HP NC8430 review

Had my EY688AA for almost a week now and the only complaint I have is that there's a little but annoying creaking sound on everytime I rest my right hand on the edge of the palm rest. I see no dead pixels and it was pretty easy to upgrade the memory to 2GB. I got a performance rating of 3.9 from Windows Vista (yes, I got Aero running).

Running the demo version of Flight Simulator on Vista was pretty good.

Overall, the laptop feels very solid (compared to my old Dell 600m and 4100) and I'm glad I bought this. I'm just waiting for the F.0B BIOs with, hopefully, Merom support to come out and my 5K160 to arrive.

For reference, my 2GHz, 2GB Dell 600m managed only a performance rating of 1 from Windows Vista.

 

I had the same creaking experience with an Apple iBook G4 only it happened everytime you used the touchpad. A lot of people had this problem and complained all over the web. After about 2 months the noise went away. I suspect that the case had yet to settle. I do not get such noises on my nc8430. My only thing is warmth of the touchpad.

 

Mine was shipped yesterday Yipppie!

 

We nc8430 owners should orgazine a BF2 night

 

How about a HP business model forum???? I

 

I bought mine for games not business, duh

 

I bought mine for the pure quality of it.

 

Its funny how I have the exact same specs as you Luar but the UK machine omits the fingerprint. I knew this before I ordered but its still dumb. Is bf2 worth getting for someone who is new to pc gaming or will I just be getting pwned by 133t 14 year olds all the time? lol

 

How about a NC8430 clan?

WARNING: BF2 is highly addictive and can lead to long term exposure to your gaming system.

 

BF2 is a pretty cool game, especially co-op with friends and bots. Nc8430's pretty good with bots too, I can host 48 bots without problems like my old AMD64. I still get pwned by 1337 14-year olds just like CS, though

 

To tell you the truth I am not too impress with this type of thing and would prefer not having it. I suppose this type of thing appeals to the typical American business man.

 

hey guys the new bios is out to support Merom!!
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqnk/us/download/23774.html

Arggg!! They took it down!! Well I upgraded! Did anyone else get the file before they took it down?

 

The fingerprint scanner is very usefull. Now I can make all my passwords (for login/bank accounts/CC acounts etc.) 10+ digits long with random numbers/letters and not have to remember them. I just log in with my fingerprint and it automatically loads the PW's for me. It makes everything much more secure.

 

Well, technically the HP Credential software is now a single point of failure. If THAT gets compromised, your in big trouble. Still, its probably still better than weak passwords.

 

Seems to be back up.

 

Where is the best place to pick up the NC8430...newegg, the HP website, call HP sales department....I'm ready to pick one up and can use some help.

 

Thanks Luar and iNsAnEcLoWn for your help. It was a breeze installing the new hard drive with the recovery disks. The more I use this computer the more I like it. Still not having any problems. Again, thanks.

libertyboy03 ... I bought mine at buy.com without a hitch but I went to resellerratings.com and buy.com was in the toilet in its ratings whereas newegg.com was a one of the highest rated companies. Newegg.com is only $15 more than buy.com and while it worked out for me next time I'll probably do it differently. Dave

 

The cheapest may not be the best. Go to Pricegrabber and locate the cheapest vendor. Then read the reviews from others who have done business with them and see if you are willing to do so. I bought from the 3rd cheapest which was Buy.com because I knew they were good and don't play games.

 

Biznatch

Is the information to load your passwords as well as log in with your fingerprint on the HP website...or where did you find it? I don't see it in the manual.

Dave

 

I basically just searched all through the credential manager for the settings and figured it out. You can go to windows help, which HP added instructions for most of their software into it.

As of right now, I have 2 fingers set up that can pass the scan, and have it set at the highest/most accurate setting. Only time it fails is if my finger is rotated wrong.

I also have it setup to allow a password to log in also. This way if for any reason the fingerprint scanner stops working or something i can still get in my computer. Now the password is like 12 units with random numbers/letters and upper/lowercase.

On top of that, I have it setup so when I go to say my banks website, it will ask me to scan my fingerprint then log into my bank account. So once again I can now make a nice long password for my bank account that I wont have to remember. Which I can just store and get the info if I ever need. Can you tell I really like this thing

 

Got mine from Buy.com too. Paid ~$1616 for it with free shipping but it is now ~$1630 at Buy.com. Never had problems with Buy.com yet.

 

I come from the Thinkpad world, but the new Lenovo T60 has me nervous for several reasons. But hearing about the NC8430 is very exciting and I'm seriously considering crossing over. I completely trust the machine, especially after reading threads like this one.

