HP Compaq 6910p Full Review

That's the only reason i was getting an external monitor on dock because i let my kids use my old dell desktop and i use the notebook for internet purposes but this 19" i think is a little to much. i may keep the dock and just get a 15 or 17" monitor. It is used in two locations and it seems it would be easy to to dock and undock if i have a monitor and dock and each location because there are two programs that is used and the font can't be changed and when the resolution is put lower the screen gets blury. I like the way this 6910p is made, i finanly got the dw20 to stop but then i have another error message at startup. so i think once i get another laptop i will have a better experience, and this notebook seems well built to me.

 

Hi,

I plan to buy a 6910p.
My doubt are about the screen : currently I use a DELL Inspiron 6400 15,4" at 1680x1050. But the screen is brilliant, so shining like a mirror. It is really not comfortable, thus the viewing angle doesn't allow to see correctly all the screen when you are in front of it : top or bottom angles are shaded.
So I search for a smaller screen size, and a chechmate completion.

HP says screens are "anti-glare".... What does it mean ?

May I ask you to do a photo of the screen with an enlightened window in the background ?

Great review at all.

Thanks.

Arthur

 

Hi,

I think you'll find that non-glossy/anti-glare screens are slightly better in sunlight, but all in all you need a very bright screen to overcome the glare, even when usig an anti-glare screen.
The 6910p would be better in this respect, using the anti-glare screen but no matter what its still going to be reflecting sunlight (just nowhere near as bad as a glossy screen can get).

 

Great Review!!!!

I am thinking of getting one!>.One question, the docking station has two video output...one DVI and one VGA......is it possible to connect two external monitors (dual screen setup)...to the docking station.

 

Thanks for the review!
I'm considering purchasing it, but atm I'm looking more at the x3100 version, which i can get for >300€ less.

The more expensive version has Vista, the x2300 and 80GB, while the cheaper version has XP (don't really care, since I'll probably be running multiple OS' anyway), the integrated x3100 and a 120GB HDD (lol). The rest of the configuration is the same (T7300 / 1GB / WXGA).

Any thoughts on that?
As far as i can see it, both cards aren't really recommended for gaming, so I'm not sure whether it would be worth the difference in price...

 

Does anyone has some more information on WWAN 3G support? Is the 3G broadband card already installed in every model, or? Can I buy the 3G expansion card as an option?

 

Marmion does your 6910p has a texture on the back of the lcd lid or is it a smooth finish.

 

Looks like you should go for the cheaper one. You'll get more battery life and more HDD space.

 

I believe you can buy it separately, but it is quite a high cost. There are many pre-configured models on HP US that has the card built in, but not all of them (make sure you choose the right vendor - Vodafone/Verizon/ and the other one.

Its basically smooth, but not slippery smooth. Its not a glossy finish or anything like that if thats what you mean.

 

hi everyone,

i ordered mine a couple of days ago and due to come here on monday. i just have one more question, how is the build quality? can you try holding the notebook on one corner when opened and see if there's any flex on the base of the notebook? im upgrading from the nc6230 and on this one, there is. i tried this same experiment on the t61, which had no flex whatsoever.

 

Hi, theres no flex there! Very solidly built. Hope you enjoy your new notebook!

 

HURRAY! Got my 6910p today! (actually I got it Thursday, but I was out of town all weekend and I did not have a chance to even open the box before I left).

Initial impressions: Solid build, very fast, understated attractiveness. Great keyboard.

As far as recurring themes of this topic:
1. When I booted up for first time, HP automatically partioned about 7 GBs to recovery. I found out that you can just search "recovery" and there is a remove recovery partition program/option that appears. Voila, no more recovery partition and it moves the space back to main partition.
2. My 6910p came with 3 discs, 2 Vista Business discs and one application/driver recovery disc.
3. My 6910p is showing the wrong graphics card. I think this is easily fixed.

I will most more thoughts tomorrow and throughout the week. I am open to questions. This is my second notebook. My first was an ASUS W3V.

 

Great to hear you finally got it
Just update the graphics driver and your graphics card will be identified correctly (as I'm sure you've read).
Will be great to hear a second person's opinion on this thing!

 

Some updates:

I really like the fingerprint reader. Makes it easier to just swipe my finger than to type in a password.

