*** ALL QUESTIONS dv9500t ****

Actually, I find my dv9500t to be especially quiet. Not silent, like my iBook, but surprisingly quiet none the less.

It is much *much* quieter than my hp nc6220 business notebook.

 

It's 'cause ya got that PUNY 2 Ghz processor, Lupin!

Seriously... T-Minus 17 minutes and still NOBODY will give me an OPINION on that HP Sport Backpack???

Guess who WAS just smart enough to call his credit card company and PRE-authorize the purchase for the laptop so they didn't question it and/or kick it out (using a NEW card that's interest-free until next May, and the guy said they WOULD have questioned or rejected the charge if I HADN'T done that, too!)... This ain't MY first party, lol.
Jeff

 

is the high resolution LCD (1680 x 1050) a High Definition screen? like 780i, 1080i, or whatever it is...

 

high definition is a relative term. If you're talking about the official "HDTV" hi-def standards, then you need more information. There's a comparison of what the different resolutions mean here in wikipedia. You can see the relationship in the graphic there.

 

Been tooooooo busy to get back to you folks since midnight last night (lol)... and NO, midnight DIDN'T work (as I figured it wouldn't)... Turns out HP's sales center is based out BOISE, IDAHO, of all places, and as far as its SALES CENTER is concerned, it's not THE NEW DAY until it's midnight in BOISE, lol... SOOOO, when I tried placing my order about 12:30 this morning, it had something like $131 tax on it... I called them and a nice, but sort of helpless guy just told me there wasn't much he could do until it was "midnight in Boise," lol...

I just told him I'd back my cart back up a couple notches to BEFORE the credit card part and wait until I got up this morning, and SURE ENOUGH, before I took my mom to the doctor this morning, I went forward again and there were NO TAXES ADDED -- yeaaaaaaa!!!

So, after ALL MY MONTH of annoying the BeJesus out of all you folks, I'm "official!"



Of course although the COMPUTER isn't set to ship until Aug. 14, HP PROUDLY emailed me this afternoon that they're already shipping me the REST of my order so I can have everything else right away (the extended warranty, the auto adapter, the remote control, the microfiber wipes) -- like I REALLY have ANY USE for ANY of those BEFORE I get the laptop, lol... They CRACK ME UP!

At any rate, since they're shipping those NOW, with NO SALES TAX, and showing THAT on the email, IF, when they get ready to ship the computer they decide to ADD the sales tax, I'll DEFINITELY have precedent to call them up and have that taken off before they even process the charge.

So now does the buyer's regret set in BEFORE I get it, or do I just "get happy???" By the way, I spent most of the day out running around getting other things I can buy locally and save the sales tax (and some I'll still have to pay the tax on, but will need, anyway)... Since my XPS 410 has a Gigabit Ethernet and the dv9500t has Gigabit Wireless N, I went ahead and splurged for the best darned Wireless N router I could find... the Linksys WRT 350N Gigabit Wireless N router (MSRP $199, but I found it at ZipZoomFly for $159, with no tax and free shipping)... Then I found the partner PCI card for that to put in my older XP Media Center PC on sale at Circuit City for $89 ($30 off), so I can finally network THOSE TWO at a super-fast speed without wires and put that computer upstairs in my bedroom...

Got fast-talked into the HP Photosmart C7180 at OfficeMax the other day when I was upset about the way my hard drive order had been handled and the assistant manager "smoothed it over" by talking me into that printer (was really looking for a scanner that has a slide and negative adapter, but those are hard to find except in stand-alone scanners, now, and you can ONLY mail-order those nowadays unless you're in some REALLY BIG city)... Then I found out that printer was already ON SALE at both Office Depot and Circuit City at that price (and this was AFTER they had already promised to knock $30 of the price on my hard drive for the trouble they'd put me through, but didn't, because they said they were "giving me that" by giving me the DEAL on the printer)... Well, I GAVE THEM THE DEAL, lol...

