Well, the SB Audigy software is nowhere close to EXTREME...it's used on quite a few Dell notebooks. It basically "unlocks" some Audigy hardware in the audio chipset and give the user more flexibility (equalizers, EAX, effects, etc.) with their audio fine-tuning over the standard IDT or whatever is built in. It isn't a replacement for true Audigy hardware. A lot of people don't think much of the software Audigy.
I've not seen it in anything HP, but I know I read a while back that SB was coming out with a UNIVERSAL version of the Audigy software that worked on anything...haven't seen hide-nor-hair of it yet.
-
Sp2 is out? When did this happen? Should I bother? is it worth it?
I like the way my laptop is running right now.... -
Do some research on your own and determine if any of the reported improvements are worth it to you. -
-
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
Nah, ES chip would clearly show ES in the ID string. I am running 1.48/9. 1.47 shows it as an Extreme, but 1.48/9 does not for some reason (photo attached). Also 1.47 shows it as Yorkfield, while 8/9 shows it properly as Penryn.Attached Files:
-
-
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
1. Downloaded all the drivers from HP website
2. Made recovery DVDs (2)
3. Wiped out that recovery partition and made one partition
4. Re-installed Vista x64 from an OEM disk.
5. Install drivers in classic order (Chipset, video, audio, aux devices)
6. Windows updated
7. Removed "!" conflict left to let updated Windows discover the missing HP
protection driver
8. All devices found and installed
9. Install 180.48 drivers w/modded driver
I use a Eurodesk lapdesk and a wrist gel as rear support (keeps unit firm and stable in position).
Another benefit of 180.48 is it really helped with framerates in WoW adding 10-15+ fps in WotlK xpac. For on the go gaming, I'm a Blizzard Fanboy. If it wasn't Diablo, it was Diablo II, then WoW, and soon Diablo III and SC. -
-
What bios is everyone using?
-
Black Friday Update 5: I thought I got through the Microsoft Live website and to the HP website and ordered my HDX 18t and monitor before time ran out (2.5 minutes before the deadline) on the MS 40% deal. But I never got a single email from MS to confirm my cashback award. I sent several emails to MS, but only got automated responses. Well, to my extreme surprize, I got an email 90 minutes ago from MS confirming my 40% cashback amount, available in 50 days. Woo Hoo.
-
Does that mean no class action lawsuit?
-
-
A dozen emails from me with full details without a response ...
-
http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2008/12/05/update-on-the-black-friday-cashback-outage.aspx -
I wasn't really paying attention to all the complaining so I can't completely support one group over another but I think a lot of people are blowing it out of proportion. But that's just me. HP and MS didn't have to do this. And it may have just been that a lot of people were trying to do at the same time and that lead to the slowing down of the entire process.
But anyways I just think people are way to lawsuit happy....especially when they see huge corporations that they think owe them something. -
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
The hair trigger for pumping out lawsuits (or threats) is crazy in this day and age. Litigation has gotten way out of hand.
40% is fantastic, but it isn't the end all of all. It is one reason why companies and even personal sellers have to list enough disclaimers to fill a textbook. The threat of being sued looms large 24/7. -
I guess I'll be pulling the trigger soon, can't make up my mind about the qx9300 but think I will regret it later if I don't. Talked to a sales rep who acknowledged the heat issue and said thats why they pulled it for awhile. Wish the graphics card was better. The rep says that 9600mgt is superior to the 8800m and that it wasn't compatable anyway. I had bought a dv7t for $2000 with a coupon pretty much loaded but never got it. I begged HP not to ship it but they refused. I'm a truck driver and was having the pc shipped to my ex wifes address. 2 days before the laptop arrived she had me arrested for domestic violence. I never laid a hand on her but still spent 19 days in jail with a $50000 bond. The police said she had a red mark on her arm, must have been self inflicted. I used my phone call to fedex and they said they tried to deliver but no one was at home. The person on the phone insisted that they would hold it at their dc until I pu in person. The day I got out of jail, I looked at tracking info from HP and it said delivered left at door. I had planned to return the dv7t and get an hdx because of all the posts knocking the screen on the 7t. I saw one at gestbuy Saturday and it was horrible. I could flex my knees to lower my eyes and the screen went from dim to black! That makes me feel a little better about not getting it. I could still connect a nice monitor or HDTV via HDMI.
-
9600m - 32 SP (like desktop 8600GT)
8800m (gts) - 64 SP (like desktop 9600GT) -
According to notebookcheck.com the 9600m gts is 38th on the list of NB gpu's, the 8800m gt is 18th. The rep said the 9600 series gpu's perform better with the latest processors. I've been jonesing for the hdx18 but thinking about the Qosmio X305-Q706. It has dual 9800mgts for 1899 shipped. It only has the P8400 processor though. I think I might rather skimp on the processor a little to get the dual 9800m's.
-
notebookcheck.net
-
I'm still doing some due diligence on both machines and it seems that they are very similar specs wise.
