*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

Yea, I agree about the 20.1" HDX being unique. Its a shame they killed it, the next refresh would have had an even nicer video card, which is the only thing that could possibly make the HDX any better IMO.

I just want to double check, but do most of you guys have a bit of backlight bleed from the bottom of the screen? or are your screens pitch black all around the bezel when you watch a letterbox fullscreened movie?

I've tried to dim my backlight with Fn+F7 but I'm still getting some bleed on that bottom edge relative to the overall backlight brightness setting. There are no ways to dim the bottom backlight separately right?

 

In speaking recently with some tech people I was told an upgrade for the video card is feasible if HP wanted to do it. A more potent MXM gpu could be designed which would fit the socket where the 8800 gts resides, and then, as some wise people on this site have stated, a bios change would be necessary. But it is doable.

It could be a sanctioned upgrade performed by HP.

 

The only way I think this happens is if HP decides to use the exact same MXM standard for their other HDX notebooks. If they don't, I doubt we will see it.

Although, I am hoping.

 

Suggest it to HP. I did, and it would be a great way for the company to maintain brand loyalty. And HP could make money by doing the upgrade as a service under warranty.

 

You can have it.

I'll still go with my previous assertion and "equation":

U64 x (8g) + x9300) x (BB + CiCy + CtCo + Sms) - 1.5k x Xg = 20"++

I could never see the HDX's MM power with a small screen - what's the point? So you can brag about being the fastest of the dinky HD screens? Some distinction.

Great - they've taken the HDX from Powerhouse to "Dinky Powerhouse". With the size of some the notebooks coming out, they might as well come out with a portable BD player with 10" HD screen.

It's like the difference between 327 and a 454 - each is is powerful in its own right, but the bottom line is that Top End always wins out. Put more simply - what's the point of having the power if you don't have the screen real estate to enjoy it?

As a person who spends a LOT of time gaming (2.0 - believe it or not, it's sanctioned therapy for me! If I could only figure a way to deduct it as a health expense... ) I want a larger, not smaller 1080p screen even though I'm using a 32" Aquos now with my PS3. I just can't see anyone buying a multimedia or gaming machine with a small screen.

I wonder also exactly where 8lbs of weight loss was achieved - I'm interested to see what the thermals will be on this thing.

The 20" HDX with the X9000 should've been marketed by HP as a Design or Gaming notebook - but as I've said, there's no such thing as "genius" in marketing, especially at HP.

The French are stupid enough to buy it. More power to 'em.

 

That's what I'm saying. The MXMs are more standardized than you think, and it's possible that cards designed for the 18.4 and 16 inch models might have the same form factor.

When you see what's possible for some other brand laptops ( www.MXMupgrade.com) you begin to see that it's doable with HP's cooperation.

HP just laid off a slew of people today. Brand loyalty could be a big asset.

Anybody know the color accuracy of the Dragon display?

 

The colors on the 1920x1200 display look good to me. I know good LCDs still have less color accuracy than top end CRTs. I'm just a bit concerned about bottom bezel backlight bleed on black backgrounds, but I take it everyone has a bit of that on their HDX?

As far as 20.1" laptop displays, it doesn't seem anything will ever top the HDX. It looks like it was the last and therefore best of its kind.

18.4" isn't quite the same as 20.1". Plus it's really the design of the HDX that makes it unique... if it was a classically hinged 20.1" panel it wouldn't be half as nice.

 

For real! This is the DRAGON ONLY thread.

 

Forget it. Put it out of your mind. Not going to happen.

It would void the warranty if offered as a DIY kit being that the unit wasn't marketed to enthusiasts. And they're not going to start an upgrade program considering how much money they lost on the Dragon. What's more, it would be an irrationally priced upgrade even if they did. >$1000.

They're not even Johnny-on-the-spot with video driver updates.

HP has never offered upgrades to any of their lines once discontinued. Not even their desktops which are upgradeable.

