*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

Thats good news. My two previous notebooks are dead because of dust. The first one, a Toshiba, i never cleaned and the graphic card died. The second one, a Sony vaio, i learned of my previous experience and i cleaned it about every six months but the graphic card died anyway

 

Yeah agreed, we need reviews. Now one of you guys need to get the notebook right now!

So I spent more time than I should analyzing the difference between 8740w and 8730w. Here are some general things that I noticed about 8740w:

1. Uses more power, but has less "system off power" consumption.
2. Important future i7 920XM upgrade info: the 8740w with nvidia cards or with 920XM get a more powerful AC adapter (230W vs 200W). So if we upgrade the CPU to 920XM in the future. A new power adapter may be needed .
On the bright side. The AC adapter of 8740w is more efficient than that of the 8730w. And it is ofc more powerful (230W and 200W vs 150W and 120W).

3. 8740w has a higher Heat Dissipation rating. This is good and bad. Bad because it means that the system has more power hungry parts. Good, because HP knows about it. And given the target audience of the Elitebook, they definitely will have to act on it.

4. 8740w definitely has a better (bigger fan, bigger heatsink, one more heat pipe for both cpu and gpu) cooling system. However, HP also acknowledged that even at idle, the fan will be louder.

5. 8740w is bigger and heavier. Differnce in size compared to 8730w's dimensions: 4.5mm(H) x 4.5mm(W) x 3.5mm (D). This kinda make sense since the cooling elements are noticeably larger. And perhaps taller too.

6. HP needs to give us spec for DC2 displays Why so secretive?

 

Nice, summary, Lethial.
Don't worry about the 920XM though. If you stick with the M7820 (~50-60W) instead of the FX3800M 100W monster, - you'll have plenty of TDP room for the extreme CPU

 

Thanks. I just got annoyed that there wasn't 2 (or 3) fans in the machine as the sale's rep said that the 8740w have, and that all the talk of the 5870m being very hot.
So, I decided to do some preliminary temperature assessment myself. Hopefully it will help give others some slight peace of mind, like it did for me.

One thing I noticed, (not sure if this is on purpose or not) is that the 8740w specifications has more detailed heat/power information (than that of the 8730w). This is comforting to me, since more info is always good. Esp. on a system like the 8740w. Since it is more likely for Government and/or military departments to buy these Elitebooks. Government and esp. military customers are extremely picky when it comes to specs. (and they are very very picky when it comes to durability and heat... oi...)
If you list it on you spec sheet, you better be able to back it up, since it will be checked.

The FX3800M has 100W TDP!? How about your ATI 4870 xFire Aikimox? I know that Alienware has better cooling, but the radeon 4xxx series are known to be very hot. (for desktop at least)

 

Yeah you r right we need some real tests on that. Cant wait for some benchs.
But if the temperatures are good i ll regret that i didnt wait for it.

 

37 minutes of battery time on load?

surely we can expect a lot better than that...right?

that kind of battery life suggests it's portable in name only. as in, it's easier to transport than a desktop, therefore it's "portable". lol

 

the medion has a 6 cell batery vs 8 cell in the 8740, so sure we can expect more than that. it just depend on how much more.
The dell precision m6500 has a 9 cell battery and from what i red it should be able to run about 2h30 with internet usage (dependt on the configuration) and 1h-1h30 on full load. So i expect about the same from the 8740w.

 

While looking for parts of the Elitebook, I came across this little gem from HP:

Parts of Elitebook 8740w!

Compare the part diagram of the 8740w above with that of the 8730w, it is very obvious that the HS of the 8740w is larger.

Also, it looks like the HSF unit is also thicker.

Looks like the difference between the HS for ATI and Nvidia cards are indeed on the bottom. But they definitely have different part numbers.

The HS for ATI board is has more thermal pads

Also, it looks like the same battery, as the one used for 8730w, is used. So the battery life of 8740w will be shorter by comparison. Going by the Energy consumption figure given by HP (Normal Op: 96BTU/hr vs. 74 BTU/hr) I expect one charge of the battery will last .77 times as long as it would for a 8730w.

Looks like there is a new and more expensive mid-layer chasis used for 8740w too. Hopefully this means that it is now a better heat sink.

