*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

2nd link where? which page?

 

Naw, I didn't purchase a 'Quick Ship'...... GEEZ, this whole thing is starting to get me a little miffed. I missed the HDX on the first release of the QX9300's..... I missed the last 30% off deal...... been waiting for such as this, 40% off, and when I try to jump on it, IT's BOGUS!

I think I am about done with MS CASHBACK, HP, and the infamous HDX. Through out the entire day of Black Friday, I have wasted my time (OCD'in) clicking the 'refresh' button...... all for a bargain on a couple of HP laptops.

I think I am off to Alienware to look at the M17. I know, no bargains there, but no bargain with HP right now either. At least I'll get a little more high-end with no marketing games & BS..... such as 'HP coupons & LIVE.COM.

MAN, that felt good to vent! Sorry guys.....

 

You said it...

 

Funny, I watched Hellboy 2 and Wall-E on my HDX the last 2 days. I love it!!!

Wall-E is a classic!!!

 

What kind of BIOS settings do you need? I found the settings to be "OK". There wasn't really all that much that I needed to change..

 

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/off-topic/882446/

 

This is a great forum! I got 18t earlier in the week and I love it. There's a very slight crackling sound coming from inside the computer every now and then - sounds like crumbling paper or a log on a fire. It's very faint. Is this normal?

 

Moving away from the Microshaft Live disaster:

My questions have not been answered. Here they are again:

1. I looked in the BIOS and did not find the option to boot from the 2nd HD. Those of you running multiple operating systems: do you use a boot manager like Acronis Boot Manager or other boot managers?
I am trying to install hackintosh on drive 2.

2. What do you all use for Baremetal Recovery: Acronis Trueimage, Norton Ghost or something else?
I had in the past problems with both programs.
Did anyone try one of those two and had it work as promised?

 

WHOA! did they end the "promotion" early because it spent all day in the land of fail? cause now when i search Live.com for "HP" and i Click the 40% promo link in the search results, its just loads the regular HP home shopping site, never even tries to load cashback...

 

Glad you like it. I don't get any crackling sounds coming from the computer. Could it just be your HDD?

 

I get that too.

That = goes straight to HP.com.

 

so is the Live cash OFFICIALLY dead?

 

Wait. When was it officially alive?

Oh wait I'm also getting network timeouts.

 

well according to an ELITE few, it was working and people were able to get their orders through...we just werent in that elite few!

 

I feel lucky I was in the "elite" few as you put it, but looking back probably not worth the amount of time I spent on it.

 

Well, I managed to get all the way to the HP website with about 15 minutes to spare before the end of the 'sale'. The HP website was very slow, but I got my laptop order completed and submitted with about 2 minutes to spare. Now we'll see if I actually followed the 'correct path' to getting the cashback deal. I'll watch for an email from live cashback over the weekend......if I don't see the email, I'm going to cancel my order with HP. I have to say that this was a miserable experience overall. But if I get the deal, it may have been worth it. We'll see...

 

I hate you...

 

I have screen shots of all the steps I reached, plus this forum, and the fatwallet forum. Is that enough of a case against them?

I dont suppose someone actually read the full legal agreement and would know if they included some clause about being allowed to screw the customer over?

 

I really don't believe they screwed the customer over. They had tons of people trying at once. I mean if they intentionally prevented people from being able to order that's one thing, but being bogged down due to tons of people accessing it is another.

Finally, I'm actually saddened some people would go as far as putting a "case" against MS or HP.

If you tried to go to Wal-Mart today to get a deal and missed out on it due to hundreds of people buying it, how is that any different? There is no rule guaranteeing you'll get in on this deal. You have as much of a chance as everybody else who got in on this deal.

 

Yeah, I suspect it's my HDD. Don't know if it's normal or not. I got the 2 X 500GB. I guess I'll check in with HP. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the link.

$34.99, -$30 if you sign up for their visa card (which I did) + free super saver S&H = $4.99 to my door.

 

The first thing I did before formatting that Fista OS off was play wall-e off of my MCE machine (ethernet network). It's a mkv file around 10gig. Played very smoothly. I use media player classic, as part of the K-lite codec pack. I just did it again with XP (still no sound yet in my XP attempt #1), but certainly no video problems, and I switched to about every mode there was in the rendering options and couldn't see any issues. If I can get the XP going to my satisfaction then this will be awesome for me.

