Soon to be ZBook 17 owner

Hi all, does anyone own a ZBook 17 here? I am supposed to take delivery on mine this week, looking forward to it! I'll post some info on it!

 

Hey, great, I have been patiently waiting for some objective review. I presume the performance of this machine will be great, so no need to write much about it.

Please tell us mainly about these:
- build quality (screen hinges, how tough it is when you open / close the lid, general feel when you type on keyboard, when you move the laptop around)
- speakers quality (controversial info on the web so far)
- webcam and microphone quality
- cooling and temperatures, acoustics
- keyboard back-light quality
- battery life on light to medium loads
- start up / sleep / instant wake on times
- quality of the screen (any light bleeding?)

Ok, I think that s more then enough Looking forward !

 

What are people getting for discounts on the custom order Zbooks? I see they offer 20% on their website, which is what they have offered for years on line. Back n the 8x40w days, most NBR members were getting 28% (off MSRP) by simply working with a sales rep. In the 8x60 and 8x70 days that reduced to ~25% (I think, can't remember for sure but I know it was less than 28%). The pricing on the Zbooks are pretty terrible relative to Dell, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried to work with a sales rep to get more than 20% off.

 

Be wary ordering one - my experience, this being my first ZBook or first HP laptop, has not been good so far.

Everything worked when I received the laptop and tested, except microphone (I think I posted here, and got no advice). I called HP on Feb 13, they verified all that I had done, said it was likely the camera-microphone board that sits behind the display, or the data cable that connects it to the system board. They said parts would be shipped here, the call has been "Escalated", and as soon as the parts arrive, onsite installation will fix it. Great, this is important because it's a laptop I have to be able to use the microphone with.

Friday Feb 14 the mic-cam board comes - next day. I call for status, they said the ribbon cable is ordered but no ETA. To their credit, the support guys calls every day, but all he says is "the call has been escalated, we have logistics involved, but there is no ETA on the cable. Once the cable arrives we can schedule the installation." Here it is Feb 21, and no idea when this could possibly be a usable laptop for me. I have done nothing with it except complete the Windows install, and do the rudimentary testing I have done. The laptop just sits.

This is really terrible service. I think Tuesday is my deadline, I am going to have to call and get an RMA to send it back. An expensive, fully loaded, top of the line laptop, and they can't get a part in for it. I am very disappointed with this experience.

 

How have you checked the microphones anyway?

Do only the microphones not work or can you record from the internal audio playback or the jack?

Sometimes, re-installing the same BIOS resets a few things, you can always try that. And of course make sure you have the correct drivers and re-install them.

 

Thanks Sotton, I have all the latest drivers installed. I just worked with the internal mic - I tried the test/setup that comes with Windows 7, with Google talk, with Skype. Camera works great. I did not change anything from how it arrived, I did not see anything in BIOS that could affect it setting-wise. I actually put in a second SSD, installed Windows 7 Ultimate from scratch, all the latest drivers (HP software verified eventually I had them all), I checked the Intel site for later drivers, and that version did not work as well.

 

My guess is that they will offer you a replacement when you call in to get an RMA.

 

of course make sure you switched on the microphones in the BIOS.

Further, recording should be set to microphone, too (normally it could be Microphone, Stereomix or line input, check out your sound card and mixer settings)

I guess hardware failure is the less probable, could happen though. Next would be microphones not activated in BIOS, however, default should be on and so this is also not very probable.

Most probable is that simple your microphone is not activated as the recording device. However, I also think default setting is microphone.

But even with the Webcam application if you press on recording the microphone is maybe not activated and you first have to choose it within the sound card control software.

Check out your system sounds, can you record anything? Do you get green bars?

 

Well here is what happened - by the ay BIOS was correct, I was all over the Control Panel settings, that was not the problem. I compared settings to another laptop, just to be sure.

I got tired of waiting with no help from HP, I had the miccam module, so I thought I would open er up and see what it looks like - in case it is easy to try just that. I found on the internet disassembly instructions for the display, it's pretty easy. I took out the 2 screws, popped the bezel off, and there it was. But it was hard to check the cable, which seemed to run underneath another big part of the display; yet the instructions didn't say I had to remove anything else. So I thought I Was getting into unchartered waters, so I just pressed everything, tried to see if anything was loose, and carefully put it back together. And guess what? It works now! Mic works fine - in Windows, Control Panel, Google, Skype, all have worked well. I have rebooted, shook it a little bit, it remains fine.

So either something was loose or crimped/squeezed somehow I guess?

 

great it works now, it was hopefully only a failed contact.