Even if they upgrade to SATAIII, that doesn't mean the G3s will support transfer rates of over 375MB/s right off the bat. I mean think about it. The current Intel G2s max out at what... 250MB/100MB Read/Write? So making a G3 that can do let's say 320MB/s.... that would already be a significant improvement AND still well within the SATAII limits.

Hell, Crucial has a SATAIII SSD right now and it's max. transfer rate is about what, 330MB/s maybe?
Meanwhile, SATAII maxes out at 375MB/s.

So in the end you end up with a drive that's a little bit faster than the current sandforce SSDs, you pay I high premium to Intel because it's the latest version AND you won't have any hefty CB discounts to take advantage of.

Oh, and let's not forget that the 8740w only supports SATAII. So it wouldn't do you any good if they come up with G3 SSD with SATAIII and transfer rates of more than 375MB/s.

So I ask again....will it really be worth it?

 

Cool.
Thanks for clarifying.
I guess I'm okay then.


Did anyone in here pick up some of that Samsung 4GB RAM from ebay that I mentioned? $90 for 1x4GB.

It's gone now.

 

Time will tell, if its worth the wait or not. I currently can do much better in terms what i do with the current 7200RPM HDD's and 16GB RAM's.
Apart from what you said (which i agree for the most part) about the OCZ and Intel, SSD will only help in load times and such. If i were to use the SSD as a HDD, i have to cope with the Dogma about SSD's like moving the temp files to HDD, user directory to HDD, TRIM, etc.

No, if i were to be like that, i should have not returned the OCZ as OCZ vertex2 Extended edition is hardly a month or 2 old in the market. I might even skip the G3 if it doesn't meet the need/expectation.

On a different note, you can get the Agility 2 240GB extended edition for $419 after rebates and BCB+ET coupon from Tigerdirect.

 

A question for those who tried replacing the thermal compounds on the CPU/GPU:

How big was the improvement and what materials were used?

After much testing, benching and gaming I see a max/peak temp ~85C on both the CPU and GPU. Not too bad for a business machine.
So that's a starting point for me. Will try 2 out of the 3 pastes I have: MX-3, AS-5 and OCZ-Freeze. Also, got a few sheets of Bergquist pads to try out.

So let's focus on lowering the beast's temps.
Ideas and feedback are welcome

 

What exactly are your expectations?

Only thing they'll do is improve transfer rates (probably a little higher than sandforce and still well within SATAII) and increase capacity.
I wouldn't expect Intel to undercut the competition....

 

When I get a chance I may do my wifes 8740w with ICD-7 I have in my kit.

IF she lets me have the thing for more than 20 minutes

 

Expectation = current state of SSD minus the dogma's

 

Aikimox,

As I mentioned to you before, I used AS5 and left the paste they used on memory chips the same since I didn't have anything to replace it with at the moment.
Temps are basically the same as before. Maybe a couple of degrees higher. Hard to tell...

I also ordered some bergquist Gap Pad VO ultra soft. I will try reapplying AS5 and using the pads this time. Hopefully there's an improvement.

BTW, I was going to ask you....why did you get High Flow 225U?
Doesn't seem like the right one to use on GPU HS. Just experimenting?
Is it for the CPU? The pic they show on the website looks like it's being used in a CPU.

Let me know the outcome with the other two thermal pastes and bergquist pads....

I'm still waiting on mine...

 

Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath for that.... unless there have been recent events/news I'm not aware of.

 

I actually ordered samples of both VO Soft and 225U but only the former was delivered so far. Got 1.5 and 2mm.

I might try OCZ on the CPU today.
Stay tuned.

 

Did you request those directly from bergquist?
I just bought some from ebay. Looks to be enough to last me for a while.
It was .05" (1.2mm) thick. It seemed to me that what they normally use on HP HS.

VO Soft has a thermal conductivity of .8 while VO Ultra Soft is 1 W/m-K.
Probably not a big deal though....

 

I'm definitely noticing inconsistencies in color balance. I first thought it affected mainly the right side. I showed it to my friend and he saw it right away.

I've been testing by loading Photoshop, applying a fill color, and then going fullscreen so that all Windows chrome is removed and all that's left is the solid color. By doing that I can see very obvious color tint/shading around the bottom and right edges. Regarding the bottom and looking at it closer, it's obvious the area I see the inconsistency is where the Win7 taskbar normally sits. (It could be that the right side inconsistency is because there is often a scrollbar there?) Do these screens require some sort-of burn-in period perhaps?

I'm not sure that a camera would capture this. Anyone see something similar?

Also, are there any specs on if these DC2 screens draw more power than RGB-LED (and if so, how much more?) I notice my screen is quite warm...but perhaps the RGB-LED ones are as well.


________________
Kaliatech 8740W | 620M | M7820 | 2x4GB | DC2 | Backlit Keys

 

I do see only when i fill with light colors and the bottom corner right(taskbar) is showing tint/shade and is very very light.

 

Its not a matter of having the latest or the greatest. I also mentioned the fact the G3 launch will hopefully decrease the price of OCZ Vertex as it is quite expensive right now.

On a different note, I saw both 65W Slim Adapter and 90W Smart AC/Auto/Air Combo Adapter on HP's site and both say they are compatible with 8740w. It normally comes with 200W freakin huge power brick. Does anyone have any experience using 65W or 90W adapters with their 8740w? Any problems?

 

So you would rather wait for a $20-$40 price drop (a few months from now), instead of taking the current $120 discount... for the same product?
That doesn't make sense.

 

You do have a point.