I found that printer ON SALE at Amazon.com for $299, minus $15 after coupon, went back and said I felt "fast-talked" and that I WAS a regular customer there and since Amazon would send me that printer with no tax or shipping charge, I REALLY didn't wanna bring it back, but unless they could match that price today, during the sales tax holiday, I'd have to, and buy it from Amazon (got LOTS of humming and hawing from both manager and assistant manager, but I GOT MY WAY -- even though the assistant manager still DID try to sneak sales tax in on me today -- even though printers were legitimately EXEMPT today... He's a sort of sleazy sort, I think... reminds me of a used-car salesman, lol, but I got MY discount... Not necessarily my FIRST CHOICE for a printer/scanner/copier (but then there are SO MANY CHOICES it's practically impossible to really find one below $500 that suits all your needs, and at that price, unless you're running a business, you're paying way more than you should, so I figure I did PRETTY GOOD).

Whew!!! I KNOW I write too much... Sorry!

As for whether High-resolution correlates to high-definition, yes, no and MAYBE, lol... high-resolution relates to how many pixels there are across the screen... 1680 x 1050, for instance, means there are 1680 lines of VERTICAL pixels on the screen x 1050 lines of HORIZONTAL pixels.

Television ALSO has a resolution rating, but the rating you see quoted is the number of LINES of resolution that run horizontally down the screen... Standard definition TV is 420i... Enhanced Definition is 420P... The "original" High Definition is 720P and also 1080i and the one everyone seems to be trying to sell or buy these days (mostly for bragging rights or out of pure ignorance, in my opinion, unless they're just gaga for HD movie collections) is 1080P... The "i" stands for interlaced, whereas the "P" stands for progressive... Generally "P" is MUCH BETTER THAN "i" because interlaced essentially means that every line of video is followed by a "blank line," so it's sort of on-off-on-off... like when you watch video of old TV and see it flickering -- that's the interlacing you're seeing that's causing the flickering.

Progressive is just that -- a continuous stream of one line of video after another and almost all true HD video we see these days is 720P... All that's broadcast is 720P (or 1080i). There's SOME argument about whether 1080i is better than 720P (I'm sticking with 720P for now)... But it will be MANY YEARS before 1080P is available anywhere but on pre-recorded discs and a few high-res video games because the bandwidth is BARELY THERE for 720P broadcasting and each program broadcast in 720P would require something like the SQUARE of its bandwidth for 1080P.

At any rate, you DO need high-resolution to get decent high-definition... As to how high-resolution it has to be to get a certain level of high definition, I'm not sure about that...

There now, I've probably exceeded some 10,000-word limit, or something, lol, so I'd better go
Jeff

 

wow! that sure was a read

 

does the tv tuner that comes with the lap; when you order it : recieve qam signals as well as home cable and over the air analog and digital. or is it just cable over line and hdtv over the air?

 

I believe it will just accept any unscrambled NTSC or ATSC signal, but frankly, I won't know until I get it, I guess... Heck, yaknow, I meant to do a bit of brain scratchin' about that with the folks at Best Buy on the 9535, since they're essentially the same computer, and I don't see ANY RG59 cable screw-in spot on it... like I said, I guess I'll have to figure it out when it gets here, unless some of you others who have it with the TV tuner can fill us in.
Jeff

 

I concur - not only is it pretty quiet, but I have had no issues with the screaching complaints when going into the lower power states so now I'm questioning whether or not HP has "fixed" it to not go into, what was it, C2? I checked my BIOS and the option to prevent it is NOT enabled...needs more tweaking I suppose.

Also, I'm really surpised that the notebook doesn't get very hot either - there seems to be plenty of room in the chassis for cooling and ventilation even with the dual 7200RPM drives!

 

Perhaps it's just that after a too-long period during which HP had been putting out far too many products with diminishing quality control the Higher Powers at HP have finally deemed it time to correct quality control issues?

Higher Power to us all!

 

Here's a question for all the current dv9500 owners. I am planning on getting this lcd monitor and i would like to work with both monitors at the same time but not cloning.. more of a dual monitor setup. Both working a their highest resolution 1680-1050. Will this be at all possible or is the graphics card not powerful enough?

I will be working mostly with photoshop, maya and a couple video editing programs. So yes, i just need to know if this setup will be at all supported (highest res on both). Hopefully someone has done something similar.

thanks!

