hp 8510w questions

hi everyone
My lovely 8510w just arrived,but I have some questions about it

What is the os tools drive is for?
There is a lot of things that boots before windows(amt,recovery...etc)can I speed it up?
Is the recovery disks identical to the ones that came with the machine?
Is the office that came with it only full or just a trial?
The volume bar responses very slowly,Is there any patch or update for it?

Thanks

 

There are several ways to use the volume bar: You can either slide your finger across it, or you can tap either extreme to increment the volume up/down. I don't know how well holding either extreme of the volume bar will work.

BTW I've never used an 8510w, but I've tried the Pavilions at electronics stores. I'm assuming that their volume bars are similar to yours. My advice is based off my (brief) experiences with these Pavilions.

 

Mine is very responsive once I uninstalled the HP Quick launch software.

 

Mine was sluggish with the factory install. A clean install did speed it up a little.
No problems here with the buttons.

Orifice 07 will be a trial version.

I don't remember seeing 'os tools drive' ???

the disks that come with it are pure install disks, not recovery.

 

thanks for your responses,uninstalling quick launch solved the volume problem

I have a drive called os_tools (1.55gb,has 1.3gb free,there 2 folders in it -boot-sources,and hp_winre file,I don't know what is it for

 

also I have problem with 3dmax,the viewport seems to be veeery slow when using opengl while the directx is better,I wasn't really expecting that,I thought the opengl will perform better

 

Hi there all,

I'm currently reading through reviews on the 8510w and while it seems like a great and powerful laptop, I'm a bit concerned about the heat build up and fan noise during extensive usage e.g 3d applications or gaming.

Would any 8510w owner be kind enough to share his experience on this subject ?

Thank you!

 

That volume is used for backup. The 2 volumes you have where factory made with hp recovery system and are in my opinion quite needed since the os tools drive and hp recovery drive can restore youre whole system back to factory settings. Having these 2 on youre notebook makes you system recovery or restoration care free since they will do all the job for you with 2-3 clicks.

I suggest not to delete them.

 

Well the notebook uses 1 fan for both heatsinks. At Idle its pretty quite, but under full load the fan does rev up. The Notebook still stays very cool except the under left side where the gpu, and cpu are. Also under volting my cpu has not only decreased temps but the Fan noise has has decreased. I am planing on cracking mine open to add some AS5, but its already running pretty cool.

 

I have the nw8440 (the 8510w's predecessor). It has a very similar cooling setup to the 8510w. I've never monitored the temps on mine, though I heard it runs pretty cool. The only parts of the notebook that get warm are the left side next to the keyboard, the touchpad area, and the bottom left area (where your left leg would rest if you're using it on your lap).

As for the fan noise, when plugged in, the fan NEVER shuts off once the machine's warmed up, even when idle. On idle, it spins at the lowest speed, which isn't too bad, but once you start using the notebook, the fan can rev up. When gaming or using other 3d apps, the fan can really start to scream. They may or may not have improved these issues with the 8510 series.

I personally don't mind the noise all that much, but I've heard of people returning their nc8430's (the 8510p predecessor) because of the noise. Again, also keep in mind that these issues may not be as big on the 8510 series. Just keep those things in mind. I'd like to hear from some 8510 series owners so I can find out how good or bad the heat/noise are compared to the nc8430/nw8440.

 

Thanks for your feedback guys.

It seems only logical that while these laptops (8510w) will be slightly warmer in comparison with other less powerful ones of the same vendor, due to the heat generated by their CPU and GPU.

To be honest, the only 'drawback' I've found in the 8510 p & w series, is that HP doesn't offer a 'glossy' LCD version for the 1680x1200 resolutions - which is really a pitty as the colours and contrast is so much better when compared with the plain boring 'non-reflective' anti-glare screens they offer.

I'm really between an Acer Ferrari 5000 and the 8510w at the moment and if it wasn't for the absence of the 'bright view' or glossy LCD screen, I would have chosen the HP model without thinking twice!

Cheers,

 

Just keep in mind, though, that glossy screens will suffer from massive amounts of glare. HP doesn't offer glossy screens on the 8510 series because the 8510 series is part of the HP Compaq business line; and glossy screens would be much less acceptable in a business environment than in a home environment. Matt screens are much preferred over glossy due to the glare.

I agree, glossy screens are typically brighter and have better color, but just keep in mind the glare issue.

 

I agree. In a dark room or one with soft light conditions a glossy screen is sweet indeed. However, under lights or in a bright room, matt is the way to go.

 

I would wipe Vista and reinstall using the disks HP gives you. Cleans out a ton of the extra stuff you don't need, and then you can use the HP driver DVD to put what you want back on.

Doing so brought my memory usage down from 80 processes / 800mb to 65 processes / 550mb. Of course I also did a bunch of Vista tweaks. There was an article on the NBR front page recently about them actually.