 

@Lethial,
Thanks for the link!
Repped!
Regarding the battery life: Be more optimistic, mobile 5870 is only 50-60W at load and should actually improve the situation by a significant margin compared to 8730 with FX series.
So far I'm concerned about 3 major things:
1) How will the cooling hold on the long run?
2) How fast will the new IPS panel dim and lose its quality?
3) How good are the system's speakers?

The more we dig into it the more positive it looks, IMHO.

 

Thanks Aikimox. Hopefully I am just being too pessmistic about the battery .

You have raised very good questions. I'd like to know the answers to them as well. Long term reliability is what drove me away from laptops like the new Asus G73JH. I have a feeling that it is one of those very feature rich but won't last for long, kind of product.
I hope the Elitebooks are not the same.

As for the IPS panel diming. What do you mean? Is this a problem with the previous Dreamcolor panels? I am a HUGE fan of IPS panels in general, and I have not experienced any sort of dimming issue from the IPS monitors that I have (Planar and NEC 26" and the new Dell 27" ).

As for the speaker, from the part list, the 8740w has the same speaker system as that of the 8730w. Checking the spec for the speaker of the two system further confirms that.

Going by the reviews of the 8730w here it seems that the speaker is at least above average? Though the audio device is now made by IDT, which is new to me. I hope it is better than realtek at least

Edit: I figure this will be relevant here: good discount on Intel SSDs over at ewiz the 160GB @$400 is the lowest that I have seen thus far. And personally I prefer the intel SSDs over the other brands (for now, in term of reliability and overall performance across various parameters).

On the note of upgrading, I am curious to see what kind of DDR3s are used by HP. I wonder if they are made by a good manufacturer.

 

Regarding the IPS panels (I mean laptop not desktop screens), there were mixed reviews of the ThinkPad T61 with the first gen IPS screen and some owners were not really happy with it on the long run. I'll ask someone who still has such a system for more details...

Intel SSDs are good (if not the best), but honestly, I still can't justify the 400$+ for it. Will camp till they become free

 

Well, if the reviewer was an eager beaver to review this, and the batter hadn't gone thru several cycles of charge-discharge when brand new, discharge time will be dismal. So fingers crossed it's only that.

 

First, that Medion Akoya was equipped with a 58Wh 6-cell battery, while 8740w uses a 73Wh 8-cell one. So if their system could last more than an hour when idle, you can expect more than 1.5 hr idle usage from the HP.
Second, this is a mobile workstation not a netbook. You have to pay for the power package. And for comparison, my M17X with 4870x2 and similar battery can last 1hr 20 min when idle.

 

from my experience with the 8730w I can say about the speakers:

They are good but not great. Further, the driver or BIOS "alter" the sound somehow so they sound "bigger" or better. You clearly can hear that if you plug in ear phones because then the sound switches to "normal".

Sometimes this "procedure" is making problems if you use a different audio driver (e.g. ASIO) and so on but most of the time it is ok

I guess this is still true with the 8740w...

 

Well, but I think the difference is negligible at a glance. Don't forget that now the keyboard is different and it will be optionally backlit. It may be the backlight needs some more room too (the 8730w keyboard was NOT backlit).

Not I'm aware of. Old DreamColor panels (those mounted in the 8730w only) had very good and durable brightness and, of course, color reproduction. But, they had a red tint on a corner in some batches too (there was some complaints about this). However, keep in mind they were TN panels indeed, with all their defects, not IPS ones, so you can expect an almost perfect color uniformity on the new panels (IPS panels are overall the best ones, although new variants like e-IPS are a crap).

If you are curious about the DreamColor technology developed by HP in collaboration with DreamWorks, you can read the Prad.de review of the HP LP2480zx desktop monitor.

If rumours are true (quite likely), the new DC screen will match the LP2480zx in almost all regards. Nevertheless the LP2480zx is NOT perfect. When you read the review, you'll notice this. The main drawback is the dithering on some hues and, if you want to exploit its full potential, you'll need to buy its specific hardware calibrator, you shouldn't buy a 3rd party calibrator. On the other hand, its sRGB mode is virtually PERFECT , with one of the lowest deltaE values in the market. This means an almost perfect color reproduction on non color managed environments, like the Windows Desktop and many non-graphic applications and a superb video reproduction, with very natural colors (in the opposite of the majority of wide-gamut screens).

Note this review is very objective, since Prad.de is one of the best TFT reviews website on the Internet.

Finally, did you notice the graphic adapter list?

