HP ZBook G3 (Studio, 15u) Owner's Lounge

Has anyone received a 15U G3 yet?

 

I'm seeing the same issue with the machine I received a few days ago. In terms of severity, it's nearly identical to the video. I was going to send it back for replacement, but if they're just going to send me another one just like it, I'm hesitant. I'm wondering how widespread this issue is. It definitely seems like some internal support structure is missing in the rather large central area affected. I really like everything else about the machine, though, but I'm reluctant to keep a device with an issue this glaring.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

I'm seeing the same issue with the machine I received a few days ago. In terms of severity, it's nearly identical to the video. I was going to send it back for replacement, but if they're just going to send me another one just like it, I'm hesitant. I'm wondering how widespread this issue is. It definitely seems like some internal support structure is missing in the rather large central area affected. I really like everything else about the machine, though, but I'm reluctant to keep a device with an issue this glaring.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Did you send the second one back or are you going to try to live with it? I'm in the same situation and am trying to decide if I should send it back for replacement or just send it back. You would have thought they would have double checked the keyboard on the replacement before it went out.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Hi Forum Members,

I posted about a week ago, regarding the keyboard flex issues... I purchase my ZBook Studio from Provantage, which has been a great company to buy from, I highly recommend them for their customer service and aggressive pricing. I purchased HP ZBook Studio T6E16UT and it has the exact same type of keyboard flex issues in the video posted in this thread. Initially I thought nothing of it, but what prompted me to look closer was that something did not feel right when I was typing for an extended period. I looked closer and pressed down in the center area of the keyboard and sure enough there is enough flex to offset my typing - it is minimal, but noticeable and as mentioned exactly as the earlier video shows.

I requested an exchange from Provantage, which they gladly processed, however this time I opted for the T6E85UT with the Xeon processor. I just received it yesterday and after thinking about it, I checked this thread one more time to see if anyone other than PEC responded. Since there have been others voicing their concerns, and I am becoming a little hesitant about opening this one and using it, in lieu of it having keyboard flex issues. For the life of me I cannot figure out how such a well design machine would have such a simple flaw - maybe its a manufacturing issue - or simply a design issue. However, I can tell you I am making many mistakes typing this post and while anecdotal - I am beginning to believe it is because of this keyboard flex. I have had the ZBook 15u and 14 G2 and did not experience this. Also, the ThinkPad laptop I have, which has arguably the best keyboard never gave me this much trouble.

This is a tough one because this machine, with Xeon, NVMe SSD, industrial design, and Quadro graphics is a dream. However, if I cannot type on it what am I suppose to do. This is so frustrating.... What are your thoughts?

Michael

 

There may be a little bit of flex in the design, although nothing that I would noticed and I can really hammer on my keyboards. I have tried to replicate the YouTube video's flex on my ZBook Studio, and if I push the right keys just the right way I can get a little bit of down movement on the keyboard for the other keys. I'm not sure if that's a good thing (providing a slightly softer bounce to the keys) or a bad thing. I'll leave that to the keyboard experts in the forums.

 

Hmm, interesting. I've actually had really high accuracy on my ZBook Studio, much better than the accuracy I get on my other laptop. But the key spacing is also pretty similar to what I was using before, so that may have helped.

 

Oh hey, Crucial has memory upgrades available for the ZBook Studio G3 now, including 16GB ECC SoDIMMs for $127. That's a surprisingly low price.
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/HP-Compaq/hp-zbook-studio-g3-mobile-workstation

Has anyone tried them? Crucial has always seemed to have pretty good quality.

 

@ owners of Studio G3 with FHD matte screen

Could you please share the panel number with us? I'd like to check it out online.

Thanks.

 

It was a preconfigured unit from B&H, so it just comes sealed from HP - nobody checked it. I am waiting until after the holiday today to hear back from HP support as to what to do about it, or if it can be fixed. I already waited a long time to get this machine and I need to get some work done, so it's a bit of a bind. My alternative would be a Dell XPS 15 / Precision 5510, but I hear about problems with those too.

The fan is annoying on this machine a well. The fan RPM appears to be tied to the CPU clock, and the CPU seems to vary the clock on a second by second basis, so the fan does the same making it particularly annoying as the white noise / pitch of the fan is constantly varying. This is just with activity on a single core from things like Chrome while not even using the computer, mind you - not even any apps doing real work.

 

So I spoke again with HP support yesterday about the keyboard problem. They will probably not have an actual ZBook in their hands for another month, so even though they have seen the video and have complaints from multiple people, they can't really make any determinations until they have a machine in front of them. I really wanted to like this machine, but there is enough goofy stuff about it (keyboard, fans, touchpad, excessive size compared to XPS15/5510, MBPr) combined with a friendly but unprepared support team that leads me to think I should return this second one and move on to something else.

