*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

Lan .. Thanks for answering my questions. Fully understand the HD's now. So, I'm going to order 2 - 250GB HD's. Then, replace one of the HD's, with a 320GB/7200. The prospect of installing OSX, onto the 2nd HD, might be interesting. Sounds like a project. Thanks again, Lan. This is a great forum. The more you read, the more you learn.

Al ..

 

You can't order dual drives at 250GB's with the HDX18t if that's what you're thinking?

You would have to order the 500GB dual drives..

 

What can we call the HDX18t? The mini-dragon?

Or would that title go to the HDX16t?

I wish I bought the dragon because the overall style of the laptop is exactly the same as my HP Tablet, so they would have looked nice together on my desk...

Best Buy still sells the dragon as an outlet item, it's still kinda expensive at $2,000+...

Of course I could always sell the tablet and get the most recent tablet so the style meshes together...

 

Not true...from the HDX18t configuration page:

500GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Provides huge storage capacities not commonly available on notebook PCs.

 

ahhh! my bad, when I saw the 500GB, I thought it was two 500GB...

 

Take it from someone that had both...The Dragon was an awesom unit. The screen surpassed the screen in the HDX18t (in my opinion). The sound was awesome. The Dragon was the coolest (temperature) running notebook I'd seen. BUT, it was BIG.

I came to a point a couple of days ago where I had a buyer for my Dragon, and I put my HDX18t and Dragon side-by-side. I could not make a decision on which one to keep, and desperately wanted to keep the Dragon. But, I was able to make some decent $$$ on the Dragon, and decided I really didn't need that many HDX's!!

If you're always going to use it as a desktop, go with the Dragon. If you're going to be portable with it, go with the HDX18t...it's half the weight.

 

I see that you have already updated your sig! I guess you did sell your dragon!!

Yes I plan to bring my HDX18t to work and home daily...

 

Quick question...

Those of you who are replacing the hard drives that HP puts in these laptops what are you doing with them?

Selling them off? Assuming I do replace mine what would be the price for the stock hard drives? Would they work in any other laptop?

 

You could get a very inexpensive 2.5" portable USB (or eSATA is even better) enclosure/case and put your displaced drive(s) in that and use as extra storage or a backup drive...look at newegg and ebay...there's LOTS of choices. eSATA is better because it is much faster than USB, but would require a separate little cable to power it (usually, it plugs into your USB port to draw power).

Otherwise, less than "new" market price, or whatever deal you can make with someone who needs what you have.

 

I almost have sellers remorse and have thoughts of reneging on it before I ship it! I really love the Dragon and knowing I can't buy it anymore just adds to the indecision. But, in the end, $$$ is better (isn't it?)

 

That's a good question, my Gateway only has 160GB drive and it's 1 year old so I could put the new 250GB in the gateway...

Chances are, it will probably just sit in the closet somewhere...

 

You are in a unique situation because the Dragon is a one of a kind laptop. Like buying a rare car....

I just don't see 20" laptops being built anymore, it was tried, it was too heavy and 18.4" seems to be the new de facto.....

Of course in this economy, cash is king so I'd probably say you made the right decision...

Heck, you can always purchase the Dragon from Best Buy if it comes down in price to say $1600 instead of $2000+ but I'm sure the specs from BB aren't as good as yours...

 

If you're not using the laptop, just sell it. you can always use the money for something else. A bigger external screen maybe.

To the guy that had discount problems. I think i know why it is. i don't think the discount applies to anything outside of the laptop itself. I bought an extra power adapter thinking I'd get the 30% off that too, nope. [Meaning, your software or accessories are not going to get a discount]

Incidentally, are all of you using your laptop as your sole computer?

 

A comment for those updating their system and planning on selling off the parts. The warranty is for the system in the configuration as received. If you need to send the system back for repair you will need those parts. I got an external enclosure for the 250GB hard drive I pulled from my dv9700 and use it that way. Pulled memory will not sell for much cash anyway.

 

Can someone that has the vista ultimate recovery disc set for the HDX18 post the HP part number? Is it 508541-001?

 

At work I am using a desktop with C2D running XP 64bit.

But at home, and I always take work home, I am using all laptops, no desktops at all at home. But I do plan on getting a super duper HP with the latest quad desktop down the road...

The HDX I just ordered will be suffice until that happens...

 

That is a good piece of advice. I plan on using my HDX as is for at least a week before I start popping in/out components. I just want to make sure it's built correctly....

 

yep, use the extra HDDs as external HDDs

 

Exe you are right about the discount. I called HP and they set me straight real quick. As far as my use for the HDX18, it will be my only personal computer. The company I work for provides me my laptop for work.

Oh I have a quick question is it possible to hook up the HDX18 to an A/V reciever to have the video go to the TV and the Audio go through the surround speakers? Oh can you upgrade the video card like you can the memory and HDD? ok so 2 questions.

 

I don't know about the A/V part, but I highly doubt you can upgrade the video card. In fact, I never heard of anyone upgrading video cards on a laptop since most are integrated....

I'm sure someone could set me straight on this?

 

forgive my ignorance but what do you mean intergrated? And why is this done? If you can upgrade everything else why woundn't you be able to do this as well. That doesn't make sence to me.

 

Most components on laptops are integrated into the motherboard meaning that it's all one big piece so there's nothing to take out or in....

memory and hdd's are just about the only thing you can swap out, and depending on the laptop type, some are hard to do, it's not always easy.

video cards, sound cards are integrated into the motherboard whereas with desktops, most of them CAN be dedicated cards so you can just pluck them out and replace them like you do with memory and hdd's...

