HP ZBook 17 G3 Owners Lounge

Well it looks like the Dreamcolor3 configuration is finally available on the Zbook 17 G3. Also, the coupon SDSMB15 is now working again for some reason, adding a stacking 15% off of the already discounted price. It brings a basic configuration with the Dreamcolor display to about $2500, not bad. You can also add a Zbook Thunderbolt dock to your cart, for an extra $100, making the customized model probably a better deal than most of the pre-configured ones right now.

 

I was traveling so I didn't get a chance to check this stuff till today. Also, I upgraded to driver version 361.91 (some games had issues with the older version I was running).

1. Don't switch the BIOS to discrete if you do a 980m swap, the screen didn't light and it was super fun to get it back to hybrid.
2. The HDMI port works great.
3. I don't have a thunderbolt capable display to test on yet.

 

Do all your display outputs work?

On my G1 my DP stopped working but not sure if its my GPU, Cable or TV

 

Cool, thanks for the feedback.

Its also possible to use the USB display port mode on each of the thunderbolt ports, via a $15 adapter. Supposedly all external ports are connected directly to the nvidia GPU, so if HDMI works the thunderbolt ports should too.

 

VGA and HDMI are fine, haven't tested the TB3 port.

 

Since it's been a few years since I actively and routinely contributed to this site, and since my HP HDX 9300 went tits up last summer, after getting a G3, I figured it was time to find out what was going on on NBR and see if there was a G3 Forum. I actually bought a G2 before the year ended, and I just got my own G3 (the G2 was for my Mom; her HDX-18 is slowly going).

While I do miss my HDX's 20" monitor, I don't miss at all the weight of the damned thing. With the battery installed, it weighed around 17lbs.

To be honest, I REALLY wanted a Z Series 840, but couldn't swing the $10k plus for the configuration I wanted. The 64gb/M5000M configuration in my G3 comes pretty close though to what I wanted in the 840.

Anyway, the key specs for my G3 are in my signature, but the other additions are Verizon mobile broadband sim, and the internal Intel wifi adapter, which I'm happy to say kicks ass. I have a Linksys WRT1900AC for my LAN, and was going to buy a USB adapter like I did with my old systems, but the store happened to be out of them before I had a chance to try out the internal adapter. Mine averages around 800mbps+ on my 5ghz band.

Glad to see there's some interesting content here; my old HDX Forum literally had to break into 2 forum threads, as we got pretty ridiculous with upgrades and documenting everything online.

 

Hello,

Has anyone tried installing a m.2 2242 SATA SSD in the second m.2 slot?

I tried but the it was not recognized. Made me wonder if the current BIOS doesn't have it engaged yet or something like that.

Thanks for your time.

 

Does anyone know where the CTO (custom configuration) page is for the Zbook 17 G3? Thinking about ugprading my Zbook 17.

 

Hi fellow ZBook owners, a question for you:

I have ZBook 17 G3 (with rare FirePro W6150M and bad angles 1600x900 matrix, no SSDs yet) and now I'm about to buy two M.2 SSDs. Both of them will be either Samsung 950 Pro or OCZ/Toshiba RD400.

Do both of M.2 slots support NVMe mode? Asking that because I've heard that at least one of the M.2 SSDs should be AHCI, not NVMe.

UPDATE:
As I have found out, there IS possible to use both M.2 slots for PCIe/NVMe drives. But it's NOT possible to have PCIe/NVMe drive in secondary M.2 slot if primary M.2 slot has SATA drive.

P.S. I'm going to buy OCZ (Toshiba) RD400 drives. To me they look better than Samsung drives. Performance (Samsung 950 wins some tests, some looses), access times, MLC memory. Probably RD400 should be compared to not-yet-available-for-purchase SM961, but I don't want to wait a couple of months.

 

What drives are compatible in the secondary M.2 slot?

My primary currently is NVME btw.

Cheers

 

I just ordered a new Zbook 17" G3 with Dreamcolor Display that should arrive tomorrow. Looking for some recommendations on which backpack to choose? I'm thinking the Wenger Ibex if it will fit but am open to other suggestions.

 

Hey Everyone...I found this forum and wanted to share my recent experience with the HP ZBook 17 G3. Got it last week and noticed a strange orange tint when looking at the screen. After discussing it with HP they agreed that it must be a hardware issue with the screen and I arranged to have a replacement sent. Got the replacement yesterday...and guess what...it had the same orange tint issue. Called HP again and provided them with a picture of the screen with a test image displayed along side a different HP laptop with the same test image displayed to show the difference. Basically anything silver looks almost gold and you can see the orange tint even on a white screen. Keep in mind that we looked at this test image on about 5 different laptops and they all looked the same...but on the ZBook (orange tint). Does anybody else see the same thing on their ZBook? Final word from HP is that the difference is simply the way the screen was designed. This is a show stopper for my wife (who does graphic design and would be the main user)...so we're sending both ZBook's back and getting a ThinkPad P90 instead.

