*HP EliteBook 8760w Owners Lounge*

I got mine here, shipped for free to Denmark:

HP Parts Store - HP Computer Parts - HP Printer Parts - Compaq Parts

 

The biggest letdown is the keyboard I think. I have very hard times to get used to it. The keys are too hard and when you hit them the plastic part often hits the bottom instead of a soft cushion. They often reach the the bottom in a unpleasant way. Especially my space button behave like this.

The enter key on European models is also very narrow. I think they could have done much better here. They should have used the whole width of the 17" laptop and put real arrow keys between the numerical and the alphabetical.

 

Regarding internal fan on multiple displays: I can confirm this. Even when just using Outlook/IE, aparently driving the external display generates enough heat to need the fan. I tried shutting it off with TPFanControl, but thats a very bad idea when you're on 2 displays - computer became VERY hot!

Im using the Nvidia 3000 card in mine, as well as 2 hard drives, tat might drive up the temperature.

Still, I would like then fan a bit more quiet...

 

I use TPFanControl when viewing movies via displayport to hdmi to tv, no problems with heat or noise, I haven't tried multiple displays yet.

 

Is this when docked, undocked or both? I plan to run a minimum of 3 displays docked, and just wonder if I'll have to listen to the fan continuously.

 

Did anyone find out how to change the boot logo?

 

I don't think it's currently possible, I would like to turn if off completely

 

There were some white papers on HP's site regarding UEFI/HP Tools configuration, but I can't find them anymore.
This is how I did it on my old 8730w, no idea if it works for the 8760w:
On the HP_TOOLS partition there is a folder "Hewlett-Packard".
Create a folder "Logo" in it and place a file named "Hplogo.bmp" with your artwork inside.

Dragos

EDIT: you also need to enable it in the BIOS. Found the old document:
http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01951773/c01951773.pdf
http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01564727/c01564727.pdf

 

Anyone know where I can nab one of them DreamColor IPS panels?

 

Despite all the issues, I would say yes definitely. None of the others are as solid. If you've had any experience with Dells' consumer and business support divisions, you will rather, well, die.

HP's next business day/4-hour care-packs are worth every penny as they have delivered support and/or parts/replacements time and time again within the agreed time. With Dell you'd find the depot calling you days after initially requesting support confirming they don't have the part in stock and an ETA is weeks away.

We also had a few Latitudes for the execs two of which died 3 and 7 weeks after the warranty expired.

I had a look at the other options (Dell, Lenovo, Apple) and all of them are at least a few hundred quid (the D6600 in the same spec is 800 more) more than the B2B price I paid. With Lenovo W520 you lose 2 inches of display, the full size keyboard and a second drive bay, with the Dell you lose a drive bay because one of them are a mini-card, and with the MBP you again lose second drive bay and 2 memory slots in quad-core configuration and most likely you'll end up dual-booting for best performance...

Sony has a 13 incher with 1080p display, packing second-gen i7's, but frankly the price justifies 2 HP workstations, and if you've ever used them in a business environment, you'll know they generally wreak havoc with WDS-based deployments due to them randomly using different wireless/bluetooth/other chipsets.

Plus all of them (excluding MBP) still look and feels "plasticky".

We've have a fleet of 8x30 & 8x40s and they are tough as nails - one was sent flying through the air once (female staff member threw a tantrum) and it kept on going until a few weeks later when the drive died but upon its replacement the rest of it bar the scratches, is still in perfect working order, now months since the incident.

There's also a couple of videos on youtube on the 40 series with people walking over/standing/hopping up and down on them only to open it up and display a clearly-still-working device.

I can't comment on the performance side of things because to me it was more a decision between being able to throw in the max amount of RAM and having 2 hard drives without sacrificing the optical bay or not (as with the others) and finally having had excellent HP support experience it meant the decision was partially bias anyway.

 

Thanks VeeMan,

I've run HP exclusively at my shop for years now (and I used to work for HP), I'm just getting really torqued about waiting so long because they put the product out without getting all the bugs fixed or making sure they had enough stock to satisfy the market's needs.

I looked around- I would maybe have considered a Lenovo- especially the W7xx series with the pull out second display, but since they are no longer offering anything in the 17" realm, HP really is the only answer. The 8760w truly is the last real desktop replacement that I can find that has the business class stability and ruggedness, and solid business class support.