 

...anyone...?

 

Some laptops have integrated graphics and some have discrete graphics, the 18T has the latter. This means it can be replaced. However, laptop graphic cards are not designed to a stardard. Therefore, they are specific to your laptop. If HP comes out with a different graphics card option for the 18T, and assuming they kept using the same exact motherboard, then yes you can swap it out.

 

someone posted it here a few pages back and I used that one. I think the total off came out to be 360 bucks.

 

the Zalman is completely quiet. it also gives me a spot to set it on on the bed.

Load temps for this thing is running at 61c after 15 minutes for the cores and the gpu is at 43c. However I'll undervolt anyway for battery performance.

 

esata enclosure for extra space/backups.

 

I'd rather sell it off to someone because I honestly don't think I'll ever use them in that form....

If anyone is interested let me know how much you think they are worth.

 

Does anyone know where i

 

Sorry don't know what happened there - does anyone know where I can get a carry case/sleeve to fit the hdx 18t in the UK? Or alternatively, I can order one on the web from abroad (I don't want a wheeled mini suitcase btw).
Cheers
Rick

 

Did a quick undervolt and dropped temps on the cpu down by 10c. under full load. Running memory tests now to make sure the g.skill chips are A-OK. Woot. Love that notebook.

 

What programs are you using to monitor temps? RMClock? And what program to undervolt? Any program to control the fans?

Also, anyone know a good program to partition the hard drive? The built in one only lets you do 50% shrink.

 

I did extensive testing with my G.SKILL RAM and didn't detect any errors, but then started getting bluescreens that were clear indicators of bad memory. Just a warning!

 

OH NO!!!! That doesn't sound good.....

 

Let us know how it turns out.

And pdx is there something wrong with the product or did you make a mistake by accident when installing it?

This is why I'm hesistant to replace the hard drives and/or memory that will be coming with my 18t.

 

Regarding the TV hook-up, yes, you should be able to, assuming your A/V receiver supports HDMI. Use the laptop's HDMI port to plug into the A/V receiver and then use another HDMI cable to go from the A/V receiver to the TV. The A/V reciever will route the audio into your surround sound speakers and pass the video along to the TV.

 

Nah, I don't think I made any mistake, I think I just got unlucky. I'm running on the stock RAM right now and no bluescreens - replacement should be here soon. Hopefully I don't have any more trouble!

Can anyone recommend an extensive memory testing suite like memtest86 for x64 systems? I made due by switching the modules and running memtest86 twice, but that obviously doesn't mean it all got tested.

 

Thansk for the help. So I would need an A/V reciever with atleast 2 hdmi portsright? One for in and then one for out? Can you recommend a decint unit? It doesn't have to be all that powerful.

 

I ordered the HDX 18t without the TV Tuner. Is there a part # I can order that will allow me to snap a card in, etc to my existing HDX?

Thanks

 

As a note, if you convert your disk to dynamic, you can do software RAID.

 

is that a question or a statement?

 

I read a note a few pages back where someone posted a note that said you could not do RAID in the HDX.

 

That was probably me. There is a Microsoft KB article here that states Dynamic disks are only supported on the Business, Enterprise and Ultimate versions of Vista. Dynamic disks are also not supported on portable computers.

So, while I haven't tried it myself, going by what Microsoft says (and what I've read elsewhere), RAID is not possible, because Dynamic discs are not possible.

If anyone wants to pioneer the effort, it would be interesting to know if that is indeed the case on the HDX (of course, you'd have to have Vista Ultimate).

 

I don't know if that's possible. They say that it is an integrated TV tuner. So I assume that it not some kind of module that you can easily snap in. Heck, there might not even be a hole in the laptop for the cable to plug into...

Again, I could be wrong...

 

Software RAID would be slow anyways don't you think?

 

I would contend that there would be a tv tuner module. But you'll need to find the part numbers. A service manual for the 18T would point you in the right direction, but nobody has found one yet. On top of that, you may need the cable to hook up to the port on the exterior of the laptop. I think the easiest thing to do is return your laptop (if you're within 21 days) and order a new one with the tuner.

Another option, there are tuners out there the size of a USB stick.

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I get about 77 processors running at startup, with BT no tuner. I've killed off a bunch of services, and am down to about 66, my old single core lapotop was down to 40 at startup, will see if I can disable more stuff, but this is a good start to boost performance.


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I discovered that the extra power adapter listed on the options build page is not the correct one. Our adapters are 120w, the one on their page is a 180w. I'm trying to source one on Ebay but it appears the part numbers are too new or newly revised (new number on old part). You can buy the part directly from HP for $47, which is cheaper than the build page $80+ for the wrong one (may still be compatible, don't know).

 

And I thought my QUAD processor was cool! You've got 77 "processors" in yours!!


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What is the part number or link to the $47 adapter? I'm looking for a couple. Thanks!

 

Yes, and I'm pretty sure you can't run the system partition on software RAID. Plus, M$ "dynamic disks" are bad news for dual-booting.

 

Hey fellerS!

How can I tell if my new 18t BNlue Ray drive is also lighht scribe.

I see on the HP site that they are offering Blue Ray / lughtscribe drives in one slot!??

Pls advise.

Pureride

 

Hey Guys,

I’m mainly looking for opinions from former dv7t owners (PDX-Alpha – I know you had the same problem) or graphic designers, how is the color on the HDX18t?

Also for those who went down to the 5,200RPM drive from a raid or 7,200RPM any major noticeable difference in applications? I know I’ll have to wait a few more seconds while loading .psd’s.