*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

You/anyone try it yet?

 

I plan on tring it tonight when I get off work.

 

You may want to check out the HDX18 forum. Last time I checked the HDX18s quad processors ran slow and hot, BUT from what I heard about the latest 2.5 1000mhz is that it runs fast..but I don't know if it gets hot thus slows down because of it and or lack of cooling in the HDX18 unit. The Dragon is bigger runs cool, doesn't have any problems really with overheating and is built better than the HDX18. The screen size is way better with the Dragon, you get a true desktop feel to it if that's what you want, being the desktop replacement that it is, where as you lose a lot of real estate with the HDX18.

8GB DDR3 will be better than 4GBs in terms of being able to handle a heavier load of work, but people I saw posting there said DDR3 doesn't offer that much of a difference over DDR2. You can get 8GBs of DD2 ram for the Dragon as well, look a few posts back.

Vista 64 bit rocks, everything is moving in that direction if you want 32 bit you can always get a Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD real cheap and use 2.0s method I believe on page 100 on how to get that working as a dual boot if need be. Really you just partition, install then use the ABR activation software to activate Windows Vista using your already existing serials it came with CTO. Really it works best I think from the factory recovery DVDs it came with CTO, OR if you really know what you're doing from a clean install of Vista.

The 8800 is clearly better than the 130m but if youre not a gamer it may not matter.. though if you need it for heavy graphics processing or want maximum performance then it may in your case.

I paid 2400 almost a year ago for my HDX 2.5GHZ ( was used for a month by the owner). If you look at the prices I think that's a good price considering what components it comes with. Typically I see them listed currently between 1500-2000+ still so it seems good. What are the specs if I may ask?

 

Sweet. Please let us know how it is if its any better than the previous one if you can.

 

hi dominick, thanks for the reply. here are the specs:
Product Name HDX9390EE
Product Number CH959EA
Microprocessor Cache 6 MB Level 2 cache
Memory 4096 MB (2 x 2048 MB)
Memory Max Up to 4 GB DDR2 (Up to 1 GB may not be available due to 32-bit operating system resource requirements)
Video Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
Video Memory Up to 1791 MB (512MB dedicated)
Hard Drive 640 GB (2 x 320 GB) (5400 rpm)
Multimedia Drive Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer
Display 20.1” WSXGA+ High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
Network Card Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
Wireless Connectivity Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 802.11b/g Integrated Wireless LAN

can i upgrade vista to 64 bit for free? will 8gb memory double the performance of the dragon? is it hard to replace the memory and hard disk? sorry for the ignorance, i'm not that good at computers....

 

If you know the person or are confident it is a solid machine, I would scoop it up for $1350.

I don't think you should double the memory, but I would do a clean install of Windows 7 RC2, Ultimate 64 bit. It's free to try for almost a year, and is a pretty solid build. I've been using RC2 (7201) for a week now, and it's an improvement over RC1, which was an improvement for me over Vista. I am very happy with it. This will let you get the most of the RAM installed. 8 Megs won't give you much performance gains unless you do A LOT of multi-tasking. Best to see if what you get makes you happy first. Make back-up discs of the current OS first, so you can change back if you desire.

As for changing RAM and Hard drives, pretty much if you can change out the toilet paper roll, you can change these items.

Also, I didn't see if said which CPU this unit has. I'm assuming 2.5 or 2.6GHz.

Whatever you do, good luck and welcome.

 

Only problem is gaming performance is still below Vista.

 

hello there. what's RC2? it's 2.5GHz btw....