I have a question in to a friend at Autodesk to see if the Quadro 1000M is really needed for Inventor HSM or Revit, or if the 960M or AMD R9 370X consumer mobile GPUs work just as well.

 

I purchased the T6E16UT model and I do not have the keyboard flex issues everyone is talking about. Typing is smooth, enjoyable, and reliable.

 

The only difference between my machine and yours is the display - hard to believe that would have any effect on the keyboard. It is somewhat reassuring that this machine *can* have a decent keyboard though. After going through two machines with the same problem, I don't want to burden B&H or myself with this anymore.

 

Yeah I hear you. It is puzzling why some have it and some don't. Sorry to hear about your experience; good luck with your next machine.

 

The keyboard flex is probably due to a quality control issue with one of HP's keyboard manufacturers. There are usually a couple different vendors they use for the same keyboard (Liteon, Chicony, etc) to keep up with supply when building these machines. Sadly if there is an issue with one of these vendors then a whole batch of notebooks can have a defect like this. Sadly replacing the keyboard on this machine is pretty complicated, so you are best off just exchanging the machine, or waiting until the support team can determine the manufacturing fault, and send a fixed part to a technician for them to replace it, which can take a month or two.

 

It seems as though the fan speed is not determined by temperature at all with the zbook studio G3 regardless of operating system. At least not on the xeon model. If CPU spikes to 10% for just a moment then the fan kicks on regardless of the fact that it would take 50%+ CPU activity non-stop for 10 minutes to even get the CPU hot enough to warrant the fan kicking on. Every other laptop i've ever used the fans don't kick on until sensors determine components have become too hot. Even Windows 10 idle processes that handle defragmentation, memory compression and optimization, and other automated maintenance tasks while idle are enough for the fans to start roaring. This cooling design might fly in servers but certainly has no business being used in a laptop. I mean I had to have a conference call yesterday using an iPhone with my laptop on the desk next to the phone. The god damn fan starting blasting when I launched just a single chrome window with gotomeeting running. Too much noise I had to turn off the laptop.

I can use my Dell, Lenovo, or Razor laptops with constant 15-50% CPU utilization and never hear a peep from their fans. Hell at this moment i've had running on my razer blade 14" all afternoon: elder scrolls online game running in windowed mode, with 10 RDP sessions open, v-sphere client, bunch of putty sessions, MS office apps, about 20 chrome tabs, and a dozen other applications all running and it's a silent as a can be.

Super disappointed in the fan noise level and cooling design. I feel the noise issue should be a major concern for anyone considering a purchase.

 

Did you try NoteBook FanControl to help alleviate the issue?

https://github.com/hirschmann/nbfc

 

@pec, could you tell us more about your Ubuntu installs? What Ubuntu version and did you run into any trouble? Any information you give would be very helpful.

I've bee waiting to push the button until someone confirmed the Zbook Studio worked reasonable well with Ubuntu. At this point, if I do order one, I'll probably install Ubuntu 16.04 Beta 2 or the release, depending on when I get it.

Thanks..

 

For the fan speed issue, can anyone confirm whether or not it exists on the non-Xeons versions as well?

 

I've been told by a hp insider that DC will be available for order from may 1st. I have also been quoted roughly the same price for the zbook 15 with DC as for the studio with non-dc display (the studio would be a bit more expensive) .

My dilemma is the following. Should I buy a studio with 4k display or should I wait almost 3 months for a Zbook 15 w DC?

I would really appreciate the advice of users who have had experience with dreamcolor displays. Is it that much better that it would be worth 3 months of waiting?
To be honest, I don't need it (the dreamcolor display) for professional purposes, but I do appreciate quality displays.
So it's either studio now or the zbook 15 DC in 3 months?

 

Does anyone know if the dGPU can be disabled in bios?
I am looking at replacing my 840 G1 with this (looking to run OSX)

 

Based on my 8740w w/ DC, my decision was to cancel my order for the UHD Studio and wait for the DC UHD Studio. You should spend a few hours with a DC panel, and after that, you'll know.

Edited to note that the new DC panels for the ZBook G3 models should be the technology used for HP's new DC displays, Z24x and Z27x. Those features include selectable sRGB, Adobe RGB, Rec. 709, Rec. 2020, and DCI-P3 color spaces. In high-end post and color grading houses, HP DC displays dominate (if not monopolize). The video post and pro photo reviewers love the Z24x and Z27x. Thus, my decision to wait for DC. The old DC was great. The new DC will be awesome.