Two questions I need answered, though (this is subjective): How does the keyboard feel? (Thinkpad KBs are simply great.) Second, how easy is the hp's pointing stick to use? (I use the stick 95% of the time). Believe it or not, this matters to me, but I can't find an NC8430 in a store to check it out. Thanks.

 

I too come from the ThinkPad world and can tell the nc8430 is very good but not as great as the ThinkPad. That is not say anything really bad about the HP, the quality if incredibly good, but rather IBM, who prior to the advent of comupters made millions with office typewriters, understood the importance of a good keypad.

 

Just got my NC 8430! This is one beautiful piece of eqiupment! I will give a review when I get time.

 

The keyboard is definitely better than say the Dell Lattitude's I've seen, been a while since I used a thinkpad so I cannot compare against those.

The trackpoint is basically flat and slightly concaved with little bumps on it to improve the grip. Definitely not like the older eraser pencil style. You end up using the tip of the finger exclusively, compared to a dell where you'd used a the sides of the finger to push it around. Tap to click works on the touchpoint as well.

I never really used the stick on the lattitudes I've had, but I use this one about half the time.

 

OK the only thing that bothers me about this book is I had to lower the resolution to make the text and everything else bigger. Other then that I love it. I feel the extra money spent was worth it.

 

You do know that you can increase the DPI in the advanced section in the 'settings' tab when you click on 'display' in the Control Panel?

 

I have been using desktop keyboards for over 30 years and notebooks for 6 months, and adapt quickly to new keyboards. I recently upgraded from the HP nx6125 which has the PgUp/PgDn/Home/End vertical stack on the far right end of the keyboard. These keys were the right size.

In my opinion, the nc8430 keyboard is not as good because the keys are smaller than a full size notebook keyboard. I have small/medium-sized hands and fingers, yet even after a month of usage, I still miss-strike the keys because I am used to a larger keyboard. The Function keys, and navigation keys in the upper right corner, are very small. This keyboard remains a challenge for me. In order to compensate, I have had to resort to typing much slower than I am normally used to.

I'm not too familiar with the Thinkpad, but I tried one recently and found its keyboard much easier to use and the navigation keys easier to read and reach than on the nc8430.

Unfortunately, HP business-class notebooks are hard to find in retail shops where you can experience them hands-on. I would therefore recommend you purchase from an outlet that allows a reasonable trial period with full money back guarantee if you are not satisfied, such as HP.com or HP.ca.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the useful comments luar, celondil, and dforion. Very helpful because, as you say, the business notebooks are hard to check out. I start my dissertation soon, and in the meantime am just chained to my Thinkpad's KB and stick -- which are both a pleasure to use -- for untold hours. I thought I might improve (again, the hp sounds like a wonderful machine), but a less-than-full size KB? Hmm, I have to rethink this. Will check back...

 

I do not subscribe to this opinion about the keyboard not being full sized as though there was some predefined standard as to what the size should be. I can say this because the ThinkPad I came from was 13" while this HP is 15.4. In fact this KB looks to be of the same size as the Dell E1505. Next to me is a 15" iBook G4 and I see no difference whatsoever. Finally I doubt very much that this keyboard is any different in size than HP's Pavillion series because that would drive up the cost although I do agree that its not the same quality.

Regardless I am getting use to this keyboard and it is in my opinion of good quality but do feel that IBM is much better.

 

I do not subscribe to this opinion about the keyboard not being full sized as though there was some predefined standard as to what the size should be. I can say this because the ThinkPad I came from was 13" while this HP is 15.4. In fact this KB looks to be of the same size as the Dell E1505. Next to me is a 15" iBook G4 and I see no difference whatsoever. Finally I doubt very much that this keyboard is any different in size than HP's Pavillion series because that would drive up the cost although I do agree that its not the same quality.

Regardless I am getting use to this keyboard and it is in my opinion of good quality but do feel that IBM is much better.

 

To clarify, only the insert/home/pg up & down/delete/end/function/arrow keys are smaller. The rest (A-Z, numbers, punctuation) are 'normal'. Since its not sold in retail stores, physically the keys are the same as those on an HP V2000, with the smaller keys being the same size as the top row keys on the v2000).

I haven't noticed a slowdown in typing, but I also don't use those keys as much.

 

Not to be too picky but it seems to me that this really should not hinder typing as the keys you mentioned are only used for navigational.

 

That was why I replied, dforian post *could* have been interpreted as all of the keys being substandard in size so I wanted to provide a way for dnjjr to do his own comparisson rather than just taking our word for it.

 

Not quite celondil. If you read my prior post carefully you'll note I was comparing the nc8430 to the HP nx6125: a 15.0" notebook with the Vertical navigation keys on the right.

