*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

What is that I hear?? Is that RAIN?

The only couple of things I would really be leery about is ONE--the high cost of such a rig from a non-namebrand company (a real nobody, in my book). That's a lot of high-end technology that I'm sure generates lots of heat. Is that unit really designed to withstand it or are they using some barebones Chinese notebook and souping it up? What happens if you have troubles and KillerNotebooks is out of business (times are tough now, right?)?

TWO--If you are really that much into gaming to drop this kind of cash on a gaming rig ($2K more than a really nice HDX18t), just think of how many XBOX360's or PS3's you could buy, connect in parallel, and have the CRAY360 of gaming!!!

Seriously, though...did you check out the Gateway 7805U?? Very nice system (and designed to be easily upgradable) DDR3-based with 9800M GT 1GB Video for gaming...around a $1100. You could get an HDX18t AND the 7805U and have TWO awesome notebooks backed by well-known manufacturers for the same price as your Nagamookie (?) Killer Rig.

[Rain mysteriously stops....]

 

They sent me an email yesterday letting me know that it was available but backordered. Most company's don't follow up with me about a request so I did appreciate that....

I don't know what they will charge me since I'm in NY, but heck, for an extra couple of bucks, I'll pay, since there are no other options!!!

 

Okay, now that we can get a cage - any recommendations on SSD? How hard is it to crack this bad boy open and install - and can you just transfer the operating system and applications too it, or do you have to reinstall everything?

 

There are some guys here who have installed SSD drives. I don't think you even need a cage, just some tape would hold it in there...in fact, I don't think the SSD drives would even work in the cages?

It's VERY easy to access the harddrives panel....

You can probably use ghost or some cloning software to transfer everything over but you're limited to the size of the SSD drive so that could get a little complicated...

Might be easier to just install from scratch...

 

Anyone have experience with Memory 10 (memoryx.com)? They have 4GB 200pin PC2-6400 CL6 DDR2-800 SODIMM available for $199.98 plus $1 per module shipping. I thought it was a good deal, but I thought I would check here first.

Here's the link to the memory: http://www.memoryx.net/ckp.html

 

Since the SSD is prety much identical form factor and design to a traditional hard drive, it should fit in a cage fine. As a matter of fact, my TITAN SSD is in the original HP drive cage just fine.

 

good to know, haven't handled any SSD's myself so i wasn't sure..


On a side note, has anyone noticed the letters of their keyboard buttons rubbing off? As if the ink is smearing?

My "N" and "C" buttons are all smudged!!!! What kind of cheap ink did HP use?

 

The best ink in Shanghai, of course!

 

Good grief! I'll have to watch for that.

If that happens to me (before the 3 months is up), I may just have to take mine back to Costco and order a new one. The machine itself is great, but there are so many "little things" that are annoying (flakey sound, wrong touch pad, numbers wearing off, strange display, etc) that when they all add up it becomes a bit much for a $3000 computer!

(I still love it though! I would just Ghost this bugger and restore to the new one)

 

Has anyone purchase and received anything from newmodus?

They have sent me seven e-mails concerning one item, an hdd caddy.

The ups tracking web site, has become faulty.

The ups site I usually use, the number doesn't work b/c they looking for 25 digits not 30.

My HP dealer has indicated if he can ever get it from HP it is only about $15. So if you are very, very cautious with your money, be patient.

 

Hey lancorp,

Ooooooo..... SPANK ME, SPANK ME....... HARDER!

Just 'funning' with you..... actually, I consider every point you make, and I do believe you are well intended to all. Rain is vital to our very survival, so I accept it..... sometimes don my rain gear..... and sometimes I play in it naked. That's MY choice.

Regarding the Nakamaki's price, YES, I again 'fluff'ed my order. I could have spent less, but I ordered what I wanted..... again my choice.

Regarding your statement, " non-namebrand company (a real nobody, in my book)", IMHO (if I be allowed to have such), I feel Mark at K|N has done more than any competitor, to deal with the very 'HEAT' issues you raise.

Example: http://www.killernotebooks.com/executioner_sr/executioner_sr_heatsink_mod.html

As to " some barebones Chinese notebook and souping it up", somehow I think you are full aware, that this notebook is built on the Flextronics-Arima platform.....

Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856172008

..... very popular in the DIY community, and used by several computer builder companies. So that being said, I really do not fear the solvency of K|N. I just happen to feel, in this niche market, K|N is building the better mousetrap.

