HP 8510p available!

BTW I think the HDMI carries Audio. I was poking around a readme file which clearly stated it did have audio as well as video.

 

Ackeron, I don't think you mentioned it but I would like to know if your 8510p came with both Vista 32 and 64-bit.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions on who I should contact about my 8510p order? The people I talk to straight from the 800 number don't seem to know anything. Is there some email or do I ask for a higher tier on the phone?

 

For those who have received the 8510p, I have a couple of questions.

1. How is the heat/noise idle and under load? Is an external laptop cooler necessary?

2. How bright is the screen? How about compared with Toshiba and Sony Vaio notebooks?

 

I just gave Bioshock a run. It played pretty well at 1024x768 and with graphics turned "high". Admittedly I have not played many games of late (exceptions being Civ IV and Pirtates), but in my opinion it was smooth. How can I check the frame rate? I'm also still running DirectX 9.0c and not 10.

The left front area of the keyboard (where your palm rests) got pretty warm as was the air coming out of the left side vent. Not unbearable, but certainly noticeable. I played for about 30 minutes.

Being that the ATI drivers are still crashing anytime I run PCMark or 3DMark, I'm not sure what else I can provide in terms of benchmarks. Is there another vendor I can try for 3D benchmarks?

Overall the system is extremely quiet. I never hear the hard drive and though at times the fan is on, it too is very quiet. I am using the laptop directly on my desk with no external cooler or lift.

 

I'll try and do some kind of review after I finish this term paper, but no guarantees as of yet

Yes my 8510p came with clean installs of both 32 and 64-bit Vista business.

Wish I could help you Jin...someone told me the post-purchase support/warranty people are pretty good, but they might not listen to you considering you don't have it yet :\

As lungboy said, you can notice some heat buildup if you run intense stuff for awhile, but it's nothing bad. Depending on your climate a laptop cooler might be good, but where I live it rains most of the year so I should be fine

Noise...I personally am coming from a loud-as-frak Acer so I barely notice a thing. If I'm in a silent room running under load I notice the fan but otherwise not at all.

Screen, as Greg said, could be brighter. It's not really usable at the lower levels, but I got a good 4 hours of out the battery while running at about 60 percent brightness, which was fine to work with.

lungboy, see my post in the hd 2600 vs 8600 gt thread about getting 3dmark06 to work. Alternately go to the Futuremark support site and look up '3dmark06 black screen', or '3dmark06 ati 2600 / 2900 problems.'

 

Hi, nice to read things about the hp 8510, I'll get mine in 2 weeks with vista (if it's any good, we'll see). Could someone of you run the world in conflict demo (if anyone is interested in this game, it has a demo) and see wether it runs smooth with almost all the details on 'high'. That would be awesome, or maybe someone could put a video on youtube demonstrating bioshock on his brand new hp 8510p? Thanks in advance!

 

Any downside to spending the extra $20 for Centrino Pro? --Other then the $20. Any preformance hit?

It seems to me there are some security benefits even in a noncorporate environment and possible future apps.

I don't think I need it now but for $20 I will live large if there is no downside.

 

Anyone know if it will be possible to swap out the preconfigured models that have the abg wireless with the intel agn chip? If so, how difficult would this be?

 

Ordered mine today:

HP Compaq 8510p,
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2,40GHz,
2x 1024 MB,
15,4",
1680x1050 (WSXGA+),
SATA 160 GB,
Windows Vista™ Business,
ATI Mobility Radeon X2600 256MB, DVD±RW DL,
802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, FireWire, 4xUSB2.0, HDMI,

 

Thanks for answering the previous two questions! I have one more though if you guys have time to answer.

1) How is the build of the 8510p? Is it plastic on the outside? Are the palm rests metal? I think I read the nc8430 is metal inside from an official review on this site, so I was wondering if it is the same for the 8510p. Metal is so much cooler than plastic (heat-wise and otherwise).

 

Yes! I've got an ETA: Friday! .. Good times.. (ordered = August 16)

 

Mackey did you order a custom? I've been wondering if this has been a problem with only custom orders since I haven't been able to get a date yet either. I think I'll call in today.

 

Sry mate, i ordered through an educational institution in my country (Belgium) and my config was one of several (3 i think) configs i could choose from. So i didn't order directly from HP. But given the specs, i would say it's one of the preconfigured models that they sell from the online HP shop. (though it was with Vista Home Basic instead of Business for some reason)

Btw: they just called: it's supposed to arrive tomorrow morning! :s The courrier service picked it up from their offices today so..

PS: jin07, i hope your laptop gets delivered soon. I've followed this thread closely and if anyone should have his laptop, it should be you (since you ordered way back) . And also that Eli guy. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you (though it will be hard to type then)

 

Note to all.. I've had quite a few blue screens of death early on in using this machine. The ATI recovery software is catching them and saving me from rebooting, but it seems the installed video drivers for the HD 2600 are not great.

