HP Pavillion zv5000z Review

"I wanna buy a HP zv5000z with the AMD 3400=. Is there anybody who got that Laptop before and what kind of experience you got so far??? And is it worth $100 to get a WVA WUXGA (1920x1200)instead of a WVA WSXGA+ (1680x1050). I anyway only using a 1024x768 resolution"

Why would anyone pay extra for an extended resolution screen when you are going to use such a low resolution? What is the purpose of using such a low resolution?

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

The screen will be nowhere near as crisp or clean if you do not run your lcd at native resolution.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

I recommend buying the highest resolution you can afford and cranking up the font size to whatever is most comfortable. Microsoft ClearType font antialiasing works extremely well at high pixel densities. The text I'm reading now on my 1680x1050 display looks almost as good as printed paper. If 1920x1200 res had been available at the time I'd have purchased that.

I received my Best Buy $150 rebate a few days ago too. Best Buy is pretty good about getting rebates out within a few weeks. And I've got a big sheet of Reward Zone coupons to spend [ ]. I'm still waiting for my HP $100 rebate though.

BTW, AMD has new power management drivers (dated May 2004) that display the correct CPU frequency and change between power management modes properly (selecting "Always On" immediately jumps to full CPU speed, for example). Get them here (bottom of the page):

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

 

Well, almost correct, System Properties | General tab reports 1.6GHz at idle while Hot CPU Tester 4 from http://www.7byte.com reports the proper 800MHz. Still, it's an improvement.

 

ARGH! HP denied my refund request, saying that I didn't send them the barcode with the serial number on it. I sent them the entire sheet of barcodes and kept a photocopy. HP didn't include the serial # on the box! Morons. Best Buy didn't give me this crap with their refund. So now I have to resubmit with the serial # from the bottom of the notebook. I included a printout of Help and Support | My HP Computer for good measure. Anyone who hasn't submitted a refund request yet should probably include that printout too.

And the newest AMD processor driver doesn't display the correct info in System Properties after all. It's back to reporting 318MHz. It shows up correctly on the My HP Computer page though. So it must just be a Microsoft problem (shock).

 

Brianstretch,

You might want to take whatever paperwork you have into the Best Buy where you purchased your computer. They may be able to issue you the rebate refund on the spot. I used to work at a Best Buy, and have had to do this a number of times because the manufacturer refused rebate requests, even when the proper documentation was submitted, as it was in your case.

Silver Rose

 

I just got my HP rebate rejection notice also even though a call to HP confirmed that I had sent the right paperwork. This gentleman requested that I send a copy of my copy with the rejection notice.

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

My harddrive a few days ago all of a sudden wouldn't come back from standby, so i turned it off, and when i turned it back on, it flashed the HP screen and nothing else. I plugged it into a regular lcd monitor and it showed an error message, some file was corrupt. I reinstalled Windows, everything was fine.

Then I booted into Knoppix to resize my ntfs partition with qtparted. When i selected the partition to resize, it said it couldn't because the disk had bad sectors.

I rebooted into Windows, defragged and scandisked, and scandisk showed some bad sectors. I'm going to send it back because hey, when you pay over $2,000 for something like this, it shouldn't have bad sectors barely a week after you get it!

Any one else have problems with the standard 4200 rpm 80GB drive? I just can't afford to go any higher cost-wise, i'm over my limit already...

 

Do anybody bought the zv5000z with this build in bays. I would like to have a bootable device like a floppy drive or so. Not only a bootable cd drive. I like to play around with windows 98 and in order to install that I need a floppy or any other bootable device.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by snoopy

 

I have a USB floppy, it is not bootable

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

So the only bootable device is the CD-ROM. That sucks. I guess I have to look somewhere else to get a new laptop.

 

I bought this notebook a few weeks ago(it hasn't arrived yet). And I have a few questions.

1: I did not get it with Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth. But now ,after lerning more about bluetooth, I wish I had. Is it possible to instal this later?

2: You guys have said that the 4200rpm HD that HP provides is slow. I have an external USB/Firewire 160gb 7200rpm HD, would that work as good as an internal HD? Or will USB/Firewire slow it down.

Thanks

 

i thing the broadcom wireless/bluetooth is below the batteryhy compartment. i am not positive seeing as i have not checked since i bought my r3000z, but i think so. i'll have to check and get back to u.

gl

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Kc_com_guy

 

I haven't looked at the zv5000z bios, but every other bios I've seen allowed you to set it up so that other devices could boot, i.e. usb devices.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

snoopy my apologies!

I just rechecked, and this time used a known good floppy boot disk, maybe the first disk media was bad. It does boot off of the floppy disk, in the BIOS it even recognized the vendor "Teac FD-05PUB".

