*HP ProBook 4430s & 4530s Owners Lounge!*

My wifi is pretty reliable even on the hairy edge of connectivity at this location ; )

 

Hey if you were to get this laptop for the exact same price as the 4530s which one would you go for?

Acer AS3830TG-6412
2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M processor
4GB system memory
750GB hard disk drive SATA
13.3" HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD
Windows 7 Home Premium
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M with 1GB dedicated memory
HD audio support with two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers
HD webcam with built-in microphone
Ports include 1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0 and HDMI; No optical drive
Up to 9 hours battery life

Build quality very similiar. I was suprised acer made something like it. Decent specs though...I like the 1GB Nvidia.

 

It basically comes down to the card and hard drive vs screen size.

 

Hi to all 4530s users here !! , Just got mine 3 days ago and decided to put in an Intel 510 ssd. I changed the drive, formatted to win 7 32 bit ultimate edition , installed drivers with ( no ! in device manager ) but I am not completely happy apart from the speed { wow ssd rocks !! }. My issue is that before the drive change I could arrange brightness from F2 & F3 function keys but now do not work , the others work but no gui for them as before, I mean the sound goes up or down as i see it from the taskbar... Maybe some one could point me to the right direction....

 

Open command prompt and type msconfig. then go to startup, and place a check next to qlbcontroller. If it is not there, then you did not install something from the site.

 

Wasn't there , I missed the HP Hotkey Support Driver ... Now I have a full system runing without the extra bloatware which came with.

Thanks bkribbs

 

No problem!

 

Just ordered one. This will be my first HP.

Question: What made you guys order this model? Why not the Pavilion line?

 

I like these.

 

Hi, there.. Recently I bought a HP 4430s XU012UT and I have 2 questions.

Is there any way to control the fan speed?
Is there something called "adaptive brightness". I observe that on battery the display brightness changes accordingly to the displayed objects (if it's not a hardware problem ). In BIOS on battery I can't see any changes of display brightness. Is there any way to switch off this option? Is it a Power Options feature of Win 7 or feature of Intel Display driver?
Thanks!

 

Probook feels more robust, plus international warranty ( I needed this badly ), and has lot of features like sata 3 , usb 3 , bluetooth 3 and express card, other brands dont have all these, or you have to spend alot !!!

 

Price $729 for a business-class laptop with a large hard-drive, fast quad-core i5 CPU that runs extremely cool, metal clad case, long battery life, and very easy access for upgrades.

 

I am curious to know if the 4530S can run a game like Free Realms

I always get confused with online video and dedicated?

Below are the system requirements.

Free Realms
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Developer: Sony Online Entertainment
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: Pentium 4
Memory: 512 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 3
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: Pentium 4
Memory: 1 Gb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 6
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
DirectX: 9.0c or 10
Keyboard
Mouse

 

No issues.

 

Hey would you guys recommend the 4530s for a university student? Mostly need it for web browsing/word processing. How is the battery life with basic tasks such as those?

Thanks in advance!

 

I'm a university student. And I love this laptop.
The only problem is the wifi. Nobody else seems to have this problem though, so it most likely is just a defect in the one I got.
If I place my 4430s next to another laptop, with both laptops about 20 feet from a wireless router, my 4430s gets a weaker signal and it disconnects once every once in awhile for a couple of seconds. It gets very annoying.

Overall though, it's a great laptop. I've upgraded my ram and I'm still thinking about replacing my wifi card or adding a wifi expresscard.

 

Hey guys, anybody know where to get a probook 4530s in Washington DC? Im leaving Friday and want one ASAP. Thanks all

 

Which of the following is bloatware that I can remove from my computer? I have a HP ProBook 4530s running Windows 7 Home Premium.

