The HP ProBook 5310m Owners' Club

Typing this on my 5310m now (not trying to rub it in or anything GoLuxor, honest ), and I must say that after the initial unpacking and close inspection, I'm very impressed. Overall build quality and materials are leaps and bounds ahead of the Asus I'm replacing.

Pretty much agreeing with the previous posters' praise so far. Only a couple very minor quibbles strike me right off the bat:

- The touchpad is glossy. Why? (Not that I didn't know that before purchasing.) However, it really doesn't seem to cause too much of a problem so long as I use a very light touch. I do like the buttons, though, and I'm loving the keyboard.

- I'd like to see a right-angle connector on the AC adapter - it sticks out pretty far from the left side of the laptop.

Probably won't have time to bang on it too much until the weekend. Should get my external DVD burner from newegg tomorrow, so then I'll throw Win7 on it and really put it to work. The initial WinXP image does seem pretty bloaty, as Charles mentioned.

Very happy so far for the money spent!

 

Haha, no worries. But it's reassuring that more people are getting their laptops and liking them. At least I got my external-DVD writer today. Too bad I don't have a laptop [that needs it] to go with it *coughHPcough*

 

I'm glad people like it and it's not that I have ridiculously low standards for laptops! Congrats on yours, piecesof8!

I have to say, I almost regretted buying from TigerDirect (sometimes they seem kind of sketchy...but I figured it was because I was spoiled by Newegg and Amazon purchase experiences; I'd also heard good things about them), especially after seeing that it was going to a drop shipper and they no longer had control over when it'd get sent out, etc., but after calling their (24-hour) support hotline, I got to a person very quickly (both times I called), and they were extremely helpful in answering my questions.

I think I would go back to them for future purchases (depending on the price of course). I'm glad PCSuperStore is another good site; I've been linked to them several times, but always opted with Newegg instead. I'll add them to my "OK Vendors" list!

 

I'm about to order a ProBook 5310m.

Has someone tested external video?
I like to connect my notebook to my HDTV using an HDMI cable (from the HDMI in my current notebook) to watch TV series from the Hulu site. I was wondering if I will be able to do that with a HDMI adapter.

I'm also ordering the HDMI adapter via Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/y95hl4r

I'm curious to know if this will work and how it will perform displaying HD video and AUDIO.

Btw, I'm specially interested in knowing if it will support audio.

It seems that Lenovo notebooks with this DisplayPort interface didn't support audio, so people couldn't play the sound even using a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter.

 

Yeah, newegg is sort of my "go to" site too - been using them since long before most people knew what the heck a newegg was, and never once had a problem with them. If they don't have what I'm looking for (or the price I'm looking for), I usually trust the reviews at resellerratings when choosing another vendor, and that seems to have worked out well so far.

Only complaint with PC SuperStore is the lack of email notifications - I got an order confirmation via email, but that's where it stopped. Had to keep checking my account on their site to see if the shipping info had been updated (and like I said before, by the time it updated the package was already sitting at my house). But it was well packed and it shipped out very quickly, so overall I'm pleased with them.

On another subject - if anyone else happens to be interested in a compact, vertical-oriented bag, the STM Small Alley bag I ordered is a great fit. The 5310m is right at the size limit for the bag, width-wise. I thought the materials and construction were very good for the price.

 

Now that people are getting their laptops shouldn't there be an official Probook thread?

 

You mean like an owners' lounge? I could just re-name this thread.

 

Yea Like an owners lounge I mean IDK "ProBook 5310m???" doesn't seem official lol

 

Everyone else like that idea - making this thread the 5310m owners' lounge?

 

I'll like the idea more when I finally get mine.

 

That does seem to be what this thread has evolved into... And I'm not sure that the whole 4 of us really need a new thread.

 

Very true. I renamed it "The HP ProBook 5310m Owners' Club" instead, we need to be unique.

 

Classy.

 

Awesome!

 

We'll have to bar GoLuxor from posting in this thread until he has the proper credentials to do so a.k.a. more than a purchase recipt. I kid, I kid, this thread is open to everybody.

That said, I wrote an entire 5310m review which I am going to post here in the forums tomorrow (2,500+ words). It is not an 'official' NBR review per se but the only way it would be more official would be if it were on the front page. Another NBR staff writer is going to review it for the site but I wanted to write my own anyways. I need to take some more/better pics before I post it up.

 

Anyone else have issues with their wireless in Windows? It's almost like the wireless adapter is disabled - I don't see it in device manager (only LAN and bluetooth). Doesn't appear to be a hardware issue, because I'm typing this right now using wireless in QuickWeb.

It's got me scratching my head at the moment... Maybe it's time to get some sleep and have another look in the morning...

