*HP dm4t (1XXX series) Owners Lounge!*

How long does it usually take to go from "order accepted" to the next stage (what is this next stage?). It is going to be 10 days before it is event shipped, but I keep checking the status every hour or so

 

I mean i thought it was a great deal, thats why I got it. Batteries will lose charge over time whether they are used or not, but I believe charging them and discharging them will help.

I will most likely be using both, maybe switch every other day or something, but like I said, i couldn't pass up the deal as I was getting at least the 9 cell. You could re-order and cancel the previous one if it hasn't began production. I know you are anxious though, it it might add an extra day to delivery.

 

mine took a day and a half to 2 days to be "dropped into production" or something along those lines. Unless there is a delay, the estimates are usually pretty accurate so don't waste your time checking every hour, make it every 2 hours at the very least. You'll just go mad.

 

Thanks for the info! I'll probably switch my gears to once a day as soon as they start building it. I was checking it so often this day because because it recently changed from order processing (or something like that) to order accepted so I was wondering if there gonna be next change soon.

 

Guys reported earlier today that the $400 coupon does not work anymore, so I think canceling/reordering is no-go for me

 

i would try calling them and seeing if you can add it. i mean it is just putting another battery in the box but it obviously doesn't seem that important to you so maybe don't waste you time

 

Battery life question: I have the 9 cell and I haven't used it once. Is it okay to let is sit uncharged, or should I charge and let it get down to around 40% then put it in a bag and keep it in the fridge? Best option here to keep my battery in good condition.

 

Based on the HP's recomendations:
•Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge.

 

What yuriylsh said. Place it in a cool, dry, place. I'm not sure putting it in the fridge is the best way to do it though.

 

I just ordered a tekkeon laptop and usb charger. I figured that would be more convenient than lugging around an extra battery since i can charge more than just my laptop. It was $110 but it can also charge my iPad, iPhone and speakers

 

I ordered the laptop July 12th, and it said it shipped July 16th even though the estimated build date was July 22nd. It is coming from Shanghai, China and will be here Thursday, July 22nd.

 

Aww... lucky! I ordered mine the 12th as well and the estimated build/ship date has not changed from the 21st.

 

I ordered the below 8GB of Ram for the dm4, and I think it was worth the money. I had 3GB of ram on the box, ordered 8GB (2 x 4GB chips) for $235 bucks.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

My Windows Experience rating for memory went from 5.1 to 6.1 and I definitely notice the difference. I do a lot of testing, so I have VMWare Workstation on my laptop, the 8GB makes a huge difference for VMWare.

Just thought I'd share if others are also looking to upgrade their ram.

 

Could somebody explain how the switchable graphics drivers installation goes? Let's say I'm doing clean Win7 install. Do I just install Intel's drivers and then ATI's one? Is it safe to use drivers from Intel/ATI (I like the newest drivers) or I should stick to HP's ones? Or should it be installed in completely different way?
Thanks in advance!

 

i just did a clean install on mine today. for the integrated Intel graphics, i just had Windows install the latest from Windows Update. for ATI drivers, i was going to install the newest from AMD/ATI, but they state on the site that the newest drivers do NOT support switchable graphics setup. so i just went ahead and installed the drivers from HP's website. switchable graphics works without any problems on my machine.


now, my only problem is that i can't seem to install the correct drivers for my wireless N card!!!

i have a HP-DM4 1063CL from Costco. i was under the assumption it was an Atheros card, but i keep getting an error stating that the wireless card is not installed and driver installation fails. i've tried the Intel Wireless N drivers as well, but that does nothing.

any ideas?

 

Thanks for the info!
HP's drivers download page for your model lists both Atheros and Intel's drivers... Have you tried to install all of them? I think one of them should work.

 

thanks, but i tried already.

i went into bios and seems my wireless card is a Broadcom as the FCC ID showed up as QDS-BRCM1050...which Google identified as a Broadcom BCM94313HMG2L.

even with that info, i haven't been able to find the correct drivers yet.


------------------------------ EDIT -----------------------------------

apparently HP is missing the link to the Broadcom drivers. the correct drivers can be found here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-81598-1&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en

 

were you able to resolve this?

i also have a "PCI Simple Communications Device" in device manager and don't know what driver it requires.

everything (ethernet, wireless, mobo chipset, etc) seems to be working though...


**** EDIT ****
i resolved my issue when i just installed the "Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) Driver" from HP's driver listing for the DM4.

 

Is there any benefit of doing a clean install with the recovery discs as opposed to a windows 7 disc i have laying around and using the key from the laptop?

 

I posted this, but it must have gotten deleted or something.

How is the integrated card in the dm4 for viewing HD 1080p youtube video? I used my sisters DV4 and the integrated card chugs terribly on 1080p youtube video. Will the integrated card in the dm4 handle it better or should I get the ati card?

 

You posted it in the DM4 review topic in this same forum

 

Not very good for HD video, lags a lot. If you want to watch HD videos and play games that demands a good graphics card, I would choose a dedicated graphics card like ati or nvidia. Integrated cards are only for light tasks like writing documents and light programs. It will take at least 5 years before integrated graphic cards will be as powerful, as the most powerful dedicated graphic cards today. Dedicated = more battery use, but much more powerful and has it's own memory. Integrated = less battery use, but shares the same chip as CPU, needs to use some system memory that will pass through the right bus to make it video memory. This takes much longer time so it's pretty weak.

