HP ZBook 17 G3 Owners Lounge

Well, how about PWM? Did you find the 17G3 DC3 screen uses PWM? Could you check the model number of the screen? You can check it by using AIDA64.
If it does not use PWM, then I would say perhaps it is almost still OK to accept its narrower garmut compared with DC and DC2. After all, with DC3 you got a 4K screen. This alone can make life a lot easier for some users who demand high resolution screen. On the other hand, no matter how good DC and DC2 are, they are only FHD and they might have their own issues too. For example, I know some DC2 screen might have some annoying high frequency noise.
Overall, I guess the DC3 panel on 17G3 is similar with Dell's 7710's 4K screen which they call 'premiere color'.

 

What about storage. Is it limited to what HP have on the site

 

I'm guessing, from everything I could find (including the one in the quote below).

Does it has slight tinting around the left (redish) and right (blueish) edges like the previous DCs? It occurs because of the way the panel is made - red LEDs on the left and blue and green on right. There's no way around that. They might have put them all on the bottom, but I seriously doubt it. The only way to know is someone to crack this puppy open and at the very least get the part number on the back, while full disassembly would be AWESOME, but no one did that before and I would guess no one would do it now and that's perfectly understandable (I wouldn't do it either as long as the panel works properly).

Maybe these ads got carried from previous DCs, without double checking whether or not it is indeed 10bit.

The main issue that I have is that Rec.2020 (and HDR) is knocking at the door and instead of making a future-proof panel, they cheaped-out. All while the older panels cover up to about 85% of it and these panels (the 8bit 16:10 TN, the 10bit 16:10 IPS and the 10bit 16:9 FHD IPS) were made before Rec.2020 was even a standard. Not progress in my book. They once set the standard, that's no longer the case.

The older panels are PWM, but they are working at about 1200Hz, that's why they aren't very irritating for the eyes.

Actually I think that it is the same panel and it is proven 8bit.

 

I'm torn between this and a Lenovo P70. The problem I find with the Zbook 17 G3 is that the M2 SSDs are ridiculously expensive on the HP site, but I can't find any real info on "Z Turbo PCIe Solid-State Drives" elsewhere. I can't find vendors, either. Furthermore, the HP configurator says you can only install one M2 unless they're both "Z Turbos".

If I want to install 2 1TB M2 SSDs in a Zbook 17 G3, what do I need to know in order to select the right parts from Newegg, Amazon or whatever?

 

There was/is a thread around here that discussed these "Z Turbo Drives" at large. The earlier models supported up to 60mm drives, where most aftermarket are 80mm. You have to ask someone to measure it. My guess is that if there's enough room (80mm) you can put whatever you want.

 

Thanks for the tip. I found the thread, and unfortunately, it seems like HP bet on a dead technology in this case -- a year and a half after people started predicting that the market would pick up on 60 mm PCIe M.2s, it seems that absolutely no one but HP has.

That, of course, lets them charge $800 for a 1 TB unit, when you can get other 1 TB M2s for $300 or less.

 

In my view, the the biggest problem of the 4K P70 is its low PWM screen. That is why I give it up. P70 should be great if you do not care about PWM problem.

 

Is it that awful? I hadn't even thought about this. Which screens does it affect?

 

P70 4K screen does have PWM with low frequency 200Hz or so. You can check notebookcheck's review article about P70.
Well, for some sensitive people it is awful because it will cause eye strain problem.
I give up P70 because this issue. Otherwise P70 have great performance/price ratio, if you buy it through corporate perks channel as we all know.

 

the PCIE ssd is sm951, it looks like normal, but if you insist, I can measure it.

 

Is there any way to check if the panel is 10bit or 8bit?
I have the X1 pro calibration file but don't know how to calculate the color gamut, if anyone can do that I can also send he/she the file

 

I can't tell you yet but. What I can do is direct all your questions to my personal case manager haha

 

No fooling: you are in a position to ask these questions of the sales personnel handling your case. Please do. If possible, via email so we can track the consistency of responses from HP.

 

Very, very unlikely its 10bit. Only 17.3 inch QFHD panels I know of are AU Optronics B173ZAN01.0, Sharp LQ173D1JW31, and Chimei Innolux N173DSE-G31, none of which are 10bit. My guess is its the Sharp panel because HP should be using the same series in the Zbook 15 G3 and Zbook Studio (LQ156D1JW31) to keep the Dreamcolor calibration interface compatible across all models. That panel was also used on the EVGA SC17, and got pretty high marks on its notebookcheck review.

 

Yep, these are the three I know as well (didn't knew the Sharp's exact P/N though), and in one of the ZBook threads an owner posted Sharp ID (spent the last half an hour, probably more, to search it, but couldn't find it, should've wrote it down, doh). Pretty certain that it is the same panel as the one in 7710 and that it is 8bit. Not a bad panel, but not 10bit and as I said here, or in another thread - the last 8bit DreamColor (which was actually the first - 8730w) compensates with RGB LED backlight and has even wider gamut than the 10bit IPSes that followed (even though they are RGB LED as well).

