HP Elitebook 6930p Review?

Shekkery,

Yours came with Vista pre-installed? All the models that are being sold and shipped from HP starting in September are going to come with XP Pro and a free upgrade disc to Vista Business so that people can choose what they want. As for your question about 32-bit versus 64-bit. While the 32-bit only shows about 3 1/2 GBs of RAM in the system, the remaing 1/2 GB is still used, just for hardware purposes only. The only advantage with upgrading to a 64-bit would be to get full utilization of all 4 GB in the system as well as be able to upgrade up to 8 GB down the road and fully utilize that as well.

As for posting pictures, that would be appreciated considering they are fairly sparse on the net right now. Just make sure you are not violating any special clause rule your institute has with HP by posting media content before the laptops "Official" launch.

BBGus

 

How is it compared to you previous ThinkPad? How is its flex?

 

What does Flex mean?

Thinkpad's keys were studier/harder. (T60) I don't have my T60 for side/side comparision though, we had to give up our T60s for replacement for the Elitebooks

 

Basically, when you press the keys, do you feel any springiness coming from the keyboard?

 

Will let you know - I get home in abt 4 hours.

 

The spring feels slight, but it's hard to describe. The spring/bounce certainly feels lighter than the DiNovo though. Which is what I'm using right now. I want to say (although this is now a bit foggy), that the Thinkpad's springs were stronger. The keys are lighter than the Thinkpads.

The cover is not glaring - a user mentioned / was curious about that.

It looks extremely sturdy. When closed, the laptop looks extremely impressive - certainly with a lot of elegance.

BBGus - I gave you a rep point. Thanks for the help regarding ram.

 

No problem, now I just gotta decide whether I order another laptop or wait it out for my original order. I just don't know...school started this week and I need a notebook bad...

BBGus

 

question on drive encryption. Is this done through hardware full disk encryption or HP software encryption.

If it was hardware encryption i would get this laptop for sure, just hate waiting

 

I believe it’s software-only, but maybe someone can prove me wrong. Then again, the algorithms that BitLocker uses in the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista only add single digit overhead. Regardless, you can always buy HDs with built-in crypto off-load hardware.

 

Thats is plain stupid!!! I mean is it common that companies mass produce demo models (1600 in one school!!!) and then wait for feedback's and then release it to public?

I mean demo or sampling is done on smaller scale and to professionals!

Sigh, it is a good thing that i am purchasing the laptop november end, so all this problem will be cleared hopefully. But they surely missed the back to school wagon. I know they are business models and are not really affected by the school season.

It seems it is the vista OS. The OS tries to index the HDD and does sync once a day or something like that, thats where the access the HDD comes.

The Vista x64 is more buggy than x86 (32bit) and there isnt a whole lot of softwares that can utilize the 64 bit processing yet. Unless you are into computational analysis and use math heavy softwares you really do not need x64. You will seriously be limiting the range of softwares you will be using.

Also yes, Vista x86 (32bit) will only recognize 3.2 GB, but then remaining is utilized hardware wise, so no need to worry.

Yes for the HP Elitebook, the encryption is software wise, you can check that in the spec sheet.

Awaiting those pics and reviews

Cheers
MadEngineer

 

I don't think so MadEngineer. I have been running 5 desktops with Vista Home Premium, 2 with Vista Business, 1 with Ultimate, and my personal gaming/video editing rig with 64 bit Home Premium and I have yet to run into a single problem what so ever. The only thing I still have that has XP Pro on it is my HP 2133 Mini-Note which I am trying to see if HP would take it in with their trade in program and give me something half-way decent. While, as I stated, I have not run into any major bugs or random errors on any of the systems, I like the 64 bit the most. It allows my desktop to run all 8 GBs of RAM that I have installed to crank when I am doing heavy rendering with my Intel Q6600 quad core. The nice thing about the 64 bit is it can fully recognize the hardware and, unlike XP Pro 64 bit before it that was worthless because it was completely software incompatible, the new 64 bit Vista includes a full x86 (32 bit) emulator that allows you to run program either way. The only slight downside to this is that the already 10-15 GB O.S. starts to push upwards toward 20 GB when programming is installed, but that is a small price to pay in my opinion.

End thread tangent lol.

