*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I agree HP as a whole has a nice line of products but I really think some of the people there are just plain stupid or on crack cuz the decisions they make and the way their thought process works is beyond my comprehension.

 

Fortunately, I got my two reorders in with the quad QX9300's yesterday before they disappeared! Whew!!

Regarding HP and the people that control what is marketed and their pricing, unless you have some inside information as to why they do what they do, I wouldn't resort to name-calling...in real business (which I run one myself) there are numerous factors that can affect pricing and availability. In this case, it could be possible that up to now, because the pricing has been so attractive, that everyone was buying QX9300 and T9600's and they ran out of their allocation of them. When they get their allocation back, depending on their price at that time, they may have to increase the price. I'm sure they didn't stop selling the top two processors for no reason other than they were their two top sellers!

There are always numerous, unforseen issues in business that dictate having to make what are seemingly "weird" decisions...low IQ and crack-addiction generally aren't one of them.

 

Interestingly, my reorder of two HDX18t's yesterday were just reported to Fatwallet and I got a confirming email.

The PROBLEM??--I didn't USE Fatwallet yesterday when I ordered from HP!!!!

I even checked my Fatwallet Click's and there isn't anything listed there for yesterday!

Great...I hope that lame 2% Fatwallet doesn't screw up my 20% live.com cashback.

 

Are you guys crazy? WHen you buy a laptop, the discount is usually around 12%... how is that not good?

CassilineKnight, the coupon code is *not* the student discount, it's just a coupon. You need to sign up for the Academic Purchase Program and prove you are a student to get the student discount.

 

How do I sign up?

 

Here ya go.


Have you guys looked at the options for the dv7? 8GB RAM, 640GB/7200RPM drives. Ridiculous price, but it's good to see that they're still adding options.

You can bet that they'll add more options on the HDX as well, and for now they're probably just out of the quad-core processors considering that they have probably been flooded with orders

Last I heard, they've been the #1 in laptop sales for some time now...

 

Thanks. I'm in the middle of switching jobs right now. Hopefully all goes well this afternoon (PM me I have a question ask pdx).

For email address they want my school email address right?

 

What a unique explanation!

 

Unique? It happens almost every year with them... especially for the popular laptops.

 

Hey does HP want my school email address? I just want to make sure of that. And is this 12% stackable with anything else or no?

 

With this APP rebate, can you sign up for it after you have already purchased the laptop or does it have to be done beforehand?

 

Actually scratch that..

 

Oh and by the way, Hello! I'm new to the forums...


Anyway, like an idiot I ordered my laptop with 4 gigs of ram and then got the 32-bit vista by accident. Of course when I called them to change it to the 64-bit version, they couldn't because "it's already in production", yet it won't be finished until the 15th..... Like they can't take two seconds to call and change the vista version, I'm sure installing the OS is one of the last things they do any way.....Sorry I'm done ranting, just a little pissed still.

 

I said "unique" because that was exactly the reasoning I said, just 3 messages earlier!

Too early for sarcasm, I guess!

 

Lol it's ridiculous isn't it? HP makes the simplest things so difficult.

 

Okay so even with the APP, the instant rebate, and the code that realtor mentioned my total came out to be over $2000. And that's WITHOUT the Quad Core processor....

Sorry but no go for me. I'll wait.

 

LOL I'm lagging with my back-reading. Cass, I just PM'ed you with info you probably already figured out.

Anyway, over on the dv7 forum there are rumors of a non-Infinity HDX18. Woohoo!

 

What options are you using?

You have to actually click the link when you're logged in that says "Visit the APP Home & Home Office Store" and check for the green tag next to ALL the prices!

 

Hi Troops,
I just found this forum so I'll start hanging out here since I'm no longer interested in the DV7t. About 1/2 hour ago I spoke to an HP sales rep and he informed me that the HDX18t will be available *without* the cursed Infinity screen. He didn't know the timing. It could be next week or next month but it would probably be before Christmas.

BTW, the C2D Extreme and the T9600 are no longer listed in the Processor choices but thats just due to availability - they'll be back. Kinda made my day!

 

the answer i received today was NO. I purchased two days ago (quad core) and tried to retro it with the academic price as my wife is a teacher and they said in order to do it, I would have to cancel this order and then go online and re-order, but since the options i ordered are currently not available, i will stand pat.

