*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

I Have An Extra Multigiant 20" / I Have Posted It On Ebay..
Good Luck!!


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150274001644&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=005

 

Hey cridgitt,

Unless I missed something you are asking for specifically, nvidia comes out with drivers all the time. Several a week sometimes, other times 1 in a few weeks. The trick is making sure they are for your GPU, and sometimes for a specific machine. Most of the time the drivers are desktop GPU's and have to be "modded" for laptops, hence the term. Some guys take extra time to tailor the INF for a specific model or brand name. The HP modded INF file from here:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19636

is specifically for HP laptops and designed for the 177.66 driver, which can also be found on that site. Look in the forums/GeForce driver release section for the complete list.

I have found that the HP modded INF usually works with all drivers, just that the author usually optimizes it for a specific driver. All you have to do is download the driver, unzip the file to a new folder, then download the INF and insert it into the new driver folder. It usually asks you if you want to replace the existing file...click yes and save, then click setup in the driver folder. Make sure you uninstall the original driver first. Helps if you use Driver Cleaner after you uninstall, before installing new driver. Hope this helps.

 

Can you link it? I can't find it, I am in USA.

 

Hello 2.0,

Is it possible and safe to overclock 2.1ghz to 2.3 or 2.4 ghz on the newegg configuration?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147750

Thanks,
Noform

 

Toshiba does, or at least used to have dual lamp displays avalible. Before I got the HDX, I had a Toshiba Quosmio, and can say that the sreen on it was simply stunning, both increadably bright and vibrant. The HDX's screen quality is probably on par with the Qosmio's. Also, the new 19'' Qosmio that'll be here soon will have a Quad Core HD Processor in it. (The same cell architecture as the PS3's cell broadband.) So you can use gesture control and acess various things in real-time with just your hand and the webcam. Sorry if I went off on a bit of a tangent here, but the Qosmio and HDX are both fantastic computers.

On a different note, I was wondering if anyone had a good list of what antivirus/spyware removal tools are avalible currently for Vista x64. I don't usually install anti-virus software (I HATE Norton...), but I was thinking perhaps some kind of protection would be good as I don't want to be formatting this thing every day and need it to be reliable for work. On my other computers, I usually have Xilsoft Spy, Ad-aware, and Spybot S&D running, but I'm not sure if Vista x64 supports them currently. Other htan that, any recommendations as to what Anti-Virus/Firewall software, if any, is realiable and would work well. I have lots of processor intensive programs that I'm usually working with like Photoshop, Fruity Loops, and Sound Forge, and my experience in the past has been with that on top of virus/firewall/anti-spyware running in the background, things tend to slow down. Sorry for rambling on for so long =).

~Brenton

 

You can't overclock it. BIOS doesn't allow for it.

Wait, you know the PLL chip's manufacture code? If you do, then it can be overclocked with software. I had disassembled my HDX a few weeks ago to get some Arctic Silver 5 on the CPU and GPU and forgot to look for the chip.

 

Yeah, that's it. A Toshiba. I saw the screen and was impressed. Happy to report that the HDX is on par. But that new Qosmio sounds awesome. Going to take a look at the specs.

If you're using a Linksys or D-link wifi or wired router, you'll have an SPI firewall built in. Excellent firewalls as they work both ways as opposed to windows one way firewall.

As for anti-virus, I use bitdefender and Dr. web. Both free. Yeah, I know it's after the fact and not real time. But I haven't had a virus or trojan in years. And I do a lot of D/L'ing. My simple method is to D/L - save- scan- run. Also, keep browser security level on med/high to high and let nothing run without prompting.

Malicious websites area a rare thing, but rarer still that you'd come across one.

 

No I don't know the code.

As long as the newegg configuration can play Crysis on Medium Setting , I will be happy without OC the CPU. Any guesses?

 

I use AVG Free from download.com not heavy on system, unlike mcafee.

 

Peeps with the Gateway gaming notebook with 8800GTS and 1.6 - 2.4ghz (Merom) chips are running it fine. Though with lowered resolution.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=223096

There's other threads like this.

 

Preciate your input hovercraftdriver. I did mean specifically the one that 2.0 was talking about, the one with the Phsyx support.

 

Think I will give this one a try, thanks for the great info! On another note, I was thinking of picking up the accidental damage/extended warranty from HP...does anyone know if installing these drivers voids our warranty in any way?