<tbody valign='top'>

596061-001	ATi XT-GL graphics board with 1GB GDDR4 memory (includes replacement thermal material)
596062-001	nVidia GLM3 graphics board with 1GB GDDR3 memory (includes replacement thermal material)
596063-001	nVidia GLM3 graphics board with 1GB GDDR3 memory (includes replacement thermal material)
596064-001	nVidia GLM5 graphics board with 2GB GDDR5 memory (includes replacement thermal material)

Note the ATi board is paired with GDDR4 memory, not GDDR5 as expected, and there is a nVidia card with 2GB GDDR5 memory!! May it be a mistake? Until ATi doesn't release his baby, who knows...

 

Yeah I noticed that too with the gfx card. While I am not sure what to make of the ATI card using GDDR4, I am curious about the nVidia GLM5. Since going by the codename, it is better than FX3800M...

If that is the case, I am re-ordering!

Edit: I believe that GDDR4 line item is a misprint, since it would be "false advertising" on HP's part if the ATI card indeed uses GDDR4.

From the order page, order invoice, etc.:

 

BTW, are there any 8740w machines being shipped w/the IPS panel presently? One of the pages on HP's business site states it's availability is May.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...s&objectID=c02057761&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#A1

 

Amen to that. I just ordered an Elitebook 2740p for the same reason, as I needed a touchscreen/tablet and I just don't trust the HP TM2t "consumer" touchscreen, despite good reviews. I don't know about the 8740, but the 2740p is "milspec" certified, so it can handle extreme heat, moisture, physical shocks (including drops from 6 feet). And all this for only about $500 more than the rough equivalent HP Pavillion model.

Downside: my order was just delayed by "10-15 business days" due to a shortage of parts across the board for Elitebook production. I guess it'll be worth the wait.

 

Sure, when the ordered 8740w's will be shipped to people For example, SecretAsianMan and lethial already ordered the new DC screen. They have ship dates late this month.

And the 8740w too I think this is a standard "feature" on all EliteBook models, but not all of them have the same endurance level: the 8530w is a bit more resistant than the 8730w (I have read the white papers for each).

 

I can back up the 8530 is built like a brick. It fell off my bed a few weeks ago and there is more damage to the hardwood than to my 8530 (which still doesn't have a scratch).

 

Uh-oh. I did not order the calibrator. I had planned just to set the display to sRGB mode and forget about it. Backup plan was to wait for someone to post their color profile and settings in this thread. Was that a bad move? Do I need to go out and buy the HP calibrator just for 100% sRGB work?

 

The EliteBooks indeed are some of the best-built notebooks around. That said, there's certainly some marketing going on with HP's name-drop of military specs. I'm not sure if the EliteBooks actually are "certified", or if there even is any certification authority for that standard. The exact wording on HP's site is: "Meets tough military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and extreme temperatures". There also is a PDF document describing the DuraCase construction and some of the actual testing procedures.

Gotta love the fine print in that PDF: "Driving over a notebook PC is considered an unusual event and is not covered under warranty."

 

Unless you're a graphic designer, no. Calibration settings are lost when you switch to sRGB mode, because this mode is a factory preset. Calibration settings are only used when in native mode.

All in all, you can have your peace of mind

 

@ HiddenUser: I hope you are right about the panel used for the 8740w. I, however, am on the pessimistic side. Usually monitor makers don't make the actual panels themselves. As a result, we can't expect the maker of the panels for the LP2480zx monitors, will have a 17" version of the panel as well.
Edit: if only HP made a 27" version of this monitor... The only reason that I didn't get it (other than the huge discount that I got for the Dell u27011 (which is pretty awesome as well) ) was that it won't match, size-wise, to my 26" NEC.

I have not been following the <24" panels cool: ) so I don't know if there are actually any good 17" IPS panel makers.

Of course, all my pessimism will be unnecessary if HP is in direct control of the manufacturing of the panels.

If nothing else though, the monitor on the 8740w will use RGB LED which is already a big PLUS in my book :yes: .

@ SecretAsianMan: don't fret on the calibrator yet. Like the NEC 26" that I have, 3rd party calibrator can actually be used (since both HP and NEC uses Eye One Display 2 calibrator anyway). What matters will be the software. I hope that as time goes on, there will be some vendors out there that will sell the Dreamcolor software separately (just like they did for Spectraview of the NEC).