EDIT: Scratch that... It apparently had something to do with the HP ProTools security software that was installed when I chose to install the drivers from the CD HP provided. Uninstalled that, and wireless appears to be working normally now.

EDIT (again): Scratch that (again)... It worked once, but then after a reboot it was back to no wireless. Would normally think it was a hardware problem, but it always works in QuickWeb. Any suggestions?

 

No issues here; did you hit the disable wireless button by accident? It's the top button on the right side of the keyboard. It is blue when active and orange when not.

 

Haha, hey now, I'll be joining you all soon. But I cannot express how angry I am at HP and FedEx right now. I just checked my tracking number again (checking those things can get compulsive) and found out it arrived at the local sorting facility, but it won't delivery today! Apparently FedEx doesn't do Saturday shipping in this area, so my laptop's just sitting there. This sort of thing always happens with FedEx, and this is why I specifically asked for UPS when I made my original order. I have no idea why HP changed it, but I am going to call them up Monday to demand a refund on the shipping fees. I paid for 2 day shipping, and although HP sent a email saying it was shipping from their plant on Nov. 3, it won't get to me until Nov. 9! This is ridiculous.
/rant

 

No, I checked that. Right now, wireless is working (in Windows), but the problem seems very sporadic - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it's exhibiting the problem, it's like the wireless NIC doesn't exist - hitting that button turns bluetooth on and off, but no mention of WLAN. Very strange. Like I said, I would normally think hardware problem if it weren't for the fact that it always works when I boot into QuickWeb.

EDIT: At this point I'm real close to investigating PC Superstore's exchange policy. I'd say the wireless works about 1 out of every 4-5 times the laptop is started. There's just no rhyme or reason to it. And I'm not a clueless user here - I'm actually an IT Manager who's worked in the field for going on 15 years now.

Anyone know if the wireless card is under the main access panel on the bottom? I thought I might try reseating it before I give up on it.

 

That is very surprising. I suppose you already tried updating the card's drivers?

Other than that, reseating the card would have been my next suggestion as well.

 

Here you go, guys: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=432540

 

I'm showing driver version 13.0.0.107, dated 9/15/2009.

I left it this morning since I was getting frustrated (could you tell? ) and came back to it when I could approach it a little more rationally. I think I've narrowed it down to when the computer is restarted - I've shut it completely down several times and it connects to my wireless immediately after I bring it back up. But restarting (which I was doing a lot of while installing drivers, etc) is when I'm seeing the wireless card disabled after it comes back up.

Still completely puzzled as to why, though... Don't understand how restarting the computer is causing the wireless card to be turned off.

 

You might try uninstalling the card from the device manager completely, then downloading a different driver version from Intel's site.

If you have the HP wireless manager (something like that) installed, perhaps try uninstalling that. I noticed when I first booted up my laptop out of the box that wireless/BT were disabled.

 

Thought I'd post some impressions of this Rosewill external DVD burner since I had linked to it earlier when I ordered it to go with my 5310m.

The good: If you're concerned about aesthetics, the brushed aluminum casing of this drive is a near-perfect match for the 5310m. Looks like they were made to go together. The drive seems to work well from within Windows.

The bad: The 5310m will not boot from this drive. With the drive connected when the laptop is powered up, the laptop hangs at post for a few minutes. It will finally boot up if you wait long enough, but booting from CD is not an option. I was only able to install Win7 by running the setup from within WinXP.

 

Is that how external CD readers generally work? Is there no way to boot from one?

 

No, I was just reporting my experience with this particular drive and this laptop. I was not able to use this drive as a boot device with this laptop, but I've seen other reviews that said the drive works fine as a boot device.

 

So the 5310m specifically doesn't have the capability to boot from USB CD drives? Did anyone else have similar problems?

 

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion based on one person's experience with one particular drive. All I can say is that it wouldn't boot from this drive.

 

Any additional thoughts about this laptop after a few days of ownership? I can't complain.

 

piecesof8 is correct. I believe the problem is isolated with his particular drive, as I had no problems booting and installing Ubuntu from my external drive, which is an Asus SDRW-08D1S-U Diamond Slim DVD Drive. Quite an unwieldy name, but it is slim, and has a stand for it to sit upright, taking less space on my desk. I believe my laptop was already set to boot from external CD/DVD from factory; I just had to connected and a Ubuntu LiveCD in there and it automatically started up from it.

Overall impressions: I got it for under $50, and I'm not terribly concerned with burn speed, read speed, etc., as I don't use it often, and for larger files I have my desktop to burn with. It's audible (nothing unexpected, though) and vibrates a good deal when spinning, but I guess that's pretty normal for a DVD drive (though I've never owned an external before). Finally, I could power it and read from it using only the USB+ port on the left side of the ProBook (the cable that came with the drive has 2 USB connectors), but I haven't tried burning that way.