 

Here is a link to the nvidia Physx driver that works with the 177.66 I mentioned...haven't tried it yet, but intend to tonite when I get home.

http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/8.06.12/PhysX_8.06.12_SystemSoftware.exe

*Edited

Also, here is the link to the forum thread that talks about it. Supposedly only the 8800 and up cards are strong enough to make it useful, so we are in there.

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19306

 

i tried the 177.66 but it wasn't very stable for me. right now i'm using 175.70 works pretty good. how do you get ntune to show up. i don't have it. and is there ever going to be a bios update for i can overclock my x9000.

 

Ntune: Once you download and install it, right click desktop> Nvidia control panel, choose advanced and you should see it in the list on the left..

BIOS Update to allow overclocking: Nope. Never. Never-ever. Not gonna happen. ... Maybe. No not really.

But if the PLL's manufacturing code is found, software overclock is possible.

 

I think that was the UltraBright.

 

jfitts, did you order the x9000 with your unit, or buy aftermarket? If after, where and how much? I'm interested. Also, is your 3dMark score stock or GPU overclocked?

thanks

 

Do you do games? If so, does your x9000 make any difference in games? Just curious where the bottleneck is in this beast, the CPU or the GPU. I am considering getting either the barebones machine offered from HP which has a T5850 or the retail 9494NR which has the T8100. Then upgrading to a faster CPU. I can get an ES chips pretty cheap. T9500 for about $275 and x9000 for about $400.

BUT if the bottleneck is the GPU in games there is no reason for me to do it. I am in a unique situation as this will be a dual purpose machine and games is the only reason to even consider an upgrade and games will only be played on it very , very little.

Thanks

 

Newegg has dropped their price to $1549.00 from $1599.99. You still have to pay $21.00 shipping which makes them the lowest total cost of ownership I've seen so far.

Was on the phone with HP today trying to make some sense of the $440 price premium they want you to pay them if you choose "Configure To Order" (CTO) $2039.00 and buy an identical machine as the retail HDX9494NR $1599.00 from them. After about an hour they said they would match the price if it were identical BUT if there was any change the full CTO price would be charged. All I wanted was the $350.00 WUXGA screen upgrade. A total $790 premium for a wuxga screen is outrageous. So I have 1 more trick to try before I order a retail machine. WOuld love to have the higher res but not at that premium $790.00, plus shipping $70.00, and tax $197.00 =$2656.00HP CTO OR $1571.00 Newegg.

$1085 difference for a WUXGA? I could buy another laptop!!!

 

I just joined this forum today but have been reading this thread since I began to research my HDX purchase pre-July. I bought one during HP's July 4th sale and I must say I am a very happy owner. I pinched pennies on the video card though which I regret slightly now.

Just wanted to say hi and thanks for a great thread! I shall continue to read and post if I have something valuable to share!

Will post HDX specs soon.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

But I bet you'd like the 1680 x 1050 res. Everything is big bright and beautiful. I don't even use all the screen real estate. Sidebar on the side and browser filling up the rest. Games look incredible and run like butter at native res.

Up to you though, but you won't be missing much if you drop res. In fact you gain some speed overall. System is snappy. I seriously doubt you'd regret the Wsxga+.

 

Yep! That sounds right. Thanks.

 

I don't know if this is still good, but I dug up a promo code a week or 2 back that gives free shipping on the 9494.

code: NB716FS

hey, every little bit helps right?

@black knight: let me know when you get that bag in, it's a major part of my decision process because I do ride my motorcycle pretty much everywhere.

 

BACKPACK UPDATE:

Hey for anyone who was waiting for me to get the ALIENWARE backpack I ordered - It just got here today.

I am very pleased with my purchase as it feels and looks like it was MADE for the HDX - It fits perfectly without forcing the bag, and I mean PERFECTLY. Unfortunately my camera is broken and I can't take any pix of it but there is no possible complain. It is a heavy duty bag with paddings everywhere.

For the person who mentioned his idea to use it on a motorcycle. You would hardly be able to find a better option (this thing has straps to be fit like a parachute!). But I would still advise you to try carrying a 10kg (20pounds) camping backpack on your back before buying either PC or backpack, because the HDX is indeed much heavier that it looks!


EDIT:
Oh Ok it was you (I just noticed the previous post )

If someone needs a easy reference, I updated the FAQ post on page 100 (but I did't really say much more than what I just said.)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Penryn-X9000-Co...ryZ99251QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


this is where i got my x9000 from. came pretty quick. works great. i figured i could get it cheaper on ebay than having hp put one in. but i got to tell you it was kinda a pain putting a cpu in this thing. took like 4 hours. had to take the whole computer apart. my 3d score is stock. i just changed my video driver. i can't find ntune so i haven't overclocked.

