*HP dv4t (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

it applies to the subtotal after rebates/coupons, and tax and shipping dont get included.

NOTE: some people say that it wont go through if you use a coupon, but mine seems to be going through and it says i can redeem my cashback in 50 something days.

 

guys please answer. is the f.30 or f.31 bios only coming on new laptops right now? cuz i can't find the download on the website

 

I am so freaking happy right now. Thanks to the new $500 off coupon, i got rid of my dv5t and bought a new dv4t!

dv5t specs:
p8600
9200m gs
12 cell
blue-ray drive (which i never use at all)

my new dv4t specs:
t9550
105m graphics
12 cell
LED display <---- biggest reason of replacing dv5t
tv tuner

As soon as i get it, i am replacing the hard drive with a corsair ssd i recetnly got. Battery life should be a lot better then my dv5t. The dv5t had a lower power-consuming cpu (25W vs 35W), but the led display and the ssd should be more then enough to overcome that difference.

 

Thanks for posting pics Vert! I really like the new Espresso Black design. How is the audio quality on your laptop?

 

The F.30 BIOS was originally posted for the Dv4t on the HP drivers and downloads page. Shortly after it was posted (a couple of days) it was removed and replaced with the older F.24.

I'm running the F.30 on a Dv4t and it seems to work fine, however Vert just posted that his new Dv4t came with a F.31 BIOS. Keep an eye out on the HP pages, the F.31 will most likely be posted in the next few days.

If you absolutely need the F.30, though I can't imagine why, post an email or FTP or something and I'll send it along.

 

$500 Off?? Do tell! (Nevermind, I found it, it sucks that it needs to be configured to 1399+)

 

thanks can you test something for me though. when you run a temperature monitoring software such as cpu-z, does the temperature figures change as the temperature changes? becuase for some reason, the bios that i am using rihgt now just freezes at its initial temperature value and doesn't update anymore after that. that's why i really want to update my bios.

 

Not a problem. Give me a few to change computers


.... back with you.....testing.

Yep....with Hardware Monitor...
System idle for a few minutes: ACPI Temp = 33, Core Temps = 40
Play DVD for a few minutes: ACPI = 37, Core Temps = 43
Back to idle for a few: ACPI = 34, Core Temps = 41

Just wondering? What BIOS are you using. I really didn't see any difference between F.30 & F.24.

 

Jennifer,

What is your needs for a college laptop? Are you mainly going to take notes and need a long battery life? Or you want a gaming system where you can play games or do graphic entensive applications? The DV4T might not go long enough unless you will recharge every 3 hours on the standard battery. The 9 cell battery is a little bit large and heavy and raise the laptop by 3/4 an inch. Also, the fan may be a little bit loud if the class you're taking is quiet.

I recommend you go with a light system, maybe in the 10"-13" range with a long battery life. If you can go even smaller, I recommend the Asus Eee 1000HE netbook with a battery life of 9 hours. You can study all days and go over notes, play music and view online videos.

Just my thoughts since my little bro is in college and seeing the number of books he carries; I want him to have the lightest laptop.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

Thanks vert and OldMajorDave for your inputs! I think I will get the dv4t.

 

The Dv4t I am on now is a very basic unit, seems very solid so far, does everything we need it to, and I think will last for a good while. Glad to of helped, and Good Luck with College and your new DV4t if that's what you finally choose.

Hints:
Look for sales and coupons
Check academic pricing
Consider ADP (Accidental Damage Protection) and...
Get a good protective sleeve & bag.

All the best...
Dave

 

no prob, audio isnt the greatest but its tolerable, i can listen to music on them (without bass though), but headphones are better of course

also they arent as good as the ones on my toshiba p205

you are probably better off using the -250 code that stacks with the instant rebate, minumum config price is also 1099 and not 1399.

your temp sensor is probably stuck, i doubt a BIOS update will fix this.

you can try stressing the system a little more as that makes the sensors more accurate. try prime95 and real temp to test your sensors out.

no problem

 

cuz the past bios that i used the temp monitoring programs were always able to monitor correctly. with f.24, the values just freeze at the initial values and even if i play a game the numbers just stay there although the fan does still kick up when needed. is it possible for you to upload f.30 for me?

 

Sure....where to ?