Alex

 

Yes, doing this as I type in fact - the analog port is currently driving a Samsung SyncMaster 225BW 22" WS @1680x1050x32 with no issues in lag. The only things that may affect you are going to be:

• the total amount of RAM in your system - the nVidia chip is going to share system memory so the more system RAM the more room the video card is going to have
• the type of OS you're running - I would recommend a 64 bit OS if you plan to use more than 3GB of system RAM.
• which version of the nVidia chip you bought, the 8400m or 8600m - the 8600m has more dedicated memory

I'm running 4GB, Vista 64 with the 8600m GS (256MB dedicated/768MB shared) so your mileage may vary.

 

thanks for the quick reply brad!

I'll be getting the nvidia 8600 gs, 4gb ram, running vista ultimate 64 bit.

Just to confirm, no lag whatsoever? no matter what task you are perfoming? Have you experienced something like the computer freezing or something similar, i just want to know if it will be a reliable workspace so i dont loose the file i'll be working on.

Thanks again!

Alex

 

Congrats Jeff - you're gonna love it!

 

Brad beat me TO the suggestion on getting it with 4 GB of RAM and Vista Ultimate if you're gonna be doing ALL THAT with both TWO high-res monitors AND photoshop... KNOWING how RAM-HUNGRY photoshop can be, and that when it opens, say, an 8 megapixel photo that was original shot in top-quality JPEG mode and was stored at 3.5 MB, Photoshop will UNCOMPRESS the file to something like 20 MB as CMYK... and THEN, when you start manipulating all those pixels and applying different layers and such -- well, I'm pretty much a NOVICE user of Photoshop, BUT I know enough to know that in such a situation, the Photoshop, alone, may want a GB or more to do its job... and the graphics card may use AT LEAST a GB... and you'll want all the overhead RAM you can MUSTER to avoid ANY AND ALL off-loading to the disk paging file (or whatever they call it), where Vista uses the hard disk as "extra RAM" when it runs out (as we ALL KNOW that hard drive runs MILLIONS of times slower than the RAM).

I just got mine with the 2 GB because I don't anticipate doing anything major with Photoshop on it, or using it with a big monitor... HAVE 4 GB in my XPS, although the 32-bit Vista Premium WON'T utilize it, and I'll likely eventually end up upgrading to Ultimate on THIS machine... But WERE I planning on using the dv9500t as a primary desktop replacement, I'd outfit it JUST LIKE Brad has his outfitted, and you're planning to outfit yours (heck, I'd get it with the T7700 or higher, if available, in that circumstance, but I think 2.2 Ghz is adequate, for now)...

Since HP RETRACTED its "free upgrade" to Lightscribe on the 9500 (even though EVERY SINGLE COMPUTER -- no matter HOW CHEAP -- they sell in retail has a Lightscribe on it), I politely declined to pay $25 more for Lightscribe... When that became commonplace, I paid for an external HP drive I caught on sale with Lightscribe, and I've YET to EVER burn a SINGLE Lightscribe image, so why would I pay the extra $25 -- PRESTIGE??? Harumph!

I'm pretty sure I'll LOVE my 9500, too, Brad, based on what I've felt holding the slower 9535 at Best Buy... Anybody who doesn't care about fingerprint readers or Bluetooth, or a speed above 1.5 Ghz should get that 9535 at Best Buy if that sale continues there past today... It's not a bad buy at the regular $1,399... at the $1,249 they've had it at all week, it was tempting, even to me, although for some strange reason it's installed RAM gets a very LOW Windows Experience Index rating of 4.5 (supposedly the same speed RAM installed in the 9500, which folks have reported getting a 4.8 -- oddly, that SAME SPEED RAM in my desktop rates a 5.6, so I guess the old saying that "RAM is RAM is RAM" just AIN'T true, lol, since 667 Mhz RAM installed in three different systems with different architectures get different ratings by Windows, huh?)

At any rate, I figure if I DO decide to upgrade the 9500 to 4 GB at some future date, by that time the price on those 2 GB SODIMMs might have come down somewhat... At least I HOPE so.
Jeff

 

thanks for helping me understand high definition

 

You're welcome, mujjuman... I really just scratched the surface, though, and I can't say I FULLY understand it, myself...