 

Those who's laptops has been already shipped: how long does it usually take to go from "in production" to "shipped"? Is the estimated shipping date pretty accurate or the actual shipping date may vary (yeah, I know delays happen, I'm more interested if they do sometimes ship earlier...)?
Thanks!

 

my laptop said the shipping estimate was july 21st, I ordered the 12th, but it has now been shipped and says the estimate for delivery is the 22nd

So it took a week to build, and apparently 4 days to ship. That seems fast seeing as it is coming from China, but we will see.

 

Thanks for the info, +rep!
What state are you in?

 

So how do I install a fresh copy of windows without a backup disk? Do I need to download a copy of Windows Home Premium?

 

yes. there is a guide on the first post of the envy 14 owners thread.

 

Mass, but shipped to NH to avoid sales tax

 

OK here is my mini review:

Keyboard: Super. Amazing. Perfect.

Screen: Really like it. Ideal resolution IMO. I love the 14" size. I had a 13.3" Macbook and 15" Dell and this here is ideal.

Weight: Way lighter than I expected. I'm not sure how a laptop that is only 1 LB light than my Dell can feel so different but it does. Good balance too.

SSD: Get it! Boot time was around 30 seconds even with everything loaded.

Trackpad: Arghh! First off, I do not have the "jumping trackpad" issue at all. Perhaps this is because I only keep one finger on the pad. Moving the cursor around is actually really smooth and is way easier to be precise than on my Dell Studio laptop.

The issue I have is that it takes way too much pressure to click. It is uncomfortable on the wrist to apply so much pressure. Especially since I have a touch of carpel tunnel from playing the piano.


The trackpad for me might even be a deal breaker. Which would be a shame because it is otherwise PERFECT.

 

Have you considered using one-finger tap instead of left click? Not sure if Synaptics drivers give you an option to setup some guesture to immitate right click (still waiting on my dm4t to arrive), but at least in my experience I use left click much more often than right one.

 

yes, i've been spending time in the envy 14 owners lounge as well and there is a touchpad tweaking guide in the first post. tap to click should help you, and it seems like there is 3 finger tap to right click?? idk about that one but it may be possible.

I am also waiting arrival of my dm4, and am very excited about it.

 

Wow I just realized you do not even have to click!!! Just tap once in the left box to left click and twice in the right box to right click.

edit: dur! you can just tap anywhere.

now this track pad is actually pretty nice!

 

Do any of you guys know what SSD they will put in this machine if i order it? and if that SSD as that TRIM thing

 

it should be intel. I will verify this later. If so it will have TRIM.

 

damn dude fast response thank you

 

I was reading on the HP website that I need to turn off power management to calibrate the battery. Is this really necessary?

 

No. They just recommend that so when you leave your computer idle, it wouldn't automatically go into sleep/hibernate.

 

How about restarting the computer? Is it okay to do this while draining the battery?

 

SSD is an Intel X25 G2 (TRIM Support)

 

Got mine yesterday. Everything is pretty much perfect with the exception of the trackpad. I'm going to give it a couple days but coming from a macbook trackpad to the dm4 has been a pretty lousy experience thus far. Such a shame, too, because I have zero complaints about anything else on the machine

 

the envy 14 owners thread first post has a link to configuring the trackpad. it is the same one used in the dm4. What don't you like? It will never support all the features that the mb's do, but i had a good experience when i tried it out.

 

I just want to say that I have gone from absolutely hating the track pad to absolutely loving it. I love the tap feature. It is so much easier/faster than clicking!

There is a slight lag compared to clicking, but it's not that bad and overall much preferable.

Now I only have one single complaint about this laptop: no card reader! I never realized how much I use card readers.

I would love to see HP ditch the DVD drive for a card reader.

 

it should have one. on the front left

 

I will check that out this evening. My old MB doesn't even have gestures (pinch zoom, etc) but I find the two finger scrolling on the dm4 trackpad to be awful. I'll play with the settings tonight and see if it gets better. Thanks for the tip!

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02196918.pdf

Page 18

 

if you lower the numbers of lines per scroll: Control Panel > mouse > wheel, then it will look smoother

 

Interesting, envy 14 thread is much more active because people have more problems with their laptops or there is another reason?..

 

It has more hype and more people wanting it.

 

Just looked at the docs and it looks like it comes with Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000, which is only b/g/n and does not work at 5GHz range Did somebody try to install 6200 AGN or 6300 AGN? Are they compatible with this laptop?

 

Using the key from the laptop to activate a Windows 7 instance installed from media purchased separately will likely not work as the key may only activate an instance installed using the recovery disks. Don't ask how I know this.

I understand the EULA for the OS that comes with machines is often/always tied to it and is a violation of the EULA to install the OS on another machine. No un-bundling.


Patiently waiting for HP Pavilion dm4t: Intel i7-620M | 8GB DDR3 | 512MB ATI HD 5450 | 6 and 9 Cell Batts | 500GB 7200RPM HD