 

i bought this to play games and just to have a updated system. my desktop was pretty old. but i bought the bare system from hp.then i just upgraded to x9000 and 4gb of ram.cheaper than getting it from hp. cpu upgrade takes time and patients.and i got 2 extra screws after.lol. But for as games i play crysis at 1680x1050 on medium and it looks and plays great. every other game call of duty 4 and what not i play maxed out on the same resolution. i just got the x9000 to make sure i would have a good computer for a least 2 or 3 years. then i'll get a sager. oh yea and i got my 320gb 7200rpm hard drive from newegg.

 

ok so just a quick recap of what I've seen (please correct me if I'm wrong).

1) HDX is friggen heavy (15.3lbs.)
2) The alienware backpack fits the laptop perfectly (and so far the only one I've seen that does fit).
3) the graphics drivers are a couple generations old, but by editing an INF for one of the newer machines (latest reported tested version is 175.66)
4) although it's an X64 (and vista), game compatibility doesn't seem to be a huge problem. (hearing AoC and Crysis is running on this)
5) there is no current overclocking via BIOS (and none theoretically to come) but via software it is possible.
6) can be upgraded with a X9000 but it's time consuming.
7) there is a problem with the blue buttons, fix is found on page 100

Here are a couple quick thoughts:
1)There any 3d Mark postings on the HDX series in correlation of different specs (faster processors and different graphics cards)?
2)any regrets?

I'm slowly running out of reasons why not to buy one. come on guys, push me over the edge to order one.

 

1. yes its heavy as hell.lol. but i still use it on my lap like any other laptop.
2. i ordered this case--DICOTA Multigiant
3. i get my drivers from here don't have to modify anything-- http://www.xfastest.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=26&page=1
4. i haven't had any trouble playing those games.
5. i don't know about this one. i'm hoping someone comes out with this software.but its really not needed right now anyway.
6.yep, very
7. i had those same troubles with my blue buttons untill i used page 100.




here's my 3dmark06 scores x9000 & 8800gts & no overclocking
174.74=========8903
stock driver=====8792
177.66=========9039
175.80=========8979
175.63=========8907
175.70=========8949
177.40=========8969

i love this notebook the screen is huge. love playing games with it on my lap. one other thing my power brick makes sizzling noises. but i contacted hp and there going to send me another one. if you are going to get one i would get one from newegg. unless you can get hp to give you a better deal.

 

What is newegg's return policy regarding pixels? Below is what they say about it in general. Are dead pixel(s) considered defective and if so is their a minimum?

Desktop PC, Notebook, and Tablet PC Return Policy

Return for refund within: non-refundable
Return for replacement within: 30 days (defective items only)

This is our Detailed Desktop PC, Notebook and Tablet PC Return Policy. Under this policy all Desktop PCs/Notebooks/Tablet PCs are non-refundable, and this supersedes all other return policies. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. Any Desktop PCs/Notebook/Tablet PC that is deemed defective may be returned for a replacement within 30 days only, but a request for refund will not be granted. If a Desktop PC/Notebook/Tablet PC is returned for a replacement, but no problems are found, the Desktop PC/Notebook/Tablet PC will be returned at your (the buyer's) expense. You should be certain in your decision to purchase a Desktop PC/Notebook/Tablet PC and must agree to this policy before completing your order. By confirming your order, you indicate your agreement to this policy.

A defective Desktop PC, Notebook, or Tablet PC that is returned for a replacement may be repaired or replaced at Newegg.com's discretion, unless otherwise required by law. We strive to uphold our standard RMA processing time for these types of items; however, in some situations the item must be sent to the manufacturer for repairs. Unfortunately Newegg cannot expedite the RMA repair process in these situations, as we must abide by the manufacturer's established processing time. If you have a question regarding a Desktop PC, Notebook, or Tablet PC RMA, please contact our Customer Service Department.

 

Thanks 2.0

 

Jfitts,

That it worth it right

Where can I get some instruction on removing the old cpu and putting a new one in?

How safe is it do I need to be a pc tech..?

Can you sell the old cpu will it still work?

Can you in few years later add the new cpu again?