If you want to know A LOT more about it, two GREAT resources are:

1. The AVS Forum (a HUGE online forum like this one, but dedicated entirely to audio and video matters -- not just high definition, but anything audio or video -- but there's A LOT OF THAT FORUM dedicated to high-definition and A LOT of folks on there who REALLY know their stuff (including folks who are industry insiders)... It's where I went to make sure I was making the best choices and I still go there to get answers and also offer the occasional answer -- PLUS they have threads for discussions of favorite TV shows, like "Battlestar Gallactica," lol (the New One).

2. The HDGuru.com, which CONTINUALLY advertises on DiscoveryHD. Frankly, it DIDN'T have nearly as much in the way of ANSWERS as I expected, but it's OK, and has a lot of links (although as I expected, MANY of them are to places you can BUY things).

I didn't provide the links for either of those sites, but I have them bookmarked. If anyone can't find them and wants them, I'd be happy to add them later. I'd also note that when PC World magazine listed it's Top 100 Products of theYear in the July 2007 Issue, about HALF were NOT really "retail products" (many were freeware or similar)... and there was just ONE webforum: the AVS Forum, which they ranked at No. 43... Also, they included just 3 laptops and ONE desktop PC... Their top-ranked laptop was the HP dv9000t, which they put at No. 14 on the list (I'm pretty sure this list was compiled BEFORE the 9500 series became available, and as Orev has pointed out somewhere ANY HP laptop that BEGINS with a 9 is part of the 9000 series, so we all have, or are GETTING PC Magazine's top-rated laptop of the year!)... The NEXT laptop on the list didn't show up until they listed the Lenovo X60 Tablet at No. 50!

We should all feel GOOD about these things, I think!
Jeff

 

What brand and model is the 160GB hard drives in the V9500?

 

It should handle dual monitors just fine. My 4 year old Dell laptop can handle dual monitors just fine, so this isn't really an issue. Some people talk around here like this is new technology

You can also get an HDMI to DVI converter, and then you could use the DVI connector on that monitor, which I strongly suggest. Avoid analog VGA when you can.

 

You mean using 2 MONITORS isn't NEW TECHNOLOGY, Orev???

Geesh, NO WONDER the 128 MB ATI 9200 on my 2003 HP m376n supported and STILL supports it at resolutions up to 2048 x 1536! Then again, that IS a desktop PC, but it was NEVER a top-of-the-line model (nowhere near the bottom, either, though).

Gotta plug that thing back in and get it recording TV shows again, since I'm STILL having Vista/MCE/Nero Ultimate issues and my dual-tuner TV card might as well be an internal paperweight at present... NOT an issue for the moment, but it would be really nice if I could set up "Epiphanies" here to record all my favorite TV shows while I'm touring most of the other 47 in the next couple of months...

Be even NICER if Dell had Tech Support that could actually SOLVE PROBLEMS, but then that might be asking for TOO MUCH, huh? (See article in the latest {September 2007} issue of PC World about NY State's lawsuit against Dell for poor support and OTHER customer issues... Dell refused to comment for the article, by the way, but DID respond that their BBB complaints for 2006, overall were DOWN 12% from 2005, to which PC World noted that industry records report their overall consumer sales for 2006 were ALSO down 12% for 2006 vs. 2005... Wonder WHY???)
Jeff

 

Why should the analog VGA be avoided? Any specific experience in your case?

Alex

 

True, the nvidia "twinview" feature for multiple monitor setups has been around for years and years, nothing new.

You could get a converter, but they're bulky IMO. I use use a cable that has a DVI connector at one end and HDMI at the other end. Was $7 from newegg and drives my 20" external LCD perfectly fine. No need for high $$$ cables when you're dealing with digital - analog on the other hand requires expensive, high quality, shielded cables to give good quality.

You mean besides the fact that it's old, crufty and obsolete? Yes, there is a very noticeable quality improvement (particularly for small text) when you use a digital connection (HDMI, DVI) instead of analog (VGA). Sub-pixel hinting and font anti-aliasing also look far better and more crisp on a digital connection.

Analog VGA became obsolete with the introduction of LCD displays, which are digital. CRT monitors are analog and require an analog transport i.e. VGA.

 

Well, if you want the highest possible resolution (and you're dealing with a PURE DIGITAL SIGNAL when you're coming from HDMI) using a VGA-out port will downgrade you to an analog signal, which is not as "clean" or pure...

