*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I'm jealous!! I will have to wait until I can afford SSD's....

SSD's are the way to go and we'll eventually get there, you are just there before everyone else is!

Once they can find a way for CPU's and GPU's to work without heating up, we will then be able to remove fans from the laptops. At that point, we'd have no moving parts anymore, other than the bluray drives....

Can't wait till we all have "moving part-less" laptops and desktops!

BTW, does the Macbook Air have any fans?

 

Well, I did it. After going back and forth with Dell regarding an order for a Studio 17 (hey, what can I say? I liked the plum color... *grin*) and becoming very disappointed with the experience, I cancelled my order from Dell and placed an order for an hp HDX18. Using the current discount code found here on notebookforums, I am very pleased with the deal and the configuration.

Now comes the long wait. (Order status suggests the build will be Nov 25, but who knows...). *sigh* I'm really eager to start enjoying this big beast!

Here's what I'm getting...

----------

HP HDX18t Premium Series customizable Notebook PC
Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53 GHz)
18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Fluid)
HP Color Matching Keyboard
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
No TV Tuner w/remote control
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
No Productivity Software
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
HP Bluetooth Laser Mouse
HP Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

All for $1736.76 (plus tax; free shipping)

And based on recommendations from this forum, I'm trying out the Targus TLE400 case (found it for about $50).

 

Congrats! Nothing against Dell, but HP just seems to have better deals and better products. But both companies will always have their share of horror stories......

You are now getting an 18.4 screen rather than 17....I'm not crazy about the Dell designs AT ALL....however at least the studio 17 offers an LED panel...

 

I'm keeping an eye out.

 

I'm so frustrated here in the UK, I'm still waiting to be able to use an HDX18t which I bought from laptopsdirect.co.uk - the story being that last Saturday I ordered one which was delivered last Monday 10/11/08. I opened up and fired up the beast but as it was doing its' thing initializing Vista I noticed what looked like a small (1") line of white paint in the bottom left corner of the keyboard case side. This turned out to be a scratch which turned into a gouge in the (plastic) chrome surround. I called them up and arranged for a replacement which was finally delivered Friday 14/11/08. The HP box looked ok apart from a bit of a dent in one of the top corners, but nothing that looked like it would affect the laptop.
Upon getting the laptop out and before plugging it in, I visually inspected it and was initially pleased that there were no scratches/gouges, but was then horrified to see that on both the left and right hand sides where the casing surrounding the keyboard meets with the bottom side of the speaker grille, it was seemingly warped with the l/h/s being below the level of the grille and the r/h/s being above the level of the grille.
Initially I thought that things just hadn't been clicked into place properly, but despite a gentle (and I mean gentle) attempt to right the wrong, the laptop was having none of it, so in the morning I'll be back on the 'phone to them for yet another replacement/my money back.
I'm seriously thinking that HP have some serious quality control issues here as the outer packaging appeared good as did the inner packing which leads me to believe the problems are arising at the factory (or laptops direct have been sent a duff batch!).
Has anyone else (particularly in the UK) had any similar problems?
Cheers
Rick
p.s. before anyone says it - I know I could go to the company and open one up before taking it, but it's a 3 hour trip each way!

 

Look at this half a$$ review, from cnet, comparing the four 18" laptops;

//reviews.cnet.com/4321-3121_7-6644253.html

I usually like cnet, but the lack of research in this article really makes me wonder. It was written yesterday, but fails to find many of the HDX18t's specifications. A couple of the notes they did put down really downplay it. Like 3gb ram (but forgot to mention expandable to 8), and Home Premium (also failed to mention ability to get Premium). To top it off they've already done a review of the HDX;

//reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-hdx18/4505-3121_7-33248766.html?tag=mncol;lst



....couldn't post entire link due to not enough posts.

 

The casing and speaker grill aren't perfectly aligned on mine either, and I think I read someone else saying the same thing. At the price these things are shipping for, something has to give, and I suspect it's build quality. I also suspect you might be a bit too easily "horrified", but good luck finding one that meets your requirements.

 

FYI: Go to Live.com and search for "hphopping". Click on the first Live search cashback link and save 25% on your purchase from the HP Home & Home Office Store. This is the message that came up when I clicked the link: "Ready to earn 25.00% cashback on every purchase from HP Home & Home Office Store?"

 

Thanks m hawk 1 - perhaps "horrified" was the wrong word - frustrated is more like it.
Mate, I spent nearly £1200 on this thing - to me that's a hell of a lot of money, and I expect better at that price. After all, it's not just the one purchase companies should look at but repeat business and recommendations, so if they punt out what appear to be less than pristine units, they've got to expect to eventually lose business.
Apart from that the Sale Of Goods Act gives the consumer the protection of an item when purchased new having to be free of defect, irrespective of whether it's cosmetic or minor damage.
All we buyers have to do is stand up for our rights which we're not very good at doing in the UK unlike in the USA where I know for a fact they wouldn't put up with it.

