*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I just ordered the dual 500GB HD CTO.
Has anybody been able to run Vista on HD1 and Hackintosh on HD2?
Has anyone abandoned Vista or has dual-boot Vista and XP.
Are all drivers available for XP?

Does HP cripple BIOS options (like apparently Sony does) or do you have full access to everything?

I have seen different people recommend different bags..
Is there a consensus which laptop backpack is the best for the HDX18t? Any that are TSA approved?

Has anybody tried if you can upgrade the Vista Home Premium 64bit to the Vista Ultimate 64bit version with the purchase of the Vista Ultimate recovery disc?

 

Yes I have one of these I bought from Best Buy. It's a Pinnacle USB HD Tuner. Works pretty good...bought it for $100....

 

part# 463953-001

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/sp...de=&partsrch=391174-001&submit.x=4&submit.y=5

I have a feeling the old part number 391174-001 is the same (indicated by HP as 'replaced with' the new number), and there are plenty of them on ebay for that one, but not the new number. I would assume as long as the spec are the same, it should be a go.

 

It'll say on the drive that it's lightscribe. If it doesn't say lightscribe on the drive, then it's not lightscribe.

 

I should be getting mine next week hopefully! I use photoshop a lot so I hope that I will be able to get good vibrant colors. Of course nothing beats a real external panel but I hope the 18 screen will be suffice.

I am pretty picky with colors so I should be able to give a fair review of the screen once I get to play with it...

 

It is possible. I actually have my HDX18 connected to quickdock.. the quickdock connected to my logitech z5500 via Coaxial Audio... HDMI connected to my plasma TV with the TV having audio out via toslink!!!
sound is superb!

 

Like the dv7, the color is a little on the cool side. However, the screen is just bright enough to make up for the reflectivity of the Infinity screen. It's still not as bright as my dv8000t, but I'd say in general it's working out for me. It's not giving me headaches after hours of coding, editing images, or playing WoW. And I don't have to tilt the screen to get the best (or even acceptable) viewing angle while reading from top to bottom.

Although the screen won't win any awards, it's acceptable with proper calibration (something I haven't done yet).

I went to 7200RPM from 5400 on my old system, and although it's not a direct comparison at all, Photoshop CS3 loads images much faster.

 

The colors aren't bad, but side-by-side with a good external monitor (or my HP HDX 20.1" Dragon), the blacks aren't quite as black, and the dynamic range isn't quite as good. I think the LCD panel they use (this being their premier HDX line), is only a 6-bit display (from what I remember being posted earlier). That means not as good color reproduction.

But, you can crank the colors up a bit with the nVidia display panel...it helps a bunch, but not with the blacks.

 

not to mention that the "Digital Vibrance" setting is a bad bad idea if you want accurate color representation - it causes color variations to disappear, which becomes very obvious if you crank it up all the way. I have it on at 19% for day-to-day stuff but it goes off as soon as I need to do image editing.

For anyone who cares, I use the following settings I came up with after some eyeball-based calibration methods:

Brightness: 40%
Contrast: 45%
Image Sharpening: None (greyed out for me)
Gamma: 35%

These may seem like low settings but they are necessary to make up for the lack of color range on this monitor. Even these aren't perfect settings, but it helps fix the problem of lights & darks being so misrepresented.

I haven't tried messing with the color channels yet, but my best guess to fix the color balance temporarily would be to reduce the brightness of the blue channel to 25%.

EDIT: 50% brightness is also generally good, but I find 40% to be easier on the eyes and it doesn't wash out the colors as much as 50% does.

 

Thanks for the quick responses! I might be pulling the trigger tonight.

 

I'm finally going to unbox my HDX18 tonight and install an Intell X25 SSD in it as the primary boot/app drive (also the only drive until I can sort out a connector/enclosure). Just looking for a bit of advice about the best way to do this. Is there an easy way (software util) etc to make a bootable recovery dvd from the recovery partition on the factory hard drive? If so, my theory is that I'll burn a recovery DVD, switch in the Intel SSD and recover to that drive. Should this work ok?