UNLESS you're using a really high-quality monitor, you may never notice the difference, BUT, the easy way to find out would be -- assuming like the 21" Gateway monitor I'm using right now, your monitor has MULTIPLE inputs -- to first use an HDMI-DVI cable to your monitor's DVI input and see what THAT picture looks like, work with it for a while, maybe even take a picture of it with your digital camera set at highest resolution, using a tripod... THEN, re-connect the laptop to the monitor using a VGA cable and repeat the process and see what, if any difference, you see... If you see NONE, then it doesn't really matter, I guess (unless you spent the extra $20 bucks -- or possibly MUCH MORE if you screw up and buy that HDMI-DVI cable somewhere like Best Buy or Circuit City), JUST FOR this occasion.

IF you don't already have an HDMI-DVI cable available and this will be an extra expense, you might want to see if you're happy with what you get using VGA, UNLESS there are other considerations of which I'm unaware (and folks like Orev or BradTurner will be able to address THOSE, if there are).

Good luck!
Jeff

 

thanks lupin..the..3rd now i understand the difference.

Alex

 

An LCD is a digital device. When you use VGA, your computer has to convert the signal from Digital -> Analog, then the LCD converts Analog -> Digital. DVI just goes directly Digital -> Digital. It makes a HUGE difference in the image quality.

 

See... I TOLD YA Orev and some of these other folks could give more technical details, lol... I hadn't actually thought about the LCD being a true digital device, Orev (in fact, I can't say I was 100% sure it was), but that's the best reason yet.

I guess I need to switch connections on my LCD, as I'm using the DVD-VGA converter because I wanted to leave the DVI open for the DVI output from my HD cable box, but in almost a year, I've NEVER hooked that up, and really see NO benefit to doing it, since the 27" HDTV is about a foot to the right of this monitor and there's no way to do anything but watch the same signal at the same time on both monitors...

Now that you've pointed out how much QUALITY I may be missing, I'll likely switch take off that VGA converter and swap out cables before the day's out.

I LOVE YOU GUYS... Could someone PLEASE clone me a FEMALE version of one of you (yaknow, someone who looks like Charlize Theron... yeah, that would do VERY NICELY!)???
Jeff

 

I'd like to point out that the dv9500t is lagging WAY behind in the "Most Popular Laptop" category here. It's currently ranked at #26, a full 8 spots behind the Dell 1720.

C'mon guys - let's show some love! How exactly is the popularity rating calculated? Is it just by visiting the profile page here?

 

Yeah, I think that's how they calculate it. Sort of makes it self enforcing... people see it on the top, click it, that pushes it to the top...

 

I know I have seen on this web site the reference to the blot ware on new dv9500's.

Can someone provide me a link listing it so I will have a check list to follow in removing it from a dv9500 getting next week at Costco.

 

Brad, that top laptops thread is really hard to find, for some reason, and you didn't provide a link to THAT, only to the profile for the 9500, BUT the last time I found it, not only was the ranking the same as the prior time, it appeared the total NUMBER for the 9500 was the same, as well... I'm not going to spend 30 minutes trying to find the link to that list again, but I just clicked on your link to the 9500 profile about 3 different times in the process of trying to figure out a way to it, and I'm willing to bet NONE of those counted towards adding to the total.

Frankly, I think it's RIGGED, or something.

Oh, by the way, I RECEIVED my 9500 YESTERDAY a full DAY BEFORE the originally scheduled SHIP date... Can't complain about THAT -- particularly not when some of the folks who have ordered Inspiron 1720s with certain color cases and so forth as far back as the second week of July have had their scheduled ship dates pushed up to September! (Then again, some of the ones who order it with a "basic black" case get it within a week, even though they're supposedly "out of LCD screens.")

I had a little bit of trouble getting some of the HP updates done (some of them kept wanting to re-install), and then did the Microsoft updates, then ran my System Restore disks last night... haven't actually turned the laptop on yet, today, but I'm pretty satisfied with it, except for one thing I believe Lupin commented on way back when -- the far-too-tiny right Shift key -- which COULD HAVE BEEN twice the size it is if the UP arrow key had only been moved to the right one space, since there's simply a BLANK SPACE where a key COULD BE to the right of the UP arrow key...