Here's where it gets interesting... the Z24x and Z27x have a max res of 2560 x 1440... but the ZBook G3 UHD DC will be 4K, so the ZBooks will have 4K before HP's standalone DC displays (unless HP has another standalone display product intro before May 2016, which is doubtful... the Z24x and Z27x are so new that HP doesn't have a webpage on them yet, but Amazon, B&H, etc., are selling them).

 

Thanks, I just placed my order yesterday.
However, I was told that I would be able to have the display replaced once the DC is available. The only downside is that it will be priced as replacement part, ie double of the normal price. I didn't get a quote, though.

I have ordered the uhd version eventually, but maybe I should have gone with the fhd one but couldn't get any review on that one, apart from one post stating that it was good.

 

After 2+ months of waiting, I finally got my ZBook Studio yesterday! My initial impression is positive, it feels very solid and speedy.

My system came with two of the 512 Z Turbo Drives (PCI NVMe), yet still has HP 3D DriveGuard installed. I presume I can uninstall that since it has no value on the SSDs? I also see the Intel Rapid Storage Technology s/w is installed. Does HP even bother to customize the images to the actual hardware? It also did not come with the 1511 update to Windows 10 pre-installed; I would have thought they'd update the image with that by now. Of course, to install the update, I had to uninstall the HP Client Security and Drive Encryption software.

Is having 3 recovery partitions standard for HP? There's a 15GB "Recovery Image" and 2GB "HP_TOOLS" partition, plus another 1GB hidden one that's not mounted in Windows.

I did also notice some keyboard flex as others have pointed out. I found the right side of the keyboard wasn't properly seated when the laptop arrived. I was able to "pop" it back into place by pushing down around the edges, and that seems to have helped, although there is still a tiny amount of flex on the right side. I'm debating whether it's worth having HP deal with right now, given how long I've waited for this to arrive.

 

What's your impression of the display? (which display Is it?)

 

I have the 4K UHD display. I like it so far, nice and sharp. I don't have a lot of experience with 4K displays so it's hard to compare to anything else. I kind of like the matte display as that's what I'm used to. I debated DreamColor, but I didn't want to wait and don't need it for my main usage model.

 

I read that the ZBook Dock uses a cable with combined power and USB Type-C connectors. Why is that? Is it that the Thunderbolt port does not provide enough power (maximum 100W)?

What if I get some other dock that only connects with a USB Type C connector, will the ZBook Studio use the power provided?
(I think that the question is really: Does ZBook Studio support USB Power Delivery 2.0?)
For example a Dell Thunderbolt dock or a Plugable TBT3-UDV.
Those seem more generic/futureproof than the ZBook Dock.

 

Do other owners also experience a massive performance degradation with the HP Z Turbo Drive SSD?

When I received this machine early February, the SSD read performance (as measured with hdparm on linux) was over 2200Mb/s, now it's slighly over 1500 Mb/s and it seems to degrade continuously, based on past weeks' measurements. I did a manual trim on the drive using fstrim now and it trimmed 1.5Gb of data, but read performance is still "only" around 1600 Mb/s..

 

Sounds like defective HW. You're losing sectors too fast, and beyond the spare sectors. Make a warranty claim, which probably means shipping. I doubt that HP will send you a new 951 NVME stick.

 

I wouldn't place my bet on a defective hardware this time. We ordered 2 identical ZBooks and both are showing the same symptoms.

In my previous Elitebook I used a Samsung 840 EVO drive. It had the same continuous performance degradation problem before Samsung rolled out a new firmware for the drive. Once it got installed, it restored performance to the factory state and degradation disappeared.. I do hope it'll be something similar this time as well, but I'm unsure if I should wait the firmware from Samsung or from HP this time for the 951.

 

Hi, I am close to making a decision on a mobile workstation and I am strongly considering the HP Z-book studio G3 -- one of the B+H preconfigured models with i7-6700HQ and 16/512 with UHD display.

A few questions: want to confirm that I can upgrade the RAM to 32 in the future? What is the latest regarding the complaints about the keyboard flex? the loud fan? have there been fixes or have later machines shipped without problems? what are your bottom line views and recommendations regarding the machine?

I am trying to decide among the studio G3, the Dell XPS15 or Precision 5510 (similar specs), and the Lenovo Thinkpad p50. I need the machine primarily for office productivity like financial modeling, web browsing, and streaming and viewing video. I am not a gamer and will not be editing video so a powerful graphics card is not critical, but I would like a powerful machine. I like the Lenovo p50, but cringe at the weight.

I would like to get some insights, opinions, recommendations so that I can decide soon.