 

is this in xp?

 

yes, xp pro

 

Good and bad news:

Even though the Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6GHz is already available for the Compaq 8510p, it is not an option for orders placed through the Higher Education channel (which is my case ). Disappointment....
Just thought of letting you guys know, if any of you is thinking of getting the best config possible.

 

After a little over three weeks, I finally have a SHIPPING date. Unfortunately, the date is Sept. 20th They said they will try to get a sooner shipping date for me. Frankly, I'm just glad I HAVE a shipping date It's somewhat interesting to note that the 2.4 and 2.6 are the same price.

 

I had quite a few issues with XPP before reverting back to Vista. Although I'm not happy with my streamlined install of Vista using 550mb of ram as compared to XPP @ 200mb...I guess I'll take it for now.

Great to hear you've got a shipping date Jin!

edit: I should mention...0 issues with Vista and stability so far. Had some weird crap with Nero and burning but apparently it's a big problem so blah to them.

 

Should I change my laptop to get vista? I can't believe all these problems are happening with XP. Okay, I can believe, I don't want to since I like XP alot more than vista.

Edit:
Ackeron: I saw on this webpage http://www.driverheaven.net/windows-xp-2k-radeon-display-drivers/
that you should probably stick with the 7.7 catalyst driver for the hd2600. There have been issues with the 7.8 that was released on August 13th. Hope this helps. Then again you're probably using vista right now

 

Yeah last Friday I stumbled through getting XP up and running only to have my 8510p whine and complain when I tried to get the 7.8 Cats going. With that huge paper I'm doing I decided to give up and try Vista out if only for the time being.

 

Woot! it arrived. Installing now (the default windows vista basic ) .. What should I do to upgrade to ultimate? i have a license key and cd. Just pop it in and restart (after backup of course) , and do a clean install? Or is there a way to upgrade to ultimate without loosing all the hp software?

 

All the HP software should be available from their website.

 

Yes i know, but i'm not looking forward to reinstall it all just because i want norton and such off. It actually comes with little bloatware,this hp. (the protecttools and stuff seem pretty handy)

 

Can any of the 8510p owners post if the laptop is normally cool and/or gets hot under heavy working? And what about the loudness?
Thanks in advance

 

Yeah! It's supposed to ship tomorrow. Though maybe I should wait until it ships.

 

Heh finally some good news for you jin07

 

Yup. I can't wait until I install the 7k200 and the 4GB ram. I've had them for so long now since I ordered them when I ordered my laptop. I also can't wait to see how much better this laptop will be then the one I have now. Right now I have a 1.3 Pent M, 512mb ram, a 32mb mobility radeon 9200, and a 60gb 4200rpm hd. Going to a 2.0 C2D, 3.5gb of usable ram, 512 hd 2600, and a 200gb 7200 rpm hd.

 

Mine seems to get pretty warm on the underside directly underneath the touchpad. The palm rests are only slightly warm, and everything else is fine. This is with the ac in and doing light tasks for about 3 hours. Everyone else has said that the thing stays really cool, maybe its just mine?

The fan kicks in every once and a while when I was downloading/installing apps, but nothing too serious. For just simple browsing, etc, you probably won't even notice any sound.

As a side note, I seem to have a backlighting problem that is annoying me. It's all the way up and down both sides of the screen, and is about a quarter of an inch. I'll try to take some pictures later to show you what i'm talking about. It's only noticeable on black screens, but annoying nonetheless. Other than that, the machine is excellent.

 

I don't have any backlight issues at all with mine. I also think it's very quiet. It's also not hot for a notebook with this type of configuration. It's considerably cooler and quieter than my previous nc8430.

 

I'm interested in it right now, what is the HD2600 memory clock?

 

Did any of the 8510p owners get it through the configurable option in the US? I am about to order it (2.6GHZ, 4GB RAM, Blu-Ray), but I'm kind of afraid considering the potential shipping delays... Do you guys think it will take longer to build because of these specs? Thanks!

 

Just to tell you, do NOT buy the ram from HP when you order. It is MUCH cheaper to buy the ram from an online store. It should cost around $200 for 4 GB ram NOT $680. Don't worry, it's not difficult to install ram either. All you have to do is power down your computer, take out the battery, hold the power button for 30 seconds, touch a piece of metal, take off the ram panel, and put in your ram. This takes like 2 minutes at the most. To get an estimate on the shipping, I'd call them and ask since a specific part may be out or something.

 

FYI.

HP's 8510p & w Maintenance and Service Guide was posted by HP on 9-4-2007.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120473/c01120473.pdf

 

Mine doesn't really get too warm anywhere except the underside, and the fan pumps out pretty warm air but that's about it. The fan seems to have a few different speeds and is really audible when it runs at max speed, but even then music drowns it out.

