General Elitebook 8740W Questions

I'm looking at getting an 8740W, and am wondering if it is possible to upgrade the GPU from the 5000M to something newer.

Also, is the DreamColor better than the Dell Premium Color, and is the EliteBook better than the corresponding generation Dell Precision?

I believe that the 8740W was the last 16 x 10 IPS. Are the Dells all 16 x 9?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...msata-mod-gpu-upgrade-cooling-and-etc.780243/

Yes lots of GPUs can be upgraded. See the last post in this thread as I upgraded to a GTX 970m 6GB. There seem to be options to fit just about any budget. Cost me $280 shipped and that included thermal paste and tape. Waited a little over a month for shipping from China (stuck in customs, was supposed to be a week).

 

Not sure if it's too late, but...
The 16:10 dreamcolor interfaces with the 8770w as well (I have it on mine, brightness can only be controlled via the MDM), and the 8760w (brightness controls are probably ok, given the fact that the 60 has an ambient light sensor board like the 40).

Also, find the dreamcolor panel first.

 

You guys all seem to love the DreamColor. I have to ask, is it really worth hunting down the parts? They seem to be made of unobtanium lol

 

This is strongly subjective. In 16:9 Dream/Premier Color models the panel is the same. They do use different filters as some users prefer one over the other. Also the calibration seems to differ.

It wasn't the last, it was the only 17" 16:10 IPS. Thankfully they made it great. The 17" 16:10 DELLs were 8bit TN RGB LED (optional, as was the DreamColor).

It is worth it, but the parts really are unobtainable. You have better chances of getting a DreamColor machine. If you, by some miracle, find the cables and color board - GO FOR IT!

 

There are some issues, the biggest of which is the dark details - depending on the output bit depth that you choose, the first several black levels are all the lowest black that the panel can do, and then there's a huge bump from there. Pretty noticeable when dealing with dark content - extremely noticeable in space scenes with smoothly appearing nebulae, for example.

AFAIK the panel is not at fault, the color board is.

As for the panel...
The only 17'' 16:10 IPS panel ever made. Featuring RGBLED backlight, 10bpp, A-TW polarizer. The last is a killer feature - IPS glow is practically gone.
So basically, top-end panel with a subpar processing board.

This reminds me that it's time to get a dreamcolor colorimeter.

EDIT:
Forgot one thing - at least on my panel, there's something like a DLP's rainbow effect, so I guess the RGBLEDs are 1)pulse-width modulated and 2) not in sync. Hasn't bothered me at all, but it's only my words... for what it's worth, I have a DLP projector at home that I don't notice the rainbow effect on, but it's the benq ht2150st which is one of the best in this regard (high speed RGBRGB color wheel). Haven't demoed non-RGBRGB DLPs so can't comment.

 

This must be a dummy question, but how do I detect which gpu my EB 8740w has? Device Manager says only "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter".
I am trying to make it opengl 1.3 capable. A program claims it's only 1.1 which seems awfully lame, maybe indicator of some other problem.?
Can't update driver if I don't know which gpu.
Thanks

 

afaics there is no way to detect [w/o opening inside]. HP support site can't detect but has drivers for several diff gpu's that were used. I just went with amd [ati] DL, as, What's worst can happen? DL Catalyst detected FirePro, lucked out, problem solved.
Better than trying to update generic Windows I think.

 

That's the way. Try to install AMD/ATi or nVIDIA drivers and if a certain GPU is in there, they (the drivers) would either install, or wont if no compatible GPU was found.