Don't get too frustrated at this point, you are an early part of what is going to be a tremendously popular machine. Plenty of driver revisions and refinements coming soon.

 

Well, personally, I think their "promotion" was terribly executed. I cannot believe that many people were jamming up the HP site buying computers for 12 straight hours. As a matter of fact, I tried many, many times today just to get into my cashback site and couldn't. So, it's not that HP was swamped, it's that MS was ill-equipped to handle the traffic. How much time is does one person need to spend to take advantage of a promotion? 12 hours of constantly clicking the mouse?

It's very different. HP didn't run out of computers. We couldn't even get thru the door to buy the product!!! It's really sleazy tactics. They got millions of uses on their live.com search engine from millions of lemmings crazily clicking and searching for cashback sites, only to find out the stores were not reachable. MS got what they wanted, we got nothing.

Ever hear of false advertising. If you advertise something, you either need to make it available to everyone, OR, make it abundantly clear that the offer is limited to xxx number of people or that there some odds of winning, etc. You cannot just advertise a sale and not make it available to everyone.

Get it?

 

BTW, try going to the live.com cashback FEEDBACK page. The feedback is disabled! You can choose to leave feedback, but there is no place to type your feedback!!

Yes, Microsoft really wants our opinion!!! Probably too many satisfied customers leaving positive feedback!

 

I don't believe HP did any false advertising. MS may have but not HP. And I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, I believe they did make it available to everybody, everyone who got in on it had as even a shot as everyone else. Some got in on it, some did not. But it was available to everyone in that aspect. The system did not pick and choose Person A to sell to and to deny Person B.

Finally there's a post on slickdeals regarding everything. Basically putting the onus on MS. As I said, I don't believe it was any fault of HP's. HP's own site worked fine all day, it was only the live cashback stuff that had problems, so obviously it had to be on MS' end, not HP's.

 

lancorp,
I agree with you 10000000%
HP's site worked fine.
It was MS that was all messed up.
I laughed when I read on fatwallet forums someone else suggested like me that MS should use linux on their servers too.

 

The worst part of it is that frecking MS will advertise how the hits to their live.com site have increased and that it is on its way to pass google!!!
Clueless Wall Street analysts will love that news and upgrade their stock to buy.

So, in the grand scheme of things we all wasted our time and got the shaft while MS will have more hits to their site to show for.

HP HDX 18t = last microcrap product I bought

I was already mad about the windows genuine disadvantage garbage that disabled some of the (legitimate) computers in my business, but now I had officially enough!

When is Snow Leopard and the new Mac Pro coming out?

 

Well VistaBad,

I feel about like one of the XP 300. I have no yellow punctuation screaming out to me from the device manager, and I started with 12. Everything I have tried works. I have not been able to test the remote as I am running XP Pro and not MCE, so I have no remote apps available. I have yet to connect the HDMI to verify it or it's sound, and I have yet to configure the validity fingerprint reader, but at least they each have seemingly functional drivers assigned.

Now the sound is the weak link. The headphones click occasionally when starting flash media, or a local audio file, I have no tone control yet, but my main sound card here is a firewire external, so basic functional sound is fine with me when I'm not plugged into the firewire piece.

Also the mute button is illuminated red all the time, even though the button functions as it should, it does not give me a white (volume one) indication.

After about a day of tinkering amidst a lot of nay saying (folks whom have sipped of the Fista kool aid cup and are now passing it around IMO ) I am pleased that XP is functioning well. As I said before, this will be an incredibly popular line of machines, and there will be future driver refinements, much more so that the original HDX dragon which was more of a left field specialty item, scaring away the mainstream. Not to mention, I did email the head of HP, and am certain that after reading that email, he will immediately be calling down to engineering to open the xp driver floodgates.

Now tomorrow... uh oops today... I will run some games/ audio apps / benchmarks just to see what happens under pressure.

What software is the easiest way to set up a remote in XP Pro, girder?

Also, what software is the easiest way to try out the fingerprint reader's functionality.

 

Oh, I agree with you. I didn't state that HP was the fault of this. As a matter of fact, they are probably fuming that their sales weren't all they could have been. The HP site was totally available. That tells me that they were NOT swamped. This completely falls on MS. Like I stated, I couldn't even get to any of their cashback sites. I'm sure this affected more stores than HP.