P.S. I got the glossy black one: fingerprint magnet, as expected, but it does look fairly nice.

I can't either! Though I'm still getting used to the keyboard a little bit. When I don't think to put my hands in the right place, my thumb sometimes is too far to register space bar presses, but when that happens, I just adjust a little. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.

 

That is exactly what I do. I think the keyboard is excellent, it just takes a little adjusting.

I am looking forward to doing more traveling with this notebook. So far I have not moved it much, just around my house a bit.

 

Wireless oddities when I was trying to get the laptop set up aside, after having subjected it to several hours of normal usage over the weekend I think I can safely say that this is the perfect laptop for me. Exactly what I was looking for. The keyboard is excellent; the screen, while not the greatest, is still a big step up from my previous non-LED screen; I'm even getting used to the glossy trackpad.

I think this is the real gem in hp's new lineup.

 

Why isn't your review up on the main page Charles? Great piece O kit

 

Thanks. It is not on the front page because it is not an official review (that is being handled by another NBR staff member). I wrote it because I wanted to put my personal analysis out there.

 

I am seriously considering this laptop... It seems to be perfect for what I am looking for.

The only thing that I am stuck on is the 2gb of ram; does anyone who have this laptop use Virtual PC? on my laptop that has only 2gb of ram, when I run the Virtual Pc it lags! and when I use it on a computer that has 4gb its perfect. So I am curious if anyone has been using VP on this laptop and experience any lags? If so I may have to buy the extra ram

 

Another Editors' Choice: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355470,00.asp

 

Yes the one RAM expansion slot is a con. You could get a fast SD card or thumb drive and use ReadyBoost to compensate - try that with your current PC (only works under Vista or 7).
You might look at a ProBook 4310s, it has a 13.3" LED screen and two RAM slots:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/321957-321957-64295-3929941-3955552-3974409.html
I don't know anything beyond that though . . .

RAM prices will come down eventually for the 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs but . . . that's a waiting game.

 

Charles,

I was hoping you could shed some light on this for me...

The DM3 comes with the SP9300/105m and a 6-cell battery. I understand the 5310m has the SP9300/4500MHD and a 4-cell battery. What would you expect the typical battery life to be on the DM3 with the above configuration doing light tasks such as internet browsing and listening to some mp3s?

Thanks.

 

I am pretty stuck on the 5310m I might just buy it and see how it goes worse case spend the $200 for the ram... its still a hell of a deal for the laptop..

My next question is.. What do you guys recommend? Buying it now or waiting 2 weeks for black friday in case there is sale on this? I don't know since this is a business laptop that they will have it on sale or not(I don't think they take student discounts either for these), but if they did I will be pretty upset I didn't wait two weeks. They may have some sales on the ram though so I will be looking out for that on Black Friday! I am just extremely impatient and want the laptop now lol.

 

I was thinking the same thing, nu D! The DM3 is a little more expensive than the 5310m, a little heavier, and probably not as sturdy. But those dedicated graphics, 2 dimm slots, and a 6 cell battery make me torn.

My personal guess is that the dm3 will provide significantly more battery life than the 5310m, despite the dedicated graphics. It all depends on the specific capacity of the battery though. All cells aren't the same size.

 

I JUST GOT MY 5310M!!!!!!!!

Already, now that I've got that out of the way, some very quick observations since I've literally just unboxed/booted it:
-Physically, it's very slick and attractive. The smudging is kinda annoying, but it's nothing too bad
-The fan noise is audible in a quiet room, but for whatever reason (maybe I've just gotten used to tuning things out), it doesn't really bother me right now. Any ambient noise will for the most part drown out the notebook's noise.
-The fan seems to be ramping on/off randomly right now though, even when I don't have any programs open. I can only assume it's the bloatware or something. I tried fiddling around with the "Fan Always On" feature in the BIOS, but that doesn't seem to do much (though, if anything, it seems like leaving if On actually keeps it "off" more. weird)
-Coming from a much older laptop (~4yrs old), the screen is much brighter. Honestly, it's like getting glasses for the first time. Everything's so much clearer it's almost disorientating at times.
-The sound/audio actually isn't bad. I remember reading about other business laptops being marked off b/c of their low/tinny sound, but the sound is loud enough for me. Though the placement of the speakers does throw the balance off a bit.
-The chiclet keyboard is nice and responsive. I noticed the "right side of the space bar non-responsiveness" too, but since I type on the left side, it doesn't worry me. However, this being chiclet and all, should I be concerned with the keys making marks/impressions on the screen when the lid is closed? I've seen some friends w/ Sony VAIOs with this problem.