Also, I'll do bootup times before and after with all default factory settings on Vista Premium 64bit to give some sort of idea as to the SSD performance.

Any ideas/comments?

 

Someone posted an article awhile back with Vista and SSD. The issue was that the write times weren't as fast as HDD's so sometimes Vista wouldn't install correctly. The article mentioned that they cloned the image onto the SSD and that's how they were able to get it to work.

Please let us know how it goes....I would be interested in seeing the performance with SSD...

 

Just do it! I waited 5 weeks and although I felt I got a good deal, every week that went by, HP seemed to have increased the price by $50....

My logic was that everyweek the price would decrease getting closer to the holidays but it didn't!

I am so glad I pulled the trigger, I HOPE to get it next week!

 

Yes, I remember your post, it is a 6bit panel. SEC125 or SEC105, some weird code like that for the panel. I really do wish the customers had a choice for 6bit or 8bit panels in the BTO's. That's the whole point of BTO's right?

I am more than happy to pay extra for an 8bit panel. HP would get my money, just offer it to me as an option!

The screen won't be too much of an issue for me since I will be picking up a 24" monitor to replace my 19" monitor anyways.

 

Are you a gamer? I'm not really, but I wouldn't mind picking up Crysis or Bioshock for the HDX just to kill some time. I don't expect the 9600M GT to play these games at high resolution with high frame rates but they should at least
be able to get by and allow me to enjoy the games at decent rates right?

 

I'm a casual gamer in the general sense, but I play WoW a lot. From what I've seen with my game and what I've heard about other games, this card should get you by just fine. Bloom filtering (that fancy full-screen warm glow) and detailed shadows will have quite a negative impact on your framerates if you use high levels of anisotropic filtering (4x or 8x) and high texture quality. For WoW, turning that stuff down/off isn't a big deal and it still looks gorgeous and runs at 60fps.

 

thanks PDX, do you play command and conquer? I used to love playing red alert 2, and still do sometimes because it's such a simple and fun game to play...

I'll definitely load up Unreal 3 though. I'm ok with turning down all the fancy details, i do notice the difference though but I can live with it.

When I get my desktop HP, I'll make sure it's a quad core with 8gigs and the latest and greatest video card so I can see what I'm missing when i turn everything up!!!

 

That was with the cheap MLC drives. The Intel MLC drives have a different controller and have been found to be ridic fast. The downside is the $650 price tag for 80gb.

 

Wow!...something tells me....not WORTH it....

 

I'll let you know. It's had some amazing reviews.

 

There is a backup tool on your OEM drive that allows you to make a "ghost" type recovery disk. It takes 2 DVDs to burn. You should find it in your menu items. Use those DVDs to load your new Intel SSD.

Intel SSD. Very nice.

 

I've tried loading the iDeneb version of OS X with no love. I get through the loading process but when it gets to the part of rebooting for the first time into the OS I get a message that tells me to reboot. But when I do I get the same message over and over again.

If anyone gets anything different Im interested in hearing it.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I have all versions available: iDeneb, JaS, Leo4All, Kalyway....
I will report back if I get it to work.

Any responses to the other questions?

One more question: I ordered mine with the extended battery. As it sticks out, how does that change the dimensions of the HDX? I am afraid to order a backpack bag that only fits the laptop with the regular battery (17.2x11.3x1.72 inches) and not the extended one.

 

What extended battery? There's an option for an extra battery but I've never seen anything more (such as a 12-cell). Did you order a 12-cell?

 

You are right. I was fooled by the picture showing a larger battery that sticks out. Reading my order and going back to the order page it is clear that I will get a second (regular 8-cell) battery.

 

"Are all drivers available for XP?"

Well, I went to the drivers page and saw that all drivers are available for Vista but only a few for XP.

(I cannot post any URLs [15 post limit])
Vista: h t t p : / / h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2100&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3769214

XP: h t t p : / / h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3769214

Unanswered questions:
1. Bios options blocked out?
2. Anybody has any experience with this laptop backpack:
h t t p : / / w w w .ebags.com/ogio/politan/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=89329
3. Vista Ultimate upgrade from Home Premium with rescue disc?