I found my 8510p had quite a bit of random crap installed. A fresh Vista install made my system much much faster. I used the HP drivers/programs CD that came with the machine to reinstall the essentials.

Jin: My old laptop was identical to yours except for a 64mb Radeon 9000. You'll love the difference

John: I too have bleed on both sides of the screen, but mine is about a fifth of an inch, and not really noticeable unless you're looking for it. Maybe my eyes are just worse BUT either way, compared to some of the insane backlight bleed I've seen on other laptops, the bleed on my 8510p is more than acceptable.

edit: I think my clocks were 500/450 (should be 500/600 but HP underclocked I guess). I haven't had time to tinker with the GPU yet.

 

Oh too bad it's DDR2, I was hoping for GDDR3. The stock difference is not that big but you can hit 800-900 easily on GDDR3.

The 8600GT DDR2 800(400) is about 2/3 as strong as the GDDR3 1400(700) one

 

Hi,

i'm new to this forum, but i'm following this thread quite a while.
I've also ordered a 8510p, just like Mackey (educational institution, Belgium).

It did'nt arrive yet, but i'm quite worried because there are some owners who apparently have problems with the xp-version (my hp comes with home basic).

The ones who have tried to convert to xpp..., did you use the grx-driver (xpp version) on the hp support site?

If there isn't a solution, i can stick to the home basic-version, until i can get a copy of the business-edition (in 1 month).

thanks (sorry for crappy english)

 

Why do you think it's DDR2? I thought 8510p is DDR3 equipped.

 

Err, it is GDDR3...Everest confirmed on my machine and other 8510p's.

HD 2600 DDR2 clocks are 400-450core, GDDR3 is 500+

As to XPP, I had to get the SATA drivers off the HP site, then slipstream them into an XP install CD using nLite.

But the HD 2600 GPU drivers are kinda crappy and old in XP, so I ended up going back to Vista. If you don't care about up to date GPU drivers XP should be fine, although as someone else noted they've been getting BSODs in XP...

 

Hmm... 8510p is looking pretty good then. I was thinking about 8510w, but it's too much of a premium, and 2600 is actually not too bad compared to 8600GT.

 

Yeah. If you check the HD2600 VS 8600GT thread in the gaming forum you'll find my 3dmark06 score and the info about how I got it. I think it was 3315 or something on my underclocked GPU.

So the HD2600 GDDR3 beats the DDR2 8600GT, and if I restore my video card to stock clocks and tweak Vista some more, I'm hoping to get 3600 out of it, which will basically match the GDDR3 8600GT.

 

Does 2.0ghz CPU seem enough? I was looking to customize one, but it really is price prohibitive almost to do that.

 

I haven't done any extreme stressing of the system yet, but I must say the processor has handled everything I've thrown at it so far (games, some benchmarks, some other CPU intensive stuff) admirably. 2.0 is a fine speed IMO.

 

I agree that the price to get higher than 2.0GHz is ridiculous. 2.0GHz will be plenty fast for anything really. Sure in certain situations a few hundred MHz may help, but it shouldn't make that much of a difference.

 

What's the clock? He told me 450 so yeah it seemed DDR2 to me.

I also learned that most software will say DDR3(no links with GDDR3) rather than DDR2 for mobile graphics chipset

 

450 is almost always considered an overclock for DDR2 mem. While it's quite possible that HP decided to downclock the 600 stock to 450, it seems unlikely (to me at least) that they would overclock DDR2 mem to 450.

 

Yeah JCMS I recall reading your posts in the Inspiron 1520 thread

Most people seem to trust Everest for accurate readings, and that combined with HP saying it's GDDR3 from day one (not just half the time, like Dell ) convinced me it was GDDR3.

On the ATI site it lists the core speeds for the mobility HD 2600. The GDDR3 core speed starts at 500 and the DDR2 is something like 400-450. My core is 500 and my memory is 450 (stock it should be 600, but I assume like everyone else HP underclocked to save battery life less heat noise etc etc)

The 3dmark06 score for my underclocked HD 2600 at 1280x1024 was something like 3315, about 400 points higher than the DDR2 8600m GT.

So based on all this I'm assuming my GPU is indeed GDDR3

 

That's a pretty nice score. Overclocked to 700/700 (XT) it would hit the 4000-4500, wich is like a 8700M.

ATI did a good job this time (or it's just nvidia's reseller liking too much DDR2 to put GDDR3 on the 8600M GS/GT lol)

 

As a reference on my 8510w with the Quadro 570M I am getting 4700 on my O/Ced 8600GT@635/900 using the default drivers from HP and Vista Business. I noticed there are updated drivers through windows update, but all my games work just fine atm. I bet I could crack 5K with newer drivers, but atm I am at 8700GT scores with an 8600GT