In reality, you are not correct when you state "Some got in on it, some did not.". If you read the forums (this one, fatwallet, etc.), it's more like a couple got in on it, 10's of thousands did not. I'm no statistician, but that doesn't look like everyone had an equal chance. It looks more like a lottery with random winners, with the odds of "winning" very low. In your own words, you say "everyone who got in on it had as even a shot as everyone else." That sounds like a contest to me, not a sale. When's the last time you had to worry about being able to take part in a sale at a store?

Basically, it was advertised as a sale. Plain and simple, 12 hours, 40% off, from 7am to 7PM. At 7:01AM, I was not able to get in. Nor any other time throughout the 12 hours. Same for literally tens or hundreds of thousands of people. I think only one person on this forum got through, and even he isn't sure he got the 40% off.

So, despite what you say, I think the overwhelming majority of customers, people who wanted to buy something from HP, would disagree with you.

 

Congratulations! You really need to do a step by step guide somewhere for XP installations!!

Believe it or not, I typed out a message to HP, it was kind of lengthy but I didn't send it. I just didn't feel like anyone would actually read it.

However I did send a short email about selling the HDD caddy parts. It's crazy that they would have the parts listed, but not for sale?


To test the fingerprint reader, you could just go to any webpage that has a user login. That's what mine does all the time. I think the fingerprint reader is in a bad spot physically. I think it should be somewhere above or near the F keys. I know cosmetically that doesn't look good, but naturally it makes more sense.

You're typing along, you need to login somewhere, and you quickly swipe your finger up NORTH, and get back to business. But where it is now is on the lower right hand corner so you kinda have to move your entire arm to swipe your finger....just a nitpick, I know....

Are you also using the HP wireless assistant? Does that work?
How about HP media smart?

Also, what about the multi-card reader? Do you have an SD card somewhere to test that?

 

Good job on the K-lite, I use that on my tablet PC. Funny, it's only a year old and just watching 720p files PUSHES it. The fan comes on and it gets HOT.

The HDX, I can have 1080p in the background, multiple files open and the thing doesn't even sweat!!!

I will have to install the K-lite package as well as I too have MANY MANY .mkv files...

 

sgunes,

Sad, but true. You make all good points.
I want a new HDX-18t too, but will take the bad and then dual boot linux ASAP. First wubi just for a test drive, then full install of Ubuntu after all of the crapware is removed.

 

Update on Black Friday: I got my HP HDX 18t & 25" monitor order completed with a few minutes to spare after spending all day with Oops, false starts and 'site down' messages. I got confirmation of the order from HP right away, but it is now over 12 hours later and I have not seen any response from MS cashback. I'll be patient, but if Monday comes without any cashback email....this guy will NOT be a happy camper.

 

Snow Leopard I believe is very early 2009 full 64bit support. New Macbook pro's have been out since October 2008, but if you are looking for the 17" model, that won't come out until January/February 2009.

If you're going to go the Apple route, I am pretty sure you are willing to pay handsomely the extra costs of owning an apple. I scour the apple boards daily and the new macbook's are not that great, and full of glitches and horror stories. They too are built in China. I think Shanghai?

I'm not against Apple in anyway and plan to get a MB myself (after a couple revisions), but just letting you know (as I'm sure you already do) that the grass isn't always greener on the other side...

Plus the HP HDX isn't a microsoft product. You can buy the HDX, put Ubuntu, hackintosh, redhat and other OS's on it like the other poster is going to do...

From a hardware and design standpoint, the HP HDX hands down is better than the new macbook pro's...don't fall for uni-body design, it is not all that and the fact that it is all aluminum, some users are experiencing slight shocks from it...(grounding issues?)

