*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

Hi Folks,

My new HDX arrived just a week ago and before I had even unboxed it, the machine was no longer available on HP.com. I love this machine, but talk about bad timing. I guess I must have one of the last machines shipped, not sure if that is good or bad.

Anyway, has anyone ever had a problem with Vista saying "Battery not detected"? I've removed and reseated the battery several times and it didn't help. I've seem some posts elsewhere that suggests removing the ACPI battery driver, did that, no good. I can pull the power and boot from battery just fine, so it is there and working, but Vista just reports no battery making me think it probably isn't charging and sooner or later I'll have no battery. One time while reseating the battery trying to fix this, I accidentally did it without the AC cord in so obviously the machine had a hard shutdown. When it came back up the battery icon was there and working fine, but disappeared again the next day (the icon is there, it just shows battery not detected).

I called HP and they're shipping me a new battery to try that, but I'm not convinced it is the battery itself.

Shame they discontinued this, the screen is absolutely incredible (I got the 1920*something full HD version). Never seen a laptop like it, and it's a shame I won't be able to replace it as I use my laptops so much they never seem to last much more than a year

Appreciate any input anyone has on this...

 

Don't assume it's charged - plug the battery in and then the AC adapter, then check the battery's power level. It takes a while for those big batteries to fully charge up.

 

LC, I thought you had the HP Targus Roller case. Hope you're stronger than 2.0 or myself if you plan on packin' the HDX along for a camping trip.

Maybe LC's taking the HDX on the Bambi Blu-Ray outing I mentioned the other day....

 

I do have the HP Roller case. And also the Dicota. But none of them are my favorite. I thought I'd try this one last. I do tend to like backpack bags (had'em for all my 17" notebooks)...lots of pockets and crannys for things.

We'll see when I get it.

No kidlet outings planned, but you never know!

 

i used ubcd4win and driveimage-xml to back up the 30gb C:\ drive. then ran SIW - System Information for Windows to keep track of the hardware and software. Also used the SIW monitor test to look for bad pixels. its a fullscreen slideshow of all the colors.

 

thank for the heads up, much appreciated

 

Sorry guys i'm a bit new to this but will the A312 tuner card pick up a digital signal is Australia?

 

It'll pick up anything you can receive on your cable, satellite, or Internet channels.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I have one coming also...

Scott

 

Any new info on how to do this? I use a BT mouse, so when I touch the Wireless button I only want the Wifi to turn off, not the BT. So far, Wireless Assistant insists that it turn off both or turn on both.

Thanks!

 

I noticed they are refurbished. Not sure if it matters. I wonder what would need to be refurbished on them though?

 

Yes, I asked them that before I purchased one and they said " The backpack are practically new. They just don't come in their original packing materials.".

Hope that helps.

 

The problem is that there's no way to exclude the bluetooth radio from the quicktouch button or wireless assistant. Looked in registry and there does appear to be a way to exclude.

One thing you could do is set the wireless assistant to show it's icon in the taskbar, set it to always show in taskbag preferences, and right click it to turn wifi radio on/off while leaving BT radio on.

 

I'll try that half-baked workaround.

For this, it's Advantage-- Dell.

 

Hi if I was going to order an HDX from a reseller with the top specs as in:

Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz)

20.1" diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920x1200)-"True HD" 1080p res

4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)

512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS

Hard drive 640GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2)

Webcam + Fingerprint Reader

Networking Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)

LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support (I MAY opt for a Blueray)

Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing speakers +the HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer

is there anything I need to request when they assemble it to make sure everything works the best? If I'm correct it seems that everyone gets slightly different specs even if they configure it the same..like they may have different drivers or what not..Some have problems others don't. Hence my question on which components would be best to use that I could possibly request they use. Thanks.

 

Also I just talked to tech support and they confirmed that the 20 inch screen is gone...:/ and they're being replaced with an 18.4 inch screen (called HDX18) and a 16 inch one (called HDX16)..:/ That really sucks. I guess Im going to have to buy from a reseller then..

 

Nah, it's all good. When you get it, you can tweak it the way you like for best performance.

 

Yep, that's the news I've received a few months ago. Looks like they're getting more "official" about it.

 

Man, it's going to be hard to settle for less than 20" when I need to replace this thing.

BTW, the "problem" I was having with blu-ray wasn't my screen or the BD drive or anything else about the machine -- it was about a director who thought it was cool to make his zombie movie (28 Days Later) look like a zombie filmed it.

I was a nervous wreck until I figured it out.

 

Are you refering to the Sony Vaio Type A?

 

Is this 19.3 available now? I couldn't find anything about it.