 

Here's the link I posted a few pages ago.

http://rapidshare.com/files/223073222/sp42636_BIOS_F.30_.zip

 

it should work with all versions of the dv4t right. my dv4t was bought when it first came out so i am not sure if it would work.

thank guys just flashed it and temps are updating normally now

 

Thanks Sliso....... there you go..... a link to F.30.
Yes it should work.
Edit your post and delete the email.

 

Good Deal !!

 

damn the coupons JUST expired

 

they come up like every week so i wouldnt be to worried.

 

Just when I thought a good deal expired, a better one usually come along. Keep checking the coupon site.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

which screws do i un-screw to change the optical drive?

 

Ok so I'm about to purchase one, I'm just wondering if a P8600 (2.4GHz) is worth getting over the P7450 (2.1GHz).

Since the new coupons came out, I don't need to force myself to configure the system to $1099. So I still have some room left to customize the system. This is mainly a everyday use system without much gaming done on it, so basically just a fastest possible system within the price range. Thanks.

 

The DV4T does not have screws to take out the optical drive. There should be a large push button that you can push to eject the drive from the bottom of the laptop. When I travel, I leave the optical drive at home and put in the place holder to save some weights.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

I have the P8400 and I'm quite happy with that. Since the P7450 and P8600 are both 25watt CPUs, get the fastest you can afford if the laptop is going to last you a while. Software may not take advantages of the cores now but future ones do; should you decide to upgrade the OS or use processor intensive software in the future. If the cost to upgrade is $50, I would go for it, if more, decide if you need the other peripherals more. Don't upgrade your hard drive or RAM during the configuration because it is expensive, unless they are free or discounted. I bought a 500GB hard drive (Hitachi 5k500.B on newegg) that use less power and run cooler for $70 and installed it myself, same for the 4GB memory module for $60.

Good luck!
Gnimble

 

$50 for 300mhz seems seems very reasonable to me....

Actually, to upgrade to the 500GB HD it's $50.... and to upgrade to 4GB it's also $50... so their prices really aren't that bad. Memory wise, I guess you might save $20 or something... but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble... For the hard drive, I guess you could get the free 320gb and then pay $70sh or whatever for another 500gb..... that way in reality you're getting a 320gb drive for $20.... you're paying an extra $20 over just upgrading to the 500GB on the HP site, but you're getting an extra 320GB hard drive..... again, not sure if it's worth the hassle.... but the options are there.

 

Hi, i am new here. I have a dv4-1125nr, everything's great with this laptop, but i have a huge problem with my fan, it never stops working at an annoying speed. Since i turn it on is already on until i turn it off again. ANyone with the same problem?? has someone solved sth like this? thanks

 

I mean is it a noticeable difference tho?

 

For everyday activities such as checking email, viewing youtube video, going on the web, you won't notice any difference at all. My Eee 1000H netbook with the very weak atom processor does it at the same speed. But if you were to encode video which is processor intensive, you might save a few minutes per video, when the encoding process take hours. Also, if you do processor intensive photoshop like applications; it will shave seconds off each process as well.

When I got my DV4T, I could opt for the P8600 versus the P8400; but got the P8400 instead because it is cheaper. The step below the P8400 is the P7450 is just around 130Mhz less. The P8400 is more much than I need; so I would be happy with the P7450.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

You're right nu_D,

Price went down quite a bit since I got mine, especially with the free upgrade. I bought an SSD instead and replace my 250GB drive that came with the system. The 250GB drive with a $15 SATA to USB2.0 external case became an external backup drive for me. The funny thing is that the SSD gets very warm too.

So if you don't want to upgrade it yourself and bother with buying another drive/memory, I suggest you follow nu_D's advice. You'll get a system that you don't have to tweak... unless you want to reinstall the OS without any bloatwares; but that's another story and thread.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

Is it obnoxiously loud? When I turn on my DV4T, the fan goes on at full power so it is very loud. It does that for 5 seconds though, then go back to medium speed. It is still loud though, so you won't see me taking this notebook into a classroom. I have a large fan in my room which is cooling me down right now... and the DV4T fan at medium speed is louder than that fan! It sounds like white noise though so I don't mind.

What you can do is go to the bios and disable the "fan always on" option. This way, it only go on when needed. When your computer heats up, it will go on and be loud again; so there is nothing around that... unless someone engineers a muffler

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

has anyone tried overclocking the 105m?