Thanks in advance.

 

The online HP configuration tool requires you to choose 2 DIMMS if you have the UHD 4K display. So, the pre-config with 16GB RAM might have 2x8GB sticks. To upgrade to 32GB you'd have to replace both of them. You may want someone who ordered that config to confirm.

Personally I haven't had any issues with the fan, and don't find it loud at all. Granted, I still haven't fully setup my machine and pushed it to its limits, but for me it's been quiet and I haven't noticed the fan coming on too quickly or loudly.

My keyboard didn't seem to be seated properly when the machine arrived, but I was able to pop it in by applying pressure around the edges. That helped with the flex, but some is still noticeable around the right central part of it.

My machine was build the first week of March, I think.

 

Thanks, Seadan. Have you been happy with your purchase? What have you found to be the pros and cons? Would you buy it again?

 

This is my first HP business class notebook. I'm coming from a Lenovo W520, which I really loved, except for the size/weight In looking at the other options in its class, the Lenovo P50 just wasn't small/light enough for me, and the Dell Precision 5510 lacked a few things I thought were important (dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn buttons, usable webcam, fingerprint reader, available dock -- though that's a whole other story). The HP checked nearly all the right boxes on paper. But, I haven't actually used any of the others. I'm still waiting for my dock, which is what I need to really start using this day-to-day because I rely on multiple external monitors, so I reserve full judgement until then.

Probably my biggest issue so far is just getting used to the DPI scaling in Windows. It works ok in Windows 10, but I still find some things look different than I'm used to. The touchpad is also taking a little getting used to but I'm sure that will come with time.

Would I buy it again? Probably -- there isn't anything else that seems to come close in the form factor, except maybe the Dell. Ask me again in a few weeks and hopefully I'll have a better answer!

 

I agree with you re the Lenovo P50. I can't do the weight since I won't be able to carry it around when I travel.

Would love to hear my of your thoughts once you use it more and the way you want to.

I assume a dock is available and you are just waiting to receive it?

 

The dock has been an adventure...I think they've shipped a bunch, but at the moment it is not orderable online and just shows "Notify Me". I have a pending order for it I placed back in early February, with an expected ship date of March 2nd. Last I heard from my HP rep they're on hold with no ETA due to a tech issue. So, I don't really know when it will come -- but having it was a big part of why I went with the Zbook (I have a ThinkPad dock for my Lenovo which works really well).

 

Hi Everyone, New member here. I really enjoyed reading this thread, but I purchased the ZBook 17 G3.

I've just added something to the thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/hp-zbook-17-g3-owners-lounge.788223/ if anyone is interested in discussing the 17 in. model.

-VT

 

I got a Zbook Studio G3 and three keys are half popping out when you press them at a certain angle

I will contact support.
The keyboard seems cheap compared to my old Hp Elitebook 8440p.

A problem I'm having is that when I right click on the touchpad the cursor moves from where i want to click. Anybody knows any way to disable the touchpad area in the bottom part? I don't seem to find anything like that in the touchpad settings.


A bit on the laptop: (compared to my old hp 8440p)

1. it flies - duh (some software compilation I usually make went from 80m to 10m)
2. it gets really hot if you use it close to the max
3. the worm air is blown on the screen hinge and that part and the bottom screen bezel gets so hot that the bezel starts to deform (unglues) a bit
4. the fan sound is more annoying
5. the keyboard feels really cheap
6. the buttons integrated in the touchpad makes it hard to keep the cursor still while pressing the button.

 

I have had my Zbook Studio (specs in signature) over the weekend and figured I would post my impressions so far.

It is a custom built model, ordered directly from HP. I placed the order March 26th, and it shipped April 11th (estimated April 8th), so it took roughly 10 business days to build. I believe the laptop was built at Compal, in Kunshan (Shanghai), China. Shipping was the free option, which ended up being Fedex International Economical Distribution. It took 4 business days to travel overseas and was delivered on April 15th.

The packaging is a simple brown box as it has been in the past with HP's other business laptops.

Out of box, the machine feels very light and thin. It has a similar feel to the old Elitebook 850 G1 that I had in the past, except with a more sturdy build. The power brick is very small and light. It gets moderately warm during normal usage during the day and while charging the laptop but not hot.

The machine pauses for a few seconds during boot (likely because of the ECC memory) but then boots very fast into either Windows or Linux. I opted for a 128GB M.2 SATA SSD from the factory, as I do not need the extra speed of the ZTurbo drives, nor the headache involved with getting a PCIe drive functioning reliably under Windows and Linux. The 128GB drive got Ubuntu 16.04 installed on it, and I had a 256GB Crucial MX200 M.2 that I installed Windows 10 to. I ordered the machine without any Windows license, directly from HP, as I already have a spare Windows 10 license I could use.