Any insight regarding why one may be better than the other?
So far it seems that the screen size is the same (same technology- active matrix TFT dual lamp) + I can get the T9400 cpu on both, I get 5.1 dolby on Acer (seems to be a better deal) , Graphics card is better on Acer (a bit), more HD space+ more RAM on Acer and both have DVD/Blu Ray player (the acer seems to look better) and the Acer is cheaper.
So as you can see the choice is tough - any help would be appreciated.
Best,
Steve -
The 9650m gs in the Acer 8920-6671 has 1024 max memory, I'd say thats a bit better than the 9600m gt's 512. The ASUS G71G-A1 Gaming Notebook has 6gb ram t9400 9800m 500gb hdd for $1800. I notice that many manufacturers are dropping prices quite a bit lately. Even Sony's 18" with similar specs is 1800 unless you get the black one with rgb color management. At least thats the only difference I can see except the much higher price.
-
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
9650 is clocked 125mhz higher
9650 is on a 80nm fab vs. 65nm for 9600m
So:
9600m gt has more overclockability.
9650m gs has 1gb of memory which can potentially slow down the system by a small amount and is pretty much wasted at 1980x1080 resolution.
They're pretty much interchangeable
It comes down to if the Acer uses DDR3 which would push the 9650 much further ahead of the 9600 in the HDX18t which uses bandwidth hungry DDR2. -
Toshiba x305 quality doesn't seem to be as the same level as HDX18t.
Especially lcd display. It looks awesome in hdx.
The perfect config would be hdx18t with 9800m or hd4850 -
Thanks for the input every1. I would say that in a perfect world the HDX18t or the ACER would have the 9800 card in Sli mode.
Any1 know if there is a high probability of major discount coupons PRE/POST Christmas or beginning of year based on historical data? -
aldam sed, "Toshiba x305 quality doesn't seem to be as the same level as HDX18t."
I was going to post a link to a toutube clip that shows the flex in the X305 keyboard, it's pretty ugly.
I also agree with the comment by ziggy about the HDX with 9800m, it would be a no brainer to go for the HDX. It's probably going to come down to price I think for me. I was certain that I would get the HDX18 but now I'm considering the X305-708 and the Asus G71G-A1 because of the graphics cards. I have not seen the 18.4" 1080p screen but I'm thinking that the resolution increase is not going to be that important on a screen that small. -
I can't post links yet
-
Is it possible? or has anyone tried to run 2 monitors - from HDMI port and another through VGA at the same time? if possible, I would buy HDX18t.
-
-
I guess one more important thing is to see if the other latops motherboards support 8GB of ram like the HDX18t does.
Two other interesting observations : when u configure MSI laptops (buying bare bones) - the motherboards support Quad Core & Dual Core!!! (When talking with HP- they said if I buy the HDX18t with Dual Core and what 2 upgrade to Quad -I may have to change the motherboard???$#%)
I am also wondering about the ability to upgrade to the 9800GTS -im assuming its possible (MXM3 interface)?
To me ergonomics and lots of CPU+RAM is important since the machine will be used for daytrading stocks realtime. So large data sets of information, realtime charts and high resolution are important. -
In XP, Control Panel set up feature allows it. I was wondering if Vista has the same feature running multiple monitors. Running DVI and VGA at the same time allows me to run 2 - 24" monitors for stock market data and chart display aside from it's own 18t display.
-
You cannot upgrade HP gpu's they are soldered to the mobo. The 9600m gt should be able to do everything you need.
-
-
You are going to want to use Nvida control panel to run multiple monitors, it has a much better interface for adjusting scaling etc. If windows pops up to ask for multiple monitor config just cancel it and open Nvidia control panel or else you might end up with no image on any screen, at least thats what happened to me the other day. Luckily my laptop screen came back a couple minutes later.
-
I then connected the VGA on the HDX18t to my Dell 20". Display was detected. I used the nVidia control panel to enable DualView where the 2nd monitor is an extenstion of the first (spanned displays).
Works fine. What is even cooler, is you could use 3 displays simultaneously if you included the 18.4" LCD on the HDX18t!!!!
Coolness. -
Wonderful !!!
Thanks millions !!! -
Currently using HP z7000A notebook with P4 3.2 Ghz, ATI Radeon X600 with 2G memory, driving two monitors.
Normally, 4 0r 6 charts and market data with news on realtime. Do trade futures, Options with equities and do not encounter any problem in terms of computer performance in meeting my requirements with 2 monitors.
At times though, I do need to re-start the trading plateform, at about days-end, as charts do get built up with heavy day-long data loads, and taxing CPU and graphics chip set for re-calculations.