BBGus

 

For those who has never tried an HP business notebook before, the Elitebook is constructed as sturdily as any of its predecessors. HP's assembly precision has always been very high and consistent, which is why I vouch for it, but I've experienced inconsistencies in Lenovo's Thinkpads in the past year or so. You will rarely hear build quality complaints about HP's business notebooks.

 

Sorry, was digging around yesterday and couldn't find my camera (believe sister took it for a day). I'll upload pictures once I get back.

 

Here's a review:
LAPTOP Magazine

 

I really like this notebook. You can get a travel warranty for it, next day on site for an extra $200, and that is global.

I placed an order for the 6930p today via the hp.com site. On checkout it said estimated ship date of 8/29/08. Once my order went through the system I got a ship date of October 11th.

I called HP sales and they said that companies like CDW, Insight, and PCMall would get them before they would. I then called CDW which said they have an estimated arrival of mid September for these models.

I place an order with them also and am hoping for the best because I need it before October 1st. CDW has same prices as Hp.com and the shipping is around the same also.

 

I'm sorry to say this yall, but I may have to ditch and get something else as sad as I am to say it. I just can't wait because of school. Already my English and Philosphy are screaming for a notebook as a necessity and it's only been 2 days...

BBGus

 

alright no prob BBGus...hope someone else in the nbr team could get their hands on a unit!

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

Sorry guys - Notebook Review was down at 10:30 PM which exactly was the only time I had to even use the computer. I had time to upload 2 files this morning, but I took a lot more shots last night. Only had this much time to upload them.

Will try to get to it tonight again.

Behind is the notebook dock 2008 model. It goes with the laptop quite well.

The keyboard is a Dinovo for comparision of how thick it is.

 

I have a couple of questions:
If you look in the BIOS (or rather, UEFI, actually) setup menus, as in this emulator, you can see a "Custom Logo" option; however, there's no explanation for what it does. Would you be willing to try setting that option, to see if perhaps it lets you choose an image file, or something?

Setup Menu Emulator: http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmconten...868&MEID=5C316DB1-6B5B-4C11-9F68-807A3979A6CE

In addition, I'm curious what the audio chip is capable of (for example, separating line-out from built-in speakers, and using dolby digital live), and does it allow Stereo Mix recording?
I'm also curious what the touchpad is capable of... what's the "version" of the touchpad hardware shown in the Mouse control panel? Does it offer the new "Momentum" and "ChiralMotion" features?

 

I received an email from HP Small & Medium Business Management saying they received an email from the procurement team, saying my order placed Aug. 28th would ship the first days of September and they will update me on Monday.

I had to cancel my order with CDW as they wanted me to fax a copy of my driver’s license to verify my identity and I refused to be treated like a criminal. Other companies including HP verify such information via a phone call.

 

hhmm i am really surprised that having such a great product, HP would put a tad more effort in keeping their customers happy and market the products.

Its almost like "what the hell the product is gonna sell anyways why bother with tiny miny complains"

 

I might grab a business notebook. They seem very professional-like.

 

They’re nice. You’d have to pay me extra to use a consumer-class notebook.

 

Dana,

I don't know how to answer the second part of your questions. I attached a photo - hope that helps for the first part.

I have no idea how to check the audio, and the TouchPad is 7.0 (whatever that means?). Since I'm relatively new to laptops, most of these specific things I'm a bit lost on

 

Well, i figure they probably use the same facilities to build the consumer notebooks. There is a back to school run on the new dv5 series.

Some companies end the fiscal year October 31st so have to spend the excess budget by then, so probably all in part of the planning, consumer notebooks vs business.

 

Thanks for the pics Shekery!

 

For the audio thing, take around and see what the SoundMax control panel offers. In addition, check out the HDMI port in Vista... does it offer multichannel audio, or just stereo?

For the touchpad, take a look in the touchpad settings thing to see if it has support for the newer gestures. I hope the fact that it's a relatively high version number will mean it'll support the gestures. The highest version number I've previously seen (in Xorg logs and such) is 6.2.

I just wish the **** 8530p / 8530w had a definitive CTO-availability date. This waiting for an indefinite point in time is really aggravating.

 

Dana, no idea on how to check the HDMI.



Nothing beneath the sound.

 

Aah, HDMI is a playback device, not a capture device. Perhaps there'll be more stuff under Advanced, also. Even that screenshot so far is useful; thanks!

One sure sign of the new touchpad thing: "ChiralMotion" will be listed when you select "Virtual Scrolling".

 

Advanced for Soundmax is worthless. There is nothing there.