 

i know what it is now. is it easy to install the RC2? how about backing up the OEM drivers that came with the dragon? btw, this model don't have wireless N. is this necessary for modern notebooks? i've heard that you can get better and faster connection using this type. what about the display? because on the unit that i'm supposed to buy it has 1680 x 1050 res. what gives? thanks again

 

Hi all i got my HDX 9217tx in feb last year for uni work and for gaming and i am stocked with it except for the dvd drive anyways i got the one with the 2.8ghz core 2 extreme CPU and the ATI mobility radeon HD 2600xt GPU and the bad HD DVD drive that doesnt read anything. Blah blah blah you know the rest of it. Firstly i would like to know if it is possible to change from the 2600xt to the 8800M GTS and if it would be much more powerful and if it is possible to do yourself and if it would be hard to do (I have made my desktop myself but i have never ever pulled apart a laptop before). seccondly i was wonderin where i would start lookin for a blu ray dvd drive for the dragons cause the hd dvd drive in them sucks and thinks every dvd i put in there is blank .
Anyways any input would be much appreciated
Thanks

 

I understand this is a 600 pages long board... but the GPU question has been answered a lot, you should look back a little for details - I am not the most technical guy here so I am just not the most qualified guy to get into colmplicated options - Let's just say that the GPU in this machine (like most laptops) is soldered to the board so you would have to change a lot more than just that. Regarding the drive it shouldn't be to hard to find a blu ray to buy online in whatever country you are - I suppose "AUS" means Australia?

 

Looks good, unless your heart was set on a WUXGA screen and or 2.8GHz...like Hover said, IF you trust the person selling it and can verify it doens't have stuck or dead pixels. Make sure you ask the dood to pack it really well so the bezel above the webcam doesn't crack, which eventually happens for one reason or another on many HDXs. Its no big deal, but for me it seems to cause a stuck pixel because of the way it pinches my screen. I have to massage it to get rid of it but it comes back. Kinda annoying but not a huge deal to me.

Like Hover said 8GBs won't help you unless you like to have a lot of tabs opened in your browser, you like to run several programs at once, use heavy processing/heavy programs like from Adobe, Maya, or what not.. THOUGH I must say across the board, you will have to restart once or twice per day to refresh the memory because it eventually reaches maximum, which is annoying BUT if you have 8 GBs of ram you either won't have to do that every day or at all. I personally would NEVER go back to using 4GBs of ram as I ALWAYS have between 40-80 tabs or more opened in Firefox, and or am doing several different things at the same time. I work my HDX and am looking for a 2.8GHZ HDX for that reason. If all you do is browse the web, or casually use it you may not need 8GBs of ram, but I and others have found it helps a lot and are very happy with it. You can see benchmarks of how much it helps here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4699019#post4699019

I know you can downgrade from 64 bit to 32 bit with the same Vista version you bought CTO..but its not free, you just have to buy a Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD...though from the title I would assume that you could go from 32 bit to 64 bit AS LONG as you choose the same exact Vista you bought CTO..that is if you got it with Home Premium you have to choose 64 bit Home Premium. You will need to go to this post follow the instructions on how to activate it using ABR: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228. Windows 7 is nice, but you will have to download and install the drivers yourself as you would with any clean install. Not EVERYTHING will work, I think Infrared doesn't if I remember correctly or power management, though may in time..though it will expire eventually so you will have to buy it at some point next year I believe. People also complain gaming is slower with Windows 7.

Memory and Hard Drives are not hard to install at all. Like he mentioned very easy BUT make sure you turn off your HDX, unplug the power source, AND take out the battery so you avoid the possibility of shorting.

 

Wait isn't it only for 32 bit?

 

RC2 is Windows 7 release candidate 2..ie Windows 7 official beta. Which you just download from microsoft burn to a DVD as a bootable ROM and pop into your DVD drive to install after a reboot. There are so far two service packs which you will have to install one and then the second one after it.

What I think is recommended is to install it, then do the service packs, THEN do the drivers which you can see what you need from device manager, the Start menu, and Add Remove/Programs. For Windows 7 I believe many of them come through Windows Update, so go that route I think then anything you don't have go to the HP site to get. Of course you will need to get the NVIDIA drivers from their site.

 

You can get either the UJ 120 which is a Blu Ray ROM reader, or a UJ 220 which is a Blu Ray Burner. There are step by step repair/replacement videos on HP you can use as a reference to do the replacement yourself or else trust someone else to do. I personally don't think I would do it myself, as I'm not that technically proficient, but I have never built a PC like you have.