Other than that, I'm pretty pleased so far -- haven't gotten around to setting up the fingerprint reader yet, but unlike my desktop systems, which nobody but ME ever uses, I DID set the system up with a password, so you can't log onto it without one (unless you're a TRUE hacker).

One thing I noticed right away... As soon as my SECOND battery had a full charge (put the first one in storage after it was charged), I took the laptop off the AC to see how long it would run on battery... In the process, I briefly lowered the screen to move it, then raised it back up and immediately noticed it seemed less bright... It was higher, and at a different angle, but it still seems to be less bright when running on battery than with AC power... not A LOT, but enough to be noticeable... Or was that just due to my change in perspective? It was a foot or so higher and a bit closer.
Jeff

 

Jeff: Glad to hear that you got your system. The brightness changes with the power plan you have the system set to. You can adjust the brightness by using the "Fn" key and F7 and F8. You'll see a little "sun" icon and up/down arrows. You can also change the power settings by clicking on the battery icon next to the clock (lower right corner).

 

Thanks, Orev... I didn't think about that (although I probably knew it somewhere in the back of my mind -- just didn't expect it to be automatically set that way).

I'll likely change the settings, for now, to be the same on battery as AC, just to see how long it runs with just battery with everything set the same, just so I'll know for times I NEED to run it just on battery (don't expect there'll be that many times)... Then if there ARE times I know I'll need it on battery longer than what it runs at full settings, I'll adjust the settings lower.

Thanks for pointing that out, Orev... You've been one of my biggest teachers on this forum.
Jeff

 

JeffAHayes

Be sure and report your battery test times. I look forward to the results. Do you the intergrated video or a separate card?

 

Hey guys,

new in here, im an refugee from the dell forum lol From the uk and basically i got fed up with waiting on my dell vostro 1700 to ship.

Ordered back in July and was called the other day to say it would ship till mid sept!!

Anyways in the uk here we cant get custom machines on the hp site.
So here's what i have settled for :-

DV9574EA

T7300 2.0ghz 4mb cache
2gb ram
17" 1440x900 im of the opinion that higher would be naf for working with.
2 x 200gb 4200 sata drives (will replace with 7200.2's)
TV Tuner
Bluetooth
Wireless 'n

Thats the basics. comes with vista hp and the remote and such.

this costs £910 sterling which is about $1812.36

Is that a good deal in your eyes?

Have to say, whats annoying me now, dell have dropped the price of the vostro to £710 for the same spec i had ordered before lol.


Ok good thing about ordering from hp in the uk is that you can see if the machine is in stock, and as its a pre-configured item they ship to you within 3-5 working days. So no 2 month + wait like the new dells lol.

Anyways hi guys. And will be joining the club soo

 

Hey gang:

really need some help...

DV9535nr, trying to get sound to work.
I've downloaded the UAA and the 1.73 of the RealTek HD audio driver.

This morning, I started fresh, I reformatted the drive, re-installed XP pro, and the first thing I installed was UAA, rebooted, then installed Realtek 1.73, rebooted, no sound. Tried adding new hardware, sound card, pointing it to the realtek driver, and I get a blue screen of death.

How are you guys adding the driver???

As of last night, I had everything working, except sound, so I feel like I can get back to that point, but am stuck on the sound...

Brian

 

First, Brian, I hope you picked up that 9535 the week Best Buy had it for $150 off a few weeks back... was a real DEAL @ $1,249 (that was the same week I placed the order for my dv9500t and it was VERY tempting to not just get that and save some serious $$$).

Second, one of the folks in one of these threads has a full Q & A posted on doing Vista ~ XP downgrades and installing ALL the relevant software for the 9500, but I can't think of his user name at the moment... I DO know he did a really thorough job of first figuring it out, then posting a detailed explanation of how to do it, then a simpler explanation, links to all the drivers you need and so forth... I'd have paid more attention had I intended to downgrade to XP... I see it's been a REAL BEAR for a lot of folks getting that done, and it's quite likely more to do with a driver than the software... I'm sure SOMEONE on this thread will know who it was; I just can't think of his name right now.

Good luck!
Jeff

 

I think Jeff is referring to this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=140131

 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

THAT'S THE ONE!!!!!

If what Mujjuman has done, learned and posted doesn't solve your problems, Brian, I'm pretty sure he or someone else on that thread will at least be able to help point you in the right direction!