From All Programs in the Start menu
Theft Recovery (leads to LoJackpro.exe
XPS Viewer
Energy Star Power Saver
HP Connection Manager
HP Documentation
HP Power Assistant
HP ProtectTools Administrative Console
HP ProtectTools Security Manager
HP Support Assistant
Intel RapidStorage Technology

From the control panel (contains some duplicates)
Atheros Driver Installation
Device Access Manager for HP ProtectTools
Drive Encryption for HP ProtectTools
Energy Star Digital Logo
Face Recognition for HP ProtectTools
File Sanitizer for HP ProtectTools
HP 3D Driveguard
HP Connection Manager
HP Daystarter
HP ESU for Microsoft Windows 7
HP HotKey Support
HP Power Assistant
HP ProtectTools Security Manager
HP QuickWeb
HP Setup
HP SoftPaq Download Manager
HP Software Framework
HP Software Setup
HP Support Assistant
HP System Default Settings
HP Wallpaper
HP Webcam Driver
IDT Audio
JMicron Flash Media Controller Driver
Privacy Manager for HP ProtectTools
Realtek Ethernet Controller All-In-One Windows Driver
Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver
Validity Fingerprint Sensor Driver
VIP Access SDK x64(1.0.0.50)

 

Optical drive is no longer recognized in device manager. I can open and close the physical device, but it will not read nor play disks of any type. HP support software does not recognize an optical device. The HP support site for the drivers and software doesn't list the DVD RW AD-7711H driver. It lists the BD driver. Anyone else experience this?

 

10characters.

 

Heya , Well volume can be changed from the taskbar with the mouse or touchpad and brightness via power options, So the function keys are a 'little faster' to use... Well you could assign a one button too but that requires some fiddling with registry and keyboard software ... and I think its not quite worth the hassle...

May I ask to all owners of probook here, does any is booting of the express card as I have a wintec solidgo 48gb otw to play with... maybe booting osx from it ...

 

Problem fixed. I reinstalled Device Access Manager for HP ProtectTools and the DVD drive reappeared and functions well. Not sure what caused it's disappearing act, but all is well. I also reset the BIOS to default during reboot. My fingerprint scanner was malfunctioning as well after a Firefox upgrade to ver 7, and now it works well.

 

Ya guys finally picked one up! Got it for $513 plus taxes....has an i5 and usb 3.0. Best news was that I bought it here in Canada. SMH at 13 percent tax though
-_-

 

You should be fine with this notebook. Once you add a 4Gb RAM stick (64 bit OS)and uninstall some bloatware (NIS and others), it runs fast and cool. Battery life is good at about 3-4 hours of basic tasks. Multimedia drains the battery quicker. Plays DVDs quite well, especially with VLC. Sound system has distortions occasionally, but usually at bootup and start of some multimedia, but nothing that causes me to want to trade it in.

One thing about running MS Word on my 'book. The Word app (MS Office 2007 Professional Plus) always takes a few moments to actually close once you exit the document. Maybe just my configuration, but that doesn't occur on my desktop running the same installation of Office.

The fingerprint scanner saves logon time from bootup or wakeup. Don't bother with running the fingerprint scanner on web sites. DVD drive doesn't close easily, but if you push it in at the very end of the door, (towards the front of the notebook), it closes without much effort (usually. )

This notebook is quite similar to the Macbook Pro (just needs a clicking touchpad and lit keyboard.)

I'd get it soon as possible. The price seems to be going up.

 

Hello,

Considering getting a 4530s and have been following this thread. In the UK a retailer has an offer on the Celeron B810 version of this laptop part number LW767ES#ABU and hence my question..

Is the motherboard etc. in all 4530s' the same regardless of processor and could I swap the Celeron B810 for an i7 as Hopper82 has earlier in the thread.

I am thinking get the platform cheap then stick in an i7 and SSD to get workstation performance on the cheap...

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

The BIOS does not support booting from the ExpressCard slot. What I have done before (with Linux) is create a boot partition on the hard drive and a root partiton on my SolidGo 24GB. The current Linux kernel doesn't do well with PCI-E power management, though, so battery life is atrocious. Because of that, I just use my SolidGo for bakup purposes: I keep my Calibre library, a copy of the SWSETUP folder, my Linux and Windows ISOs, and my activation backup on the card.