Maybe that was the idea - getting your hard earned cash.

The best one is to get the exact P/N from the back of the panel and find the data sheet

 

Support Level 1 couldn't find any answer

Support Level 2 I am waiting a response.

My case manager is Looking more into it from a parts perspective but he did say that it is most likely 8bit

 

So is the DC3 RGB LED or not?
Also, can anybody tell me which docking is compatible with the zbook G3? what are the differences of P5Q61AA, P5Q61ut and P5Q54AA?

 

As far as I know - it is not RGB LED and it barely covers aRGB, while older panels are well above that. HP's quick spec sheet is not very helpful either, it just says "LED". Feel free to try it for yourself though I at least try to save someone from a very expensive mistake (if (s)he relies on 10bit), I would guess the rest who dig deep about the panel do so too.

The brochure says "P5Q61AA", so I'll go with it, also the P5Q54AA is 60W, which should be insufficient to even power-on the notebook, let alone working and feeding additional stuff. BTW, I'm pretty certain that the only difference is the supplied power adapter, like it was before. Well they could supply different thickness cables (the more powerful adapter, the thicker cable between notebook and dock), so again, better go with what the brochure says.

Patience, you'll get to level 3 eventually Sorry for the joking, but as I said earlier it really is how it works - you have grind a lot of nerves to get proper support.

 

It is probably GB-r LED. Gamut seems similar to what other desktop and laptop LCD's using that tech have. If the display is a B173ZAN01.0 (which is technically an AUO IGZO) then its using AUOs' RB-g LED backlight, similar to some 27 inch panels they produce.

The Thunderbolt 3 dock has three different versions, 65W, 150W, and 200W. The 65W is for an Elitebook tablet and ultrabook, the 150W is for the Zbook Studio and 15, the 200W is for the Zbook 17. The "AA" suffix just means its an US market product, "UT" means its a US market product "Smart Buy" version which has a lower MSRP compared to the other version.

 

Ok Everyone I have my answer and Ill Paste the result in the new post

 

Dear Padraig,


Thank you for contacting HP Customer Support. This e-mail is with regard to the Case Number: BLEEP CENSORED!

With reference to our last interaction regarding the <<Dreamcolour display issue>> with <<HP ZBook 17 G3 Mobile Workstation (ENERGY STAR)>>.


17.3-inch UHD UWVA IPS, LED anti-glare - Dreamcolor


Dimensions (W x H) 15.0 x 8.5 in (38.2 x 21.5 cm) Weight 620g max Diagonal Size 17.3 in (43.9 cm) Surface Treatment Anti-glare Contrast Ratio 1000:1 (typical) Refresh Rate 60 Hz Brightness 300 nit typical Pixel Resolution Format 3840 x 2160 Configuration RGB Stripe Backlight LED PPI 254 Viewing Angle 85/85/85/85 (Left/Right/Down/Up) (typical) Zbook 17 G3 and it has: Desktop Color Depth = 32bit & Output Color Depth = 8bits/picture.

 

Thanks a lot! So it is RGB LED even though it is 8bit now.

 

So, 8bit. It's a downgrade after all.

The AUO is listed as WLED everywhere it's mentioned. Why do you think that the AUO is IGZO? As I said before, I think that it is a Sharp panel, which means IGZO, which means more light (compared to aSi panels, which the AUO is), which means that they can get away with WLED to cover aRGB. This panel is 8bit WLED as I said quite a few times already.

 

Yup but it is a nice screen to have especially since using the 1080p screens lol

 

Not for me and my eyes - 2560x1600 (x1440, since that crappy 16:9) is perfect for 17" and I think a lot more people would agree. Whoever can make use of 4K @100% scaling (because why the pixels if you don't use them) @17", good for him/her, and I envy them, but they are minority. For most people 2560x1600/x1440 would've been the better option. Anyway, whoever can make use of this display - Enjoy! Next year - Rec.2020 compatible.

 

The electron mobility of aSi allows around 200ppi max. Higher ppi has to be using newer technologies like IGZO / LTPS. AUO already has a few press releases about using LTPS in smartphone displays and IGZO for tablets and 4k televisions.

AUO's RB-g LED uses red and blue diodes combined with a green phosphor to create white light. It produces a much wider gamut than the typical blue diode with a yellow phosphor that is used for most white LED's. They have already used it in some older TN panels (B156HW01 V4, iirc) that had very wide gamut.

 

Didn't know that about the aSi. Anyway, found the schematics of the AUO panel, it's actually RG phosphor with Blue LEDs - B-RG (in this particular case). No word on the substrate, but it's probably LTPS. I'm aware that this is how they make wider gamut backlights, I've seen a few mixed phosphors and LEDs. The thing is that they used to write the correct backlight formation in articles/reviews, let alone in specs, that's why I went after WLED.