I am surprised at your 'Chinese' reference. I mean afterall, isn't HP the 'Chinese Connection'? ..... and what was that you were just saying about the paint on those keys of the HDX18?

Cray360 of gaming? Hmmmmm, I laughed hard pondering this one...... but will it be mobile?

Your suggestion of two laptops for the price of one.... though great for the budget minded, that still doesn't provide me an MXM Ati 4870 graphics solution, now does it? In short, these solutions cost more, and it's all a matter of choice. I do not want to chug & shutter thru DX10 games...... I want to fly thru in cinematic splendor, and I feel the K|N Nagamaki will do just that, at previously unheard of benchmarks.

Admit it lancorp, you want the 4870's too! You are going to get them, aren't you?

Hmmmmm, I forcast more rain...... better get naked.

 

Apparently so!!

Agreed. The other issues don't bother me all that much, but looking at smudged keys can get a little annoying. My "C" looks like it is dripping...

That's kinda scary if that company is "flaky". I've never bought from them, I've only heard from them from this site so I'm hoping someone has good experiences with them.

$15 is a GREAT price IF your HP dealer can get it!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey 'bad....you doin' those psychotropic 'shrooms again? What ever you do, don't look in a mirror!

 

A few years back, and if you were a girl, I might have had to take you up on that!

Hey, I really didn't research it, but apparently you know what you're buying, so I trust you! From the looks of it, it looked barebones-based (which, I suppose, it could be considered).

The difference is where it is designed and tested. Everything is "Made in China", but most is designed by US (or U.S.)...I was referring to, of course, a notebook whose owners manual is written in Chinglish!

Actually, that's not my cup of tea. It's a hot rig (pun intended), but to be honest, I'm not a gamer. I'm into pure speed mixed with innovation. No one in my "circle of friends" even knows what dual 4870's are!!!

Enjoy!

 

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

I've been a lurker on this board since I decided to purchase my HDX18, and thanks to all of you who have been so informative and have helped me unknowingly.

Anyway, I do have a legitimate question now, and I am extremely frustrated and don't know where to go. It seems like a lot of you have had issues dealing with HP directly, whether it be initially while waiting for those quad-core machines to be built, or just with HP customer service in general. So, I really hope some of you guys can make some recommendations to me, because I'm really unsure of where to go from this point on.

I ordered my HDX18 on the 6th of December last year, and very fortunately found a $400 off coupon. Almost as good as those sporadic 30% coupons. I ordered the machine with 4GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200rpm HD, and more than that, just the standard basic features that come by default with computer (although 1080p resolution, Core2Duo processor, Bluray drive, etc. are very, very nice basic features). I received the laptop on the 16th, which was the build date they had given me.

Overall, I was ecstatic about the laptop, it was aesthetically beautiful, ran beautifully, and was a major improvement over my Sony Vaio. All the while, I still would come onto this forum a few times a week just to see if anything new and exciting was going on. My ONE complaint with the computer was not internal, it was solely in the construction of the laptop. The silver border that runs along the lower portion of the laptop, surrounding the keyboard, was loose on the right hand side. The left portion of this silver strip was completely firm and secured into place, but the right portion clicked up and down and made a squeaking noise anytime it was touched. This became an inconvenience because I am right handed, and I'm also a writer, so every time I go to type anything, my right wrist is resting directly on the spot that is loose. I tried to just let it go for a week because I was so happy with everything else, but I was still within the return period and decided for a laptop I'm hopefully going to be using for five years or so, it would probably be smart to return it for a unit without that issue.

I called initially (Jan. 9), was told one thing, and then told I was misinformed. Called back, and I was told that because it's a new month parts and components are different prices and that if I wanted a new one I'd need to spend an additional $160 for the same exact unit. Of course, I told them that was unacceptable, and they finally agreed to credit me back the $160, but they'd have to charge it to the ORIGINAL credit card I used first. Now, the credit card I used to initially make the purchase in December is a card that I use MAYBE twice a year, just for big purchases and to get rewards. So, with the card being inactive, they told me I could simply return the "defective" unit and wait for a refund and order a new computer, or I could go through so other long process involving service tag numbers and approvals. Essentially, I was told that the $160 route would be the fastest, because it would enable me to keep the current laptop until the expiration on the FedEx shipping label they send, while my new laptop order was being processed and built simultaneously. So, I went ahead and deposited money into this inactive account, called back on January 14th and authorized the charge. I was then told that for all my inconvenience, they'd add two day shipping. Great, I thought, I was very happy with the way it was handled. This was the 14th of January, and I got the email with the shipping label, being told to send it back in its original packaging, and I was told that my new laptop would be ordered that day.