Also, remember that even with the HP Dreamcolor Advanced Color Profiler. We are still in the end limited by the 8-bit/color output of the gfx cards. What it does provide us though, is more accurate matching of the color standards, since it will be able to access all 10-bit/color range of the monitor.
The 3rd party calibration softwares will not have that access to 10-bit/color. And thus will produce sub-optimal calibration results.

 

That quote is hysterical!.

Reminds me of a demo I saw where a satesman dropped an HP Computer from the level of his head to the hard floor. It made A racket Sounding like lots of parts shaken house! The guy made the best of it and said: "kids," don't try this at home!

You make a great but very troubling point if HP is claiming it "meets" the milspec but doesn't actually have D.o.D. certification. FYI, there absolutely is A military certification process and virtually all equip mfrs try to get their products Certified if they are going to get A piece of the huge DOD treasure chest! And there are many levels of milspec.

Believe me, the HP Elitebooks sold to us are not used in combat! But I'll bet Some Panasonic Toughbooks are. Bottom line: if HP is stretching the truth here, they would be looking at massive FTC liabilities as well as possibly being blacklisted from U.S.Govt Sales, or at least Sales to the Defense Dept, and I know for a fact that would be billions in revenue losses. These suckers Are very durable and will last longer by far than consumer Versions..

 

If I understand this correctly (there is a lot of red tapes to go through when dealing with the military, so I may be misunderstanding the whole system).

A product only need to go through the DoD certification if they are to be used in a gov't and/or military department. And there are many many different types of DoD certifications (for each type of product, and for every types of target environment that the product is going to be used at). So a company would only go through the DoD cert, if they are trying to get a specific department of the military to purchase the product.

For consumers, the DoD Certification means very little. Since consumers care less about things like cryptographic security and support, information security, emergency handling (though the idea of having an "self destruct" button on the elitebooks does sound kinda cool .)

tl:dr version: we don't really need to care about the DoD cert, as long as the Mil-specs are met.

 

It says in the datasheet that the system is certified for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. I wonder if it also means that linux in general is well supported?

 

Yeah I am sure it would be. We had to buy Red Hat Linux Enterprise for a gov't contract, and it really is just linux + cost (from I guess tech support, and sw/hw support).

 

Right. Panels are mostly from manufacturers LG or Samsung. The panel of the DC2 screen won't be the same as the used in the LP2480zx, for sure. The main reason is, not only the difference in size, but the lack of an A-TW polarizer (LG no longer manufactures it).

Well, I can assure you, the DC2 panel will be made by LG.Display. Why? Because Samsung doesn't make IPS panels so far, only TN's and PVA's.

I'm pretty sure they have no control of the manufacturing, like any other company (except LG of course). They only mount the panel on the bezel and make the electronics to drive it. The larger the size, the harder the manufacturing (you'll know uniformity on large screens, such as your 2690WUXi, is worse than in smaller ones). And I know well this, because I have 2 IPS monitors: NEC 20WGX2 (20") and 2490WUXi(24"), even I've had a 2690WUXi like you before. So you can be calm about uniformity issues in the 17" screen of the 8740w: it should be very good.

Not only is a software issue, but a firmware issue too. If you read the review posted before, the LP2480zx has a firmware feature that locks all other calibrators. Although the calibrator shipped by HP is a rebranded i1 Display 2, you'll cannot use a "regular" i1 Display 2. Note this is only true for the LP2480zx (so far).

 

Well, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is, basically, the GNU/Linux OS. However, initially it may work better in this "distro" (Linux distribution), because the needed software packages to drive the devices are already included in it. But you can always download the needed packages for your distro from somewhere. There are several wiki's on the Internet to know how to setup a specific laptop for a specific Linux distro. Search Google.

 

So did anyone receive their system yet? It seems strange though,\ that i7 920 is listed in Indian site and not listed in US site. Also, stupidly, HP doesn't have 8740 here yet

 

@HiddenUser: you certainly have more faith in HP then I do! I hope you are correct in all counts! (minus the custom firmware required for the Dream Color calibrator part )

I understand that bigger panels are harder and more expensive to make. However, I am weary of the "economy of scale" effect. Namely, because there are less vendors that make use of high quality 17" IPS panel, these panels will be prohibitably more expensive compared to their more widely used bigger brothers. As a result, HP won't be using IPS panels, or uses e-IPS panels

Slight digression, I highly recommend the new Dell u27011, it really is a very high quality monitor. It has better uniformity and darker black (and comparible color accuracy) than my NEC 2690WUXi (which I got before NEC went the cheap route and not included A-TW filters on these monitors).