 

i have a question, how much more battery life do you guys think that the 105m uses compared to integrated g45?

was thinking of getting another dv4, but this time with the 105, but if it kills battery life by a lot ill go integrated again.

 

the 105m is a low end gpu, it will not kill battery life. It's only rated for 14 watts.

 

Ya... but the IGP total with the chipset is only 11/12 watts.... so you're talking about an extra 8-10 watts or so.... i believe....

I really don't know how much extra battery life we're talking about though..... 30 minutes? less? I dunno...

 

If you don't need dedicated graphics, then don't get it.

If you are happy with your current dv4t with the Intel integrated, then it only seems logical not to get the 105m.

 

My DV4T has the prior generation NVIDIA: the 512MB GeForce 9200M GS. According to spec, the 105 just use one more watt at max draw than the 9200M GS. Under normal usage, I'm getting around 5 hours battery life on the 12 cell battery. When I play games where the GPU is used, I get around 3-4 hours of usage.

Speaking of the DV4T, I saw the new design at Costco today and I like it a lot. Another improvement I see is the that the media center LEDs are not overly bright like the one I'm using right now.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

Gnimble,

Really? The SSD gets hot too? F.

That was like, my ace in the hole to counter the heat issues in the DV4. Ahhhhh man.

I mean, is it at least cooler? lol.. What make/model SSD do you have?

Oh. And I don't know if this interests you, but you can get an internal enclosure for your hard drive:
http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=199
It's cheaper than if you were to order it on the HP site...

 

It's really really loud, i tried changing the BIos setting, but no changes, it's the same problem. I don't know what to do it is really annoying

 

nu_D,

I've two 60GB SSD from OCZ and both of them heats up after an hour or two of usage; more so when I constantly access data. The first is the second generation Cores Series V2 $230 and the second one is the Solid Series $150. I bought them because of their low power usage. Their heat rate is constant, meaning it won't get as hot as hard drives do; but it does warm up quite a bit. It takes it 2-3x longer to warm up than hard drives though.

Also, the SSDs I have are not completely silent. On my 1000H, the fan is very quiet so I can hear some high pitch disk access with the SSD. On the DV4, unless I put my ear near the hard drive, the laptop's fan pretty much drown out any noise from the SSD.

I don't use my laptop for more than 3-4 hours at a time, and the only component that seems to heat up the most is the SSD right now. I use it on my lap most of the time so I do feel the heat. My legs are less sensitive to heat than my hands so I can keep it there for hours. I could not do this with my brother's laptop though as his hard drive will probably fry my legs.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

Sorry Sevipal,

Other than disabling the "Fan always on" option in the bios, I don't know of any other ways to quiet down your laptop. The fan is there to cool down your laptop and until recently; manufacturers have not been able to keep up with the increase in heat of faster components. So I don't recommend you turn it off.

If you're into modding, you might want to take a look at the Lenovo fan with modified blades that is whisper quiet (at least that's what they say). See the following blog: http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=81

Maybe others can share solutions that work for them?

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

I found this article a while ago, but I have not tried it.

http://notebookequus.blogspot.com/

This details a method for modifying the fan speed on HP notebooks. I have no idea if it will work on the dv4t, and if it does work then changing these speeds may mean that your laptop is not cooled properly.

At the moment I'm listening to music, browsing the web, instant messaging, and have 4 Microsoft office windows open and I don't think the fan is even turned on.
The only time I really notice it is when I'm gaming and it turns on to warp-speed, or when it randomly steps up a level while surfing the internet.

 

I'm heading off to college next year, so for the past few days I've been looking into a good laptop. I'm hoping to major in Computer Science, so I have been on the hunt for a laptop that can help me on my future projects.

I discovered my perfect match yesterday: the dv4t. I love the design, the dedicated graphics, 12 cell battery, and the screen size. It sounds like a perfect choice if I want to become a mobile computer programmer.

So here's a small snapshot of my customized dv4t:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6058/collegelaptop.jpg

I happened to notice that the 30% off coupon, supposedly ending either on April 30th or after something like 1000 uses, just expired yesterday. And the $500 coupon expired a few days ago. Wow, I just missed a great deal by a matter of hours! I'm hoping some more coupons come out soon...