I kept the original computer until the 20th or 21st, whenever the expiration date was, and shipped it off with FedEx. I hadn't, however, heard from HP all week with an order confirmation for the new laptop. So as of yesterday, I was planning on calling them today to check and see what the deal was. When I got home last night, I had an email from HP with the order confirmation, showing the order being placed on the 23rd, nine days past the time they told me it would be ordered. So I called HP to check on this, not so frustrated yet.

It's difficult for me not to go into detail about what happened last night on the phone with HP and this afternoon as well, so I'm sorry in advance about the epic novel. I was disconnected three times after waiting twenty minutes each time, each representative verifies my phone number in the beginning of the call, so he knows that he can reach me on that number if I get disconnected. Not one rep from HP called me back after a disconnection, which I found extremely unprofessional. Now, when I finally got back onto the phone with someone, I looked a little more carefully at my order confirmation, and the HDX had been ordered with a 250GB 5400rpm HD rather than the 7200rpm. This is NOT how I originally ordered my laptop, so it was very clear that someone at HP had screwed up the new order. One representative told me to just accept the incorrectly configured laptop and they'd offer me a fifty dollar credit, which was ridiculous because it's not how I ordered it, and the next representative offered me the same exact thing, but instead of fifty dollars, he was going to go out of his way (verbatim) to throw in two day shipping.

Of course, I was not happy about this, and two day shipping was already promised to me anyway. I finally was able to speak to a supervisor, hoping that he would have a little more clout and leeway in order to help me. I explained my entire story AGAIN, and while at first he sounded like he cared and wanted to help, he ended up just offering me the SAME exact thing. He wanted to "make a deal" with me, fifty bucks for the incorrect laptop, which he then raised to $100.

Now, I'm a pretty lenient guy, and I don't have a short temper at all, but I'm under the belief that if I ordered something one way, and the COMPANY completely screwed up that order, it is THEIR responsibility to rectify the situation. This supervisor seemingly did not agree with me, and told me that my only option was to cancel the existing order, and then place a new one, but it would be an extra week to ten days before I received THAT HDX. It seems to me that there has to be SOME way to get around this, especially because this is really ALL on HP. With this being the case, he told me that the ship date for this would be February 10th, but he could probably call the factory and make it February 9th. He then put me on hold for thirty minutes. During this time, because I was curious, I went on the HP website and customized an HDX18 identically to my unit, and if I was to order it right then and there the ship date would've been February SIXTH, not 9th or 10th. He then came back on the phone and told me he went ahead and canceled my order, and that we can place a new one right now. He also told me he called the factory directly and "went out of his way" to get me a February 6th build date, which I quickly let him know was nothing special given the information from HP.com. But, it seemed like my only option, so I decided to go ahead with it.

About a minute later, he told me that he needed my original credit card to charge the new laptop to. Again, the credit card is INACTIVE, and I have insufficient funds on ANY credit card to afford to front myself for another $1400 laptop. At that point I became furious. Without my permission, he canceled my order, which supposedly automatically refunds the entire price of the laptop back to the credit card. This is NOT something I authorized and NOT something he told me when he said I would be able to place the new order. I could no longer speak to this fine gentleman, and asked repeatedly to be connected to the supervisor's supervisor. After several requests, he said he was connecting me to complaints, and abruptly put me through.

I waited another half an hour until someone at complaints picked up, and promptly, the call got disconnected! Very, very frustrating. I took a deep breath, called back one last time for the night, and had to explain my situation to a new representative, because when I asked to be connected directly to resolutions, he needed a reason to tell that agent. I understood this and explained, but it was the thirtieth time I was doing so in a period of three hours. He connected me to resolutions, and within a minute...disconnected.

I was so furious last night about how everything had been handled I decided to wait until today to call back and attempt to resolve the situation.