Thanks for any info.

 

I do not have experience with that exact bag but I do own a few OGIO bags and they're very nice/well made bags, and (not to state the obvious) according to ebags internal dimensions listed it should fit.

 

For the person inquiring about installing XP on the HDX18:
Until I get my own HDX18 (Ship 11-19-08 est) I can not give all the details but I can tell you that you will need an ICH9 disk or a mod version of the XP install. Other than the hard disk controller drivers nothing should be requireed for the initial install. Drivers for the fingerprint reader and maybe some other devices will not be available for XP. I'll update this post in early December after I return from holiday.

 

Hmmm...looking through all 7 of your previous posts here in the HDX18t thread, only two of them had a question. The first one (regarding the 2nd hard drive and whether a special caddy and adapter were necessary) was indeed answered, maybe just not specifically directed to you. But the posts immediately following the one you asked, stated that a caddy and adapter were needed to be ordered. Even further into the post, part numbers and pricing were posted.

Your 2nd question, regarding a part number for the VU Recovery DVD, may not have been answered because very few people have that DVD. I know I posted a direct link to the VU Recovery DVD order page, so I suppose you could have looked there, but just so as to not disappoint you further, the P/N is 508541-001.

For someone seeking out information on the HDX18t, but having asked only two questions in over one month (one of which had nothing to do with the HDX18t itself), I can't see why you're disappointed...it seems like either the forum is answering all your questions before you ask, or there isn't anything you want or need to know!

Personally, I think your comment is rude and undeserving, not to mention unnecessary. If this thread is unfullfilling, just don't come back. But many of us put in a lot of OUR time helping others, as is proof with over 1500 posts.

 

I agree with Lancorp. I think this forum has been a big help. It has not only saved me some money, but they have answered all my questions so far. My computer is "inproduction" now. So hopefully I will have it before the 19th that it says. I am sure I will have more questions an this is were I will start.

 

HP added a whole sh*tload of options for hard drives on the HDX18t. They have the dual 320G 7200 rpm hard drive for +$500...wow.

 

Well these 2 questions have not been answered:
1. Bios options blocked out?
2. Vista Ultimate upgrade from Home Premium with rescue disc?

I have read about the VU rescue disc (and know how to order it) but did anybody actually successfully upgrade their Home Premium to VU with the rescue disc?

 

"Wow" is right! They sure think their 7200RPM drives are GOLD! $500 more for two $90 drives....nice markup! Their drive pricing is all out of whack...

 

1. Most (or all) of the techy/useful options are gone. Just basic hardware and boot options.
2. You don't "upgrade" from VHP to VU. As has been stated, the recovery DVD wipes out your drive and images a new fresh install with that factory-fresh smell!

 

Sony is releasing a 18.4" bag for their AW series. Its listed earlier in this thread. I would check that out.

 

My curiosity was piqued by another thread mentioning the Quad core is available in Australia. I checkout out the site and did some price comparison analysis. Its ad hoc and by no means scientific. Its a ball park analysis.

HP HDX X18-1013TX AU$3899 or US$2558.02
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/e...-3806904-3806906-3806906-3769212-3834776.html

A similarly priced system on the US portal is US$2114.99 sans the $200 instant rebate. The other note is the AUS edition comes with 800GB of HD. There is no comparable option in the US so I selected the 1TB option for $300.

All in all its a US$443.03 comparable price difference. Now from I see it mentions GST is included so I'm assuming that is Australia's sales tax and some of the mark up may(?) be from tariffs.

Some goods are more expensive in Australia because everything has to be shipped in. It's the same type of price shock an American gets when visiting from the main land to Alaska or Hawaii.

HDX-X18-1015TX AUD$5899 or $3870.16
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/e...-3806904-3806906-3806906-3769212-3834782.html

Now the interesting part is the price difference in US dollars between the models.

They are both configured identically with the exception of a 2.53 duo core vs. a QX9300 quad core.

Price difference between the two models is US$1312.14.