Kc_com_guy: you probably can get a card for the "PCI I/II PCMCIA slot" that is standard with the unit. Also you should have no problem with your USB drive. I intend to get a new 2.5" drive for my computer and then will also get a 2.5" external drive case with a USB interface as soon as I can afford it.



Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

Yeah, I think I can get a bluetooth PCI I/II PCMCIA card. But there is only one slot on this notebook and I have a D-link AirPlus 802.11b wireless card that will be going in that slot. So unless I can get them both in one card, I need to have it integ. into the system.

Thanks for the help...[ ]

any one els?

 

My guess is that the Bluetooth module is the little card on the center left:

http://www.mindspring.com/~bstretch/zv5000zguts.jpg

There is what appears to be an antenna wire leading to it. Linux recognizes it as a USB Bluetooth radio. How you'd get ahold of one... dunno. HP tends to charge outrageous prices on replacement parts. I think the card is made by Actiontec.

My recommendation would be to go with a standard external USB Bluetooth radio, like what the Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse kit comes with. It's pretty small when you don't use the desktop docking cradle and plug it straight into a USB port. If you're lucky you'll be able to use the Bluetooth drivers HP included (made by Widcomm), which are better than the standard Microsoft ones I think (though WinXP Service Pack 2 is supposed to straighten out Microsoft's Bluetooth support a bit).

 

Thanks guys for the help.[8D]

I called HP about it and they said to send it in and they'll instal the Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth card. And I'll only have to pay for the hardware!!!

[ ][ ]

 

I called HP yesterday and they are sending out a new drive to replace the one with bad sectors. Didn't seem too surprised by it all... I'll just replace it myself, which is good because I'll probably get a faster drive in the future, just can't afford to get a faster/bigger one right now like I've said before. I'll let everyone know how it goes, but brianstretch said it was really easy.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by brianstretch

 

One way to get your Bluetooth devices to connect is to right-click on the Bluetooth system tray icon, select Explore My Bluetooth Places, select View Devices In Range, select Search for devices in range, and hold down the button on your Bluetooth device that lets your notebook know it's there. Once your notebook sees the device you shouldn't have any trouble pairing it. If you have a Bluetooth mouse, NiMH rechargable batteries are your friend [ ].

I can't connect to dallasmemory.com?

What BIOS revision did your notebook arrive with? I'm wondering if there's anything newer than F.03.

 

I realize this is the HP zv5000v forum but, I just saw this weeks Best Buy specials, they have the Athlon 64 powered Compaq R3140US on sale in the store for $350 (total) off of the $1549.99 SRP. It is an Athlon 64 3000+, 512MB, 60GB, 802.11b/g wireless, with the DVD+R/RW combo drive and a more crippled nVidia GeForce 4 420 Go (only 32MB) and a 15.4" WXGA screen. I prefer my custom configured unit but for $1200 it is a great price for a walkin buy.

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by brianstretch

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by wgehrke
I might also order a Hitachi 7k60 7200 rpm drive later (current drives are only 4200 rpm).
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Did you/anyone try this? Does this work? No heat issues? Why does HP ship with 4200 rpm drives?

Also, is it possible to install the 64-bit edition of WinXP on these laptops?

 

Go back to brianstretch's reply on page 6 for a very happy user of the 7k60. I am getting more serious about buying the drive as it should provide significant improvement in the playback under Adobe Premiere which is very disk intensive. I do have a new external 3.5" USB 2.0 interfaced WD1200JB disk drive that I just have started using and intend to do some comparison benchmarks as soon as HDtach 3.0 is released.

I have a copy of the Win 64 but until I get another drive with more space for a seperate partition AND/OR interchageability of drives I do not intend to try. I am primarily interested in my video editing and down the list is exploring Win 64 (especially until there are applications).

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

Dave S.: Your reply only contained a quote, can you try again?

fredz: Using MobileMeter:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/
My Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM drive and the 3200+ CPU generally both idle at around 38C-40C, so heat isn't a problem. As for why HP only ships with 4200RPM drives, I assume it's because HP marketing hasn't completely figured out that AMD is now the high-end brand and requires top-of-the-line components in all categories. They should save the 4200RPM drives for Celeron buyers and other people who don't know any better. I am impressed that they're now offering 1920x1200 displays though.

64-bit Windows: haven't tried, but 64-bit Fedora Core 2 Linux works.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by brianstretch

 

Hi

Got my zv5000z and to say it flies is an understatement, this baby rocks.
Came with 256Mb, added an additional 512Mb of Kingston Value PC2700 (Infineon chips) without issue, all works great.
Tried 64 bit XP, went on great but drivers are thin on the ground. Could not find any for the modem, sub-woofer system, Wi-Fi and a few unreconizable bits, so went back to standard XP untill I find them.