I guess I'll keep waiting.....HP should just upgrade my video card for making me wait so long I had really wished the 5010M was in my budget....

At least Leo is gone, hopefully the PC/Notebook business is safe from being sold off now. I can't imagine having to support our fleet of notebooks that travel the globe with anything other than HP's rugged business class.

I have a few clients that use Dell's that I have to support- so I understand all too well about Dell support.

 

If you don't want to buy Dells the upcoming Samsung 700G7A is the closest bet. However, the Samsung isn't even released yet so that one instead of the HP will not make your wait any shorter. The Samsung seems to be pretty slim and the design is not as cheesy as other gaming laptops.

 

Does anyone know whether the on-board eSATA connector supports port multiplier function? I want to attach a port multiplier enclosure (non-raid) as an external back-up, and want to find out if I need any additional hardware/controllers for this to work - or will it be plug and play?

 

I tried to run Norton Ghost in Hiren BootCD yesterday, but an error message appears like this:

Do you guys know why that message appears in an Elitebook?

 

I can answer this one for you.

DO NOT CONTROL THE FAN IF YOU USE NVIDIA AND EXTERNAL DISPLAYS!!!

The Quadros UP-CLOCK to high clocks when you use 2 or more displays. this is default behaviour and is not user controllable. If you turn the fan off you'll likely hurt the laptop.

It has been this way since the mid 2000's. Every Quadro Card I have ever used in a notebook exhibits this behaviour. Annoying, I know, but be careful when messing around with fan settings, because your GPU will be at max clocks EVEN WHEN IDLE.

Sio

 

Glad I got the ATI then, I have no problems with external screens and fan noise.

Btw, has anyone found a nice sleeve for the 8760w? Because it's so big and thick I have only found one (from Dell):

DELL Carry Case: Dell Adventure Sleeve for upto 43cm (17'') laptops : Laptop Accessories - Accessories | Dell Emerging Countries ? EMEA

I need something similar to this, I would prefer a HP logo

 

Does anybody know where I can order replacement point stick (black if possible ) and second hdd bay in Europe?

 

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

 

HP Parts Store - HP Computer Parts - HP Printer Parts - Compaq Parts

 

Today they are showing as shipping NOVEMBER 24th. That's 42 days / 6 weeks from now.

I suspect that's not a supply-chain estimate, it's a hope-for date on some part they do not have but hope to have or some problem they have not solved but hope to solve.

I mean can flammagators, thermal-agnostic flanges, and left-handed screw-drivers really be in such short supply?

Or is the Apple 4s assembly-demand crowding out the availability of labor in China? One word HP: Outsource to Bangladesh. Okay that's 3 words.

 

I'm being driven mad by this new machine. I don't know whether it's the 8760w or the SSD which is 7 months old, but the machine locks up if you start hammering the drive. Then eventually it crashes and confirms that it cannot dump the memory. Upon restarting it doesn't detect the drive and then I have to power it on and off a random amount of times before it comes back to life.

Originally I thought it was the SSD and updated the firmware as per Crucial's request, which seemed to have resolved it for a couple of days before it started doing this again. The drive did however work for 6 months without issues on another laptop.

The odd thing however is that just before you can see it stopping transfers to/from the disk you can hear the optical drive seek. That is without me accessing anything or there even being a disk inside it. So I'm kind of concerned that it could be something with the controller that's causing it...

If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. BTW I'm running windows 7 enterprise x64 latest Sevice packs and all the latest firmware and drivers as per the HP site.

V

 

I have read that I can install drivers for the 6770M video card on the M5950 card. But the catalyst drivers don't give me this choice.

Where can I find the 6770 drivers, and do I need to do anything extra to make the M5950 being detected as the 6770?


EDIT: Just solved it, putting the answer here for others to find:

You need to uninstall the 5950 driver manually first. Then download and install the 6770 driver. Don't update the driver after that, or it will overwrite with the 5950 drivers.

 

Hey,

I am considering to buy the following, main usage is image Processing (Lightroom3 with 21MP Raw Images)
Any Recommendations ?