Thanks,
noform

 

i think its worth it. plus i wanted the top of the line cpu now because i did not want to open this thing back up anytime soon. plus i have a habit of upgrading everything i get somehow. the x9000 is cheaper now when i got mine it was like $500.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...cc=us&dlc=en&os=2100&product=3547191&lang=en&
you can download a service tech there for it. you will pretty much have to remove everything to get to the cpu.


i sold my T8100 on ebay.went pretty quick. the stock screen was more then enough for me too.

 

this is a good site to check out for lots of stuff.

http://forum.astalavista.ms/index.php?sid=99de63e19e1074a2192c85a03010b881

 

when you drop $1800 on a laptop, they're usually rather cool about returns (or at least for me, but I've dropped over 18K through them) for the most part if the dead pixel isn't in or near the middle of the screen they won't do anything about it. but if it's near the middle they're usually pretty cool about returns, not to mention HP has a 1 year warranty and if newegg won't do it, contact HP and throw a fit over the phone and inform them this is purchased for your business and your manager is now wondering why you should bother going with HP. you'll get their customer care support team and get one shipped (with a deposit) that day. it's what I did with a multifunction unit that was 12 days out of warranty and they wouldn't fix it due to a fault that was known as a design flaw.

I guess my point is, you kick and scream enough and ask to go up high enough, you can get almost anything replaced.

@jfitts23: thanks for the link, but I'd be careful providing links to "extended trail versions", most places like to keep that off their forums. Just don't want you to get in trouble.

One more question, is it possible to toss a quad core in these puppies? I'm an AMD guy and not too familiar on the limitations and differences between the mobile processors and the desktop processors of intel.

Thanks

 

1) Right it doesn't look heavy because it's rather slim compared to let's say the 20' Acer, but it is HEAVY -
2) Not the ONLY one, the HP backpack\roller is probably (almost?) as good and the Ilugger can become a backpack but they are both hybrid and that IMO that gives them some limitations in terms of backpack: the first one looks huge and a bit clumsier than the Alien, the second one has plastic hooks to fit the straps which in a review I read appear to be OK but not 100% reliable. (one quality of the Ilugger is that the external side has a hard plastic reinforcement which is supposed to give an extra protection to the Imac - But the Alien is a parachute and has cushins everywhere: go for it.)
3) I didn't update the graphic drivers but I am very happy with it, I got lots of games that run fine AND my Blu Ray runs fine too.
4) I have Vista 64 games are overall fine.
5) I already have a X9000, no idea about that.
6) Oh really? I should go to see page 100 then!

Quick thoughts
1) I am not familiar with those nerdy tests - this is how I reason:
"ME BUYS X9000 - ME PLAYS GAMES GOOD"
2) Regrets: I don't have an extra head and another set of arms to play multiplayer with myself. If I had those I would buy a second HDX - (and another Alienware backpack) -

If you feel like carrying 20-25lbs one your back (laptop+backpack+extras)
JUST B-U-Y IT - Stop wasting time!

 

*Update*

I just ordered it from Newegg, I should have it tomorrow or Friday (man I love newegg). the promo code I reference a page ago (NB716FS) for free shipping does in fact work: total price was $1,670.36. Now to order the backpack, which can take it's time coming in, seeing as I'm out a bike until the other driver's insurance company reimburses me for her running her red light...

Anyway, I'll put it through it's paces, try both XP and vista X64 and see for speed differences. Hey this lists a 320GB hard drive, is this a single 320 or dual 160s? if it's dual 160s do I smell RAID0? anyway, I'm stoked, and maybe i'll be able to drop my gym membership carrying around this bad boy.

 

they gave me two 160 hard drives. i can't find no raid 0 on the bios. i don't think you can do it. i just bought a 320gb 7200rpm from newegg to replace my 160's.

 

I had only about 50 gigs to work with on my nc8430 and now that i have access to 280, i have already whittled it down to 20 gigs. But this laptop is amazing though. I see all the quirks that it had in the beginning as making me love it more. So just to restate again, i love this laptop.

 

Ok, I contacted HP customer support about the laptop and found out that it doesn't have a RAID controller on the mainboard thus, no RAID 0, which is silly due to this is a multimedia machine and should be geared for speed or redundancy. Oh well.

I asked about future BIOS updates and unlocking overclocking and the tech said he didn't know of any future BIOS updates and knows that if they did, no overclocking options would be added.