 

I also have an HDX 9217tx, exactly like yours. (I assume you have a blu ray DVD also.) Your software from HP is Cyberlink DVD version 5. I have upgraded to Cyberlink PowerDVD9 Ultra, it reads my Blu Ray DVDs withhout any issues in either QuickPlay or Windows Media Center. I have had my HDX half apart to see if I could replace the video board and gave up before I ruined my HDX. I definitely don't recommend you attempt to change the video board unless you are a professional. It's a big job, and the risk of breaking something is very high. If you do swap it out, please post to the lounge as I would be interested in the results.

 

Will the 8GB of ram be recognized with the F39 bios? As I recall, you are on F40 and I'm afraid to go there.

 

Hey thanks heaps for the help guys . I think i might head down to my local laptop store and ask him about the GPU and see what options i have if any to switch it around or if i could get something better (9600m gts in the HDX18 would be sweet) and if he will do it with a warranty (I'm sure it will cost me a arm and a leg but nothing is too expensive for my baby lol).

And thanks for the bluray reader/burner product numbers i'm looking in to them now and hopefully i'l have one in the next couple of weeks to replace this thing they CALL a hd dvd reader.

Thanks guys

 

And i will inform you of whats the go and what options i have when i talk to the laptop repair expert

Thanks again

 

thanks for the replies, you have been very helpful. last two questions though...
about the wireless N connection, does it really give better connection than the B/G that the unit has? and the WUXGA against the WSXGA LCD, is there a big difference between the two? thanks again....

 

Nvidia 186.03 is out

 

hi hovercraftdriver,
after your installation of windows 7, were you able to install all the drivers of the dragon? are all the buttons still working? im also interested on putting windows 7 on the dragon....

 

The only one I can't get to work is the remote control. All else works fine.

 

oh i see. but if ever you restore it to the original OS it would start working again right?

 

Yeah, it's just a driver that hasn't been properly integrated with Win7 yet.

 

ok. thanks again

 

The link he gave was but if you go to: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us you can specify what OS you have.

BTW I tested it out but have been too busy to post the results. I am at work right now so I do not have all the numbers but here is a quick rundown.

The official 186.03 from NIVIDA is slightly faster than 185.85 from NIVIDA. On 3DMark 06 it was about 100 points higher, with FRAPS I noticed and average of 2-4 FPS increase in games. 185.85 from DOX is actually faster than 186.03 from NIVIDA. Same amount 100 points in 3dMark 06 and 2-4 FPS in games. So for the most part no major gains here. For now I am using 186.03 till DOX comes out with a newer release.

ATM 2-4 FPS will not kill me. All my games run above 30 FPS. But eventually as new games come out and the Dragon ages more it could be of more significance.

Also Blue Ray playback works with all the above mentioned drivers.

 

The 9600m is actually much slower than the 8800m. The next step up would be the 9800m. The numbering is deceiving. If you look here you can see all the specs for laptop GPUs.

What would be sweet would be a GTX 280M!!

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9600M-GT.9449.0.html



BTW I have had my HDX apart and removed the GPU from my Motherboard. It is in a MXM slot. It looks a lot like a large memory slot. You slide the card in and push down to lock it in place, to remove it you pull the levers on either side of the slot. The issue I see is the card size and the wholes on the card for the heat sink would have to be identical.

Here is a pic of when I had it apart:

 

From experience I think N works better and has a better range than B and G. I prefer WUXGA over SXGA anyday. If you want to watch Blu Ray you will want UXGA. Others say you'll be better off with SXGA if you game because it displays better in native resolution. I have seen NOTHING BUT good, rather, VERY positive reviews of the UXGA, gushing out about how good UXGA is in the HDX. Others in the forum will say SXGA is brighter. You can do the research yourself to find this out. Either way personally I love my UXGA!

 

Nice! Thanks for posting it again! I wonder who will be the first to be a Guinea pig and try to get a 9800 in the HDX Dragon and report back....? Any takers?