Any info on 64 bit drivers appreciated as I understand 32 bit wont work.
Dave

 

For 64-bit drivers you might check this site:
http://planetamd64.com/modules/mx_pafiledb/dload.php?sid=f0c3da07065283ed968b2bb5fc5c3fdf


Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

Quick question for you all...

I just ordered a custom zv5000z with the 30 Gb hard drive (from HP directly) with the intention of swapping it out with a 7200 rpm drive. Will I be able to reinstall WinXP from the CDs that come with the notebook from HP? It's my first notebook and I'm not sure how that works, could someone please enlighten me? (I did some Google searches, but to no avail).

Also, is anyone dual-booting with Linux successfully? I see posts that Fedora and Mandrake are working, any major problems?

Thanks!

Jeremy

 

There is a WinXP CD (locked to HP/Compaq machines but otherwise normal), a drivers CD (installs the drivers in one shot), and applications CDs. Very easy, you won't have any problems. Be sure to grab the latest processor driver from amd.com and video drivers from nvidia.com.

I'm able to dual boot with 64-bit Fedora Core 2. Wireless doesn't work (because it's Broadcom and HP has locked out non-HP wireless cards in the BIOS), but otherwise it works well with Linux. There's a new hwdata .rpm that adds support for the 1280x800 and 1680x1050 widescreen resolutions, I haven't tried it yet, I hand-edited my xorg.conf file. Installing the nVidia driver is a bit of work (you need the minion.de modification) but no kernel recompile is necessary (unlike 32-bit FC2). You might want to stick with xorg.

 

Hey brianstretch-

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the advice. I will go ahead and order the faster drive and start downloading Fedora!

Cheers,
Jeremy

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by brianstretch

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by brianstretch

 

You don't need the USB Bluetooth adaptor that the Microsoft kit comes with, but since the kit is not much more expensive than the mouse by itself you might as well buy the kit. The HP Bluetooth radio is separate from the 802.11g card (you can have Bluetooth without WiFi, HP just doesn't offer it).

 

I am thinking of upgrading my ze4500 with zv5000z. When I bought my ze4500, I replaced 60 gb 4200rpm with Hitachi 7200rpm 60 gb drive.
It has been working great from last one year.
The only thing I noticed was that the ze4500 uses some ALi M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE controller.
Can you guys tell me what IDE Controller ships with zv5000z.
I am just concerned that the laptop should be able to utilize the maximum potential of Hitachi 7200rpm harddrive.
Any thoughts also would be welcome.

Thanks,

 

The zv5000z uses the nVidia nForce3 chipset. I've put the same Hitachi 7200RPM drive in mine. You won't have any trouble, other than the usual problem of confusing the hell out of Windows [ ]. Worst case, a Repair Installation followed by installing the zv5000z drivers ought to do the trick, but doing a clean reinstall of Windows is always the best idea.

 

I like to thank you all on all the valuable information. I order my zv5000z on 6/1, just missed Fedex today. I should have it by tomorrow morning.

Is there a dedicated page in HP support site for the zv5000z? Where do you get the latest Bios, can you use the zv5000 stuff?

 

There is no separate zv5000z support page, unfortunately. The BIOS update listed is for the Intel zv5000 series models. AFAIK there is no BIOS update from the F.03 version.

Newegg appears to be listing Crucial/Micron PC2700 512MB SODIMMs separately from the non-Micron Crucial SODIMMs. If that proves correct, buying the HP notebooks with the minimum amount of memory and doing your own upgrade becomes a viable option again.

 

>>Newegg appears to be listing Crucial/Micron PC2700 512MB SODIMMs >>separately from the non-Micron Crucial SODIMMs.

So, we should buy only Crucial/Micron memory for HP/Compaq notebooks?

Compaq Presario R3000z AMD Athlon64 3400+ 512MB 60GB GeForce4 440go WSXGA

 

Micron chips are the safest choice since HP apparently only tested with Micron memory. Crucial is Micron's retail arm, so they used to be the most reliable source for Micron memory... until they started adding Infineon memory to the mix. Corsair PC3200 (but NOT PC2700) is supposed to work. You can read all the gory details earlier in this thread. You'll only run into problems using pairs of SODIMMs (512MB sticks moreso than 256MB), any single SODIMM is almost certain to work OK.

I'm stunned that HP has ignored the information I spent dozens of hours researching and 8+ hours of cell phone time giving to their research (top-tier) techs and not issued a BIOS update. There's no excuse for it, especially when they shipped so many machines with Infineon memory. But if you use the right memory you won't have any problems and HP has been good about helping people who received pairs of Infineon SODIMMs from HP. In the future I won't cut HP any slack like I did this time; if I run into a problem their frontline techs can't handle, their product is going back to the store. Sadly, I've yet to find a notebook vendor with competent support that sells anywhere near the configuration I want to buy (at least here in America, many AMD-based notebooks are only sold in Europe and Asia because the gutless vendors are scared of Intel).