Are you sure that they (AUO) use IGZO, as far as I know it's Sharp only.

 

Oh yeah, Samsung, LG, AUO and Sharp are all using IGZO. You can thank Apple for that, about two years ago they realized that a single company (Sharp) could in no way, shape or form keep the supply of displays for their phones and tablets steady on their own. All of the big names in display tech have some kind of IGZO process. So, B173ZAN01.0 is RG Phosphor + IGZO + AHVA. BTW, I got the replacement Zbook Studio with 15.6" Sharp Dreamcolor3. Its very nice! Better than the Dreamcolor2 panel other than lack of 10bpc.

 

Should've kept-up with the Apple news. I was pretty regular, after all they are a pretty nice chunk of the tech industry, but got bored, they lost it for me a few years ago. There are very few exceptions where a company can keep track, once the spiritual leader goes away. In most cases it goes down.

So, can we assume that all DC3 panels are Sharp and I was right I'm happy that it's a nice display, it's just that it could've been nicer. After all technology progresses, we are supposed to get better things, and not just enough, like in this case. They went well over-board when they made the first DC panels. Now they do "fine" and use panels that can be found elsewhere. In order for me to be happy, with the refresh/upgrade/whatever next year, I hope that they push new technology - IGZO MEMS or CNT FED, then I'll be happy (both are supposed to outdo current display technology in all regards).

 

All good news for me
10 of October mine will be shipped

 

[QUOTE="The Thunderbolt 3 dock has three different versions, 65W, 150W, and 200W. The 65W is for an Elitebook tablet and ultrabook, the 150W is for the Zbook Studio and 15, the 200W is for the Zbook 17. The "AA" suffix just means its an US market product, "UT" means its a US market product "Smart Buy" version which has a lower MSRP compared to the other version.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the reply! Since the zbook 17 requires 200w power supply, is that enough for the 200W to charge it without plugging in? If it is not, is that possible the zbook 17 can use a 65W docking?

 

That's the point - dock/plug-in one cable and get all the stuff you need connected.

Congrats

 

According to notebookcheck, they say 17 G3 have 'coil whine' problem, did you guys notice that problem?

 

I have not noticed any coil whine on my Zbook Studio. If you did end up with a machine with it, I am sure they can swap the mainboard or whatever component is causing the whine.

Oh, and you want to get the 200W Thunderbolt 3 dock with the Zbook 17 G3. It has a special cable that plugs into both the power jack and Thunderbolt 3 port to dock the notebook. In the US, the price difference between the 65W and 200W Thunderbolt 3 dock is only $30.

 

that's good, thank you!

 

Happy to say I will be receiving a fully spec gen 3 17

 

You are lucky! I got a pretty good upgrade on my specs when they replaced my Zbook 15 G1 with a Zbook Studio, but I think there is a possibility that I don't actually have a Dreamcolor panel in the new machine. Its got the sticker, but the Dreamcolor software will not install stating that I don't have the correct display. My customer relations contact also would not give me a new dock to use with the machine. All through the process she didn't really care about the fact that my original machine had a Dreamcolor display, or that my replacement should also have one. Very frustrating.

 

Hi all, just received my 17G3 with DC3. Overall it is good. But I have a question about the middle key of the trackpoint. You know usually like tp and dell, they can set that middle key as 'stick scroll' so that we can scroll up/down and left/right once we click the middle key. I remember hp's previous mobile workstations also have this function. However, I looked at the setting of the zbook's snaptics driver, for the middle key for the pointer stick, there indeed does not have this 'stick scroll' function. This is really unbelievable! That makes the track point almost useless I think.
So, does anyone found some solution to this issue? I think HP definitely should add this function in their next version of the touchpad driver.

 

One more thing, I does feel that the DC3 screen uses PWM under 50% brightness. At and above 60% brightness I cannot find PWM.
However the PWM is still OK. Because, first, I found that PWM frequency is relatively high, I compared it with some 200Hz PWM screen, I feel that DC3's PWM is over 1000Hz.
Second, the DC3 screen does not have high brightness, I mean even 100% brightness is still not really bright, I think it is just OK. I basically always set the brightness at or above 60% so I just automatically get away from PWM. I mean I feel that DC3's 60%,70% brightness is not bright. Actually if you set the brightness below or at 50%, the screen is useless since it is really too dark. So in the end the PWM is not an issue since I will not use this screen below 50% brightness.

 

One more thing, I sometimes feel that the bottom is not so 'flat'. When I put it on desk, I sometimes feel that the left lower corner does not fully touch the desk. I guess 15 G3 might be better since it is smaller and less likely suffer from this 'not flat bottom' small issue.