Attached the Spec I have assembled :
HP EliteBook 8760w Mobile Workstation Quad Core
XY697AV
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64
Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM Processor, 2.30GHz (Turbo up to 3.40GHz), 1600 MHz, 8MB L3 Cache
17.3-inch diagonal LED-backlit FHD UWVA anti-glare DreamColor w/camera (1920 x 1080 resolution)
Integrated 720p HD Webcam
NVIDIA Quadro 3000M graphics with 2GB dedicated GDD5 video memory (if XM proc/DreamColor selected Must select 230w adapter)
16GB 1333DDR3 4DM Memory
320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
DVD±RW SuperMulti DL Drive
Dualpoint (Touchpad and Pointstick) Backlit Keyboard
HP Integrated Module with Bluetooth® 2.1 Wireless Technology
Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300
56K v.92 high speed modem
Integrated Fingerprint Reader
230W Hardware Kit
HP Long Life 8-Cell 75 Wh Li-lon Battery (3 year warranty)
HP Elite Support with limited 3 year standard parts and labor warranty 3/3/3
Installed Security Screw
Additional accessories added from categories below will ship and invoice separately.


Thanks.

 

BTW - two more questions :
SSD - would it be doing a difference ?
Display Adapter - ATI / Nvidia 3000/4000 ?

Thanks.

 

the next gen nvidias are quite nice this generation, as the ati isn't as good as it could have been, it really depends on what you'll be using it for.

adobe cs5 = nvidia best
autodesk = ati (but atm 3000 is better)

 

I have this issue, whenever I visit a darker webpage, my backlight goes darker. Also I have DISABLED my amiblight it KEEPS doing this VERY ANNOYING thing!

Also when I press FN F9 or F10 I see the bar to show how much the backlight is. but even when I keep pressing F9 and the light is supposed to go out, it stays the way it is I repeat I have disabled ambilight!!!

This is officialy my LAST HP I ever buy!

 

the light is not supposed to go out if you press F9 it just goes to a specific level but you cannot switch it all the way off

the light sensor is not connected to dark background of the content that is a strange phenomena...

 

AFAIK, those are not for general public, only limited quantities being made for HP exclusively, they also have modified connectors and will only work in HP Elitebooks.

 

Some LCDs with LED matrix backlighting can dynamically change the intensity of a selected area.

LED-backlit LCD display - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've seen hints of this technology on my screen but I'm not sure. It's very subtle and I hardly notice it in that case.

 

Whoa! Got the bad boys landed today! DreamColor2 looks even better now than the last gen. A pity the 1200p is no more though

 

yea, thats what the kicker is, better panels, but no 1200p

uses standard LVDS connector from what i saw too.

 

But there will be a review, right?

 

I wonder why it is not possible to put an SSD hard disk is the secong disk bay, are the SSD diskd larger than normal hard disks?
I am asking in order to see what I will buy for a secondary disk.
Thank you.

 

Yeah, seems the 8760w Dreamcolor screen is much better than the 8560w Deamcolor, I returned mine because of the grain, way too much for my liking...yeah, 1200 pixels would have been nice, oh well, the resolution is good enough.

 

There is a 'convenient' piece of plastic blocking the way which makes life difficult with putting a second SSD into the secondary bay. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, or HP just having a rather glaring design issue.

It is 'repairable' by cutting it out, but it will invalidate your warranty in doing so.

Tough love really.

 

At the same time the panels are of a much better quality, zero dead pixels and the brightness is above 300nits vs 210 for the previous gen.

As for the connector, still trying to figure if we can somehow put it in Clevos of M17x. Probably not but definitely worth to try.

You betcha

 

The new panel (shhhhh) does work in the 8740W work got one replaced that was 1080p. we didn't notice till the guy booted up aftereffects. and my god it looks awesome.

 

The question is will it work in other notebooks?

 

Just for the record, my 8760W has ZERO problems and ZERO defects. I run a tech company (hardware/software encryption), so I notice tech shortcomings more than most.

8760W, 17", Intel 2630QM, AMD graphics, 2x500GB SATA (1TB-R0 array/striped), Advanced Docking 230W,

• No dead pixels in any color,

• Display lid is not loose when closed,

• no i/o disk stuttering from spin down/ups,

• Arrived without damage (yes, packaging is below par)

• HP will not sell the Business PC division, just consumer (cheap/losing $) PC division

• DreamColor display looks great and from all angles, no grain, (yes, Red is blinding and needs to be adjusted from the initial "look what your DreamColor display is capable of" default color setting.)

• Keyboard light only sneaks out from under keys when slouching in chair.

• No squeaky space bar or keys.