Do you guys know how often HP creates new laptop coupons?

Anyways, I have a few questions regarding my laptop choice that I hope you guys wouldn't mind answering:

1) I've chosen 64 bit Windows Vista. For some reason, it seems like there is more 32 bit software out there than there is for 64 bit. Is this true? If so, can 32 bit applications work on a 64 bit machine?

2) I noticed that the dv4t's harddrive choices are limited to 5400 RPM. How much of a difference is there in terms of access time between a 5400 and 7400 RPM harddrive?

3) How hot does the NVidia GeForce G 105 get?

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it.

 

Howdy XRaptor,

HP Coupon comes out all the time. I've seen 30% coming out quite often. The $500 off is rare but requires you to buy more than what you usually need. People often upgrade up so they can hit the amount needed for the coupon. If you configure your system moderately, you might come out paying less than if you were to use the $500 off coupon.

To answer your question regarding 32 bit applications running on 64 bit OS; most will be able to run. 90% of the applications I installed are 32 bit and works well on Vista 64. A few of them are not coded for different user privilege so will only run as administrator though. There are a few that are incompatible, you can probably research this online by googling vista 64 compatible software. Most of the coding done at my company are moving toward 64 bit, so it is a good start there for you.

72k rpm access time is faster than 54k. You will notice a fraction of a second to a few when loading large files. Other than that on normal everyday usage such as taking notes, searching the web, viewing online videos... there will be almost no perceptible difference. Some newer 72k rpm drive runs cooler than previous generation 72k drives and use just an itty bit more energy than their 54k cousins. This is a link to benchmarking an older drive, so it should give you an idea: http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cfm?articleid=RWT061801032003

3) I have a previous generation Nvidia GeForce 9200M GS with 512MB dedicated memory. This GPU runs roughly 10% slower than the 105, but also use 1 watt less power than the 105. I watch video and play games like WOW with 30-60fps for over an hour... and I don't feel the heat at all from the area where the video card sits. All the heat I seemed to feel comes from the hard drive area. Someone else can tell you more about the 105.

If you're going to be compiling a lot, I suggest you get the DV4 with the fastest processor you can afford; a fast hard drive (maybe an SSD), and a 4-8GB expresscard SSD or 8GB SDHC card as a secondary backup of your school projects. I also recommend you install some IDEs such as Eclipse, Code::Block, etc. and play with it.

Good luck to you,
Gnimble

 

My teacher had us use Eclipse for C++ and Java, it's a nice IDE.

 

1) I've been using Windows Vista 64 bit for a while now. It will run 32 bit applications perfectly. If there is a 64 bit version of a program, you should install that version. However, 32 bit versions of applications run perfectly. The only thing you have to watch out for are drivers. You MUST install the 64 bit drivers, not 32 bit.

2) I've replaced my hard drive for a 7200RPM drive. There's a significant performance difference. I ordered the WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM from Amazon for $76 with free shipping.

 

I hope HP comes up with modified bios to solve fan noise. Any body knows when new bios for hp dv4 series would come up

 

well, i really should start dv4t winXP thread, but then again maybe some of you compadre are here.

thanks to answertome at:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=OS&thread.id=238&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

i got most of it up just fine. the original links to the drivers on filecloud do not work - the whole site seems to be down. but i found an "unknown devices" fix at:
http://download295.mediafire.com/tbgi5ssvshyg/nnnzjmojcjy/7+unknown+devices.rar

so now - everything's ok, except for my on-board audio doesn't work despite following the instructions on the above thread. but USB audio does, so i can manage for a bit...

who then, would know how to fix the audio?

& does anyone know if it's safe to upgrade to bios F24 that according to HP is only meant for vista?

cheers!

 

The bios has nothing to do with the operating system, so I see no reason why you cannot use the one for vista. The only possible issue may be that the the installer/flasher is not compatible with XP, which I highly doubt.

As for the audio, is XP able to install some kind of default driver at all? I know that in vista the default sound drivers work quite well.

 

Just Another question regarding the dv4t-

I'm wondering if it's worth it to get the b/g/n wireless card than the b/g card. Since the N has a stronger signal, would it also boost the performance on regular G connections as well?
Also, another attraction of the N is b/c I plan to have this laptop for at least 4-5 years.

Thank you guys.