Any feedback would be appreciated....thanks

 

I bought the Everki Black 18.4" Titan Checkpoint. Fits my 17in G3 perfectly and it was cheapest on ebags' website!

 

Can I use the HP dreamcolor calibration system to calibrate the new 4K dreamcolor panel on 17 G3?

 

I received my HP ZBook 17 G3
Config:
i7-6820HQ
Nvidia M5000M - 8GB
Dreamcolor3
32GB Memory (2 modules)
I would put a Samsung SSD EVO 850 Pro 2TB.
Windows 10 Pro x64
The DreamColor assistant has a Calibration procedure using the Xrite i1DisplayPro or the HP Calibrator which is the same.
See 2 photos attached files:

 

Congrats on the purchase! I have a couple of questions:

What do you mean - is it the same software (Xrite software), or does it come with a calibration solution (i1DisplayPro)? The EliteBooks used a PortraitDisplays software for choosing the color spaces. As for the HP calibrator's hardware it always was i1DisplayPro, so no surprises there. I'm interested if they've changed the software as well.

I would guess that the Windows is set @200% scaling, correct?

Can you run the NEC's 10bit check software for me, please? I discussed it quite a few times whether or not the 4K DreamColor would be 10bit, so this should put things to bed. You can download it here or just search the web for "nec 10bit check", it's the first result. Thank you!

 

What I meant as same was for the hardware. The software is not from PortraitDisplays. It is new and has a Calibration option.
The Win10 set automatically the scale to 250%
I run the Nec software and it runs 10bit. Check the image:

 

@devnl Does the display look fuzzy if you run it at 1920x1080 resolution, then set scaling to 100%? I have a few apps that don't deal with the scaling very well and it would be nice to know if its usable in this kind of way.

 

Thanks a lot. So it is 10bit after all. That's great!

 

in 1920x1080 and 100% scaling it seems acceptable to work. Check the image:

 

I'm curious how it looks @ 3840x2160 @100%

BTW Can you make screenshots of the new DreamColor software? Thanks.

 

Check the DreamColor shots:

 

Check the 3840x2160 @100%:

 

Oh WOW, it would've been nice if my eyes were up to the task of using the display at this setting - SO much space... and 10bit. I seriously thought that HP would cheap-out and go with 8bit. Thankfully they didn't. Wonder what the gamut of this display is, in the old app you can see a pretty good triangle rendering of the color space selected, as well as the FULL/Native coverage. Well one can make a guess if (s)he gets the values of the Native Color Space Preset Information, and hopefully this will be my last request to you, can you get that shot? Thank you very much for your cooperation

Thanks for the new software pictures. So when Custom, you can edit the White Point as well? That's nice.

 

Wrong service manual. The one you linked to is for the early first gen of the Zbook 17.

Here's the G3: http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c04953838-1.pdf

 

Check the photo below:

 

Are you sure? These are the sRGB ones, like EXACTLY the sRGB ones.

 

These are values it has from factory installation. Let me work a little bit with the machine and if I would find something different I would let you know

 

In this picture (if it doesn't show, it's the Color Space Preset Information):

It says "AdobeRGB (Selected)" and gives the corresponding correct values. Maybe it only shows the proper values if you activate given color space?

 

1080P is also nice

 

Is that neccesary to calibrate the panel for each computer?
Do you think X1pro is enough for this DC3? It seems HP stop selling the dreamcolor calibration system.

 

Some of these pictures can't not be open on my computer, could test how much gamut of this DC3?

 

My opinion is that Xrite i1DisplayPro is the best calibrator in the market and it is suitable for the DC3.

 

In order to show the info it must be activated. You have to give me time to find out.

 

@devnl One other question for you if you do not mind Do you still have the bios option available to enable hybrid graphics mode? I think there was wording in an HP document somewhere that "calibration features on the Dreamcolor display are not available when hybrid graphics mode is enabled". It would be a first with a Dreamcolor display (especially a 10-bit one), although running in a limited mode!

Here is a link to an image of the specific option in the bios on a Zbook Studio G3 without Dreamcolor (should be in a similar place on a Zbook 17 G3).