• Much cheaper to buy standard config 8760W and upgrade components than use the "Custom Build" purchase option from HP.

Summary owner impression of 8760W:

Note-Book/"Wedding-Album". I have used paper notebooks, the 8760W is definitely bigger, closer to Wedding Album size. HP means it when they say "workstation replacement". The word 'replacement' is code for 'displacement". This 8760W is almost as big and heavy as a 1981 Osbourne Portable (google it), only to be almost outweighed by the external power adapter the size of a brick. The next version of the 8760W should have optional snap-on wheels and a telescopic handle to wheel it around like luggage.

5+ Years. You will have this laptop longer than your current job. This laptop platform was designed for easy upgrade and future component failure replacement. With Accidental Damage insurance, you should be able to go the distance while upgrading it to faster CPU's and storage over time. Industry investments in "cloud" services will begin to take the pressure off needing faster and faster processors in portable devices.

Appeal like a Range Rover. I like the design look of the 8760W and alloy accents, I like the quality of materials used, and I love the idea that the 8760W is capable of easily upgrading components even if I don't ever do that.

The 8760W will outlast three to four of those cheap consumer, under $900 throw-aways when they break, laptops you have been buying. Do the math, in the long run the 8760W will be cheaper, capable of more, and greater flexibility to configure the components towards your needs.

Form, Function, and Flexibility. Those are the qualities I admire in products and in the 8760W.

 

HP 8760w is the lightest workstation laptop on the market. Look at other laptops with the same performance and they are 4.2kg or more with the exception of Dell M6600.

8760w is as light it gets with the current technology.

They did a good job with the new AC adapter, making in flat like a book instead of the usual large very high profile ones bulging out your case.

 

I think the M6600 is actually its only direct competitor?

 

At this point - yes. But the m6600 doesn't have an IPS RGBLED screen.

 

Finally - I established the software configuration I am going to keep - at least for a while. I am running Debian Squeeze. I enabled "squeeze-backports" and replaced OpenOffice with LibreOffice. I also did not use the Nvidia driver that comes with Squeeze (non-free) since this release does not support the 5010M card. I downloaded the latest driver 285.05.09 from the Nvidia web site, compiled it and installed it. Everything else is pretty much plain Debian Squeeze. Works great.

I just connected the docking station to the monitor, keyboard, mouse and to my Bose audio system. Everything works fine, but the audio system. If I plug the Bose into the audio-out of the docking station, I don't get any sound. Only if I plug the Bose directly into the laptop's headset out I get the sound. Does anybody know what the reason for this could be?

cheers,
Werner

 

maybe the audio output of the dock is muted in Windows?

with my old 8730w (XP) I got from time to time the problem that it does not switch the head phone output on and the only solution is to flash the BIOS (with the same it already has)

could be of course that the dock has a failure, I have heard from a few problems with the advanced dock (a few did not charge the battery being docked and so on), that means there are broken docking stations around

 

Looks like HP is providing a new BIOS update for the 8760w. Numerically, it's a big jump from the previously available version, F.02.

Version: F.21
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp54501-55000/sp54885.exe

IMPORTANT: After this BIOS update has been installed, previous BIOS versions can no longer be installed.

More information about this update is available from the BIOS thread - http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...601489-updated-hp-business-bios-releases.html

 

Thanks, will test if this fixes the fan noise problem when using an external screen:

HP Elitebook 8760w fan noise when using Displayport - HP Support Forum

 

Update:

It does seem like the latest BIOS F.21 fixes the fan noise using Displayport bug.

 

Indeed. I can confirm that for my Quadro 3000 equipped model.

 

Yeah, now my machine is pretty much perfect, I have no complains really...

 

It may fix fan noise, but just watch your temps, as you are forgetting one thing.

You seem to be using the Nvidia Quadro card.

The moment you plug in a second screen it goes to maximum clocks.

Maximum clocks = more heat = need for fan.

There is no work around on this from a bios point of view... it's a VBIOS fix we need.

I have been using Nvidia Quadros for years, and it is the same with every one of them.

2 screens = maximum clocks, whatever you're doing.

It's not a bios issue, because the bios does not control the quadro's behaviour. Scream at nvidia if you want a fix gents.

Unless F.21 stops the quadro upclocking with 2 monitors in, it's doing something else.

Sio.

ATI cards do not upclock with a second monitor plugged in.