 

How are the colors on the DC3? have you had any problems with coil whine? is it as fast as they? fan sounds? stress tests? info info i need info lol

 

@CR3, could you check the monitor ID in HWInfo64. I was curious if the Zbook 17 DC3 is in fact using the Sharp panel, or if its AUO.

 

SHP144C. This is the only information I can find by using AIDA64. There is no further particular model number that is shown from AIDA64.

 

Color is great, no problem at all. However there is PWM at and below 5/10 brightness. However I compared it with other 200Hz PWM screen, I feel the DC3's PWM frequency is over 1000 Hz. But the screen is not very bright, so I usually always have to set it to 7/10 or higher. So I actually do not suffer from PWM. Point is the screen is not very bright, so you actually will never set brightness below 5/10 so PWM is not an issue. Checked with Dreamcolor Assistant software's BT.709 profile which is about 7/10 brightness, and the software shows it is 100 cd/m2 brightness. So, I can say perhaps 7/10 is only 100 cd/m2. So, 5/10 or even 6/10 are below 100 cd/s2, so I guess very few people will really set brightness below 5/10.
I did not find coil whine noise. Fan is good, noise is not loud. I tested it by using AIDA64 's stability test, under full load, the noise is still not loud, and CPU temperature is 75 C - 82 C, no throttling at all. Cinebench R15, mine xeon 1535 scores 751 and M3000M for opengl is 110fps or so. Compare with my M4800, I would say under normal use, the fan noise of 17G3 is almost he same as M4800. But 17G3's noise under full stress is much lower than M4800's, not to say 17G3 does not have CPU throttling problem. So I would say it is pretty impressive.


But I must point out two things.
1. I am not sure, but at least, I feel the bottom of my machine is not very 'flat'. I mean it seems you have to put it on a really 'flat' surface. Otherwise a corner of the bottom might not really really touch the surface, and you can feel that. I guess this issue is more easily to be found on 17 inch model than 15 inch ones. However I want to as k other guys with 17G3, do you have the 'not-flat-bottom' issue?
2. The thing that disappoints me most is that, damn, you cannot set the middle button of the trackpoint to 'stick scroll' which is all available on thinkpad and dell models. Cannot believe Zbook G3's synaptics driver does not have this function! That makes the trackpoint basically useless!
Really hope HP release a better synaptics driver very soon!
Is there anyone who can find a solution for this problem?

 

Has anyone bought a Zbook 17" G3 with Dream Color and Win 10 and later done a clean install of of Windows 7? If so how did it compare?

 

Thanks. I am also curious if the new DC3 panels hold their calibration in hardware like the old DC2 models did. One way to test would be to switch to sRGB and try running the HP UEFI diagnostic screen test. If the calibration is in hardware the red's and blue's should be noticeably different than when the panel is in native mode.

 

Yeah -- dark, dark, dark. Horrible. It changes the colors -- put the machine side-by-side with a previous DC version and you'll be shocked.

And the measured 100 cd/m2 shows that the official specs from HP are misrepresenting the screen. Take a look at the DreamColor power setting -- it sets the screen even darker than the regular power saver setting!

As for the flatness, I haven't noticed the issue you report -- but think about it: how can the vents breathe if the rubber-edged full bottom lies flat on a surface? Duh... Amazing, dear HP. Such a design flaw is so obvious as to make one wonder how the engineers ever got that Academy Award. Oh right -- it was for the previous DC technology of the stand-alone monitors and not the laptops or the 4K screen.

Talk about resting on one's laurels....

 

Well the previous laptop DC panels were pretty good. I agree though, instead of improving they are doing the opposite, but this comes as no surprise after the new desktop DC line was introduced. I had a little hope for the laptops, but all is gone now, DreamColor is just a fancy name. I would make a wild guess and say that the original engineers have nothing to do with these iterations (desktop including), instead the accountants took over.

 

Yeah, the new DC3 panels are probably a sidegrade at best. I both love and hate the new UHD screen. On one hand, text is very sharp and photos look great at the high dpi. The color gamut is also very close to what the old DC2 screens could do. They also have a noticeably faster refresh rate than the DC2 screens. On the other hand, the lack of 10bit color is disappointing and scaling is still a crap shoot in the line of work I do (we get clients who want us to work with a wide range of applications and have no control over if these apps are updated for high dpi). At this point I basically have to run the UHD panel at 1920x1080 scaled, which makes the image blurrier than the old DC2 screen.

I am half tempted to just sell the Zbook Studio they gave me and get one of the numerous Zbook 17 G2's that are still under warranty on eBay. That way I can use my dock again seeing as they would not give me a Thunderbolt 3 dock with the new Studio either...

 

The rubber edging is actually not flat. On my Studio each corner of the edge sticks out, giving a gap of about 1/4" for the machine to draw air in from the bottom when on a flat surface.