I called back today, and basically got an encore of last night. I specifically made it clear to each representative I spoke to that I was having an issue with disconnection, and asked them very nicely to PLEASE call my number back if you see that it happens. Rep #1 - got through half of what I needed to say, disconnected. Rep #2 - finally connected me to resolutions, and FINALLY got through to someone over there. I explained to her my frustration, and like I told every representative I spoke with, "I'm not taking anything out on you, I'm just terribly frustrated and I'm simply looking for a reasonable resolve." She understood, promised a call would be made back if we got disconnected, and that she would do everything in her power to help me. She asked me for the detailed story, which obviously, is very detailed at this point, and low and behold, after five minutes, the call was disconnected. This was happening on two different cell phones and a house phone, so it wasn't just one phone that happened to be disconnecting.

I am beside myself right now. I love the HDX, and all I wanted was a clean exchange for a brand new identically configured laptop that had a secure border. Obviously, it's turned into a lot more than that. HP processed my return incorrectly, they placed an order for the new laptop nine days past the point they said they would, and not only that, they placed the order wrong. I cannot deal with HP customer service anymore, and I'm really not sure where to go from here. Out of principle, there's absolutely no reason why I should settle for a laptop that isn't exactly how I ordered it just because HP screwed up the order. And it is totally unprofessional and unbelievable that every representative I spoke with, INCLUDING someone in the resolutions department, made no effort to get back in touch with me after we got disconnected, especially after I made a request for them to do so.

Again, I'm not looking to blame any one person in particular, and if it were up to me, I'd have my new laptop already that I would've gotten at the same price with no other problems. Unfortunately, HP has made too many mistakes for me to just let this go, as I will not accept a shipment from them with a computer that is configured incorrectly, and I find it unacceptable that I am now without a computer I spent $1400 on for an additional 3-4 weeks.

So, I know that ended up being tremendously longer than probably any post on this forum, but I just needed to get it off my chest! Very, very frustrating. I would appreciate any suggestions as to how to proceed from here, and what might be the best way of going about it. Thanks so much.

 

yep, i have, no problems.

 

I received my early production HP-DHX18 caddy & cable from newmodeus this morning. Excellent build quality and works perfectly.
(newmodeusdotcom/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=213).

I have no relationship with the company, but I did meet with the principles at newmodeus while they were developing this kit and am convinced that they are a reputable outfit with quality products.

While it is certainly possible that HP could eventually meet the newmodeus price, I'm not holding my breath.

G

 

Hey thanks lancorp,

By the way, that was not meant literally..... that was CYBER-SPANKS lancorp! But your reply does seem to imply you were a little kinky in your day. WOO HOO!.... you are telling your secrets.

And what do you mean by, "A few years back"? Are you a member, like myself, of the Old F@rtiest Club? I tell you what, tell me how long the AARP has wanted to be your friend, and I'll guess your birth year.

Remember the Sinclair T1000?

ADVANCED AGING = Life's cruel joke, ever reminding us..... that we are no longer invited to the party.

You know your'e in trouble when 'The Finger' takes on new meaning, and Viagra, Preparation-H, Nexium, and Ben-Gay (boy, could I add to this list) become a daily part of your vocabulary. And you are REALLY in trouble, when more than one of these is uttered in the same sentence.

Chinglish? You are making me laugh again, and your point is well taken. I'd post a few of my own, but I am afraid the political correctness police may want to spank me too.

Anyhow, I know some of HP's notebooks are MXM (ie. the HDX Dragon). More and more, the manufacturers are leaning in this direction. Since I cancelled my HDX18 order, I never got the pleasure of checking it out, but MAYBE, just MAYBE, you guys can upgrade your graphics solution, well beyond the 9600M. Perhaps one of the owners here can verify this?

Even though I now adopt the way of K|N, I'll drop in on occassion.

A pleasure engaging you lancorp.......

-=Regards=-

 

zres,

I feel your pain. Some of my experiences with HP support have been less than satisfactory. With the Sales Dept. after ordering my new HDX18 on the phone we just got the shipping part, coupon already applied and final price quoted to me, when we got cut off. I called back and the woman who answered told me that coupon had reached it maximum uses and was no longer valid, but did offer me a $100 discount (to make up for the $600 discount I would not get from the coupon). Supervisor said the same thing then got disconnected. When I called back I spoke to someone from a different part of the world. Originally I had been speaking to a center in the Phillipines but now I spoke to a woman who I think said she was from Canada. She was extremely helpful after I explained my issue and got the coupon reapplied to my order and apologized several times for the problems I had.