 

Hmm...It was too nice to be true, my gosh I think the wintec will gather some dust on the shelf.. Just one thing Shemmy is the wintec hotswap ?

 

I have a 4530s with 3GB of RAM.
For the same price I could buy 2x2GB or 1x4GB, what would be better 4GB dual channel or 6GB ?
For even a cheaper price, I could buy only one 2GB stick and have a mismatched 4GB. Is it important to have dual channel ?

 

None of the above. Use your 3gb until you can save up the $ for 8gb of matched RAM. If you watch Newegg.com, you can get this for less than $40 quite often. $38 right now for some Cosair after rebate.

 

Hello all, new neighbour here.

Just ordered the ProBook 4430s from Amazon for $540 in the US.

2 questions:

1) What is the suggested matching RAM to get? Anyone have a link to the exact RAM stick recommended? I understand the 4430s comes with 4GB. I am thinking of getting 4gb more. Or is one 8GB better than 2 matched 4GB?
I saw on an earlier page this suggestion but wasn't sure exactly which RAM was being referenced:

2) Does the 4430s come with Blu-Ray optical drive? Saw it advertised as such in the earlier spec sheets but don't see any discussion on lately.

 

The drive still has its uses, and if PCI-E power management can be fixed in Linux, it would still work. The drive is hot swappable if you set it that way in the disk management settings of Windows. I believe the default is better performance, instead of quick removal.

 

I wanted osx but now the plan is to install Ubuntu in the same drive of win and leave the wintec as its main storage....

 

Hello all,

Simple question: I heard the 4530s was made of "brushed-aluminum design". What does it means? Plastic-aluminium lookalike or true aluminium? Or maybe true plastic!

I'm looking for something in metal, no more plastic.

Thanks for your help.

 

So I just bought the 4530 today.
windows 7 professional 64 bit
Intel i5
4 gb ram
500 gb hard drive

I am loving it so far except all the crapware that HP installed on it. I took out most of the crapware but the prcoesses that are running are taking up alot of memory. Especially the fingerprint software. I also noticed that firefox 7 was using alot of memory too and it isnt like that on my other laptop. So after reading all 39 pages of the thread, I saw that people were backing up the swsetup file and then doing a clean install. With my laptop I got 3 DVDs. One is a Windows 7 professional operating system disk for 32 bit and the other is for 64bit. The last DVD is the application and driver recovery DVD. So can I use these to do a fresh install?
Another question would be, should I go 64 bit or 32?
Is firefox taking up alot of memory for other people too?
Thanks for the help

 

Hello, i'm not an owner of a 4530s (see my above message), but i can help you.

Firefox is famous for his memory leak. It means the % of memory use will grow with the amount of tabs and time. Try to open the same tabs in Firefox and in Chrome, you will be surprised. So yes, it's normal if your running a 50 tabs session.

HP pro usually give OS dedicated DVD and Drivers DVD. I have an old HP Pro, and it's the same thing. So if you install only the OS? it would be a clean install.
Double check if you have a ghost partition to restore your OS with all the crapware too. You might be able to delete it if you want a clean OS.

32 or 64? I'm running a 64 bits version, so far no issues at all. If you have more than 3 gigs of RAM, go for the 64 version. Daily, you won't see any difference.

BTW, can you answer my question too? It would be great!

 

The palmrest is metal brushed alumi and wow it is shiny too

 

@mydriaze

it got metal all around the keyboard, and all the back of the screen, its not it 'very' shiny, but it reflects light ..

for the screen brightness,
open power options, click change plan settings , click change advanced power settings, under intel graphics settings select "max performance"

 

@innergy

i am looking for a solution for the fan too,

the laptop always hangs around +-40c , and its body is barely warm, and the fan is not even pushing that amount of air, a laptop like this should be made silent, but HP have decided to put a fan that makes noise

its is not horrible, but it should be silent for that amount of cooling

anybody got around finding a software solution to shut the fan down ?

the solutions around the net like this ( How to Reduce Fan Noise on HP Notebooks ) do not work with this laptop's motherboard/chipset ......