The sound is better than my ASUS W3V. It is louder. Although the speakers are close together, it is still an upgrade for me.

It runs pretty cool. The only heat I have noticed so far is a little on the keyboard after hours of typing and moving files. It is hardly warm even at this one spot. My ASUS was like an easy-bake oven near the fans and on my lap. huge improvement here.

It runs quiet. Very quiet.

The screen is about what I expected. Its plenty bright for indoor use. I have not tested it outdoors.

The trackpoint is better than expected. It is a little stiff, but definitely a good feature.

 

fishfood, do tell us what it's like when using outside!! my only 'concern' if you could call it that is whether or not i can take the 6910p outside and get some work done. i'd like to occasionally head out to a starbucks or the outside patio area at a bookstore during the weekend to catch up on work when needed.

it seems my home is like kryptonite when it comes to getting work done

 

What are the 2 Vista Business Discs? Are those 2 DVDs for 1 Vista Business installation? Or are they separate Vista Discs based on either 32 bit or 64 bit OS?

 

You know, I haven't really looked. I think they are for 32 bit and 64 bit. I know when I started the laptop up for the first time it asked what version I wanted to install. It never prompted me for a disc, so I never inserted one. I am at work and I left them at my other residence. I can confirm this by friday.

It could be 2 DVDs for one installation (I doubt it). Most likely 1 disc for each verson. And a slim chance that they screwed up and gave me two versions of Vista Business (I hope so, I can give one to my girlfriend).

 

Does anyone know whether you can use the standard HP 65W adapter on this notebook? I am asking because it comes with the 90W one which weighs more than one pound (500 grams!).

I'd much rather buy the 65W because it is lighter, but is is not listed as an accessory. They only list the 65W car adapter which is very expensive and unnecessary for me.

Anyone know if the specs of the normal 65W are ok for this laptop, I mean, would the power input/output of the 65W adapter fit?

 

Hi,

The 90W adapter weighs in at 390 grams (0.86 lbs) according to HP, and even though I personally haven't weighed it, its definately not heavy.
If you were going for the integrated graphics you may be able to get away with a 65W adapter, if the plug is the same as the nc6400/6910p adapters, but I wouldn't be bothered and not willing to try it either .

 

i finally ordered my 6910p!! woohoo!!!
getting it this friday... so excited!!

 

Cool. Congrats. Its a solid machine. Now you'll be able to tell us how it looks outside. I am inside at work all day and I have not have chance to try it outside yet. Plus I don't work outside much even when I am in school.

 

not much different from me... i work all day at the office. luckily, it's summer so there's still some daylight when i'm out. i'll probably take it out on a spin on saturday. maybe take my camera out as well and do some snapshots!

 

That's good you like your 6910p, I recieved mine on July 12th, i had a few problems with mine, some listed on the site and some not. All in all i really like this laptop. The keyboard is very solid compared to many other keyboards on laptops that are sold in retail stores. I only noticed a little flex on the left side around the (e,r,d,and f keys) but no biggy. I also like the lcd which i think is great for a business laptop, with the exception of a few stuck/dead pixels but i think it is very hard to find a perfect lcd. I think this has a very good build quality if not great. This is my first HP so i wasn't sure what to expect. I have a replacement on the way because of issues that i have with it but i really didn't want to change it because i was able to compare this one with another that was sent to me but it was the incorrect one. I custom built my computer and for some reason it is difficult to get a replacement custom built because of the process. I just spoke with a person who had the authority to authorize a replacement since i had the computer. The tech sent me what is called a capture 158 which is they will send you a new computer that is the same or better, but the problem is that didn't happen because the only item that was better than my first one was a 2.4 processor instead of a 2.0 and they sent me one with Vista which a couple of software that is needed don't work on Vista, and the rep told the customer service guy that was helping me that i would have to buy Windows XP. I am not frustrated about the computer because i understand that sometimes you will have problems. I am just a little upset about the response that i recieved, and recieving a computer that i could have bought as a smart buy for about 500 dollars cheaper than what i paid because i had to custom order imine because i needed XP and wanted dedicated video. i just hope this was an unusal situation and i don't have to deal with any type of support again because i really like the way this computer is built. So I'm praying my new will be the end of this because after dealing with Dell i thought i was going to get my HP and not have problems, but one think i must confess from a personal experience is that Dell has awesome customer service compared to HP as far a i have experienced. Because with dell i would not have to wait for my case to be escalated three times for someone to approve my replacement. Will let you know how my replacement works out. OH by the way they told me that the Capture 158 was a new computer but when i went to the setup to use the disk sanitizer because i want to make sure none of the data can be retrieve because of important info, under the status box it had a status and date so that tells me that the disk was sanitize before, it this was a new computer there is no reason to sanitize the disk.