This sounds correct when compared with what other OEMs are charging for this option. I think we all knew this was the case with the earlier offering. HP was selling the initial quad offering way below market value.

Again not sure what the % is on sales tax in Australia and how much of a tariff is tacked on. But shooting from the hip they are charging in and around a US$900 price premium for the quad over the 2.53 duo core.

 

1. You have to dig into the default 4 options to get into the real BIOS options.

2. Nope.

3. Just order the Vista Ultimate backup CDs from the HP portal for $16.

As far as installing XP.

I was going through some of this. Its listed in an earlier post. I had to slipstream the Intel chipset drivers for the SATA drives in order to load XP completely. If you don't you will get a blue screen of death when XP tries to load into the OS.

After that the show stopper for me was the GPU driver. I tried using Mobility Modder to mod the GPU drivers for install but x64 systems are not supported. I didn't try other driver options as mentioned.

The other issue is if your driver ini files are modded you won't be able to view blu-ray disks (not data just movies) . There are work rounds on the net but I didn't dig that deep into them.

 

I have an HDX18 I just received from HP this week that includes the built in Bluetooth option. Once I turned on my Microsoft 5000 Bluetooth Notebook Mouse I started to get the following error every time I turn on the Laptop (Even if the mouse is turned off)

HID DATA has stopped working

When I googled this error message I see that pages upon pages of people have received this error when they activated various Bluetooth devices on HP laptops (Not just the HDX18). It appears to be linked to the HP Quick Launch Buttons. I removed the running of the Quick Lauch buttons from the startup and I no longer have the error message. This is a work arround but for a new Laptop that costs as much as this I would expect there to be some acknowledgement of the problem from HP and a fix to the Quick Launch buttons program. Has anyone else had this problem and if so has there been any solution besides shutting down the Quich Launch Buttons?

--Rocco--

 

Has anyone installed any distros of linux or wubi on an HDX?
I'd like to know your experiences.
I've been looking at the HDX 18t for awhile and appreciate all of the great inputs found here.
I hope to order one in the near future.

 

Oh yeah, this thread clobbers the HDX16t thread. I wonder why the lack of discussions with the 16t? It's more affordable so I would think more people would have it and it's been out longer...

 

It seems there's a couple of us that pulled the trigger on the same day since everyone seems to be waiting for the 19th...


Let's see who gets it first!!

 

Agreed, that is insanely priced!

It's all because of you few that bought the quads for $250...they are hurting!!

 

I thought I had found the nVidia drivers for this stand alone for XP. I'll see if I can find it again...

 

nVidia 9600M GT WinXP Drivers

Here you go, can't this work?

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/xp/176.28

 

Dell isn't much better...on a Precision M6400, to upgrade from ONE 160GB 7200RPM drive to ONE 320GB 7200RPM drive is an EXTRA $345!!!

Do they think we're that stupid???

 

Yes they do, and I believe the majority of the time, they get suckers.

It's just too easy to click upgrade to 320 and pay the extra price than for one to search the internet and then upgrade yourself.

They are banking on that and I bet most of the time they win out.

It's only the small minority groups like us that laugh at options like that and do it ourselves...

 

I will need to check that out. Thanks for the link.

 

I've only booted the LiveCD of the newest Ubuntu but I have free partitions and high hopes. I'll post an update as soon as I get around to installing it.

 

Yeah to be honest I'm kinda a part of that group. I'll admit that I can be lazy. Plus I'm fearful of replacing the hardware and doing something completely wrong in the process.

Hence why I'd rather let HP do the building and just send it to me whole.

But yeah after looking at that price I'm less hesistant to fork over $500 just for 2 dual hard drives running a higher speed.

I shudder to think what they'll price the Quad Core processor at when it returns...IF it returns that is...

$1,000 probably...lol...

 

Very likely.

Also, sometimes the add on are worth it so don't feel bad.

For example the HD Tuner with remote. That is a $100 option, that's a GREAT deal because I paid $100 for a Pinnacle USB HD Tuner so I'd rather have it integrated into a laptop than to carry around an extra device...