*HP dv3t (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I just wanted to update my review since I've had my dv3t for a little over a month. I'm loving my computer a lot more now. At first, I wasn't happy with the internet because it took a while to connect. Now, it doesn't take long at all. I'm not having any issues. It stays cool, and isn't very loud. You can hear the fan a little in a completely quit room. My only issue is still just the alignment of the dvd drive is a little off, but that's minor.

 

Hey dv3t owners,

I have a dedicated driver thread now up for this notebook series. Please feel free to reply to this thread if there is anything that I need to add or modify.

Link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=405785

 

For those looking for another option over neoprene sleeves, I just bought a Tom Bihn Braincell for my wife's dv3. The size "4" fits perfectly, they come in different colors, and they even have attachment points for a strap if you want. I'm not knocking sleeves, but I like knowing it can sit in the car with very little risk of being damaged from sliding around or falling on the floor.

 

I have a question about the gpu. Will I be able to use Rivatuner to affect the fan speeds of the nvidia card? or is this only for desktop PCs. I'm starting to notice the "fan noise" that everyone has been raving about and have noticed that when just surfing the web or using mixmeister the GPU temp is about 49-51 degrees Celsius. is that a good temperature? i really have no idea what a good/safe "temperature is since my laptop doesn't really get that warm.

 

So, I've been playing around with my new dv3t for the last few days and am loving it!

One thing that bothered me a lot, though, was that the color calibration of the screen was way off. Everything looked too blue. This may depend on whether you opted for the Intel GMA 4500MHD or the Geforce 105M and what brand of LCD screen was included in your laptop.

Mine has a Samsung (SEC) display and configured it with the Intel GMA 4500HD. I played around with the color correction settings for the Intel GMA driver program for my laptop and came up with these values for more accurate colors (at least in Windows 7):

RED
Gamma: 1.2
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 50

GREEN
Gamma: 1.1
Brightness: -10
Contrast: 51

BLUE
Gamma: 1.0
Brightness: -20
Contrast: 45

Hope this helps some of you guys with the same setup.

 

I also noticed the colors were a little blue/purple when I had it.

 

Will receive my 2nd DV3T tomorrow, will post back here regarding fan noise!

 

Hello. I am new to the site. Here is my brief story. I was a Sony Vaio user. I purchased a refurb vaio and was not happy with it, although sony's are built very sturdy. I also was in the market for a HDMI output. I just wasn't in awe with the vaio. I had issues and sent it back. My friend knew what I was looking for and turned me on to HP. This is my first HP. I received my laptop and to my surprise it had no sofware on it. Because of my ordeal with Sony, I was incredibly upset. I sent it back and reordered a new one at the same cost. I receieved it yesterday. I love this thing. It feels great, is fast, but I am begenning to wonder if I need the NVIDIA 150 card? I don't really hear the fan but I am not a gamer. Does this card really create that much stress on the computer? Also, if I want to watch blueray and hook it up to a HDTV, do I need the NVIDIA? Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long post, from here on out I will be much shorter.

 

thanks for the rec that's just what i was looking for

P.S. FWIW the Tom Bihn website lists the dv3t as fitting best within the size *6* Horizontal Brain Cell (that's also what their customer support told me).

(HP lists dimensions as 12.9in(L)x8.7in(W)x1.25 in(min H)/1.38in(max H),

size 6 TB HBC is 12.9 × 9.0 × 1.1 inches.)

 

Hello. The only reason to choose the Nvidia 105M graphics is if you do any gaming in 3D, otherwise the Intel GMA 4500MHD is the better option. Your laptop will run cooler and will use less power, which means battery life will be longer. The Nvidia card runs hotter and uses more power, so battery life will be shorter. This is apparent in the power supply that HP provides with each configuration. With the Intel GMA 4500MHD, HP provides a 65W power adapter. With the Nvidia 105M, HP provides a 90W power adapter. (Specs: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ory&v1=Ultra-Portable&series_name=dv3t_series)

The Intel GMA 4500MHD was designed to handle Blu-ray playback on an HDTV just fine. The other day, I tested this out and watched Kung Fu Panda on my Samsung 46" 1080p and it ran perfectly with no lag.