Back on topic. TBH, at this point, I am actually happy that I wasn't given an option to add i7-920xm in my system. It really isn't that big of an improvement over the 820, and it uses more power (thus generating more heat).
I think it is best to see how the 8740w handles the heat right now, and upgrade to the 920xm (if needed) in the future.

 

Totally agree, 920XM is an overkill, runs hot and only useful for a few mega demanding games. The only reason I'd even go quad (720) is to get the double-piped heatsink, later on would put 620M instead as it's much more efficient when in dual and single core modes.

 

I cannot believe I did this, but I ordered one!

Highlights are I got the DreamColor display [was mandatory], selected the ATI card, and upgraded to i7-720 from the i5-520; for only an add'l $160 or so I got a CPU with a Passmark rating of 3240 vs 2474 for the i5-520.... Now that's a bargain. And if you think you'd be getting a deal with that 18% online coupon but that doesn't actually work? ....call them.

p.s. if my salesman knows who actually manufactures the display, he wasn't talk'n!

 

Congratulations, m80! What ship date did they tell you?

 

Thanx. Can't wait. I have an estimated ship date of 4/27/2010. I think it'll take a week to 10 days to arrive after that.

 

Nice one!
Don't count on the estimated shipping date as it's gonna change. Late May is when you'll probably get the system.


I made an attempt to order today, but it looks like there's no way to get this system from the HP Canada. So I called the US department but they won't ship it abroad and wouldn't accept a Canadian Visa. They also wouldn't accept wire transfers.
I still wanna try one more time with an International Visa and provide them with my relatives (US) shipping address.
But doubt it will work

 

Oh, that's gotta be painful/aggravating! Thanx for the warning 'bout the est. shipdate.

 

Just called them again and suddenly a new rep confirmed that the they do accept wire transfers! Will have to supply them with a valid US address.
In addition, got a 500$ (18%) discount (from 3,200 to 2,600). Still a little high for me. Some of you guys did manage to get a 28% off. Could you please, provide your rep's contact details? I'll keep trying to get that discount for a few days before pulling the trigger.

 

Aikimox, PM sent.

 

FWIW I ordered an 8740w on April 14 (i7-820 cpu + DC2 display + M7820gpu + backlit keyboard) and HP's order status shows an expected delivery date of May 13. (I'll be pretty surprised if it actually arrives by then.)

 

Yeah I have a feeling that the 8740w is a less mass produce product that they make. As a result, they are probably waiting on enough orders to be finally making them, or have enough parts available.

 

Thank You!

 

Yes, it certainly looks that way. Hopefully the situation changes soon and more people order as we might face the same delays with support and parts replacements.

 

@Thecla: did you get an email notifying your laptop's shipment date change?

I wonder when do they actually charges you for the purchase.

@Everyone here: did any of you order a pre-configured unit? Thinking back, I probably should've ordered a pre-configured unit, and upgrade it later, hind-sight is always 20/20 right?

 

A q'n for all those who ordered. When you go and look up your order (from the link on the order confirmation Mail) and go to Line Item Detail and click "more info" icon on any of the line Item (other than line 001), what does the Est Delivery Date and Status say?. For me, it says 4/22/2010 and status as Scheduled/SCHD. It also has a PO number and i have no idea what that is. If i remember, it was saying something else around 2 weeks back.

Just wondering, if this will give me a boost to my hopes

 

I'm using the HP order status link:

https://h20497.www2.hp.com/os/public.tcl?jumpid=re_R295_store/buy/all/hp-order-status


It took several days after my order to show an estimated delivery date at all.

My order staus is "admin/processing" so "scheduled/sched" sounds promising.

 

May I please has too?

that kind of price would be the difference between waiting and seeing what HP does with the Envy and buying this laptop next week!

 

Funny about you having the experience you had with the Sony AW btw. The AW 290 premium was in the running for me. But some of the experiences you shared here made me worry about getting a refurbished unit and I finally decided against it for this, the 8740w (and I sold myself on getting an IPS display).
(PM about to be sent; oops, I think I sent you a duplicate)

 

Even mine says "admin/processing" from that page..
Try login in from the below link and navigate as i said in my earlier post.
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dcart/SaveOrder.asp?HeaderAction=OrderStatus&OrderAction=OrderStatus&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=