*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

That's a good one!

I vote: :yes:

 

I see your argument about the quad core, I would have loved a quad core, however I didn't spend ANYWHERE near 2,000. Maybe I got a complete steal on mine. every option available minus the 2.8, I got the 2.53 ghz for only 1400$ shipped.

But then again I went through my employer.
I agree that HP bit*hed out with the quad cores, and it sucks @ alpha that you had the 2 and then no more

Did they ever even ship any with the quad core? I think I might have seen one, but that was pre-production? And what happened to 4 gigs of ram?

 

That's the thing, you paid $1400, and I paid ~$1550 plus I went through live.com for the 20% cashback, so that was a great deal. I think I'm gonna wait it out and see what happens - I think we can keep our orders active even if they aren't available right now.

I don't think any of the quad-core systems ever shipped. Most of the quad-core laptops I've seen so far have DDR3 as well, so maybe there's an issue with the FSB on the HDX with that processor.

I've been eyeballing the Dell m6400, and while it looks like an absolutely kick-a*s system, the Covet model (RGB-LED screen) costs in the neighborhood if $4K. Ouch!

 

Nice price! Every option? 640GB dual hard drives? HDTV tuner? Bluetooth? Vista Ultimate? All that for $1400 shipped?

 

$1550 minus 20% or the $1550 was with the 20% live.com cashback? I hope the latter, because I cannot see how you could get a base HDX18t with even just an upgrade to QX9330 for $1550 (mine were pretty basic--just upgrade to QX9330 and bluetooth) and they were $1823 before 20% live cashback.

I don't think we can "just wait". It sounds like, according the emails I've been getting, I can reorder, downgrade, or cancel. Wait wasn't an option.

 

See my previous post.

$1,573.67 with my APP discount (same as the EPP discount Zero got) and a coupon.

I chose the 2GB RAM and the lowest hard drive options, as I have both sitting on my desk waiting to be used

 

I'm in the same boat, buddy. I have two sticks of G.SKILL 4GB RAM (8GB TOTAL) that I got for this, plus two 320GB 7200RPM Seagate drives that I have waiting for this!!! I don't think HP understands that not everyone is "Joe Consumer"....

I've emailed back asking that if I downgrade to a T9600 that I not only get the $75 credit, but also an additional $200 credit for the lowering of the base price since I bought mine. We'll see.

 

I have the same drives - I'll keep them regardless because everything I've read about them is positive. As far as the memory... if I end up waiting for another model/vendor I might return it in case I need DDR3. Otherwise it's ready to go.

If they had the dv7 with Ultra BrightView (and no Infinity!) I'd tell them to just give me one of those (current config of the dv7 is wonky and overpriced). But apparently it's not gonna happen anytime soon...

 

I gotta say, I'm not sure why they call it an Ultra Brightview, because the same named panel in my HDX16t is anything but bright. Give me LED!

 

Really? That sucks. I still have pictures comparing the crappy dv7 screen with my dv8000 Ultra BrightView and the difference is astounding. I guess HP fails in the screen improvement department.

I'll eventually get around to posting those pics...

 

The $275 will be off the price of the laptop if I just wait for it to be built, they also said that the price that they have been selling for is the introductory price and if you did not place the order while they were out then when they do come back out they are going to be much higher, so to me that means, they underpriced them. so if you have placed your order dont cancel it, just wait or you'll be pay more in november when they come back out...

 

Hmm. I never got an email regarding my HDX18. But I did call and got the shpeel about the quad core just being an availability issue, which I find confusing given the aforementioned emails people were receiving. (It should be noted when I questioned about when/if the 7200rpm drives would ever be added, I was also told those were not available for the same reason -- escept to my knowledge they were never an option.) I was offered the discount off, though, but wasn't told any esitmated date of when these would ever become avilable and/or ship.

At this point I'm on the fence about getting this laptop. Guess I'll think on it some.

 

Well its seems this joker has a quad core HDX18...

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-HDX18t-World's-Fastest-Laptop-QX9300-Quad-Core_W0QQitemZ270287964535QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081016?IMSfp=TL081016224008r19854

...*cough* *scam*....lol...

 

Can the motherboard support DDR3? I was under the impression it cannot. So I am just gonna rock the DDR2.

Well I take the back, same as alpha. If was a free to get 3gig ram upgrade, I got the free 1 gig stick and will try and sell it to my friend. As for the hard drives, I got the 250 gig as well. I have a 320gig 7200 sitting in front of me. Waiting to be put in for a second hard drive, then give it a mirror and get rid of the slow 5400 rpm drive, lol.

Why HP, WHY. I would love a quad core. I wish it still had it!

I will admit when I saw such a beast of a computer, I EXPECTED quad core, I was very dis-appionted when that was not an option. OR the 9800M GTS.

My roommates gateway for $1250 the P-7811FX, granted a slower processor, I think still might be faster than mine after I get it and upgrade it.