My position remains the same: the nc8430 has notably smaller keys: A-Z, Function keys, navigation keys, all the keys as a matter of fact. If you put the two notebooks side by side you will quickly see the difference. As I have actually used both, and can normally type at least 60 words per minute, I am in a good position to make the comparison. Anyone who does a lot of typing would quickly notice the smaller keys of the nc8430.

It seems HP used smaller keys because this nc8xxx series needs the extra room on the left and right side of the keyboard for the speakers. Aside from the smaller keyboard, I am happy with the unit.

 

Some guys from Europe have reported a bug in BIOS, which occurs when the nc8430 is plugged to the mains or docked.

When the nobebook is plugged to the mains, the Core Duo doesn't go lower than the C2 state, thus consuming more energy and the fans are still running. When the nc8430 is docked, it is even worse, because the processor stays only in the C1 state, plus the X1600 running at max power, leading to much higher temperature and fans running like crazy.

We are trying to contact HP technicians to solve this problems. Read more in this thread: http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1041766

Could anybody comment on use of the nc8430 in the docking station?

 

I hate to ask this but what are "mains?"

 

Sorry for my English, I meant just AC powered.

 

He means when plugged straight into a wall socket as most folk do.

 

I thought so. Thanks for that post and I will cetainly make note of this behavior when I get home tonight.

 

could someone explain to me what these c states mean?

 

I don't know what to tell you. I just broke out a tape measure and compared the NC8430 with... a Dell C610, Dell Inspiron 5000, and a HP V2000Z.

All of them use 3/4" A-Z keys. Maybe the design makes them seem subjectively smaller but there is no difference in size of the A-Z keys between those machines. Either they're full size or I have a long tract record of buying/being issued sub-standard keyboards.

How big are the keys on the nx6125? your nc8430?

 

The 8430 may be a lot of things but small A-Z keys are not one of them, there standard and bright IMO.

The other keys mentioned are a fraction smaller but they work unlike some other models.

 

I just got a docking station, but haven't used it enough to come to any conclusions. If there are any particular tests you want to run (Windows or Linux based), let me know.

 

I have a new best friend, lol

I'm fighting with Avista right now. Have installed it multiple times and can't seem to get it to install all drivers properly. Also I can't seem to run some programs properly with Avista. I get DX9.0C, Service Pack 2 type errors. An example is WoW (world of warcraft) will just flash the screen and then give the DX error, also the SD card reader install brings up the SP2 error (doesn't matter the compatibility settings).
My setup:
C:\ primary work partition XP PRO (17g)
D:\ test partition Avista (17g)
H:\ recovery partition (~5g?)
X:\ storage partition (~35g?)

*KEYBOARD*
I will try to get a picture of both a T42 and my nc8430 side by side tomorrow.

*XP Pro installation* >[
I can't seem to get XP Pro to install off of my installation CD. I'm using an Alienware XP Pro install CD because I like the "visuals" it adds. For some reason it just errors out when it comes to actually installing on the hard drive. Does anyone else have to use other drivers for installs? Maybe this is just the way Alienware sets up their install CDs?

 

Yeah, I wish audio works on mine. What build of Vista are you running with? What drivers are you having troubles with?

Regarding using Alienware CD to install on your NC8430, what error do you see?

 

Maybe a SATA vs PATA hard drive thing? Does the Alienware disk let you specify an additional driver?

 

If its saying it doesnt see a HD you can either slipstream the sata drivers onto a windows installation CD, or you can go in the bios and disable the Native Sata Support.

 

did anybody order this deal http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Hewlett_Packard_Student_Bundle_3_BUN-STUDENT-HP3/version.asp has anyone recieved theres yet? i ordered one and was wondering how long it may take to arrive i assumed it would be today but wondered if the bank holiday here in england delayed things

 

I haven't had time to take a look at thet patches regarding your Post on HP. It obviously is just a hoop to jump through, since we know its not a driver problem as it exists on Linux and Windows.

Regarding docking, there is no difference in C States compared to AC -- lowest available is C2 when on AC/Docked. C3 when on battery.

While docked, the default drivers for ATI seem to disable PowerPlay on Windows while working on an external monitor, but could be toned down when using the Laptops LCD.

When using dual monitors under Linux, you could not set it below the mid-level 'balanced' state, but you could use the lower powered one while just using the external monitor. Again, this is a driver issue. I believe I was able to trick it to using a lower state with dual monitors by playing with the aticonfig --enable-monitor command, but didn't note the results and that was way late last night.

So being docked has two problems, one easily dealt with - ATI drivers not wanting you to use lower Powerstates and one not so easy - the C2 state limit.

For what its worth, the docking station elevates the back of the system by a small amount and the adjustable stand also elevates the front by a bit. So there is the potential that docking could improve cooling a bit by increasing the amount of airflow underneath the system. I have no data to back this up though, so we'll see.