Now, if you we're talking about their Voodoo line and the HDX were part of it, maybe they'd offer it. But rest assured it would be at a ridiculous price.

In any event, this is the first time HP offered an enthusiast level Nvidia graphics card in a notebook. That alone was a miracle.

 

Rumba,

9600M would be MXM II

9800M would be MXM III/IV

They both have different thermal and electrical requirements. And both have different form factors. They are MXM 3.0 spec, though. But that's different than the slot type.

Besides, SONY is not known to offer enthusiast level graphics in their lappies.

 

Which one you talking about? The Sony one? I recently went to a Sony store and tried to play a BlueRay DVD to see the resolution and it wouldnt move..it had 3GB of ram of course with Vista...I waited like 10-15 minutes for it to start. Man! I want the 20 inch HDX!:/ What's the matter with these people?

 

Well stated. Poor doodz over there at HP. I asked a rep at HP why the HDX wasn't on the website, and how no one seems to know anything...the lady I was talking to who worked there for 10+ years replied by saying..."because they're HP"

 

What's extra craptacular is that the one main dood at Ebay who is an authorized reseller has no more 2.8 GHZ processors and only has 3 units left!:/ And the only other one I see with 2.8 has like 3-4 left...! Lenny Kravitz! I needz me one of them HDXs and I'm still short on money I've been saving!

 

And it looks like the Newegg ones are gone also. I know they weren't the specs you were looking for, but still.

 

So have we decided on a docking station for this thing yet?

 

This is just ridiculous! Rather than remarket the 20" and the 17" like they should've been marketed, they come out with 2 systems that are 1" - 1.5" smaller than the previous two? Yeah, that makes TOTAL sense.

You sure these aren't METRIC dimensions for the French?

Again, no shortage of geniuses in marketing.

 

It's because everything is moving from 16:10 to 16:9.

 

ROFLMAO:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Nice call-out!! C'mon rumba, don't be coy.

 

Classic rumba.

Yes, they're all MXM 3.0 specification. But the slot types are II, III, IV/HE. (could be called Type A, B, C for the 3.0 spec.)

As 8 series cards are 2.1 Specification. But the slot types are II,III,IV/HE.

Slot II, III, IV refers to the dimensional, thermal and electrical specification limits or TDP/TDW per type.

when it comes to MXM spec like 2, 2.1, 2.1A, 3.0... Think of it as USB 1.1 v USB 2.0 v USB 3.0.

 

heres the 3dmark01 score with XP



Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

 

I'd like to know this as well.

 

Did you try the HP XB3000?

 

Been lurking since march, when i first started looking to buy a notebook.
Initially didnt think the HDX was an option (about 3 grand back then, I think),
but finally pulled the trigger from Newegg the other day.

I'm now praying it's not DOA. Out of stock!

So, saying my prayers are answered...what to do first? I've read that I'll
need to burn some recovery disks. Correct? Then what?

All the posts on updated drivers, etc., have me utterly confused. Vista updates? HP updates? GPU driver updates? I dont want to lose any of the
functionality (quick play, blue media buttons, blu-ray playback)...seems like their has been lots of posts indicating problems after certain updates. Am I ok without updating anything?

I want to play oblivion on it. Anybody know what settings I'll get decent framerates at?

Sorry for the utter newbie post...but im excited! My last computer lasted me like 10 years. PIII 450 mhz, 96 mb ram, win98. Seriously.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I have Oblivion set on 1900x1200 ultra high res. It's playable but not best. I haven't adjusted the setting to lower high res yet.

 

We could use another Table of Contents type thread like page 100....

I've read most every thread here, and get confused myself......

Shinkay,

I did the Vista updates on my HDX and nothing adverse happened. I DID NOT do any HP updates yet. I also Imaged my Harddrive with Acronis in case I did goof something up. I used Acronis as I am more familiar with that then Windows recovery stuff.

Regards,
Scott

 

Also, looks like HP no longer has the HDX up on their web site. Forum member 2.0 has good insight on the discontinue of the HDX.