Cheers
Rick

 

I tried what you wrote, and also hpshopping and more with no luck.
Could you post the link?
Thanks in advance.

 

Live.com is showing 5% on HP

 

I sent you a private message with the link.

 

I cannot post the link yet as i do not have enough posts. I can, however, send anyone a Private Message with the link.

 

Thank you.

 

The ghost disk doesnt work for the same reason it borks when you try to do a fresh install load from an XP disk (or vista). The ghost image does not have the driver needed for the SSD. I made a post regarding new technologies with harddrives and controllers after an OS gold disk is made to the masses.

A ghost image is a snap shot of the PC in its current configuration mode. If something changes in the hardware configuration of your computer you may run into problems (ie motherboard, different video card). People have had no issues upgrading thier harddrives becuase one sata hardrive to another uses the same driver. In this case the SSD needs a proprietary driver...which sucks.

 

You just never know what you will dream about. I read your post a couple hours before bedtime. Apparantley I had a dream about unboxing my HDX18 based on your post.

I opened it up, and it was one of the most horrible looking laptops I've ever seen. I checked all the edges for scratches and it was ok. But instead of being the silky smooth silver plastic, the entire laptop was covered in cloth...
with weird groovy patterns from the 70's....

And I was thinking, "I didn't choose any cloth option?"

My LCD panel was lopsided but I was able to adjust it because it somehow came with springs??

Anyways, sorry to go off topic....concerning your QA issue. There have already been some people on this thread alone that has issues with little things like keyboards or the LCD not working. On the HDX16, they had issues with screen flickering and sound crackling...

The cost of the laptop is from ones own perspective....spending $1,000-2000 may be nothing or some people, but may be A LOT for others.

I don't think there is a lot of QA that goes into these laptops sorry to say. But it's not just HP, its EVERY vendor. Even the "great" Apple has many many issues with their so called "high quality" laptops....it's really just the way it is now unfortunately. We all roll the dice when we order these laptops....it shouldn't be, but it is...


Also, HP laid off thousands of workers over the summer. Their illogical reasoning was that by laying off these workers, they can better support their customers....HUH?? SAY WHAT?

I pray that my HDX comes to me ok.

My HP tablet that I bought last year had to be sent back due to malfunctioning wireless card. Since the wireless card is integrated, they had to replace the entire motherboard...

 

when do you think that HP will implement the 4850 GPU into this laptop? That's the only thing holding me back.

That's right, I said 4850, not 9800m.

 

Not yet. The HDX machines are selling so fast right now they are surprised..hence the price actually going up a little bit.

 

I was able to use Acronis to copy the originally installed disk to the Intel X25-M SSD. Booted up with no issues. Vista 64 bit Home Premium install.

 

OK say my build date says Nov 25th. Does that mean I have until a couple days before Nov 25th to change my mind before they send it out?

 

Uhh no...if you think you're not going to want it then you need to cancel like now...or at the very latest 1.5 days after you placed the order.

Any later and you're screwed. HP will ship the laptop and you'll just have to wait for it to arrive. Then you'll have to call HP get a return authorization, ship it back using FedEx, wait 2-5 days for it to arrive at their warehouse, and then finally ANOTHER 3 to 5 "business days" for the money to be credited back to your account.

 

I never noticed the note under the coupon code text box ("Use Upper Case Letters)... nb3434

 

I will make my system a dual boot one. Personally, I will use the video/tv features under vista. I do need to have an installed version of XP since, like others, I have programs that will not run under a 64 bit OS. Cisco VPN and ham radio control programs for example. I also have the need to run other OS's but my needs for them can be supplied by virtual PC installs.

By the way, I really like BootItNG from terabyteunlimited.com as a boot manager.

I don't know the maker of the tv card used in the hdx18. (perhaps it is labeled and we will know when it is unboxed) If it is hauppauge, an XP driver for another one of their cards may work.

 

Lancorp, what is a resonable price to pay for each 100hertz of speed increase, specifically from 2.53 to 2.8? People talk about what is worth it what is not, I'm just curious what is resonable price to pay for such an upgrade (and for future calculation to 3+Ghz.

 

I don't have a price/100mhz number, but like the general rule of thumb, 10% is where you first begin to notice an increase (outside of benchmarking).

So for a 10% increase, even though it is faster, I'd probably pay no more than $50 or $100.

When gauging a CPU, keep in mind the L2 cache, as this plays an important role in performance also. In the case of the T9400 vs T9600, the L2 cache is the same, so it's moot in comparison.

 

I would say for those that buy the 9000 series processors, I would not get the T9600 over the T9400 in terms of value for the speed increase it's not worth it. Basically what lancorp is saying above. For myself I love the 9000 series, but only the 9400.