 

The option is available and in bios is exactly the same like the image.

 

In the HP performance advisor software information page it says the panel is 8 bit, do you have any further way to test it?

 

Do you have ZBook G3 with DreamColor? I think that it's 8bit as well. This is a Sharp panel and the 7710's display is IGZO (only Sharp makes them), which is 8bit. It's not like one company can't make 8bit and 10bit panels, but I doubt that it's the case.

The NEC one is pretty bullet-proof, other than that there are gradients around the web, which would show banding if on 8bit. You can ask in the 7710's topic (the guy who has responded to me @raminux) and hopefully one would provide such gradient.

 

I am waiting on a top of the line model to be delivered.

64 GB 2133 DDR4 SDRAM (4 DIMM) ECC
NVIDIA Quadro M5000M with 8 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory
Xeon E3-1575M v5 with Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580
17.3 inch LED DreamColor3 UHD UWVA Anti-Glare (3840x2160) for Webcam
4 TB = 2 x ZTurbo 1GB and 2 X 1TB SSD

I also got a magical elite services card and other magical things.

 

Waiting about your impressions.

 

it will take about a month and a alf for the system to get to me because I am in canada but I will let you now as soon as I get and maybe post a review video

 

does anyone have a comparison from g2 to g3

 

When you received you machine, would you mind check the DC3 screen uses PWM or not? Thanks!

 

sure but youll be waiting until mid october i guess lol

 

Great!

 

Oh yeah -- I've owned 8760, 8770, G2 and now G3 in the 17 inch versions, all with DreamColors -- and there is a BIG DIFFERENCE, and not for the good let alone the better, in the 4K version.

No one tells you that the new 4K screen is DIM, and deliberately so, with power plan choices of DreamColor and Power Saver, no high performance. That's right: DIM and DIMMER -- I've done side-by-sides with the 8770 and the 8760 and there is simply no comparison (I had to send in my defective G2 to get the G3 but I recall that the G2 screen appeared even brighter and crisper in colors than the 8770 and 8760). This dimness also affects the trueness of the colors -- at least when compared to the same Gmail page on the other two machines. Oh, and yes, all DCs seem to have these bluish and pinkish "washes" that show up most clearly on pages with lots of white, like Gmail -- and that's why my test page of preference for any screen is an open page in a Gmail account.

Now for the overall comparison docs and the specific screen comparison data:

See p. 19 of the G3 Quickspecs at http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04834941.pdf and also p. 19 of the G2 Quickspecs at http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04407513.pdf and you will see that the contrast ratio is 1000 for the G3 and 600 for the G2 with both having the same brightness 300 nits.

Apparently HP has suppressed the Quickspecs Website for the 8760 (all the links here are dead: http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c02863319#N105D9).

But on p. 15 of the pdf the 8770's specs are essentially the same in this regard as those of the G2: http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04111518.pdf

I am looking for another G3 17 DC owner to corroborate this visual observation on their machine.

My guess is that the invention of a DreamColor power scheme (that shows up when you click the battery icon in the lower task bar) means that the power scheme might intentionally change the parameters of brightness for some technical reasons (and that, I believe might influence perceived contrast, as well) -- but if that is the case, the Quickspecs should indicate that.

I also find it interesting that the G3 Quickspecs do not say how many colors are involved whereas "over 1 billion in native mode" was advertised in the G2 and earlier Elitebook specs. Rumor is a few million were "sacrificed" for the 4K DreamColor. Heck, there must be a reason or reasons why the "touted" 4K screen at all the expos a year ago didn't come out until a month ago!

 

It might also have something to do with the energy star rating.

 

Previous machines were Energy Star as well.

Thank you for that! So I'm pretty much set that the new 4K DC is indeed 8bit (narrower gamut) and inferior to the previous models "thanks" to the WLED (even narrower gamut), which is even more castrated with the power plan (even MORE narrower gamut) you mentioned.

BTW Some of the older DreamColors have red tint, my guess was that it's to boost contrast, I guess I wasn't that far off. Now, it's even worse. There goes my hope for proper displays. The brand that literary put reference class displays into laptops are now ruining it. THAT F***ING BOTTOM LINE!!!

 

So the new DC3 is **** ?

 

Sorry -- where did you find an 8-bit spec?

And note that it is not referred to as a WLED but a UWVA screen.

I have found third-party ads referring to the screen as 10-bit, e.g.: http://www.videoguys.com/videoguys-...e-workstation-with-hp-dreamcolor-display.html. However, it is not clear where they got the specs.