 

Yes, no worries, you are perfectly OK to leave things as they are without the need to update any drivers.

Those of us who update, go into knowing things can go belly up. But we're tweakers and like to eek out more performance or add additional features.

 

With respect to 2.0, who seems to know more than most anyone on this thread, I spoke with an HP tech who mentioned that there was a gpu upgrade offered for an HP laptop some time ago, which surprised him. Also there is an interesting Indian gentleman (can't find the article) who, if I recall correctly, midwived the Voodoo takeover, and seems to be an enthusiast.

It was another HP tech who told me about the MXM's upgradability, and another tech at Nvidia who opined as to the feasibility of an upgrade if HP wanted to do it.

The 8800m gtx no doubt will come down in price with the new cards coming out, and that would be a significant upgrade from what I've read.

 

Rahul Sood....Head of the Voodoo division.

 

One thing, which was a painful lesson to have learned, is that you can't take a thing an HP rep tells you about future events or plans on the phone without a grain of salt. ValmonNR learned this awful truth concerning the future of the HDX. Everything they said was dead wrong.

R. Sood is all about Voodoo, which I believe will come out with a very powerful line of gaming notebooks in the coming months which you can possibly expect to have an upgrade path.

But as for HP and the HDX 9000, it's just not going to happen. First of all, the 8800M GTX would not fall within the HDX's thermal design profile. That's why they went with the 8800M GTS. (Which fell within the same thermal and consumption profile of the ATI Radeon 2600 XT.) What's more, HP would have to contract with Nvidia and their ODM (Inventec) to have the cards made to HP's MXM implementation. That's right. MXM is not exactly a standard. If it were, we could take any MXM card of the same type and plug it into any notebook with the same MXM type slot. But MXM isn't plug-n-play. Neither is it universal. MXM is a specification guideline.

Here's perhaps the only hope. HP/Voodoo sells a notebook with a 9800M GTS. A brave soul gets his hands on that 9800M GTS MXM card... don't know how since it's an OEM part - and it takes a while from date of inception to see these parts listed for sale in HP's parts. He plugs it into the HDX and miraculously it works - without a BIOS update.

Let's face the facts. HP sells so many computers per quarter that they are not worried about generating customer loyalty among a minuscule minority of HDX owners considering how much money they lost on the project. They sold far more HDX units at and below cost than they did when the units were priced above >$3000. They even gave 31 away in May to try to build some buzz for the unit - right before the sizable price cuts. When they gave the units to Newegg and other retail outlets, they lost even more given the fact that they have to be sold at wholesale so that the retailer can get his cut.

HP is done with the Dragon. It's up to us now to find ways to mod, add, refine.

 

LOL! Rumba erased his own posts. A mod wouldn't have left the first 4 if a mod was looking to "undo" a poster.

 

Video Bios would be stored on a flash chip on the MXM card. But system BIOS needs to know what it is and what resources it needs to allocate for it in order for it to work properly.

 

If I were CHAZ, I'd ban you, just for the fun of it and watch you think you were clever by coming back with multiple nicks on the same IP.

And if I were an HP rep, I'd be suggestive selling you things you don't need.

 

Hey, 2.0 -- It's always best not to feed the trolls.

 

... But all of them say it's the BIGGEST one around, don't they?

 

2.0
I somewhat anticipated your reply, and you may indeed be right in all you say.

I know that techs at HP (or elsewhere) may just be spinning a story, but I had the sense that the techs I spoke with were sounder than that, as well as the NVIDIA chap.

And, as a rule, I never shut the door on anything. I've seen a lot of improbable things happen over the years. I mean, they're happening right now.

Got my box from Shanghai yesterday, but haven't cleared away desk space to open it yet. The outer box (why don't they label it fragile?!) looks like it received no dents or gashes, but when my girlfriend cut open the tape, the side edges sort of split open symmetrically. The HP box inside looks pristine, however.

Despite all the new devices coming out (even that potentially tantalizing Sony 19.3) I wanted the largest display possible, with the flexibility of an adjustable screen.