 

I agree, BS FLAG!

 

I believe DDR3 is 204-pin while DDR2 is 200-pin.

 

Love this notebook! Am streaming live HDTV off my SageTV server and it is gorgeous. In the BIOS there is a setting for 'fan always on'. It is enabled by default. If you disable it the laptop is nearly silent (until the heat builds up and the fan goes on). Great for non-CPU-intensive usage. Was going to upload the wallpapers Titanium1-3 that come with it but too big (800k), sorry.

 

How do you like the screen? Is is bright enough to get past the reflections?

 

The prices will drop again before christmas time. Sales this christmas are not going to be very good so there will be deals to be had.

last quarter retail sales were down 1.2%, that may not sound like much, but normally if there is a drop it's no more than a few tenths of a percent (.1% to .3%)

750,000 jobs have been lost so far this year, and house foreclosures are through the roof. Even people who are still doing ok will be leery about spending $ on big ticket items.

And honestly, after reading reviews on the battery life for the 18 and 16, Until HP comes out with a high cap battery for these machines, it might be wise to wait a while anyway. 90-120 minutes is just plain horrible especially when the Macbook Pro gets 4-5 hours (Tested and proven).

They should at least get 3 hours of battery life.

 

I'm hoping to have mine by the end of next week. I got 2nd day shipping, so I HOPE it will be here by friday. If not I'm going to have to wait till the following week. AHH, Its like a virgin waiting to have *** for the first to. SO much anticipation.

 

The screen is bright enough (indoors I am not using the full brightness as it would hurt my eyes). The reflections don't seem to be significantly worse than for instance on my Dell 700m.

 

NERD ALERT!!!! LMAO :GEEK: J/K

 

I saw the QX9300 when it was an option. I priced it out, and the first thing I thought was, "This is a mistake." The price of the QX9300 and everything else just didn't match up. I didn't even bother ordering.

What happened was on a certain level, most of you knew it was too good to be true. That price for a Quad core Extreme notebook was simply unrealistic. Of course it never hurts to place an order and hope (pray) it showed up on your doorstep and if it didn't, well, then get a discount of some sorts if able or somehow try to hold them responsible for a too good to be true price. I'm sure some of you will dogmatically stay with this till there is no life left to stomp out of it.

All other arguments are just fluff.

Common, admit it. You knew that price was too good to be true (and if you didn't, then the suspension of disbelief is alive and well) .

Sure would have been nice to get a QX9300 notebook for that price, though.....sigh.

 

You're right. The price was too-good-to-be-true. BUT, that isn't why HP is cancelling these orders. Their documented reasoning is that there is some sort of technical issue with the processor and the "base" (motherboard?) in the HDX18t. Not that they screwed up on the pricing. So, yes, we are angry that they (HP) waited until the 12th hour to notify us and that they even offered it in the first place (don't they test these things before introducing them)? Some of us really want a quad core mobile PC...HP made it affordable and, yes, we're very disappointed.

 

It's interesting--the gaggle of HDX18t units on ebay...the majority aren't even in the hands of the sellers! They're nice enough, though, to take our money and then order one for us. Then, we have to be patient for 1.5-2 weeks, as they put it, to wait for HP to build it! How nice of them!

Then, there's the idiots selling T9400-based units for $2600 to $3000!!! (claiming, of course, they're giving us a deal because the retail price of their not-so-special configuration is $3600!) I priced one of the $3100 ebay units at HP for $2199 (no coupons, used either). They must all be honest mistakes!

Can you even configure an HDX18t for $3600? (I'm not counting accessories, just HDX18t hardware)...

At first, I thought they had gotten a hold of QX9300's and were pricing them up due to their rarity...but nope...plain ol' average T9400's....

 

They were originally advertised as having the QX9300. HP must have changed their orders also!

Possibly, the problem with the QX9300 in the HDX18T is not HP's fault. Perhaps Intel has not been able to deliver QX9300s within the promised TDP spec. If this is the case, it might explain some of the vague excuses that have been offered by HP since HP does not have control over when appropriate QX9300s will be available.

 

Even with QX9300's, the HDX18t is nowhere near $3600 (or even $3100 or that matter!).

And, yes, it is HP's fault for making available for sale, and charging us UP FRONT, for a configuration that they either A) did not test or B) tested and found problems after they put them up for sale, or C) decided they screwed up on the pricing, and figured it would be better to lie and claim "technical issues", which, of course, will magically be fixed when all this blows over and the QX9300 is available again for a $900 upcharge instead of $250.

I don't, for one minute, think HP is the innocent party here.

 

Is there anybody who can tell me exactly whether the 9600M GT has GDDR2 or GDDR3 RAM. So many confiusion here...

 

It's ddr2.

 

Stupid HP... They cut in half the GPU power (8800M GTS vs 9600M GT) and choosed the slower one just to save couple of bucks. Congratulation!