 

can the wireless card be also replaced in this baby?

 

I and several others who have 8GBs have it working and haven't flashed the BIOS.. pretty much almost everyone didn't flash the BIOS to F40. I think it working depends more so on the OS.

 

Yes sir. Can't remember who did but someone upgraded it to the faster N Card, I believe 5300?? Can't remember the number either but yea you can.

 

thank you so much for the inputs guys. i will get back here when i finally purchase the dragon. btw, it's still under warranty.... thanks again

 

You bet. 2000 on a pentium 4 2 gb corsair memory and stuff.

I also have XP on a Dell Power Edge 1950

with a sata raid array

and they said you couldnt load xp on it... pffttt.

Ya I installed XP on a friends HDX9000 for him. the controller driver wouldnt slipstream for so i had to write code to manually pull it from the $OEM$ folder.

 

Here is a video from the HP Media Library showing the removal/replacement of the video card in the HDX.

http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q86/comptrekkie/HDX Vidoes/?action=view&current=32-vgaboard.flv

 

Just purchased a refurb hdx 20'1080p monitor with 8800 video card and after 3 hours of automatic installation...error message..windows cannot complete the install...restart your cumputer to finish the install..then it just loops over and over again....any advice????

 

Do you think the HDX18T backlit keyboard will work with the
Dragon?

 

Cool. How did you write the code? I just used nLite.

 

You using a cto recovery disk?

 

The HP tech told me its a different size/too small..:/

 

Anyone got a link to which memory I can buy so its 8 gygs and hard drive so they are 7200 rpm?

 

I just re listed so there's two 4GB GSkills available now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280358587371

They just had a listing on Slickdeals.net for a 500GB Seagate 7200.4 drive for a bit less than $130 but I don't know if its still active. I bought these for $134 but you may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere:

www.onsale.com/shop/detail~dpno~7722112~descr~Seagate-500GB+7200RPM+16MB+BUFFER++SERIAL+ATA+I.aspx

 

Evening Everyone,
Let me start off by saying, what a great forum, without it I never would have gotten my HDX. That said, I've been searching for an answer for this for a bit without much luck(both on this forum and google), so here goes my first post here: Does anyone know if there is a specific inf/driver for the HDX 20" 1920x1200 display? I've the 9300 version of the HDX w/ Nvidia 8800 and the monitor just states it's a generic pnp under the control panel. I reloaded a new copy of vista 64 on a new hard drive that I swapped out for the original, so not sure if the driver was on the original load or not, so before I gave up and shove the old HD back in, I thought it prudent to ask first. If I'm just being thick and there isn't one, my apologies.

Thanks for the help in advance, Cheers.

 

No worries, mine says generic pnp too ;-).

 

NVIDIA System Tools with ESA Support 6.05 published.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.05.html

 

guys, can you show me a link on how to install windows 7 RC2 step by step? this is my first time to install an OS. also please show me all the links where i can download all the drivers for the dragon? thanks again...

 

After you make back-up discs, start here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

There are several how-to links in there...read all and get familiar. Then download and burn image with free ISO maker and follow install instructions.

Here is torrent info: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...th-sp1-rc2-x86-and-x64-iso-torrents-download/

and download link: http://depositfiles.com/en/files/lzv5tvaev

Here is HP driver site: http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

Use Vista 32 or 64 drivers, depending on which Win 7 version you install. I suggest 64 since you wanted to max your ram.

Latest Win7 nVidia driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_notebook_win7_x64_186.03_whql.html

A couple of drivers may not still work, but Windows update caught all but my TV remote and quick launch buttons. Check page 100 here for how to get latest QL. Good luck.

 

thanks you so much

btw, may i ask what anti virus software you are using right now for windows 7?

 

AVG free for right now. I was using Windows One Care for Vista, but no worky for Win7. Supposedly, there is going to be another Windows product similar to One Care as stand-alone or embedded in, after launch.