So unless you'll be playing heavier 3D games on your laptop, it's better not to have the Nvidia graphics option. Hope that helps.

 

OK GUYS, received my 2nd DV3T (1st one returned due to heat and fan noise)

This one's spec is P8700. 4 GB ram 320gb 5400rpm HD 512mb G 105m video card, LED screen..etc...etc..

Fan noise is about the same as the 1st one I returned, slightly lower noise but about the same level .. As for heat...when installing and uninstalling programs where HD had to spin up...the right palm rest heats up noticeably.

CPUID Hardware Monitor Temp (under load installing and downloading programs)
Core 1 38C
Core 2 37C
Memory 48C
G105M 53C
Western Digital HD 49C (??? 1st one was samsung spinpoint.now is WD?)

As you can see...the temperature are not bad at all...though for video card I hope it will go down once the load is taken off..The wind coming out of exhaust is warm at this time. I did uncheck the FAN ALWAYS ON option in BIOS..will have to see how it is later when everything settles down. So far I'm not digging the fan noise, but it seems like the trade off when one choose the G 105M video card. And for my own genetic/male hormone reasons..I can't live with an integrated graphic when I know a dedicated 512m card is out there

 

follow up...still installing gazillion updates from MS...now
cpu
core 1 is 54C
core 2 is 54 C
G105M is at 71C now...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! am i missing something???

 

Lesson here:
-No updates from MS
-there's a reason why they make 16-17" gaming laptops. A 13" laptop isn't really best to have powerful graphics in

 

hey does anyone no how the heat and battery life are with (around the same specs) a p8700, gma 4500, 4 gb, and 500 gb 5400 rpm hd?

i was thinking of just sticking with the p7750 but thought that the extra power would come in handy, im just worried that going from 2.26 ghz to 2.53 ghz might affect battery life..

any suggestions would be great thx

 

Having Problems with Battery Falling Out in dv3t due to Broken Battery Clips.

It seems using the protruding battery design to double as a laptop prop-up mechanism is a poorly designed idea. The tabs which hold in the battery easily fatigue and break off leaving the battery with nothing to hold the battery in position. The result is an instant laptop crash as the battery drops out when moved. The laptop is less than one month old.

Anyone else seeing issues with broken battery clips in dv3t?

 

While my clips are not BROKEN, i have noticed that they are significantly looser than they were when I purchased the computer. I also think this may have contributed to my computer crashing a few weeks ago. I was running the computer on the battery, and as I was putting it down, the computer immediately shut off to a white screen. I am told that there may have been an electrical short or something in my motherboard and the entire system board had to be replaced. If I were you, I would back up my data immediately (if you have not already) in case a similar thing will happened.

 

Hi,

What is the best neoprene sleeve that fits a dv3t nicely? I would be using it for extra protection inside a bigger back (that'll most likely have books and other things in it.)

 

I use the caselogic sleeve for 13.3inchers.... it fits well and its got space for the charger as well (a separate pocket)...retails for about 19 bucks and it works well... and the velvetty interior makes sure your glossy baby doesnt scratch...

 

anyone having problems with HDMI audio after updating to newest display and audio drivers?

 

Anybody have battery draining problem when computer is shut off? I just bought it and I notice the battery loose about 20% per day even when the computer is turn off.

 

Anyone? When I am using it, it last about 3 hours. But when I completely shut it off ... the battery drain (~20%/24 hours) for some reason.

 

I do have a problem similar that. I dont think ive ever seen it at 100%. After I unplug it, it always starts out around 95-96%. Still lasts a very long time, but batteries always worry me because most suck.