 

nice pics. Does the ati card run hot? Or is it normal temp?

 

Beware, the integrated speakers on the 6930p are not symmetrically placed! See page 2 of their specs found here.

This senseless design problem occurred already on the 6910p, and HP did not correct it!

 

While this is true, it appears that they aren't as offcenter as they were on the 6910p. The Dell E6400 definitely has the advantage on speaker placement...they're on either side of the keyboard on that model.

 

Temps are the same found in the review posted earlier.

Not to down on anyone - but a few more people are reporting errors with some of the design of this.

Someone mentioned spacebar issues, another with backspace. I had troubles with my sound.

Some of you may want to wait it out perhaps, +2 weeks when everyone gets theirs to ultimately decide.

 

I wonder when hp will offer customizable options

 

Has anyone else received one of these yet?

 

Um, well? Anyone received one?

 

These are in production and are being shipped out. The demand is just pretty big among corporate customers.

 

No they're not. I ordered one on 9/5 with an expected ship date of 9/16. Called them yesterday, the ship date is now 9/30 for arrival Oct. 1. If they were "now shipping" I should have gotten one.

I am currently very displeased with HP's handling of stock on this and I am incredibly peeved that I need to wait a month for a $1600 laptop that isn't even a custom build. So far they've only offered me free shipping, when the laptop finally shows up.

I sent an email to the CEO basically saying if they can't fill orders, they need to pull the model from their website. If I go add one to my cart right now it tells me it will ship 9/25, when the supervisor at HP told me they won't even be in the warehouse until 9/29.

I used to love HP, but this has seriously discolored my rosy impression of them. I needed a computer by the end of this week and wouldn't have ordered one if the true ship date had been shown. I didn't even get an email until 5pm today telling me that the ship date was wrong. All in all, it's been a bad experience.

 

How sad. I keep following this thread—all the while seriously enjoying my new Lenovo T400. VERY glad I went with the Lenovo…

 

Ship date now 10/4. I am very disappointed, as I am truly going to have to buy something else. I can't wait any longer, and they've already pushed it back on me twice.

Further update: PC connection says they will get theirs "around the end of the month." CDW has an expected arrival date of 10/20.

I'm not expecting that I would actually see one before that. Very upset with HP's handling of this. It's like they ordered NO computers to be manufactured and are waiting to collect enough orders to justify a shipment from overseas. Terrible service.

 

Ship date was 10/10 when I called to cancel my order. I bought an Asus F8. It's not clear that they plan to ship any of these anytime before November.

 

yet their price is high for most users...

truly a disaster for HP.

they let their competition get ahead of them...all that hype of 6930p since july a failure.

I think they ran into problems, and had to take the model back to drawing board for some serious major corrections.

 

Just received this info directly from my HP rep. Hope it helps.

"The issues with the Elite Series notebooks are actually a chipset issue. The Intel chipset would cause critical system issues when the notebook went into “Sleep” mode. Issues have been fixed and the shipments have been released from hold from HP September 4th. If your ETA has changed since then, you will need to talk to the distributor, or your HP Source rep. It usually takes 30 days for distribution to build up stock once HP has released a product, but it could take longer since there were so many back orders for these Elite Books. "

 

Exactly why they shouldn't have allowed that many backorders to develop. The model shouldn't have been available to buy while there was an issue, especially not if there were standing backorders available.

Not to mention the extreme annoyance I'm feeling that they apparently sent 1600 of them to one business school while telling people who had already ordered that there weren't any to be had.

My asus just arrived less than 15 hours after ordering it. I'm sort of over HP at this point.

 

Hi folks, so what does that mean now? I have selected this notebook beeing the best choice for me right now, but i would need to pick it up while in states next month (these things get **** expensive over here in europe). So is there any chance that these will be in shops (e.g. bestbuy, CC) or be delivered to my us adress by October 23rd?

 

In order to get one in the states, you'd have to order from a place like PC Connection or CDW, if you don't order direct from HP. The last word on HP was they were shipping 10/10, but since they backed up my ship date an entire month in just three days, I'm not sure I would take that as any kind of firm date.

PC Connection said they were getting them the first week of October, CDW said October 20.

So, you can try to order one from them, but it might not actually be there by october 23.

The business class notebooks are not sold in stores except for mass distributors like CDW, Insight, PC Connection, PC Mall. Best Buy/CC won't have them.