Same when I called to ask about the second drive kit. The original sales rep told me it was no problem, same one who sold me the courier bag for my HDX18 that would be to small for a 17 inch laptop. when I finally got a person in the Canada center they were very helpful with returning the bad and explaining the hard drive kit issue, which still left me angry at the rep who gave me the wrong information.

I think HP needs to work on the training in some of their centers a lot more. I have not had a very satisfactory exchange with any one in the Phillipines, they really don't seem to care about the customer. I say this after talking to about 8 people including 2 supervisors from that location. I think it is mainly a training issue, HP probably bases their performance more on sales and the number of calls taken rather than on customer satisfaction.

As for disconnects, I have gotten cut off several time while talking to HP. The two people in Canada I talked to gave me direct lines to their center after I told them I had gotten disconnected. They also said they were entering the entire issue in the notes, including what they told me, so the next person could read it and know what was happening without me having to repeat it all again.

As for your laptop I don't know what to tell you. Use a coupon and price it out again, with the price drops and coupon you might get a much better computer for a lower price now, it could be the silver lining on the cloud.

Cheers

Brian

 

If you want to reminise then I admit I remember the T1000 quite well. My first computer was a Apple 2+ with 64KB RAM and I was styling back then. I also remember the Osborn Portable that weighed about 50 pounds and had about a 5 inch screen. I worked on that in my first real job testing out a new email program.

I have also worked at a couple video game companies and used to be a pretty hard core gamer. Making it your work can help cure you of that addiction. I will say that games and gamers push the envelope on technology and are one of the main reasons computers continue to evolve so quickly and why we went from 400K floppies (original Mac) to 2 terabyte hard drives in 25 years(anniversary of the Mac this week). I would also add that the price of replacing that floppy drive was higher than a 2 terabyte external drive is today.

OK, old fart moment over

Cheers

Brian

 

I think this HDX is causing a lot of users to do "shrooms.."

 

I have my eyes on the HDX 18. I am into quality movies and music video sound/playback on computers, as well as games like Crysis and the Call of Duty genre. Which is better - a dual core 2.8 GHZ or the Quad Core 2.0 HDX 18, both with 4GB RAM?? I can get a 2.0 GHZ quad core off of a military store website for $1800.00 - is that a good deal?

 

Hi everybody,
This is my first post on this forum. My name is Marco and I moved from Italy to the US 3 years ago(so forgive my silly english!). Anyway, mine was the same dilemma of Bokiyo: after months of research I ordered my customized HDX18 directly from HP. I wasn't sure if the cheap quad q9000(2ghz) was faster/better than the Core Duo t9600(2.8 ghz). I finally ordered the one with the dual core, since I realized than a faster clock speed was better for me, especially because I'm not really into rendering and encoding . Am I right
My new Hdx18, right now, just left SHANGHAI and i should have it on Feb 2. Since I heard people complaining about defective or damaged laptops, I'm crossing my fingers, hoping that somebody in China was very inspired and did a good job with my unit...
Here's my new born:
HP HDX18t Premium Series Notebook PC
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)
- 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
- 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) - For 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics
- 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
- 250GB 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
- 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

 

LOL!

Remember how GREAT those technologies seemed back then..... and what do you think of today..... QX9300's & I7's, SSD's & DDR3? It's a marvel, isn't it?

Naw, I can't say I ever went the way of APPLE (though tempted once or twice). I went with the VIC20, C64, C128, 8086, 8088, and so on..... and now the rest is history, LOL!

How many hours did you burn typing BASIC, or mess'in with DOS?

AGREED.... old fart moment over!

-=Regards=-

 

Does anyone know where I can access a technicians manual for the hdx18t, I just recently ordered one and just want to look over the internal parts of it.

 

Also, what cases would fit the hdx that you all recommend?

 

I know some of you have put Windows 7 on your HDX 18t - does multi touch work on it, or do you have to have a special pad?

 

Hello fellow HDX 18 owners and soon to be owners.

I have been reading this forum since October 2008 now, and all the information I get about the HDX 18 has been great. Thank you all for the informations.

I had my HDX since November of last year. Ever since then and up to January 24, 2009, everything was fine. Until, last night my HDX did something that I never seen before. There was a blue screen and it was looking for the boot drive. I've never seen this before, so I restarted my laptop hoping that it would fix the issue. Unfortunately, it did not resolve the problem. The Bios did not recognize the hard drive. It was saying to replace hard disc 1. I could not even revert to any date that I save daily.