 

I recieved my HDX 18T this week and couldn't be happier. It is a beautiful beast! When I wake up in the morning , I first use it for bicep curls to get my workout going. ( it's a tad heavy) It has been whisper quiet.
I used the Live.com cashback through an Ebay seller and it went smooth,
but I was concerned after purchase ,that even though I recieved a Cashback confirmation through Ebay, nothing confirmed or pending showed up on the Live.com account for 3-4 days. Finally, I recieved a pending status on day four.
VistaBad....... Thanks for the Amazon/Targus link.....I appreciate it...35 bucks to the door....can't beat that!
I've been a loyal Sony consumer for all electronics and after having my last 2 sony laptops in the shop numerous times......I asked the repair company a few simple questions ....like what brands do you repair most and which are the most reliable? The answer thay gave me regarding repairs wasn't even close. They said Sony alone has kept them in business and that Hp's would be those that needed the least repairs by far.
I made the change based on that alone and I'm happy I did.
I've got a little diffferent take on all these coupons and promotions. During these challenging economic times, any coupon, discount, free shipping on any of these fair -priced laptops is awesome. I want HP to turn a profit. I want them to remain successful. I look at what I got for $ 1,600.00, and I can't believe it.
I want to thank everyone for their submissions and expertise here on the forum. I have learned alot and saved alot.
Happy Holidays, Marc

 

Vistabad:
I like the HDX and will keep it but I hate to have to pay a Microsoft tax on pretty much everything but some Apple and Linux products. I looked at the new MacBook Pros but I would have had to compromise a lot on the hardware side and therefore opted for the HDX.
I want to update my main desktop (C2D Q9300 OC, self-build) for HD video processing within the next 3-6 months and would like to try the new Mac Pros (i7) for that. I probably will not need another laptop for 3-4 years (that's how long my Dell Inspiron 6400 lasted).
I want to try the Jobsonian RDF (Reality Distortion Field) versus the MS Kool-Aid for a while. I will definitely not get a Windows Mobile device out of spite and wait for the 32GB iPhone 3G v2.

 

Wow.. What terrible customer support HP has. I went through the 40% thing yesterday, and pushed 'submit info' for the order. However, I never was redirected to a confirmation page, but I was redirected the HHO store page. I checked my order status and nothing was there which made me thought nothing happened. I also called them up to make sure. However, this morning, I check my bank and 3200$ is gone, taken by HP. I talk to them and they tell me to go talk to Microsoft because I was "using" the 40% deal (which was terrible).

How is Microsoft supposed to help me get my money back? Nothing was ordered, yet I was still charged.

 

With the live cashback they don't give you the 40% off immediately, I think they wait 30 days after the purchase before they start refunding the 40%.

 

I wasn't talking about the 40%, though. The order never went through, yet I was still charged.

 

The new chipsets like i7 are going to be really impressive. I have the 8GIG iPhone 3G and love it. It has a very easy to use interface. But things don't just always "work". It crashes more than I thought it would. I've updated to the latest 2.2 OS so we'll see if it gets any better but it's the best phone out there and I wouldn't want anything else.

As a secondary choice, I'd probably pick up the BB Bold if I couldn't get the iPhone.

Apple really has an edge up with its OS. It's a great OS. I just don't like how their hardware is subpar, and you pay premium. You can always self build your own server and put Snow Leopard on it? That way you can save yourself cash and have the Apple OS...

 

You're gonna be waiting for 60 days I believe before the cashback is ready to go back to your account.

Glad I didn't waste my time doing this cashback thing.

 

Ok I'll start with these. Both working properly, the network light / button are responding as designed, and both the bluetooth and the wireless network go on/off accordingly.

SD Card reader (sd is all i use) worked first time right away.


Still messing about with the validity fingerprint

 

Does the bluray player work?

 

oh dude, i don't even have a blu ray disc handy at the moment. sorry.

edit - but do you open blu ray discs through your version of mpc? that would be a convenient test.

 

I am new to bluray too, that's why I just bought hellboy 2 the other day.

When i load it, the HP mediasmart loads up and plays the movie...I don't think it is the media center that's playing it....

 

no, i mean if you open up media center classic and choose open dvd, does it play the hellboy with no issues in vista? that would be the test. I will buy a blu-ray disc today if i get a chance.

i thought that the hotkey driver would handle the keys above the keyboard. Is this correct or am i needing to do some reading on that as well? (specifically not just the the play controls, but the eject button as well)

In my MCE machine in the living room, nothing but the Media Center responds to the installed remote driver, so I am believing that the buttons are completely software reliant.

 

Oh I see. I haven't installed media classic yet with the k-lite package. I will do that soon...

I'm not too familiar with Media Center at all and the remote control.

 

it'd be a caddy kit, so it'd come with everything you needed. my guess is a 3rd party company could sell one, including the shock bumpers/cable/caddy for 45-50 or so.