 

Linux fans, NVIDIA has released AMD 64 drivers, since I am not interested in Linux at this time I have not verified if it is for the zv5000v

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html

Bill
zv5000z :: 3200+ :: 1GB :: 40GB 4200rpm :: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) :: XP Pro

 

Hi
Re: memory zv5000z

My machine shipped with 256Mb Crucial stick I put a aditional 512Mb Kingston Value sodimm stick which utilizes Infineon chips in the spare slot and it works great, both are PC2700. Been running almost constantly for over a week now and not a single problem[ ].

Kimyfa

 

Got my zv5000v yesterday. pretty much what I expected, big and bulky, just the way I like it.

I only got the 256MB, but I will be adding either 256 or 512 soon. My pc come with hyundai memory according to Sandra, so I will try my luck on getting PNY from best buy since I can always return them according to bestbuy. o, and my bios is F.11, it's not available on support.hp.com? And zv5000z is a step child, can't found anything specific about it on hp.com. You guys are my only help [ ]

I got everything running with wireless etc, except I am stuck on running 800Mhz on the 1.8Ghz 3000+ AMD? Tried running only plugged it, but "system info", Sandra sometime shows 1.6Ghz, but mostly 796Mhz, and I know my system is slow, I am running XP home now. I heard windows 2000 pro doesn't use PowerNow, and I have a copy of it, so I might try that. I also think about loading windows 64 if I can get all the drivers.

 

It sounds like PowerNow! power management is working correctly. Your notebook will run at 800MHz unless you're doing something to stress the CPU, then it'll race up to 1600MHz or 1800MHz (2000MHz in the case of my 3200+). You might want to install the current AMD processor driver:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

(Bottom of the page)
You can force full speed with the Always On power setting (Display Properties | Screen settings tab | Power button). I advise against it as it's a waste of electricity.

MobileMeter is great for monitoring/graphing the CPU frequency and temperature:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/

If your system seems slow, it's the slow 4200RPM HD holding you back. I swapped in a Hitachi 7200RPM drive to fix that (see mwave.com). HP doesn't offer anything faster on most of their notebooks.

 

Thank you brianstretch!

My last PC was a 1.2Ghz Athlon, so I don't really understand how Powernow work. Everything is in good working order now.

The only suprise is cpu-z is showing my 3000+ has 1024 of L2 cache. My performance is still not up to par, but is excellent on the stuff I needed to do(mostly web surfing). My aquamark is around 8100-8900 on max battary to allways on. So the next thing is to getting more RAM and if I can afford it, the fast hard disk.

So far love the big widescreen, pointing pad with scroll bar, sound, wireless.

I got the 8-cell battery, doesn't look like is going last more than 2 hours. I am on it about an hour now, it's showing 50%. But again, this is a desktop replacement for me, so no biggie.

 

You're welcome!

Your CPU should have 1024KB of L2 cache, so that's good. Aquamark is being undermined by the weak graphics chip, the CPU score on my zv5000z w/3200+ is very close to my desktop w/3200+ but the desktop has triple the graphics and overall scores. More RAM would definitely help Aquamark (and most everything else), 512MB is the minimum these days (I have 1GB).

Central Brain Identifier is a little more thorough than cpu-z, though it does misidentify the CPU as a desktop part rather than DTR.

I wish I could get ahold of that updated BIOS that you have, and the changelog that applies to it. HP really ought to have a dedicated zv5000z support page.

New topic: has anyone tried replacing the zv5000z or r3000z's CPU with an Athlon 64 Mobile (62W) chip? I have one inbound from Newegg. It was intended for my desktop (I want quiet!), but now I'm thinking I could put it in the notebook instead. It'd drop idle (800MHz) power consumption from 19W to 13W, which might be enough to completely shut off the fans? I'm worried about the BIOS rejecting it though. I bet F.11 would be a lot safer than F.03.

 

HP has FINALLY added a zv5000z support page! And there's a new BIOS (F.21).

 

I tried to load F.21 since I will be loading and reloading this pc for a while. But looks like HP just copied the zv5000 stuff over for zv5000z. My version of F.11 is dated 4/28/2004, F.12 for zv5000 is dated 2/?/2004. When I try to flash the bios(again, I got nothing to lose), got "bios.whp" not found and the instruction did not mention zv5000z.

mmmmmm.... guess we have to waiting a little longer for HP to get it's act together.