 

What's bad about the infinity display? And what would they substitute it with?

 

Since I will not have this computer outside the infinity screen is not a problem for me..

 

****. This is what I figured but it was worth a shot.

 

No, actually I am quite sane. First of all I didn't say it was never a good deal; I said that most of the time the coupons are a better percentage off: 12% off a $1200 laptop versus $500 coupon is much less.

 

I was mostly talking to Cass- and the APP discount is *always* available, which I consider to be a good thing. So far only the 30% coupon for the dv7 has beat it for me... as far as I know, neither the 30% coupon nor the $500 coupon is available for the HDX systems.

 

Not a big deal. I don't think so anyway, haven't tried it myself. From my understanding your vista code will work work for whatever version of vista you get regardless if its 32 or 64 bit. So your 32 bit home premium code would work for 64 bit home premium. Do a clean install as detailed in the sticky and install the 64 bit version. No rants, no worries

 

With the QX9300 quad and T9600 temporarily unavailable, I imagine sales will fall flat (maybe that's the idea...to give them time to catch up on build time). I was ready to pull the trigger on the quad, but may now be forced to look at other options unless it comes back soon and at the same price point. How could the QX9300 and T9600 inventory be depleted so soon? (you'd think they would have lots on hand before offering it as an option...or could just order more to meet the current build date estimate of 10/22. If the supply is depleted due to HDX18t orders (they've sold that many already??), my new concern is that we may see the "estimated" build times soon pushed out into November and beyond (shades of Dell). There seems to be something fishy here. Hopefully the quad will return soon at the previous price point and will bring the 7200 rpm HDD and better GPU with it!!

 

Is it possible to put in 7200 rpm HDDs? I would like to put in two 500GB if possible!

 

It is possible, but if you configure it with only one drive you'll have to figure out how to get the bracket for the second because HP won't sell them.

If you read the reviews on the 500GB 2.5" drives, you'll see they aren't that great just yet performance-wise. I was going to do one 320GB/7200RPM and a 500GB/5400RPM, but in the end I figured two 320's would be enough.

Take a look at the Seagate Momentus, it's an all-around decent notebook drive.

 

When something new comes onto the market, the first buyers in always pay more. That's OK as long as you know it and can afford it.

I'm not planning to replace my desktop with a laptop until the first quarter of next year. By that time I anticipate much better options, e.g. 7200 rpm HD's and a better GPU, and a much better price. Corporate and consumer sales are going into the proverbial toilet for these sellers. They will have to offer rock bottom prices just to maintain some semblemce of cash flow.

If you can hold off on your purchase, there are much better deals to come!

 

Note sure if 7200rpm drives are available yet in 500GB. If someone knows link em please.

You can try the 7200rpm 320GB drive or an SSD for your OS drive and a 500GB drive for your storage. I've been really drawn to the SSD idea as of late.

 

The 500GB/7200RPM variety isn't available just yet, but should be available sometime in Q1 next year.

 

Thanks for the replies/help.
I may go with the 320GB x 2 or even just x1.

 

What's the return policy and cost to return on these? I'm not sure I'm going to like 1080, I would prefer 1920x1200 as that is what I currently have.

 

Ive been looking for a laptop with native 1080p for awhile. Sony had one but it was ubber expensive when it was all said and done.

BUT it is your preference and your call.

I took the leap and bought an HDX18 the other day. The only other product out there on the horizon that might bring me some regret is the upcoming update to the Apple MacBook Pro (project "Brick" so they say) that is rummored to be shown latter this month/or next.

 

I think with prices for the OCZ SSD drives where they are now...It is going to definitely be my choice as well. I'll take a 60GB for $280 and run that as my C drive for my OS and hopefully the essentials. A regular hard drive for all the other stuff, I think the 300gb drive should give me plenty of space until the 250GB OCZ drives come down from their $800+ price.

Now just need to figure out how to get a hold when I order the laptop of an extra hard drive kit from HP. Or just sell the bare drive for a couple bucks...

 

Hmmm....after reading this I'm going to stay away from SSD drives until they fix thier issues...

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=9

I was looking at this 64gb drive...$264, $100 price reduction for a final price of 99$ after rebate. Started digging & found the link above. Almost bit off on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227344

 

Good find, and a good technical analysis. Reminds me why I decided to stay away from SSDs (for now) for my everyday important stuff when I only have one drive and infrequent backups.