With this experience, I think HDX18t with T9600 with 4 G Mem will serve me fine for my purpose. Quad QX is not necessary in my opinion. Any comments? -
-
Is this really a big deal that one would notice if giving a powerpoint presentation? I wish there were vids out there comparing how it's supposed to work and what the error is so one could get an idea of how bad it really is. -
Essentially, using Hardware Acceleration within PowerPoint makes slide transitions and animations very smooth. It's the way the program is supposed to work. By turning it off, you'll still see all your animations and transitions. However, they'll be a bit more "choppy." It's like running a game with a bad framerate vs. running it with cinematic smoothness. And the more "fading" kinds of animations/transitions you use, the more you'll notice it. Same thing with the number of animations; if you've got several items fading in with the fades overlapping each other while a title fade descends into place, everything will be a bit choppier than if Hardware Acceleration was enabled.
Truthfully, I'm glad we've got until mid-January to return these computers. I absolutely love my HDX 18t, but this PowerPoint problem is frustrating enough that it may make me go with a different notebook altogether. (If I could find one with a comperable ATI card at as good a price -- I saved $700 with a code when I ordered mine last month -- I'd probably go for it right now.) -
It's unfortunate that in 2008, there is even a slight issue with Powerpoint and powerful GPU's. It's pretty sad really, we should be having other issues with GPU's, not something silly like animation within Powerpoint.
I don't know how GPU's are designed but you would think that something that can play Crysis would have no probem with Powerpoint slideshow transitions...
I'm pretty mind boggled....at least this isn't an HP issue, more so nVidia..... -
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
Can someone who has a dual core HDX18t post a picture of your CPU Heatsink/Fan? It is partially exposed when you access the memory slots.
I'm curious if HP uses a single venting tube/smaller block design for non quads.
As for the 9600m GT, definitely the week point in the new influx of 18.4" laptops, but if you were to pack a 9800/3870 or SLI/CF config in there, the units would get heavier and much thicker for the needed cooling and wouldn't be nearly as streamline as they are now.
Outside of the weaker GPU and potential future issues (which for me, should be low since outside of WoW, only thing I can see logging serious hours on this would be Diablo III/SC II), this thing is near perfect.
Beautiful Screen (18.4" @ 1920x1080 is right at the edge of my eye boundary, heh)
Snappy performance
8gb capacity
Blu-Ray
Huge keyboard
Futuristic design
It's like a lean, mean, faster M-ALX. -
electrosoft Perpetualist Matrixist
Oh yeah, and my HDX18t passed my litmus test. 6hr gaming session of WoW last night in the "command chair" (my recliner), not one single crash, cores topped out at ~77-80, GPU @ 64.
Good stuff. -
I think the ONLY one to blame about the PowerPoint transition issue is Microsoft as they probably not using DirectX or OpenGL functions to render the slides.
-
elated77,
Im assunming youre using the CPU with HT - that's a nice "engine". I got my 5 year old HP Presario x1000 CTO with 1.6 M processor and ATI radeon 9200.
Using Tradestation with VWAP calculations really slows down the computer - and that's on ONLY 1 chart. Add to this a few moving avergares, pivot points, dynamic pivot points, Heikin Ashi and some price action indicators and the CPU is choking.
I have also used Tradestation Radar to scan 1000+ stocks in real time - now that's a HD+ CPU hogger.
Nor sure if you are familiar with Tradign Ideas - but thats another tool for scanning with much intelligence that I'm assuming would help out more load (though, I think in their case- their servers do the heavy crunching and you just pull the data based on the criteria defined)
And yeah, futures seem the way to go these days as money is flowing from stocks to the futures (ES) - and there is no middle man, min slippage, no uptick rule, better fills, and the ability to liquidate in the middle of the night if needed.
Best,
Steve -
-
-
Hey guys, I'm thinking about buying an HDX 18t, and I had a few questions.
First of all, I have a set of Logitech Z550 5.1 speakers. The only digital input is by TOSLINK or digital coax. Is there any cheap-ish and easy method of outputting digital audio from the notebook by TOSLINK?
Also, are there any confirmed DDR3 RAM modules that will work as a direct replacement for the installed DDR2 modules?
Thanks for the help. -
Hello everybody,
I have purchased a new HDX18 and only today I tried connecting an external harddisk case with the eSata port.
The external case has a USB 2.0 connection and a SATA connection (attention it is a SATA not a eSATA port!)
So I bought a SATA to eSATA cable to connect the external harddisk with the eSATA port on the HDX18.It didnt recognize it
I tried powering the harddisk before booting, after booting but nothing worked.If I connect the same external harddisk via USB the system recognizes it just fine.
Where is the problem?
Do I have to do something to activate the eSATA port on the HDX18,
or do I need any kind of specific drivers?
Or it is a problem of the SATA to eSATA connection?
Of course the notebook is updated, running the original Vista 64-bit.
Can somebody with an external SATA harddisk please try to connect it via the eSATA port?
This type of fast connection was one of the main reasons I bought this notebook so any help will be mostly appreciated.
Thanks -
the notebook is eSata.
-
Just a quick update before I continue updating.... Obviously I received mine today
The 5100 DOES connect to a 5Ghz wireless N network.
*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*
Discussion in 'HP' started by HDX18, Sep 16, 2008.