So, there's only one thing I would want to change on the laptop and that's the RAID option, but this does mean you can upgrade one drive at a time to 7200RPM drives and not worry about having matching drives for RAID purposes.

another note, here's a link to HP's list of drivers for the 9494, XP, vista and vista 64, but looking there, they don't have any drivers for XP64 so if you move off of vista, you'll lose access for 512MB RAM. (HP claims 1GB, but that would be interesting to see if they limit it like that or if they believe XP only sees 3GB)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3747924&lang=en&

 

Forget XP. It's been tried by the best on here and found to be lacking in several areas. meaning some things just won't work. This machine was built for Vista.

But if you must, go back about 20 or so pages and there's a link with all the XP 32bit drivers that I posted. There are some drivers you can't get off HP site. Like sound for instance. But no one to date has found a sound driver that utilizes the subwoofer in XP. And likely, no one will. It was such a to do just to get a working XP sound driver.

 

Hey Jfitts-

For the 175.70, do you have to use the F8 bypass at boot up, are you runnning SP1 vista?

Thanks-

 

I just installed the 175.80. Works great no probs so far. No F8 because it's signed. Though a screen comes up during install stating that it can't determine the manufacturer but just click continue.

Requires modded inf file replacement.

 

I'm always up for a challenge, and hey, it'll be a test of my skills as a PC tech and geeks like me always have to fiddle with crap, it's our nature.

I'm more curious if the system is faster under XP vs vista. If the machine is built for vista, then i believe the operating systems will operate close to the same speeds. it's looking like the bottleneck isn't really the OS, moreso the mainboard, I mean come on! who doesn't put a RAID controller on a mainboard???? it's like an extra $10 and you can charge an extra $200. but I digress. I'd still like to get a feel for what can be done to push this to it's potential

 

The Penryn refreshed review unit this site received did have a RAID controller. ICHM8R.

Never made it into production. Who knows why. And most peeps receive the unit with the 2nd HD unpartitioned and unformatted.

But then again, there aren't too many notebooks with dual hard drives and even less with RAID controllers. I could see RAID 1 as an option for general consumers, but RAID 0 with the manufacturers HP uses for HDs? Can't see that as a good idea.

The other small issue is the inability to boot off the 2nd HD. There's no option that I can see in BIOS that allows the selection of the 2nd HD to boot from. Old school Inspirons allowed it.

As for XP, it runs a little faster. Obviously boots significantly faster. But the issues outweigh the benefits. Perhaps not for everyone though. Certain things won't work but that may not bother everyone.

 

that's really weird, why would HP design a mainboard with it then redesign the board and remove it. that makes me think that if they released the unit for review, then went into production that there is still a RAID controller on the board just not an option in BIOS. Guess this will require some detective work eventually, I'm not one for voiding a warranty within the first week of ownig something.

The more I hear about the BIOS limitations, the more I think that it's the reason why we can't do certain things, it would be interesting to see if anyone released a 3rd party BIOS for the laptop.

As for XP, I don't care how long it takes to boot (as long as it's under a couple minutes), I'm more concerned with system speed and processing capabilities. but that's good to know, there are some differences, we'll see, I should get my laptop in by Friday so it gives me the whole weekend to putz around with it.

 

I have made my HDX dual-boot as I have a couple of apps that in their current version will not run under Vista. Yes, there are a couple of things that don’t work, and yes, XP only uses 3 of the 4 gigs of memory I have installed, but the things that don’t work are unnecessary when I’m running those couple of apps. Presently I have only 5 yellow “unknown device” flags on my device manager, but I believe the system runs slightly faster under XP. That’s more of a gut feel than measured performance. One thing for sure, the XP partition takes up about ¼ of the space Vista does. My next endeavor is to do a “clean” install of Vista and check the performance. Just my $0.02.
JoeNeil

 

which programs don't run on your Vista OS?

A clean install of Vista the last time I played with it was about 10GB, but that was before SP1.

Anyway, it would be interesting to see the mark scores between the 2 operating systems. I know the mark system isn't the end all answer, but it's still a good baseline.

 

My old Qosmio had 2 hdd's and a built in RAID controller. I played around with OSx86 on the other hdd and was able to boot from it no problem, yet I digress. I have two questions for whoever can answer them.

1) Has anyone tried installing OSx86 on the HDX, and if so, what features worked and what didn't work.

2) I still have a stuck pixel and am not able to burn recovery discs. If I wanted to exchange the HDX that I have and get a new one in its place, what is the procedure I'd follow? I am still within the 21 days no questions asked return period, and am unsure as to whether a stuck pixel and inability to create recovery discs would warrent a new machine.

Thanks

 

Thx Jfitts.