 

Thanks a lot! NOT!

 

have you tried taking the battery out after you are done using the laptop for the day. if not try this and see if the battery still looses its charge if so i would have hp replace it under warranty if the battery does not loose charge then there is something worng with the laptop you should not loose about 20% in a day if the laptop is off.

 

does any one know if this laptops card reader will read sdhc cards or not?

 

ive been able to read SDHC in it

 

Has anyone used a Timbuk2 Coder bag for the HP DV3t? I am wondering if the small will fit. It says it fits a 13 inch laptop.

or has anyone used a different Timbuk2 bag for this particular laptop? I love these bags but don't know which to get or what size. My laptop hasn't arrived yet so I can't visualize the dimensions.

If anyone has some input it would be helpful...

 

The laptop is nearly the exact dimensions of a Macbook 13". I bought a nice bag for the macbook and it fits perfectly.

 

My dv3t arrived about a week ago, and my fan problems sound like everyone else's:
1. Super quiet for the first couple of days. I was pleased.
2. Then fan comes on in battery mode. Not extremely loud, but constant.
3. Switch off "Fan always on" in BIOS. This makes the fan noise worse. Now it ceases running every minute or two, but when it runs it runs hard and kind of shrill. I can't relax around my laptop (lol). I am going to return BIOS to its original mode and see if I can adjust.
4. Hardware 4500MHD, not nVidia, FWIW.

I bought this through Costco, which seems to have a no questions asked 90-day return policy. Since no one seems to have solved a fan problem, I'm about ready to give up on mine.

Incidentally, where do I check temperatures?

 

I am interested to see what this fan noise is all about. I have never been around a laptop that was too loud to use. Especially not a new one. I wonder if what you guys say is true or if it is just expectational bias because of what you read on here before buying. Or maybe you guys live in a sound proof cellar. My dv3 should be here Tuesdayish so I will find out for myself

 

It wasn't expectational bias. One update/bit of hope for future: a post on the hp dv4 site suggests that fan noise issues will be somewhat easier to manage under Windows 7. 9 more days.

 

fan noise is only manageable if the cpu, voltages, clock speed, and fan speeds are controllable by third party software.

You first need to start with the mechanical cooling making that as efficient as possible. Crack open your laptop, remove the cpu/gpu heat sink, clean the factory heat goop off, re-apply quality goop like AS-5, reinstall the heat sink, make sure the fans are clean, reassemble everything else.

Now go browsing around for control software that might talk to your laptop.

 

Hey guys, I'm having trouble with my HDMI port. I first plugged it into my 46" Sony Bravia HDTV and it worked! I was glad but I had to resize the desktop for it. I tried running Counter-Strike: Source and suddenly CS:S froze. I had to CTRL+ALT+DELETE and end the program. After that, whenever I plug in my HDMI cable to my laptop, there is absolutely no output onto the TV! Although, when I do plug it in my laptop, the desktop flickers to resize AS IF it was working.. I could even go to the right of my desktop to go to the "ghost" extension desktop. What's going on?

 

I have the same problem. If I shut off the computer and leave it unused, the battery is drained as you described.
I don't leave it plugged in.

 

Does anyone like this piece of junk? I just order DV3t last week three days late HP discontinued it. Sounds like I shouldn't even open it and, just return. I wanted something small for school. I have HP DV9500t for two years and have really liked it. Would like to hear from anyone not having stupid fans issues or other wise.

 

I love it, and I'm not experiencing any issues. Junk it's definitely not. And how would you know not having any personal experience with one?

Your request isn't exactly going to gather realistic nor reliable results as most of the people who do post here are the ones who are experiencing issues that they would like resolved. In most cases, you aren't going to hear from 99% of those without any problems as they're much more likely off doing something else.

If you ordered directly from HP, you have a 14 day period upon receiving it to return it, opened or unopened, for a full refund. If you do decide to return it, it wont make a difference if you return it opened or not, so go ahead and try it out and decide for yourself. It's your loss if you don't.