 

Has anyone tested the WXGA+ (1440x900) resolution screen on this model?

 

I'm not sure if anyone has the 1440x900 yet, at least not in USA. I called in a day or two ago to ask about it and the rep told me hopefully early August. The rep said that there would be retail SKUs as well as a customized option. We'll see if the retail SKUs actually happen--I don't think any ever did for the nc6400 (again, speaking only for the USA). Hoping there will be a SmartBuy SKU or two, as those are really well priced.

 

I had my 6910p for a couple of days now, and I'd like to add my two cents to this review. I upgraded from a nc6230, which was HP's flagship 14.1" business notebook 2 years ago. The nc6230 is now two generations old (after the nc6400), and there may be many users now who are looking to upgrade like I had. So here are some comparisons between the two.


My specs are as follows (SKU #GM120UT):
-Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
-2GB RAM
-160GB 5400rpm HD
-ATI Mobility x2300 w/128MB


Pros
-Is sturdier than the nc6230
-MUCH brighter screen (I think this alone is worth the upgrade, the nc6230 looks "washed out" in comparison)
-More battery life, especially if you turn off some features in Vista
-The widescreen (more room for your work)


Cons
-Is slightly thicker (around .1" more)
-Slight frame flex when holding on one corner of the notebook when open unlike the Thinkpad series
-The gray color looks washed out. On the nc6230, its a richer gray with a hint of blue.
-The scroll pad isn't as responsive


Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase. I was considering the T61s before I decided to stick with HP, because I didn't like the off-centered screen of the Thinkpads. If there was one improvement I would like to see, it would be a thinner notebook. Although most Santa Rosa notebooks are a bit thicker than their non-Santa Rosa counterparts (Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc), Apple managed to keep theirs the same height. I look forward to a non-mac 1" thick 14.1" business class notebook one day! =)

 

*UPDATE* I've installed Windows XP, and am going to see whether this extends battery life by much (no harm in trying, I'm dual booting).
I ran 3D Mark 06 for the kicks of it, and it gave me a score of 1145, compared to 969 in Vista, but will have to see the effects on AOE3

 

Got my pre-configured HP 6910P (sku: GM120UT) for a few days now. Bought it from Best-Buy for Business for USD 1477.88 after 10% discount.
It came with three DVD disks:
32 bit Windows Vista Business OS
64 bit Windows Vista Business OS
HP recovery drivers

Overall impressions:

Fast - high end Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 and 2GB RAM do make a big difference in performance

solid build - very sturdy, far superior than consumer model.

light weight - portable enough for travel

high quality screen - no backlight leakage or dead pixels, non-glossy, and bright enough for me to read by the window.

Very quiet - Can hear the fan spinning at times, but need to raise ears on purpose to hear it.

great keyboard - responsive and quiet. no problem using in public library

Cool running - keyboard and paml rests stay cool after extended hours of use. No sweaty palms! The bottom does get warm near hard drive and fan areas but not enough to cause concerns

since i don't game, i won't be able to tell how it measure up against other machines. If you are looking for a business notebook with a budget this is a machine you don't want to pass up.

 

i havent been able to play with the laptop much. still doing installs and configurations whenever time permits. there was, however, a red flag that was raised during this process...

the specs for laptop indicated on the site was that it had the ati x2300 graphics card, but it shows up as the x1450 on my laptop. is there a way i can verify which one i really have?

hwsgeo: how'd you get such a great discount? is bestbuy having a sale?

 

I love that wallpaper >.>

 

This machine is just amazing. I have had it for a few days now, and the quality of it still keeps impressing me. I have upgraded the ram to 2 gigs running in dual channel, switched a 160 gig 7200 drive (all after-market stuff) and the machine just flies. I didn't bother to get the dedicated vid card, as I never play games anymore, and the extra battery life is very welcome.