Now I was forced to call HP tech support hoping that they can help me. They told me to do the same things that I did beforehand and its the same results. Ultimately, the final resolution was for them to send me a new hard drive to replace the defective one with my "lost" data. The tech support advised me to bring the hard drive to Best Buy and see if they can extract or find data that can be salvaged. But, BB will charge me $99 for less than 1Gig of data and $149 for more than 1Gig of data. Now thats crazy! I'm not spending more money because I have a faulty hard drive in my somewhat new HDX. I love the HDX but I hate what has happened here. The HP tech support said they could not do anything else but to replace the hard drive, and I have no other option but to face the issue since they could not do anything else. I even asked if I can return the HDX and they could not do that. No reason given to me. I even asked if they can give me a higher drive capacity than the 250G that I had. At first the lady said "sure we can", then all of a sudden she said "we will be shipping you the 250G hard drive..." then I told her I though you can give me more. She said she can only give me whatever it came with. Then my frustration level reached high!

So, what choice do I have now? Nothing else, but to put in the new hard drive and do a fresh install. =( I ordered the HDD today from HP (absolutely no fee!) and it will arrive on the maximum date of January 29, 2009, according to the lady. I have to ship back the old HDD within 15 days of receiving the new HDD or else I will get charged. I asked for faster shipment and she said they could not expedite it any quicker. Whatever they can do was my only choice, according to the lady.

 

A lesson to us all to that we need to backup our important data often. Many free programs can do this for us.

 

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the whole reason I ordered mine with the second drive is so that I would have a ready location to Ghost my C: drive. No matter what happens to C:, as long as I keep my backups current, I have them on my D: drive. I also have a "Clean install, activated, and ready to roll" image on the D: drive in case I want to go back to square one some day.

Most of us think it will never happen to us, until it does! You can be sure it's happened to me in the past and I did not have a backup. These days, I make sure I do.

 

FAAW11,

Sorry to here about your problem. Hopefully, I can help protect you in the future.

I use Norton Ghost to create a full backup of my system for just such situations. There are other backup programs that will do it also like Shadow Protect, Acronis, etc.

IMHO this is better than just backing up your data because it allows you to restore every tweak to your OS as well as all the little things you may have done as time goes along that you may have even forgotten about and you don't have to reinstall all your programs and updates. I have used it (and its predecessor - Drive Image) for years and it has saved my butt many times. (I do a lot of experimenting that would otherwise get me in a lot of trouble.)

System restore will only restore your registry settings to a previous date. It is nowhere near as good as an image backup.

Hope this helps you in the future.

 

Anyone know which messenger bags work for the hdx18t?

 

I agree with oblie98. That's why I have never owned a computer without a 2nd physical hard drive. However, if you didn't do that, you could use an external hdd connected to your eSATA port and get the same thing. Just not as convenient.

 

Shortly after receiving my 18t I updated the NVIDIA graphics driver from HP's website. Following the update, the WEI graphics subscore went from 5.1 to 4.8. Is there any chance this performance hit will be improved with another update of this driver in the future?

 

Don't worry about windows' score because it means nothing.Run some real benchmarks if you want to compare performance. One program to try would be 3DMark06.

 

Generally speaking, I would agree with you sladjman. However, Since I ran the WEI just prior to installing the new driver, then ran it again after installation, it is highly unlikely that there would be a change in the mean used in WEI to account for the difference.

 

there is a discussion on here in the past about bags, but really the best thing to do is go to Office Depot, Staples, Office Max... and try stuff out. Only a few work and many you have to get creative with - remove a compartment...

Good Luck!

 

I had just made a post but I am not sure where it went?

Anyways, I had ordered 3 types of cases from Amazon to attempt to fit this beast into it. 2 of them did not fit and 1 of them would have worked if I carried the laptop in part of the bag where it really didn't belong. This had me worried since I don't want to scratch it. One of the bags was the messenger bag which could have carried it but it just didn't feel right nor did I feel comfortable leaving my laptop in the bag as it would have had to sit in order to carry it.