 

Well gang, I'm looking for a new laptop. This one just 'looks' really nice. The only issue is the 1920x1200... it is 1920 x1080 instead. I'm going to loose some mega pixels. With the 20% discount going on now, I think this is the laptop to beat. I 'tried' to overlook the slightly uglier Dell Studio 17, but their price is almost the same when I price it out without a BlueRay drive (though I have no use for it).

Anyone else have any idea what other laptops I should look into (prefer 1920x1200)? I saw the Gateway with the copper colored plastic at Bestbuy... oh.. pains my eyes. I want to keep my price around $1.5K. Thanks for any other suggestion, if I don't head anything else, I may just buy this HDX18.

 

Understand what you are saying. I really wish this notebook came with a better GPU option. I would have paid better for that.

Place a 9800M GTX DDR3 1GB card as an option and keep the quad core and it would have scorched.

 

I started looking at other OEMs that offer the QX9300 (Dell Covet(!!!) and the Lenovo W700) and they all bundle DDR3 main system RAM with that processor option.

There "could" be a chipset issue here but come on, HP offered this option as a $225 upgrade option the beginning of 1 Oct till, what was it, a week or two? Hard to argue that it was a "misprint", that is to say, only up for a couple of hours and then taken down and everyone trying to ride that train. As previously mentioned HP isn't saying the pricing is wrong. They are giving every excuse but...

I understand that OEMs do things like send in notebooks to reviewers with specs that change when available to public. This is VERY common. Stuff like 7200PRM drives vs 5400RPM or better memory options and timings etc. Got it but I do think this is different.

The pricing was really good and the mistake can only be attributed to extreme gross negligence or deliberate bait and switch. Really, is there a third option here?

 

HP did say that the clock speed would be locked @2.53 GHz (likely in the Bios) for what is suppose to be an Xtreme OC capable chip. If you want better options look at a whitebook. The big brands always handcuff configurations and make you pay for hardware or software that is not needed, wanted or ever used. They likely can't source the chip, get the price they were quoted and/or are waiting for cheaper notebook quads to become available like the q9200, q9100 and q9000.

 

I finally heard back from HP about me "downsizing" my CPU to a T9600 2.8Ghz from a QX9300. They agreed to crediting me $275 ($200 for price protection and $75 for the Quad downgrade). Along with the $365 I saved from live.com's 20% discount, that makes my HDX18t cost $1183.

I can live with that.

Maybe, someday, they'll reintroduce the QX9300, and during the same dream, they'll still be only $225 more!

 

Hmmm, that sounds a lot better than the 10% they are giving me...
wonder if I should email that guy and ask for the 275 off???

 

I just got the 10% offer too. I think that's crap. AND they're canceling orders on the 22nd!

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

 

well i emailed Ryan. let's see what he says.

 

Hey guys...I only got the extra $200 because when I ordered my HDX18t, the base price was $1799 minus a $200 instant rebate. Shortly thereafter, the base price dropped to $1599, minus a $200 rebate for a total base price of $1399. That is where it is still at today, so they are giving me a $200 price protection credit.

If you bought your HDX18t when the base price was $1599 - $200 rebate, they only owe you $75.

He also offered me a 10% discount if I wanted to buy anything else.

Just wanted to make it clear.

 

my baby just came today, cant wait to get outta work and watch some blu ray on my 60" SONY!!!

 

How does it look?!??! Put up some pictures!!!

 

Lancorp - what date did you place your order? or do you know what date the price changed to 1599?

 

Wouldn't a stand-alone blu-ray player been a lot cheaper?

 

I re-placed my order on October 6th, the day I found out about the 20% live.com deal. Then the base price was $1799.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the date the price dropped $200, but I didn't want to "rock-the-boat" and risk losing my live.com cashback by contacting HP.

Hopefully, this time, since HP contacted me, it doesn't jeopardize the 20% cashback.

 

I placed my original order on 10/2 (had to cancel and re-order) on 10/6, so I think Ryan may give me the same offer!
fingers crossed.

 

im replacing my desktop, i'll be using it for just about everything you possibly could but i've yet to see 1080P on my tv so im pretty excited to see it in its full glory. I got the epp with coupon code but could i of also gotten the cashback deal as well?

 

I'll put some pics up asap! jtmarlin

 

I just got an email from ryan about the quad core: He almost doesnt make sence but here it is...

Dear Mike,

There now might be a small chance that we could hear a get well date towards the tail end of this week (potentially shipping as early as 10/24). Not sure you'd want to hold your breathe by it, but there might be. Would you want to be listed as a "willing to wait" customer or downgrade or cancel.

Warm Regards,
Ryan Presley
CTO Customer Advocate
Store Operations
HP Home & Home Office Store

 

I got the exact email, word for word (sans name).

I wrote back and said I'd be willing to wait.

 

I got the email, too. What does this mean?