Again, best of luck!
Jeff

 

yes, that's the thread I had been following the steps from, and had downloaded the drivers from.

Mujjman's post was great.

Last night around 11:00pm I finally got everything working, sound, etc....
I haven't tried getting the tv tuner card working yet, but then again, that's not a high priority for me...

And yes, bought it at Best Buy for $1249, and bought it on a tax free weekend here in NC... So it was $1249 flat... Very nice...
Nice laptop for the bucks, but of course the downside is getting Vista on it, and having to spend hours reconfiguring...

Thanks for the help guys...

 

You must have had the same weekend we do here in S.C., Brian, because I know that sale ended two days into our weekend (8/3-8/5)... I thought N.C. and maybe GA also had the same weekend (thought GA because when I called HP at like 12:30 a.m. to ask WHY my sale wasn't going through tax-free the guy at their sales center in Boise, Idaho {of all places, lol} said the new sales day doesn't start for their SYSTEM until Midnight Mountain time, but only after he asked if I was in Georgia after I told him I had a sales tax holiday weekend... I came back to my cart about 9 a.m. and proceeded with checkout tax-free).

As I SCOUR the Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot and Office Max fliers every week (the only four close to me -- and all 4 within 1.5 miles, and the 4 of them clustered within .5 miles of each other, which makes comparison shopping a BREEZE), I knew about the sale on that 9535 before the store opened that Sunday, lol... If I could have gotten built-in bluetooth and fingerprint reader on it, I'd have probably settled for the slower processor, as that's quite a deal!

Glad you got it going. As for the TV Tuner, if you have a MCE version of XP installed, you may have no problems... Otherwise, who knows?
Jeff

 

briankeithsmith

Why did you not want Vista on the new notebook?

 

Hi all,
I've ordered my DV9500T, due to ship on the 25th. I also ordered the XB3000 base for it. My question is, has anyone used the base wth the DV9500t? Does it cover the fingerprint reader?

I currently have the HP ZD8000 with the XB2000 base, and most of the front, and over an inch of the palm rest area are covered.

Thanks,
Walt

 

RCA to 3.5mm (1/8") mini S/PDIF Cable

Is this the type of cable I need to send digital audio out to my receiver from the dv9500t? Or does the dv9500t come with its own cable or adapter? Please post a link if you know a better place to buy the right cable or adapter.

Thanks.

 

I'm curious as to the 'Vista Experience Rating' of the 9500t with the 8400 vs 8600GPU's. Can anyone comment on what you're getting? I know this number is kind of vague, but I'm curious what it is compared to other notebooks that I'm researching.

A few weeks back, my local Best Buy had the dv9408nr on 'clearance' for $649 and I decided that I'd take a chance on it. That's the AMD TL-56 version with the 6150 integrated graphics. It was pretty pokey (even after upgrading the ram to 2GB), and only scored a 2.4 on the 'VER'. I'm not a big-time gamer, but it wasn't happy with Civ IV and Supreme Commander was unplayable at the lowest graphics setting. Then it started BSODing on me at regular intervals (heat related, I suspect), and so it was returned for a full refund....

However, I really liked the form factor, the screen, and the vibe of the laptop in general. Other than being slow and BSODing on me, it was a lovely machine. With the 30% off coupon, I've built a nearly fully-loaded Core2Duo T7500 version with the 8600GS graphics & 2GB ram for around $1,200 shipped and I'm trying to decide if I want to pull the trigger on it. Will something like that handle quasi-modern games such as Supreme Commander, Civ IV, or other current RTS's? I'm not a big-time gamer, but I want the laptop to be capable of some lighter RTS gaming.

 

My Vista Experiance rating is 4.7, with the video (aero) being the limitting item. Note that with the 2Gig HP RAM installed, it was lower (3.8 or so).

 

So a 3.8 stock with the 2GB. Thanks for sharing, that's what I was after.

So you jumped to 4.7 by going with 4GB. Nice!

 

my vista rating was pretty high... but i forgot what it was since i use XP Pro now.

T7300
2GB RAM
8400M GS

 

oh yeah, this is a general question:

what is the difference between the T7250 and the T7300?

 

The T7250 only has 2MB of cache, the T7300 has 4MB.

 

thanks for the clear up!