Okay, now that I've gotten my initial exploration done, I'm ready to make it mine. So, with that being said, I'm hoping you all can help:
-I want to keep XP and dual boot Windows 7; is that possible?
-How do I clean install XP since the product key included is for Win7?
-Barring a clean install, is there a list of programs that I don't need and can uninstall?

Thanks for the help, and it's great to finally join the club officially.

 

That's what I did. I had a fast 2GB SD card lying around that I stuck in there and dedicated to ReadyBoost - not sure how much of a difference it makes, but figured it couldn't hurt.

One thing to note is that due to the sloping design of the sides of the laptop, the SD card sticks out from the reader a bit (the dummy that hp gives you is specially designed to sit flush). It's about even with the top edge of the laptop, so not a huge deal, just something to note if you're planning on leaving it in there.

 

CONGRATS!!!

I would say these speakers are fairly tinny, but loud. I think I was slightly spoiled by my Thinkpad speakers (wow, low standards), but I've gotten used to them. The speakers are adequate for watching simple videos online, or for soft background music while studying, but when if you want to listen to things and have it sound "nice," I highly recommend headphones or speakers.

So far, my screen has been clean. The two rubber bumps on the palmrest area just below the keyboard on the left and right leave marks on the screen bezel, but I believe it protects the screen from picking up any nastiness from the keyboard. I carry my laptop in my backpack with one or two textbooks, so there is some pressure on it as I move around, and still no marks. Also, I don't know if the screen being matte helps it stay clean, but most of the smudgy screens from keyboards I've seen happen on glossy screens.

Sorry, but the rest of your questions should be directed at the rest of the guys here. Again, I spend hardly any time in Windows, so I don't really know how the included software is on that side of the pond.

Again, congrats!

 

Where did everybody get there's from? Best place online to buy it?

How does everyone find the mousepad? Usable?

 

I bought mine from TigerDirect, I know Charles got his from PCSuperStore. GoLuxor I believe ordered directly from HP. Not sure where piecesof8 got his.

The touchpad is great. It took me a little while to get used to the glossy feeling, but it's quite responsive. I actually don't have a problem anymore with the glossiness and usability, but as far as aesthetics go, why would you make something that's meant to be touched out of the material that shows smudges and fingerprints THE MOST?! It makes no sense. So yeah, it get's pretty ugly VERY fast, but eh, who looks at their touchpad on a regular basis? (no offense if you do)...

 

<strike>I've got a quick question: I am currently installing Win7 while leaving the original XP on the laptop, so the XP is on C:/ and Win7 is on X:/ Will the X:/ be a problem when I install new programs? Like if I install Adobe Acrobat on Win7, will it try looking for the C: drive or will it automatically just use the X: drive? I hope that makes sense.</strike>
Nevermind, apparently it'll automatically change to C:/ in Win7.

Another question though: Has anyone been able to use a "middle click" with the trackpad? Like on my old laptop I was able to click both the left and right buttons to activate a middle click.

 

Laptopmag got nine hours with the SU7300/X4500, so even if you overestimate and say the SP9300/G105M use twice the power, that's still on par with the 5310. I can't offer more advice beyond that though since I have no experience with the dm3.
One thing I hate about the dm3/Envy 13 is the lack of dedicated home, end, pgup, and pgdn keys. To me that is simply unacceptable. Almost an insult.
I don't see the allure of the G105M GPU . . . it is basically useless for all modern games.

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

It's interesting that your fan has a variable speed. Mine doesn't change much at all . . . maybe we have different BIOS versions.

-Dual booting XP and 7 . . . it is certainly possible but realize that it's the same license. Not sure about the legality there, and I'm not sure if it matters at all.
-I made a small list of programs I would have removed in my 5310m review; click the link in my signature.

Nope, the one Windows install will default to C:\ and the other to X:\ . . . they should not interfere with one another. Make sure when you install things under Win7 that you specify programs should be installed on X:\, otherwise things could get messed up (it might dump the program files on C:\ by default).

 

Hey, have any of you stressed your 5310m's yet? Was performance hampered by the 2 GB of RAM? Or possibly by the fact that it is only single channel (Only one dimm)?

 

Thanks for the thread guys, I am a convert! Just ordered a 5310m via this link:

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/ctoBases.asp?ProductLineId=539&FamilyId=3083

This particular link has an additional promo deal with a free HP USB external optical drive thrown in, so jump in while you have a chance!

 

That does look like a good deal, abey, but I wonder how they calculate $391 saving by including a USB external drive.

Any advice from anyone about the warranties? It looks like Accidental Protection warranty is the same price as the regular warranty. But the care Pack is cheaper than both put together. Not sure how that works. Also if people have experience with HP warranties in the past, it would be appreciated.