 

I am going by the numerous posts of people having issues with the DV3t with the NVidia 105M which is what I ordered, I suprised you bought another HP Notebook after Your DV2000t NVidia GPU died. It's want happens after the 21 day return period I am worried about. If I could have I would have ordered it with the Intel 4500 Intergrated Video, but as I said in my post HP just retired the DV3t. I was just looking for feeback. Does your dv3t have the Nvidia? or Intel video? How long have you had it?

 

When my dv2000t died, I knew it was because the Nvidia GPU inside had died. It happened to all laptops with similar GPU's regardless who made it (HP, Dell, Apple, Sony, etc). My friend's Dell XPS m1330 with a similar GPU had exactly the same symptoms and suffered the same fate just a month after mine. Nvidia was the culprit here. I've had mine long enough that it was no longer covered even in their extended service period to cover repairs for a faulty Nvidia GPU. At $400 for the repair of a 3-year old laptop, I figured I'd just get a new one instead. I had no other issues with it, so I had no problem buying another HP, especially with those massive discount coupons and numerous configuration options I couldn't get anywhere else. I just made sure not to get it with an Nvidia GPU this time around. Supposedly, Nvidia has addressed the issue, but we won't know that until we see what happens in a couple of years.

Unfortunately, you got it when they were clearing their inventory of this model. The dv3t has been available since April 22 of this year. It's been available for a good amount of time, just about when companies will update/revise it. However, the notebook industry is shifting over to models without an integrated optical drive, so there may be less and less choices if having one built-in is important to you. The dm3 may be its replacement, similar to how Lenovo's 13" U330 was replaced by the U350 which doesn't have an optical drive like its predecessor. It's hard to say at this point.

You might want to check out this thread instead. It's what this thread was meant to be, but people just never moved over:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=374714

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info, I am leaning towards the 3dmz with AMD Turion Neo X2 Dual-Core L625 Processor (1.6GHz, 1MB) with ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
4gb and 320gb HD. I just use it for school and run office and filemaker pro.
I don't care about the optical I still have the DV9500t which I love, just too heavy to carry to school everyday. Do you know if I can copy the contents of the office cd to a usb flash drive and install it from that or can I access the dvd drive on the dv9500 across the network, hate to spend $50 on USB drive just to install s/w. After reading the thread you sent me I might just check out the dv3t but the dm3 is getting some nice reviews

 

For most Disc Installations, you can create an image of the CD/DVD and put it directly on your laptop, or preferably an external drive (either a USB flash drive or USB hard drive, probably a large hard drive since the discs can take up quite amount of space) in case you ever need to do a complete wipe of your laptop's main hard drive or complete restore.

To do this, you can a free program called ImgBurn found here:
http://www.imgburn.com/

You'll then need another program called Daemon Tools Lite to be able to mount these in a virtual disc drive found here:
http://www.disk-tools.com/download/daemon

It then can act just like you're running it from an optical drive. The only cases where this doesn't always work are with PC games or other protected discs. Sometimes there are workarounds, but it varies from software to software.

In most cases, you can just store your original disc for safe keeping and just use the images on your hard drive in conjunction with Deamon Tools Lite. It should be doable with the Office installation disc.

What I love about the dm3 is its long battery life of up to 10 hours (realistically about 8 or 9), but that assumes you're using the model with the Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 with the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics. If you won't be doing any 3D-intensive gaming, this setup will be very satisfactory for most. Also, because it is slower than standard Core 2 Duo processors that generally run at speed of at least 2.0 Ghz as in the dv3t, the dm3 may have a tad bit of an issue playing back the best quality high definition flash based videos, but in most cases, it shouldn't have too much trouble. All other standard video formats, including blu-ray playback, shouldn't be a problem with the GMA 4500MHD.