 

I know it's not a gaming laptop per se, but that's what I'm using my HDX for, and I feel that I'm on pretty solid ground when I say that Sony will never produce a solid gaming machine. Sony wants you to buy a PS3.

 

The Sony link must be incomplete. It took me to the blog, but no such notebook.

 

I think this is what you mean. It's an 18.4 with a 9800m gt, and Adobe RGB. Like the HP Elitebook, and the Lenovo W700, this promises color accuracy for photographers. I wonder how the Dragon's display fares in this regard,

http://www.slashgear.com/184-inch-sony-vaio-aw-series-notebook-announced-1015677/

 

!!!?

http://www.materiel.net/ctl/PC_Portables/41427-HDX18_1050EF_Premium.html

 

Thanks, had a good Sunday.

I don't know of any alternatives. I look into it though as I'm interested in getting one at some point.

 

I found thatlast post when I googled HDX18, Here's the French to English Translation from Google translator.

"Food system hidden partition"? .

...It's not perfect.



A gem

Summarize the HDX18 in a word? Superb. A little short, however, for such a masterpiece. Indeed, you are immediately seduced (e) by its design to the subtle curves, while roundness. Unless this is the reason rather light, modern and dynamic inlaid in the same chassis that comes flatter your retina. Not sure? The finish "glossy" and strapping chrome should come complete the love at first sight ...
Design
Upscale

A unique jewel, jewel! And the least we can say is that HP hitting hard with his HDX18 Premium: superb LCD 18.4 "Full HD double lamp and anti-glare, Intel ® Core ™ 2 Duo 2, 26 GHz 1066 MHz FSB and engraved in 45 nm, 4 GB of DDR2 memory, nVidia ® ® GeForce 9600M GT and especially Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit to enjoy the full power of your machine without any coercion!
Multimedia
Premium!

Design, powerful, HDX18 Premium is even more elitist with a level of equipment simply unbelievable. On the menu, you can enjoy a large storage space of 500 GB, a TV tuner TNT, a sound card 3D Sound Blaster Pro, a set of loudspeakers Altec Lansing ® with integrated bass amplifier A reader Blu-ray, and of course the connectivity wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth No! In a nutshell: Unique!
More!
NB: This product is in pre-orders, it is not yet available on the market french:

* No guarantee on the delivery time can be given.
* All orders will be shipped upon availability, in order of arrival.
* In case of price at the time of discharge the amount of your order will be automatically adjusted downwards.
* You can cancel a pre-order a simple request by e-mail or telephone.
* As with any other order, the payment will be made until the shipment of the product.
* The technical specifications provided by the manufacturer, are subject to change.
* Materiel.net reserves the right to cancel a pre-order, without payment of compensation or compensation of any kind.



Detailed specifications: Back to top
Processor and chipset
Intel ® Core ™ 2 Duo
Model P8400
2.26 GHz frequency real
1066 MHz FSB
3 MB L2 Cache
Memory
4096 MB memory capacity
Barrette (s) installed (s) 2
Location (s) available (s) 0
Type SO-DIMM DDR II
Frequency 800 MHz
Maximum 8192 Mo
View
Screen 18.4 "
HD Resolution 1080 (1920 x 1080)
Dalle BrightView Dual Lamp
Map nVidia GeForce ® ™ 9600M GT Turbocache ™
Total 2048 MB Memory
Memory dedicated 512 MB
Hard Drive
Number 2
Total disk space 500 GB
Type SATA
Speed (trs / min) 5400
Optical Storage
Optical Drive DVD + RW DL / Blu-ray Disc
Yes LightScribe
Devices
QWERTY keyboard
Controller its 3D Sound Blaster Pro
Speakers 2 speaker stereo Altec Lansing 1 subwoofer integrated
Speed network 1000/100/10 Mb / s
Standard Wi-Fi 802.11n
Bluetooth Yes
Tuner Digital TV Tuner DVB-T (TNT)
Player card (s) memory (s) Yes
Player biometric Yes
Yes Touchpad
Yes Keypad
Connections
E / S Micro / helmet Yes
Yes SPDIF
USB 2.0 4
Firewire (4-pin) 1
eSATA 1
VGA 1
HDMI 1
RJ 45 1
Express Card 1
Battery
Type Lithium-ion
Capacity 8 cells
Housing
Color dominant Black
Dimensions 436 x 286 x 33.7 / 4.37 mm
Weight 4 Kg
Software
Operating System ® Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Symantec Security ™ ™ Norton Internet Security 2008 (updated LiveUpdate for 60 days)
Office Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (trial version 60 days)
Food system hidden partition
Accessories
Other Remote
Guarantee
Duration 1 year
Usage

 

Nice find! You should send the URL to chaz so he can post it in the news.