I also suspect that the very heft and size of the HDX permits inclusion of a more robust speaker system than the newer, smaller "lightweights."

I'm also making a quantum leap from an IBM A21P, Pentium 3, 850 mhz, 16 MB VRAM, which I've tweaked and noodled with for years.

Beam me up, Scotty.

 

Yep. Thanks for the reminder.

 

By the way, 2.0. Do you have any idea of color accuracy with the WUXGA?

Thanks

 

It's white point is set @ about 9000deg K. Same for the WSXGA+. That's pretty much standard for all notebooks. Thanks to it's dual lamps, you get an even balance across the screen. Which is to say a much larger sweet spot with +/- 10-15 degree tilt.

You can adjust it, of course, but the Nvidia control panel doesn't adjust via deg K. I suppose if you want your prints to look like what you see on screen, you'd probably want the white point set in the 5000degK area.

I think it was Johnnyflash who posted an excellent website you can use to adjust the colors to. I'm not on my HDX ATM so I don't have the URL. But it's about 20-30 pages back.

 

Hi HDXers,

Just wanted to let you all know that we have a handful of HP HDX SleeveCases available. We've discontinued them so if you need something to protect your HDX, you can get them while they last. And, enjoy your machine....

SleeveCase

 

Not bad looking Heidi.

Only big issue is that the price is close to what I just paid for a full fledged Alienware Malx backpack.

But cool to see you had something for the Dragon....

Scott

 

Anyone know if the upcoming HDX18's will have an infra-red receiving paired with a similar type of pull-out remote control in the Dragon? Everyone seems to be down on the new models, but I'm actually considering it. I haven't received my HDX Dragon yet, and it's starting to annoy me. If the HDX18 appeals to me enough in the next couple of weeks, God help me, I may just cancel my original order.

 

Hey,

It seems I'll finally be joining here: the HDX just when back in stock at bestbuy.ca, and, hopefully, they'll fill the order soon. 1600$CAN with shipping and taxes for the HDX9494NR.

I'm looking for a case now, I used to have a hard case for my 17'', but I can't seem to find one for my new "lap"top.

So, I'm looking for alternatives, and I've only found these two:

Targus TCC008CA XXL 20" Laptop Case
HP 20" Roller Case for Notebook PCs

Does anyone use one of these, or can recommend another?

 

Most probably has an expresscard size remote that stows in the expresscard port. All the Pavillions have 'em. Even my TX2500 has that which I use with the HDX from time to time.

 

2.0

I think the excision of a slew of pages from the forum has affected the search/indexing function on the site. Looking for posts on adjusting the display for accuracy has drawn me into a labyrinth.

Do you think the display can be photo accurate?

 

Not sure what you mean by 'display accuracy', but I calibrated mine with a Gretag Macbeth I1D2 for photography. This was the reason I chose not to get the higher end screen. I just was not sure I needed it or could calibrate it. I could post my profile, but that is really custom to my display. Not sure it would translate into another screen, and certainly NOT the hi def screen....

Scott

 

Well, some of the new, mobile workstations are promising Adobe RGB standards for their new screens, which are supposed to promise a truer color spectrum and a greater conformance between what you see and your photographic output.

 

Was this what you were looking for?

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

 

Yup, that's it. Did I credit it to the wrong poster? If so, my apologies.

 

Yes, but the downside of wide color gamut screens is that for all but the actual object or project you're working on, they make everything look cartoonish. Webpages, games, etc. So you'll need 2 color profiles - one for work and one for everything else.

On the other hand, you can calibrate a standard gamut LCD (like the HDX's) to closely approximate sRGB. I'm guessing as close to around 75% of the actual. Some colors you can get 100%. Depends on their saturation and intensity.

The good news is, (bad news depending on POV), you can get an external monitor for just that sort of work that will give you 95-100% accuracy. But they're costly. So that's always an option to consider.

But I like Scott T's method of calibration. That's the way it's been done for a few years now.