On the dv3t, this longevity is only achievable if you have the extended 9-cell battery which does protrude on the bottom. Some find this desirable for its increased typing comfort, some are not so fond of it as it does somewhat take away from the sleekness of the original form factor. With the standard 6-cell battery, you would get about 4 hours of usage realistically and 7 hours with the 9-cell.

In the end, it just depends on which fits your lifestyle the best. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks again! One last question, would you recommend the AMD/ATI Solution or the Intel/Intel version on the dm3? I have read the ATI is a better integrated video. I am a Radiologic Technology student and use word/powerpoint, filemaker pro and light Photoshop.

 

hey guys..need help..i played assassin's creed on my dv3 for a couple of hours n i noticed the air coming out of the vents is HOT..i installed speedfan n it shows my gpu temperature went up to 84'c!!..then it stayed around 75-79'c..is this normal?? and what's the max temperature the gpu can stand?? please help..

C2D P7350 2.0ghz / 4gb ddr2 800mhz ram / 320gb hd 5400rpm / nvidia geforce g105m 512mb dedicated / vista home premium 32-bit

 

a couple of hours is also a lot (according to the undervolt guide 3 hours is a lot of load for the fan to take at full speed) and at least for around 2-3 hours my max would be 78C or 79C(thats grid at med/high settings and 0 prerendered frames)

anyone else have the 7200RPM getting 54C as a high? it use to be 49C like 2 weeks ago, but recently its been slowly increasing... now its bout 51C as a regular temp(internet browsing with multiple tabs); also when running speedfan's SMART test, it hit 54C >.< I heard 55C is around a critical temp for hard drives... Should i be worried?

 

Yeah you should be a little worried, but that kinda thing has happened to me also. I've found that instead of hibernating my computer I turn it off instead when the HDD temp is that high to let everything cool down, when I turn it back on the Temperature is back to normal.

 

So is it the hdd or the cpu that makes the left parm rest hot?

 

Thanks, and I actually decreased the pagefiling size also, and for the couple days i have tested it, seems to have helped idles 2C less.

BTW, I thought hibernating would do a complete power down? I even pull the battery when its hibernating.

do you have bluetooth? it think thats where the bluetooth module is located. actually, the hard drive is directly under the touch pad; however I can't feel the heat on the touchpad.

 

Could someone post Moonlight Imprint wallpaper?
I've lost mine when I installed Windows 7 on my dv3, and the one that has been posted in the HP Wallpaper discussion has not the same quality of that i found in my dv3 when I bought it.

 

If you can't find anyone that has it, what you could do is Create a system image of your entire computer using Backup and Restore in Windows 7 onto an external hard drive or DVDR's, Create a system repair disc so you can use restore your system image later, restore your machine back to its original factory-installed Vista OS using either the recovery partition on your computer's hard drive or the restore DVD's you were told to burn when you first got your computer (you did do that right?), grab those original wallpapers, and then use the Windows 7 system repair disc to restore your computer back to the way it originally was. This may take a few hours, but you'll probably get them sooner that way than waiting for someone with a Moonlight White notebook to see your request.

 

Probably you are in reason
I tried the forum-asking way to avoid the solution you've shown me but maybe it's the fastest way to restore my original Moonlight wallpaper.

 

So, for anyone who's even remotely considering getting a 9-cell extended battery for their dv3t (battery RT09 for the dv3-2000), HP Home & Home Office is having their Thanksgiving sale this week and it's currently 60% off at $56 (originally a crazy $139.99).

You could use Bing Cashback and get another 5% off of it, but I have a coupon code that takes $10 off any order of $50 or more (Coupon code: SV6462, expires 11/30/2009) bringing it down even more by 18% to $46. Free Standard Shipping.

So yeah... extended battery for 1/3 of the original price. It'd be a good idea to have an extra when the current one dies or loses its longevity... especially when down the road, I doubt you'd be able to buy one given the dv3t has now reached its EOL.