I will never purchase another non-business class laptop again. The keyboard is so nice, I can type just as fast on my laptop, as I can on my desktop. It's just miles ahead of the MBP I sent back.

Thank you HP Business, you have a very happy customer.

 

Hi, the graphics card is the X2300 - its an identification issue which is fixed by installing the latest ATi CCC & Driver from the HP support website.

 

Seems I got some bad luck with my 6910p: HDD is keeping ugly loud noises every now and then so I have to send it back.

Just waiting for the RMA forms...

But at least the time I had with it was nice; very thin and light!

 

How much battery life are people getting with the X3100? I like the GH715AW, but it seems about $400 too expensive. It looks like exactly the RM230UT with integrated graphics, why is it $350 more expensive? For the 32/64 bit option?

The GM120UT doubles the HDD capacity, doubles the memory, and gives you 4965 wlan for $50 more than the GH715AW. It's just that it has ATI graphics.

To that, I give a sincere 'what the f...!'

 

Hi there

Got my hp 6910p wxga T7300/2gig ram/120gb hd today (norway). After a couple of hours use i notised that the wrist support under my right hand made a plastic noise when i use the keyboard. the noise is located about 2 cm from the edge by the lockingmecanism (se attached picture and video (quictime)). When i press this area with a finger it feels like theres some space undeneath. When i release my finger it sounds.

Is there anyone else who experience this and is this a valid ground for a return?

here is the video (the sound is not quite this loud i reality.)

 

Seems to be connected to heat. Today when i started using the notebook the noise was gone. Maybe it will come back later on when it is warmer.

 

There is space beneath, as the SC reader is above the DVD drive. With heat, the plastic becomes slightly softer and so is easier to push down, hence it is possible to make a noise.
I would never call this a defect. There is nothing wrong with a bit of give in the palmrest, and helps to prevent cracking in any case anyway.
Physically and intentionally putting large amounts of pressure onto the notebook that is not part of everyday use is probably not a good idea anyway.

 

Marmion, thanks for the thread. Your review is what got me thinking seriously about the 6910p.

Two questions for you: 1. Have you had the chance to do any more battery testing? I'm really curious as to how much time I can get out of the standard as well as the travel batteries.

2. How much size and weight does the 8 cell add? Does it make it harder for traveling? Your picture with the 8 cell makes it look quite bulky. Any chance you can post some more pictures of the LT with the 8 cell attached?

TIA!

Shraga

 

Olenor, you could try opening it up and putting a little two sided tape under there. You know, the thick foam kind. Or maybe a bit of self adhesive rubber film.

 

Thanks!

My travel battery is around 2 1/2 years old now, and so any testing with that would be irrelevant because of lost capacity. When it was new, with my nx8220 it would add up to 4 hours (on top of the 4 1/2 hrs I got from the standard battery in the nx8220). This of course was with lowest brightness settings, surfing the net and undervolted. Playing games it would give an extra 2 hours.
Now, with the 6910p I'm getting an extra 1 - 1 1/2 hours or so due to the age of it.
The 6 cell in the 6910p generally gives me 3 - 3 1/2 hours with lowest brightness, wireless on surfing the net. Its not what I was expecting, but it has got slightly better since the first time I used it.



Here are a few more pics of the 6910p with the travel battery. When I take it with me, I don't have it attatched. It fits perfectly well with a whole bunch of coursebooks in my laptop bag.



Weight with travel battery and DVD drive is around 2.75kg and without the DVD drive is about 2.58kg

With the 8 cell attatched the height of the notebook at the back is 6cm. The extra height at the back does make it more confortable to type and look at the screen.

 

I can confirm it is a quiet laptop, which is great news.

However, has anyone else not received any discs? I only got the laptop, no DVDs at all. It asked me to install a 32bit Vista, which was stored on the harddrive which sucks as I wanted 64bit and it was advertised as 32/64. And now I do not have any dvds, they only gave me the option of burning recovery disks but this seems bloated as it took two dvds and I am not sure if it is just the OS or drivers too.

Anyway, I feel cheated, I mean such an expensive laptop and they cannot even provide the Vista DVD! Do you know if the OEM key will work on 64bit versions as well, or would I need to request another?