I've seen servers with SSDs on RAID with hard backups... now THAT is what I consider to be a great use for those big SSDs

 

It doesn't matter. The Infinity reduces the viewing angles dramatically *and* If you're going to have the lights on you *will* see an increase in glare and reflectivity. Outside the screen is unusable. It's your call but don't let your desire to be one of the first affect your judgment.

 

Hi Kay,
Lots of inventory on the shelves is *not* a good business practice. Much like putting your money under the mattress - it's not working for you. Mattresses don't pay interest. Nor does excessive inventory on the shelves.

 

I saw the Infinity Display at Best Buy and it really wasn't all that bad. In fact it looked quite normal to me. But then again there wasn't a non-infinity Display right next to it so I can't be 100% sure of how much I like it.

Still though it gave the laptop a nice professional look to it and I liked that.

 

One thing to remember, Ed, is that the viewing angle problem was mainly influenced by two specific factors: (1) the low overall build quality of the LCD, and especially (2) the weak backlight. The viewing angle sucked b@lls no matter if the screen was an Infinity on the dv7.

If the HDX18's screen is anything like other Ultra BrightViews, the viewing angle will be better at least. I hope, however, that the color doesn't still suck.

 

I've got the UltraBrightView 1080p Infinity display on my HDX16t, and it is fairly reflective. The other day, I was sitting at McDonalds, using their Wi-Fi, with a windows behind me, and it was really hard to see the display.

Also, in general, when used indoors, the brightness could be higher. I'm sort of used to LED backlit display now, though...those baby's are BRIGHT and COLORFUL!

 

That's true Ed, but excessive inventory isn't the problem when they run out in less than a week. I would call that poor inventory management. I imagine they are losing sales to competitors right now because buyers can't get the CPU they need or want.

 

Which competitor did you have in mind that I could get a 64-bit Vista 1080p 18" display, MOBILE QUAD CORE EXTREME CPU, and Blu-ray drive notebook for $1800 (make that $1440 if you use the live.com 20% discount right now)???

 

From "configure to order": Sony Vaio AW, VGN-AW190, T9400 (fastest processor currently available in HDX18t, as quad and T9600 not currently available), 64-bit Vista, 18.4" 1080p FullHD dual lamp display, 2GB DDR2, Nvidia 9600M GT 512 MB GPU, 250 GB 5400 rpm HDD, Blu-ray read only, TV Tuner (reviewers say better than HP's), WLAN 802.11 N w/bluetooth (and lots of bloatware of course)...$1895 w/ship date 10/21, free shipping, $150 credit and no interest for 12 months if purchased w/Sony card...don't know about Sony coupons or "cashback". The sweetest part is that you can step up to a 320 GB 7200 rpm HDD for only an extra $50 (640 GB 7200 rpm HDD, +$300) and a Blu-ray "burner" for an additional $100.

It's slightly lighter and thinner than the HDX18, but I believe the HP audio/speaker set-up may be better from what I've read. No "infinity" display and screen is not glossy.

I think HP may be missing the boat (and offering a leg up to the competition) by not offering the 7200 rpm HDD and Blu-ray burner in the HDX18 at this time.

 

Hate to butt in to your debate going on but lets compare apples to apples here please...

 

Umm isn't that what this is?

 

It may not be HPs fault.

Its a new CPU and it could be that Intel simply did not make enough to meet demand.

 

Not even close.

In the first place, kaymack is mistaken in his choice of configuration. NoSpinZone said HP is losing customers to the competition because HP is not making CPU's available that people want. That means T9600 and QX9300, the two that are not available from HP right now.

What kaymack has done is compared a Sony with a lower cost CPU and not even a T9600 or QX9300! So, I'm not sure why he thinks that is a valid comparison, hence the reference of "apples to apples". Having not looked at the particulars of the referenced Sony model, it's possible there are other glaring differences, but the most obvious is that Kaymack didn't configure the Sony with the "out of stock at HP" CPU's like a T9600 or QX9300...the reason for the comment of losing customers in the first place!

Again, show me a competitor with a QUAD CORE MOBILE QX9300 in a 17 or 18" widescreen with all the options of the HDX18t for anywhere between $1440 and $1800! It's not going to happen right now.