The keyboard definitely has some flex to it (even more than the previously mentioned Elitebook 850 G1 did), which is disappointing. It is usable, but could certainly be better. The majority of the flex is around the right side of the keyboard near the center and the bottom. Mine is probably not as bad as it was in the videos others have posted, at least. It is a replaceable part, but requires the mainboard to be removed to do it, so it will likely require a service call to get issue fixed. I do, however, like the layout. Having home / pg up / pg down / end on dedicated keys is incredibly useful and probably a better location for me than it is on the larger numberpad designs as I use these keys a lot in my text editor.

The trackpad is huge, and is Alps instead of Synaptic. It feels like it has a slight lag to the trackpad under Windows, but I haven't noticed the same under Linux so it may be a driver issue. Hopefully things will get better with driver updates. It's nice that the trackpad primarily operates in Glidepoint mode instead of Precision mode, as that helps Linux compatibility.

The cooling system can get very loud. When I first started installing Windows 10 and Linux, it seemed like the fan would never shut off, and was constantly oscillating between different speeds. After I got Windows installed, I updated the bios to the latest version from HP's website, which seemed to help. The fan only comes on now with prolonged usage under Windows 10, and under Linux the fan seems to even act smarter. I haven't found the need to install any fan control software after installing the bios update.

The performance of the Xeon E3-1505M is pretty amazing. I was initially going to order the machine with just a 6700HQ, but strangely the Xeon configuration was cheaper after removing the 4k display, ZTurbo drive, and dropping it down to 8GB of memory. This machine is a compiling monster, and exactly what I wanted two years ago when I had the Elitebook 850 G1: a matte 15 inch ultrabook with a quad core processor.

The Quadro M1000M is pretty nice. I haven't used it much yet, but from what I can tell its a 4GB special edition which is actually clocked at the same speeds as the M2000M as well. The GUI speed under Linux is great with multiple 27 inch LCD's hooked up externally to the machine. I have the laptop set to dedicated graphics mode only in the bios.

More impressions later, or if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. BTW, I was able to use a 15% coupon on my order which should still work until April 30th. The coupon is available on the usual coupon sites like retail me not. It dropped the price of my custom configuration to $1250 including tax!

 

Thanks for the detailed review. As a Linux newb looking to use Linux as primary OS and either dual-booting or virtualizing Windoze when needed, can you elaborate on the issues with PCIe functioning under both operating systems?

 

For me the main concern is driver issues under Windows, kernel compatibility under Linux, extra heat generated and power consumed by the devices, the devices breaking certain power states on skylake processors further reducing battery life, performance degradation over time, and cost vs. SATA ssd's.

 

Thanks. I was reading about some of the power state issues yesterday but wasn't aware of some of the others.

 

Don't get me wrong, they are definitely a fast drive. Probably great for anyone doing virtualization, photo / video editing, or gaming. I may even try one once I get my Lenovo P70 sold. However, M.2 SSD's are not a bad option either if you need more space for a great price.

 

Anyone know if the G3 models ship with ECC Ram?

 

Just an update on my Zbook Studio. I purchased a matching SK-Hynix ECC memory module from eBay (Part #: HMA41GS7AFR8N-TF) and got it installed and working perfectly. The price was $55 instead of $160 for a second stick directly from HP. I have also ordered a Crucial MX200 500GB M.2 2280 SSD, to go with my 250GB MX200, as the Samsung 128GB was getting kind of tight on space already.

The Studio is a very nice machine to use, both under Windows and Linux. Ubuntu 16.04 runs well on it, but kernel 4.5 is needed for suspend / resume support. The next thing to get working is screen backlight control. I may end up having to poke at the HP WMI module to get it going.

It looks like the Thunderbolt 3 dock is available to order now, shipping early May. I am tempted to order one but I have doubts that it will function under Linux for now. I need to look more into how the Dell Thunderbolt is working under Linux, as its probably a very similar design. Anybody else planning on ordering one?

 

Thinking about going for the Studio. What made you guys decide on the Zbook Studio over lets say XPS 15 or even ASUS UX501VW?

 

i have no regrets so far picking ZBook Studio over the XPS 15

 

Anyone know if this is dreamcolor?


15.6 inch B-LED UHD UWVA Anti-Glare enabled for Webcam (3840x2160)
Or when it will be out?

 

That option is the non-dreamcolor matte 4k option. The dreamcolor option should be available to configure in a month or two (1H16 should be June 30th or earlier).

 

Thanks