 

So your saying I should use chrome instead?
I have a HP recovery partition and an HP tools partition.
The recovery partition says there is 2.55GB free of 16GB but when I open it there is only 2 files and their size is 1 kb each. So I am kinda confused on that. Is that safe to delete?
And i opened the HP tools parition and there is the quickweb and biosupdate in there. I think I should leave that alone?
Yess you are right, it has the brushed-aluminum design.
The only plastic used is the frame around the screen and the bottom of the laptop.

 

Thanks guys for your feedback, i really appreciate.

 

If you don't know Chrome neither Firefox, just give a try to Chrome. Much faster. But ask the others guys, maybe their opinion will differ from mine.

That's normal, it's called a Ghost. It allows simple restore from a "image" of your hardrive with all the drivers and crapware installed. You can't see the contents, don't worry it's normal. You probably have to push a key when your restart to launch the restore process from the ghost file you have on your 16GB partition. IS it clear for you? My english is a bit rusty to be honnest...

I don't know this software. Where are they located precisely?

That's great. Love the cold feeling of alloy on the palm. Thanks for your answer.

BTW, is anybody have some cools HD pics from this laptop? I'm fed up of the press realease pics...

 

Hey how much did you buy it for? Thanks

 

Hey, im looking at 4730s to buy (same as 4530s only bigger screen) and I see on some sites that they have fingerprint reader and on some that there isnt one (same model), do you have any info on this ? And those who have i5 with 6490m , how is gaming on it ? what games can you run? thanks

 

Hey, just an update. So I did the clean install of windows 7 and deleted all the HP software. It is running better now. But I noticed that it hangs on the startup right before the login screen appears and it also lags at random spots. Firefox still seems to be using alot of memory when only 1 or 2 tabs are open. Other than that, I got no complaints. To answer the question above, the laptop was on sale at Staples for $599.99 and I am a Staples employee so I bought that plus the 2 year warranty and got a discount.
Now I have some questions. Should I install service pack 1? I have read that there has been problems after this install. Also I think the stupid updates are causing the laptop to hang and lag. But I dont know. My next question is there another light software that can be used for the fingerprint reader? Not the crap that came with the laptop. I just want to use it during login of the computer.
Thanks for your help.

 

VA1: Where did you get your laptop? Sounds like a very good price from what I've been seeing. Thx

 

Hey same as lankan i bought it at staples because it was a good sale plus i got my small associate discount plus i used some gift cards they gave me earlier. It came out to 590 taxes in. It is actually still on sale until the 18th I believe. Very good price

 

As an update, mine came with usb 3.0 . It is not signified by any marking on the side but it is in device manager. It was funny because I was not expecting it as the demo did not have 3.0...guess I lucked out

 

I am about to do a clean install with the HP supplied Windows 7 professional discs I ordered over the phone. How long does it hang for before login screen? Did it hang like this before you clean installed? I used the factory installed windows 7 home edition (with the bloatware still installed) last week and there didn't seem to be any lags observed.
I even installed Service Pack 1 and it still runs fine.
Is it worth doing the custom install if it is causing others's computers to lag?

 

I think its just my Probook. I suggest you do the custom install. I think I am expecting a little too much out of this machine I expected it to be faster with zero lags but that is not possible on any laptop. Anyways, I was wondering if I should upgrade the RAM on this. Maybe an extra 2GB? Anybody did this and noticed a difference?

 

Hey guys, new to the forum. I recently purchased an i3-2310 Probook 4530s and installed an 8 GB kit. I'm very happy with the laptop so far (and no, I didn't get USB 3).

I've read all 40 pages of this thread, and have seen the idea of installing OSX Lion mentioned a couple of times. I've looked at several sites on the net and have found a plethora of different ways to install it, however I would rather get it right the first time rather than continuous failed attempts. I have a fresh install on Windows 7 HP 64 bit installed now, and wish to dual boot Lion. Can someone direct me to the best guide for this... and possibly a basic outline of how it's done?

bkribbs, from what I can tell, you are the SME here for this type of thing.

Cheers,

newfiesig