I decided to stop at Best Buy to see what they had. With no intentions of finding anything I started trying bags on. I went through every bag and none of them fit. As I started to walk out I started to walk around the laptops on display and I noticed there were more bags available under them as you moved about the display area. With some excitement I started trying those on and then I found one. It fit it perfectly with plenty of room around the notebook in the bag and it was where it was supposed to be. Protected and surrounded by padding. This bag also had a lot of other room for accessories (lots of pockets) and a large front pocket.

If you are like me and don't like using the "Backpack type bags" then this is the bag for you as it looks very professional and is very comfortable to hold on my shoulder.

Here is a link to the bag:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...01DUS&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1186003681747

 

I have used Knoppix to extract data off a near dead HD with success and it is free!

 

Yes, the good ol' days...TI-59 programmable calculator, complete with printer for my HS Graduation present. I loved it! I could write my own programs and run them! Soon after, the Commodore PET (with the Chiclet keyboard) was my first real computer. Then, a friend and I both bought an Apple II, then a II+. But my first real love was my first Apple Mac, the original of course! I soon added a 5 or 10MB hard drive onto that baby. I was stylin'. Although the shop I worked in was mostly PC's, I was a Mac person until the PC graphics standard was better than CGA (I forget what it was called, but it was, back in those days, considered hi-res and COLOR!!!). The rest, as they say, is history.

I've made my living off PC's ever since. I've been fortunate to work in an industry that I love doing. It's like playing at work!

 

Well my HDX finally got in today . No dings, dents, cracks, or sticky stuff on the notebook. Everything booted up fine so far and it looks really nice.
I noticed the fan ran most of the time but it did not rev up or anything. I downloaded HD monitor and none of the cores went abouve 45 (c). I have yet to perform the torture test, but I will let you know the results. I have the Quad core 9100.
The numeric keypad flexes a little bit when pressed, but only time will tell if that will be a problem or not.
Any questions let me know, otherwise I appreciate all of the posts here it really helped get me through the waiting period.

Big50

 

It's official, I'm a member of the club. My HDX arrived this morning. It'll still be a few days before I get it though because it has to travel across the Atlantic to Beirut via a friend of mine. I have spent the last week reading every post in this forum preparing for it's arrival. Although I ordered it before finding this forum, i rushed to use a 30% of coupon, i still feel confident in my decision, even with some of the little quirks people are experiencing. I ordered the following:

- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4 GHz)
- 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display
- 3GB DDR2 System Memory
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
- 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
- Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Fluid)
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
- 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

This will be a major upgrade for me, not even going to tell you what I'm typing on now. I think I got a good deal at $1,170.

I also wanna say thanks to all who have spent countless hours helping total strangers, just because. I look forward to participating more actively in the forum, helping out and being helped.

That's all for now. I'll post an update as soon as it arrives.

-Paul

 

I got an email from the company today saying they had refunded the tax they charged to my Credit Card so all is good.

Brian

 

I cut my teeth on the Trash80 then moved to 8086, some of the early IBM PC's programming craps in basic before I moved on to Pascal. What an experience that was, but it got me in computers at the right time.

It is funny that my first Apple2+ cost almost twice what my new HDX18t is costing me.

Brian

 

Quick there are only 4 units IN STOCK LEFT!! HURRY And BUY THE CADDIES!

I JUST BOUGHT ONE.....



http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=213

 

I just ordered the 2nd HDD caddy kit and in less than 1 hour, it's already been shipped!! Great!!!!!!!

 

Is anyone aware of when the next size laptop harddrives will be out?

The current size is 500GB. And it's been that for awhile, I'm hoping that 650GB might be on the horizon?

 

So I have a question for everybody. So I got my girl an HDX18 to match mine. However I got her the dual 7200 rpm HDs instead of the 5400s. When I rest my palm on the left side where the HD is, the laptop makes a different buzzing noise. Very slight but the noise changes. Is it because it has the 7200 rpm HDs or is there a defect I should look for? It affects both sides but more so on the left palm rest.

 

Okay, so I got my HDX 18t today and think I might have to send it back. There is a piece of something behind the glass and in front of the screen - about the size of an e - anyone know how I could get it out. That is the main issue, but there are two other picky ones - I swear the F9, 8,9,0 are warped out from the keyboard, and like many of you they gave me the wrong trackpad. I can live with the last two, but unless I can fix the first - its gotta go back. Any suggestions?

 

Just got done with technical support - gonna have to turn it in. Anyone get a rebate or anything for down time? Has anyone had any luck getting their touch pad switched correctly?