By the way, has anyone tried to restore any disk images using Ghost successfully? Mine does not want to register under DOS.

 

Hi!

I've had my 6910p for a couple of weeks now, and I'm have som questions I want to ask the rest of you:

1: Does any of you have trouble with putting and waking the 6910p from sleep? (Vista business 32bit) Sometimes it works perfectly, sometimes it just ends with a black screen and I have to force reboot and sometimes it even reboot itself... (Vista problem?)

2: My HD makes a constant low "blowing" noise, almost sounds like there is a small fan there, should it be like that or..? The HD I had in my last laptop was all silent in idle...

3: Theres a "weird" sound (typical electric sound..) comeing from the area between the HD and the fan, it sometimes reminds me of an "oldschool modem sound" but of course not that loud, somtimes it more but it's more of a "buzzing" sound, quite annoying if it's quiet in the room... I guess it's something with the graphics, anyone with the same problem?

Y

 

1) I think a lot of people have a lot of problems with sleep, be it in Vista or XP. I quite frankly won't use sleep as that tends to happen and makes it pretty much useless. I solely use hibernate and never have problems with it - XP or Vista (I dual boot).

Edit: fishfood in another thread discovered, thanks to HP support, that it was an issue with Vista/MS 3D screensavers. Turn it off (set to none) and his problems (so far) have not propped up again.

2) Yes I hear this sound with the HD. I have no concern over it and have this sound with my nx8220 untill the drive spins down and turns off, a setting available in NHC, but since the HD is constantly being used in Vista this will never hapen.

3)The 'weird' sound is pretty much an issue with the C2D (and for that matter the Pentium M etc.). It's to do with the constant changes between power states. To be fair, I hear this sound with our TV aswell. Its annoying, I don't always hear it.

 

For the hibernate/sleep problem, you may want to try this:

1. Right click the desktop.
2. Click personalize
3. Click screen saver
4. Change Screen saver to None.

My problem was that my display would go black after returning from hibernate. The above-listed steps fixed the problem for me. Appearantly, in Vista, the 3D screen savers cause some sort of problem when returning from sleep.

 

That didnt seem to work, problem still there, but thanks anyway...

By the way, have any of you tried changing the DVDrom with the plastic "weightsaver"? I tried to take it out today by removing the tiny screw close to the edge where you can see the "lock" logo, but it didnt slide out easy, and I dint want to brak anything so... Any trick with that?

 

It is spring-loaded. Push the tray in and it should spring out.

 

I've also noticed this fan-like sound of the HD in my 6910p from the beginning.

It's not that loud, but I wonder if it's really only the spinning of the HD or an extra fan somewhere near the disk inside the case.
Replacing the disk by a better one shouldn't be a problem at all since the cover which holds it on the bottom of the case looks easy to open.

So maybe there is anybody who can tell if the sound is only present with the default HD.

 

Has anyone tried installing XP 64bit on this 6910p? I have and it is quite a nightmare, not all drivers are included with the Vista /drivers folder of course, although some are, and the HP web site is useless, the listed XP drivers are all 32bit drivers except for the graphics driver for intel graphics.

Most importantly, I cannot find drivers for the fingerprint sensor and the laptop crashes on every shutdown with a 0x0000009f (0x9f) blue screen. (Driver power state failure). This happens as soon as you install one of the two unknown devices in device manager. I have a feeling it has to do with chipset drivers, but I have not yet found proper XP 64bit chipset drivers; the one I found that is labelled as such seems to not install anything, the drivers in device manager are not updated.

If anyone has found working fingerprint sensor drivers for XP 64bit or solved the blue screen driver problem, please let us know.

 

I've recently bought HP 6910p and it's a great notebook but I've got a small problem with it and I wonder if you have too. The problem is with the mute button - it turns off 60 seconds after turning it on but computer is still silent because Vista's mute keeps working. If I press the button again - Vista's mute is disabled and laptop's mute is on again, so the computer is still silent. And so on.
I've had mine 6910p replaced because of that, but the second unit acts like the first one so I'm wondering if every 6910p has this flaw.

 

6910p is good notebook, but im have same problem with sound as karol, also im have fan noise when I use Firefox :/