A Few Pre-Purchase 8510p Questions...

After months and months of looking for a laptop (with great help from NBR), I'm almost ready to make an order for a HP 8510p. I have a few last questions or concerns before I do, though. I figured I'd ask here so I can assuage my doubts.
The particular laptop is:
http://www.euclidcomputers.com/frameset.cgi?finditem+laptop+Hewlett-Packard+RM269UT#ABA+yes+0+New+0

1.
I'm going to be importing the laptop to the UK from Euclid. I've e-mailed HP and they said the laptop's warranty should apply to the same in the UK as it does in the US:

But I've also read that HP can be awkward when honouring warranties abroad. Surely given what they told me I shouldn’t have a problem?

2.
From what I've read in this forum, there are two RAM slots so it's easy to add more memory (I intend to add another 1Gb stick). But according to this:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...78-3355680-3453398.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
...the laptop only has ONE DIMM slot. I'm guessing this is a mistake?

3.
Before settling on the 8510p, I was almost going to get an ASUS V2S. From the reviews I've seen, the 8510p has a very good build quality. Does anyone have any idea how this compares to the build quality of ASUS business-line laptops (e.g. V2S)? (these are sort of my 'benchmark' for build quality since I've tried out a V1S in real life and liked it)

4.
This one isn't a biggy, but has anyone had any experience with the 8510p and Linux? I was hoping to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu.

Any info is appreciated; cheers!

 

ASUS "business-line" laptops aren't really business-class notebooks, you are just paying for business quality but you don't get it...

The V2s isn't great, the build quality is so so, there is flex on the lid, runs hot, the battery life is poor (Asus offer that as a feature for all their notebooks), also, the 8600M GS is crippled with 64 memory bus and performs like a 8400m GS... I personally wouldn't pay for that.

The HP has a strong internal magnesium alloy construction while the Asus V series is mostly plastic with "magnesium alloy" lid that flexes a lot.... In other words, the HP has far superior build quality and battery life as well...

And I don't know what you liked about the V1s but this notebook has more flaws than some cheap budget notebooks....based on my experience.

For the record, I don't have a HP but a ThinkPad.

 

For Q2...

Thats is a mistake/ typo i think You will be fine with adding more ram

 

As ATI will never release a decent driver for Linux, you're better off getting an 8510w which has an Nvidia card if you intend to do serious graphics work on Linux.

 

I second and third this statement.

 

Actually, as of about a month ago, this statement isn't really true. AMD (of which ATI is now a subsidiary) recently released about 900 pages or so of driver documentation, allowing open source drivers to be written that work as well as the official ones and not have to be reverse engineered.

As of right now, progress has only been made of 2D rendering, though support for things like Compiz works too.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=887&num=1

but full 3d support should be there in the following few months, so in the long term, there is a real possibility that it is actually better to go ATI for linux.

 

I was looking at the V2s and V1s as well, but really, Asus is really churning out subpar notebooks in the last little while. The V series isn't what it was, and really the G series is the only line that is quite good.

I have seen a V1s in person and the build quality is noticeably poorer than the 8510p (lots more keyboard and chassis flex). Also, I would hate to consistantly recalibrate the battery just so it works correctly (I am sure you read about the battery issues with the V1).

The V2s I have not seen but was unimpressed with the gimped graphics card along with the 2-hour (barely 2 hours) battery life. I mean, its a 14.1", it should be able to last a fair amount of time. I get 3-3.5 hours on battery saver mode, depending on what I am doing.

About installing the extra 1GB ram, its pretty easy, however I had never installed notebook RAM before and was quite surprise how much force I needed to get it to snap into the slot. After snapping it into the slot (you do this at an angle), just push the RAM down and the clips will lock it into place. Took me about 10 minutes to do it, mainly because for the first 9 minutes I was being WAY too gentle.

 

I'll be honest with you guys--my brother's had his T61p a week now and we've been swapping machines and playing around. We both agree that the 8510p has a more solid body than the T61p; or better than his unit anyway. So I'm going to throw it out there and say the 8510p's body beats the V2s also

(as an aside, the T61p keyboard >>> ours )

Anyway back on track...yeah the ram is 2 slots on the bottom, yeah the warranty will apply NP, and linux...iono!

Enjoy !

 

But it takes such a long time before anything significant happens. By then, I'd be on my next upgrade cycle, so I'd stay with a more reliable platform for now. ATI's Windows drivers aren't spectacular either.

 

Thanks for the info everyone, it's definitely eliminated my concerns. Though, it is a little dissapointing that the linux support is poor. Odd thing is, one of the 8510p's spec sheets ( http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12713_na/12713_na.PDF) says it is SuSe certified.
What state are the current drivers in? Is there no support (i.e. cannot use the screen at all)? Poor support (can't run certain resolutions)? Or are they just badly optimised (the laptop doesn't perform very well for graphically intensive apps)?

 

Oh, it's completely usable, just badly optimised. I'm sorry if my earlier posts made it sound so bad. For normal use, the drivers are ok. Dual screen via DVI-out when docked works fine too.
Otherwise, HP's business lines run Linux perfectly fine (but most notebooks nowadays run fine too), which is one of the reasons I got them.

 

The 8510p arrived (woohoo), but I have a quick question and would really appreciate it if someone could answer it:

The laptop came with an american plug lead (the coverleaf style ones) which connects to the universal power brick. (This was expected ^^). I bought a UK cloverleaf lead, but want to check if its power output is OK.

Reading from the power brick, it says:

The packaging for the UK cloverleaf just says it has a fuse rate of 5 amps and is a C5-type connector. However, engraved on the end of the lead itself is:

The only thing that kinda concerns me is that the UK cloverleaf lead outputs 250V and the HP power brick's input is 100-240V. Anyone know if this is alright?

-- Update --
Nevermind, I think I answered it myself . The UK cloverleaf lead has a RATING of 250V, and the rating is just the 'maximum voltage a computer can withstand without breaking down', so I think it will be fine. UK mains output at 240V, and this is in the power brick's threshold (and the power brick has voltage auto-sensing).