 

I'm REALLY glad I was irresponsible and bought before the 20.1" went away. This doesn't look like much of an improvement. Replacing the 8800 GTS with the 9600GT does not warrant their claims of "even more elitist with a level of equipment simply unbelievable"

 

One must admire the French though for making the notebook sound like a beautiful woman.

Incroyable!

 

I got a Terk HDTVa antenna, works great, Best buy wanted $70 but you can find them online for $20~$30

 

Rumba?

The 15" DV5 with 9600M GT get's the same 3dmark score with the same processor.

 

What's the 3dmark06 for the Dragon with the 2.8 X9000?

 

Seems eerily like the PR campaign for Independence Day a few years ago. Over Los Angeles they flew planes with impossibly long banners advertising the film. Will Sony do the same?

If real will it have an articulated or fixed screen?

 

Nice find rumba.

 

Sweet, thanks..though I think Id be too scared to do a clean install. The only thing I'll probably do is a dual boot with XP Pro..which will probably be difficult enough for me.

 

The 20 inch screen is a huge unique selling point..I don't get it.. though I guess portability is something people complained about. Oh well.

 

Now this 19.3 inch device with a 9800m gts is dangled before us.
Nuts.

 

Wow. Huge thread, lots of great info and discussion, still working through page 80.

I just got my HDX today and immediately went to check for dead pixels. Luckily there are none, so I was relieved to dodge that bullet.

Then I put in a random DVD and I see some noticeable backlight bleeding on the bottom edge of the screen, its the 1920x1200. There is very mild backlight bleed on the top edge, which doesn't seem like it would bother much. But the bottom edge backlight bleed is verging on distracting. It's only really noticeable on a black background or in any full screen letterboxed video.

Is this problem common? I see only one post about backlight bleed in the thread.

I only have a weak camera here but I tried to take a picture to give an idea of the severity. It's not horribly bad, but I don't think its normal either.

Would HP do anything about it? Do they even have spare parts for screen replacements any more?

Any advice on what to do would be appreciated

 

Dam Communist buttheads....

 

Doesn't look too bad. I would suggest turning down the screen brightness a little, max bright is too much sometimes. I run 70% for example, and then calibrated to that brightness. Much less bleed that way and it looks much sharper too.

 

The screen size and processing power are the main reasons most of us got our HDX's in the first place. No one wants to drag around a 20" external monitor. It's like 2.0 and I were discussing in our posts the other day - HP didn't market it very brightly in the first place (not that I'll ever accuse an Ad or Marketing Exec of EVER being bright) but rather than admit their marketing and not the system was the problem, they change the system and keep the same bad marketing. Typical. Again, I don't ( nor does anyone else I expect) consider HP Marketing to be very bright.

Actually, I don't consider ANY marketing genius to be anything but completely out of touch with the masses and reality. Kind of like where HP Support has gone...

 

New 16" and 18.4" HDX notebooks due out later this month.

http://gizmodo.com/5050328/new-hp-notebooks-boast-hi+def-169-screens

http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+...+with+New+HP+PCs+and+Accessories/3991368.html

 

Well, looks like the HDX16 and 18 will be showing up later this month according to Engadget; but why they god rid of the 20-inch screen :/

Edit: Agh, you beat me to it TeaJay

 

What about the 19.3 inch Sony? Any other info on this?

With regards to the display bleeding, is this a normal thing?

 

Man am I glad I got the real HDX before these posers came out. The new HDX's look just like any other HP laptop. And to be perfectly honest, I actually don't like any hp laptops accept for the awesome HDX Dragon, which is higher quality and much better performance than the average Hp lappy. I think they are kind of selling out if you will on these new "HDX"...really sad actually.

 

Honestly, these laptops look great to me (Just my opinion). But why do they pack the same performance as the Pavilions.

 

I hear ya!

I bought mine back in June 08 and loving it so far.

HDX 9300
8800M GTS
2.5GHz CPU
4Gig RAM
2x160Gig 7200RPM hard drives
1680x1080 res display

 

For me, it's all about the display. There's a comparison review between the 18.4 Acer 8920g and the HDX, and there's quite a difference in the screens. But about the difference between 20.1 and 19.3, I don't know.

 

I hope that when people start buying the new HDX's, they will start a new thread called, "The Official Wannabe HDX Owners Lounge". I still can't believe HP is rolling out these oversized DVseries laptops and sticking "HDX" on them.