 

I'm a newbie here, registered today, and have been in the 8540w forum since I received my 8540 dreamcolor machine yesterday. But I also have an 8740w dreamcolor as of last week, so will be hanging around here as well. As to using less than the giant brick that comes with the 8740w, it doesn't seem advisable, especially if working and charging the battery at the same time. HP's power assistant app on my machine has shown between 50W and 60W of demand in this scenario while not particularly stressing the machine. With the stated efficiency rating of the 65W brick, I wouldn't try it. Nor the 90W.

 

So, I wasn't hallucinating after all. There's a light red tint in the lower half of the screen. Not always noticeable but still present.
That must be the CON of all IPS screens as was mentioned earlier.
Anyway, I don't see a huge deal in it and will not replace/abandon the screen. Plus, with a proper calibrating this should be minimized.
I remember, when first got the M17X with RGB LED, had quite a few tints all over the screen. Calibrating it through the W7 color management tool fixed the issue entirely.

True. While running games/benches I was able to push the system far beyond 100W.

 

Which GPU does it have, and what version of AutoCAD is she running? I'm on LT 2011 and it stutters when I use the Measure tool (it dynamically gives you distance and angle as you move the cursor around...but it get very jittery when it tries to update that dynamic text). I can't believe AutoCAD LT is too demanding for the M7820 but I'm curious to see if anyone else is having the same issue (Autodesk forums have been dead today..posted this question there too).

 

So it means that we don't have an Auto/Air adapter for 8740W

 

There is a problem with the 8740w when primary and secondary HDD-bays are both installed with SSDs. I have a G2-160 in primary, and a SNVP325S2-256 in secondary. When the driver for HPQ0004 is installed, the secondary HDD will not be detected.

The problem is 3D Drive Guard - do not install this driver (obviously, SSD = no moving parts).

However, Windows Update will automatically install "HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor".

Temporary Solution:
1] Fresh install: set Windows Update to "Check for update but let me choose...."

2] Check for update, but UNCHECK and HIDE "HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor".

3] Perform update

4] Optional: Reset Windows Update to Auto

Fix: if you accidentally installed HPQ0004 driver, uninstall and delete it from Device Manager->System devices.

 

I can't imagine that a 65W adapter could be enough.

I'm using a 18.5V/6.5A/120W adapter from another elitebook on my 8740w. It has the same connector as the 200w adapter, so I hope it's ok (?).

 

I am in the same boat as you. I bought the 120w advanced docking station since I was able to get a good deal on an open box return. The 120w ac adapter was able to charge my notebook while I was playing Alien Swarm, a 3d accelerated game.

 

is there some kind of protection? Or can the power supply catch fire?

 

Is it possible LT isn't using accelerated graphics? (even so; these processors are so fast so it would be surprising they couldn't keep up) Others may know better ways to determine utilization, but perhaps the memory viewer can assist?
Professional Graphics Tools and Technologies
I'd guess the memory activity would be low if graphics acceleration isn't being utilized.

 

Either GPU memory utilization is a poor indicator, or the tool is broken. The ATI tool showed 3% memory use while using AutoCAD LT. I thought was weird so I watched a HD trailer on YourTube...still 3%. But the idea reminded that I could watch the clock speeds in GPU-Z, and this clearly showed that AutoCAD LT does use hardware acceleration.

EDIT: so it appears the issue is Aero in Win7. Switching my theme to Windows 7 Basic smoothed out the performance...anyone have a shortcut for getting to the Personalization window for changing themes...thankfully I found a walk through for creating a shortcut to the Personalization settings

 

Btw, Apparently HP uses the good stuff for thermal pastes. When the the techie (which was very nice and frank), came over to replace the system board (to try and solve the buzzing problem that I reported earlier), he showed me that HP actually uses Shin-Etsu Thermal pastes for the 8740w...
And he has hundreds of bags of Thermal paste tubes + cleaning materials... I almost asked him for some...

So yeah, I was very surprised to see that. Esp. since it means that I can be lazy and not worry about replacing the thermal pastes in the future.

Btw, replacing the system board is a giant PITA... There are so many screws and wires to worry about...


On another note, my problem with the buzzing still persists. The techie got hold of his management, and his management got hold of someone in the "know" (I believe). And it turns out that this is a known problem that HP is aware of and it has to do with some of the CPUs... They are working on a new bios to address this issue though.

 

Wow, frigg'n Aero! Makes some sense in retrospect, as Aero uses DirectX so it appears there's a stacking of graphics operations taking place; tho you'd think the good folks @ AutoDesk would have a way provided to them to disable the Aero layer over their window space.. I wonder if I should just switch to 10-bit and say there, as that disables Aero too.

Two things:
1) mind sharing that link?
2) I need to stop living in denial and register my issues to your compiled 'problems roster'.

 

I took Option 2 and made it myself.

Regarding AutoDesk...there is update coming sometime for LT2011, but no word on what issues it will address.

I'll be happy to add you to the roster...remember that admitting is the first step

 

If you want to disable aero and visual themes for a specific program, just right-click the shortcut of the program, properties, compatibility tab and check the "disable aero theme"... and maybe even "disable desktop composition".

Every time you open the program, it'll automatically disable aero theme. When you close the program, aero will be enabled again.

It's quicker and more practical.

 

I was excited to read this, but it appears it is not an option. The Settings check-box options are grayed out and not selectable.

 

Have you tried with other programs?
Is it just the Autodesk shortcut that doesn't allow it?
Are you right-clicking on original shortcuts or are they shortcuts of another shortcut?

I just tried with Autocad2010 and the boxes are enabled.
I checked several of my engineering program shortcuts and the boxes are not grayed out.