 

I'm slowly but surely trying to make a walkthrough guide for installing XP on the HDX16/18. Below is what I have done so far but it targets the x64 edition of XP. I stopped because I have to go the x86 route. I really hate to do that because I want to take advantage of the 8GB of ram I have installed on this machine. Just like you though, I have third party programs that I want to run and they aren't running on XP x64, Vista x86, or Vista x64.

I've never tried to do a virtual PC install. Intriguing thought.

Not sure who makes the tuner. But the one thing that I do know is that the tuner works with the Vista Ultimate Media Center Edition (MCE) extensions. If we can find an XP driver for the tuner card you may have luck with Windows XP MCE software. We're not going to find HP MediaSmart software for XP so that's a no starter. What I may do is try to do this with the XP MCE instead of normal XP Pro.

What ham programs are you using? I'm sort of an HF wave propagation and antenna theory geek myself. Is the program for HF propagation? Data packet radio?

Just want to say caveat emptor. I'm not responsible if this borks your machine. It's a work in progress. The instructions assume you have valid licensed products from Microsoft . Have to throw in that disclaimer.

 

Yarseyer, this is great! If we can get x64 to work, then that is the best of both worlds because we will be able to utilize more than 3GIGS of ram.

That is one reason why I didn't order BT or TV Tuner because quite frankly I don't need any of them. So from what you wrote, it sounds like this would work for me quite well...I don't care about the fingerprint reader either..

Oh, I just read about the bluray part, that totally sucks!!

 

Just notice that it is a work in progress. Eventually I will get to a point of running this down to fruition. I will probably create a separate thread.

About the blu-ray video part. I think I have a way around it. I need to test it out when I get further down the road with this.

I ordered the tuner because I am going to get some use out of it.

I do have Win XP x64 up and running. The screen is 1080p with sound. I'm missing something with the sound because it makes a crackle and pop noise periodically and the network lan driver isn't working quite right. Wi-Fi is working just fine through. I do have a bunch of hardware not found in the device drivers portion so there is still work to be done there.

 

TV Tuner. Just wondering, how does one use this thing? Plug in your tv signal to the laptop and use the laptop as a TV? I can only imagine this will be for someone without a TV?

 

Exactly. As well as recording and video editing...

 

Do me a favor. Find out which song you play, (any song) that makes it crackle and pop.

Then turn off your wifi, and play the same tune again, let me know if the crackle goes away...

 

Hey guys, I apologize for this off topic question but I'm not really signed up on any Vmware message boards...

I thought that VMware workstation was free? I used to download it all the time for free and got a serial#....

Now I just went to their site and you can only download a free trial?

Did they take that "free" feature away now?

TIA!!!

 

Sorry it is still free. It's VMware server, not workstation....my bad.

 

Its not the songs that crackle and pop its the windows sounds.

 

That's precisely the reason I got it. It can act as a DVR as well.

I'm in the military and I'm going to be a geographical bachelor for 3-4 months. I don't need much. Going to rent a room or an efficiency. Use my laptop as my primary TV.

 

So playing regular music is just fine? But the default windows sounds crackle and pop?

 

I don't know what kind of antenna you will get but you may want to get an extension so you can put the antenna up against a window or high place and get better reception than just on your desk.

 

Do I want 32-bit or 64-bit? Will I have any issues with the 64-bit? I don't see why I would get the 32-bit...

 

**** my 18t still hasn't shipped yet...

 

99% of applications work with Vista x64. The only problems I have seen is getting drivers for old printers and scanners.

I have an old, perfectly good, NEC SuperScript 1400 lazer printer that doesnt want to play nice with Vista. I had to use the x64 printer driver from the XP x64 disk to get it working. The other way to get old printers working is to share them over a network. Your mileage will vary.

 

neither has mine.......

 

Neither has mine!!!!!

 

I'm very "late to the party" coming across this Forum. I really appreciate all the contributions. I started reading from the first post and gave up around 2 hours into it and skipped up here to realtime. I ordered the HDX 18t from a Powerseller on Ebay using LiveSearch as well to take advantage of the Cashback of 200.00 through Paypal. After the Hp disc and the Live Cashback it ran me $ 1,668.00 inc shipping
What a deal. Couldn't resist. I ordered:
T9400 2.53 processor
4 gb ram
1 TB ( 550 x2) Hard drive
Blu-Ray Rom w/ Lightscribe DVD + R/RW
Geforce 9600M GT
Integrated TV Tuner


Can't wait to get the darn thing.... I also ordered a XB4 docking station from
BuyDig,com for 219.99 inc shipping.

I'm looking for an additional 8 cell battery for this thing but don't want to pay the 130.00 that HP is asking. Tried searching everywhere with no success.
Can anyone help with that one?

I'm looking for a neoprene sleeve to fit this sucka....but no luck either.
Thanks again for all the help and contributions, Marc

 

**** dude, you got one hell of a deal for this thing. congrats! you're going to love it.

 

Sounds like a driver issue and not a physical defect.

 

A little off topic... BUT, has the cashback (25%) through ebay ended?