*HP dv7t Quad Edition (3XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Thanks Jon,

I cant even get the desktop up on the tv even extending or projector only...

u think its a hardware issue ??

 

Does anyone know what model wireless card is in our machines? I know mine's an Intel brand, but I'm at work right now so I can't check exactly. I'm wondering if I can run it in dual-band mode because my D-Link router supports it but I have yet to have any device that does so I leave the 5ghz radio turned off and didn't think about it until now.

 

Thank You. I will check it out in the evening.

 

So how are you guys liking your machines overall?

 

I love mine. No significant complaints here.

 

Awesome! Same here. Great machine and I have no complaints.

 

Same here. I love mine. A lot of complains but can't complain the performance it comes with.

 

Great performance, runs cool and quiet, I like it. If it had a backlit keyboard and a Sony X-black screen quality, it would have been perfect for me.

 

I'm still unsure as to whether or not I'll be keeping mine. The speaker issue (which I'm apparently not alone on) is not something I'm comfortable "accepting" for a thousand dollar purchase. If I'm spending hundreds on a single item, let alone a grand (on a student budget), I expect perfection and nothing less. I'm grateful for the fact that I have no dead or stuck pixels, though. The only reason I'm fearful for exchanging this would be for fear of getting another system with perfect speakers and a flawed screen, which would be 100 times more annoying since my eyes will always gravitate towards a dead pixel, fixating on the flaw.

I'll be using external speakers with this laptop, so once that's set up I'll rarely ever hear the internal speakers apart from when I'm traveling. I've only used it for about two hours, if that, so it's a bit early to make a final judgement. If I hadn't learned about the display calibration within windows 7, I definitely would have sent it back. That made a world of difference. Better viewing angles would be nice, but at least the front view has improved considerably, which is the most important.

I'm still pissed off at the notion that others have received a dv8t (larger screen, better screen, higher resolution) for the same price, or only slightly more. I can accept that to happen over time at a later date, but not around the same time I buy mine. This issue alone may very well be a deciding factor in keeping or parting with it. I plan on giving HP a call within a week or so and how they address the issue over the phone will decide if I keep what I have, attempt to upgrade, or return it altogether.

 

I am also uncertain whether I will be keeping mine. My biggest complaint is the vertical viewing angle. I've been unable to adjust the display settings so that the screen is uniform from top to bottom from a viewing distance of 24"-36", which would be typical viewing distances for my use. If I adjust the viewing angle so that the middle of the screen is perfect, with good colors and blacks, top and bottom begin to wash out or go black.

Dimming the screen and some other adjustments reduce the problem but so far I have not found an acceptable result.

My most demanding use will be to evaluate photographs. I find that difficult if I cannot rely on the contrast shown on the screen, and the vertical viewing angle problem completely blocks my ability to make contrast and lighting judgement.

Colors are not true, but for the time being I assume that careful calibration will correct most of that. Unfortunately, I don't have my calibration puck with me so can't check this before the return deadline.

Movies don't look as good as I would like because of poor blacks related to the viewing angle issue.

In all other respects, the machine has compromises that are acceptable to me.

 

You can also run Cpu-Z and on the first tab the clock speed will update. I've run both tools at the same time and they seem to report slightly different speeds though. But Cpu-Z does give you a lot more information though.

 

So, I've been playing with my WiFi this evening. I found out that the wireless card in my machine (intel wifi link 5100agn) does support the 5ghz N bandwidth which my router is able to transmit in. My router can do simultaneous 2.4g and 5g transmission so I've set up the 2.4g band as g/n mix and 5g for n only exclusively for my laptop. I do seem to be getting slightly better speeds using the 5g band. I was getting about 22-23mbps down with 2.4g g/n mix and wpa2aes. With 5g n only wpa2aes I'm getting about 26-27 down. Up speed remained at my service cap 2mbps up throughout each test. So, if anyone else has the capability to use the 5g band, I'd say go for it.

Also, if anyone is going to be doing a lot of media streaming from their laptop over their network or uploading large amounts of data (cough bittorrent cough) you may want to look into enabling the Throughput Enhancement feature of the Intel WiFi card. It's off by default, but could be useful for some people. Here's info about it http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-015402.htm

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

I'm happy with this laptop. Internal speakers are way better than the Sony Vaio. Though, I don't use the internal speaker frequently. I am using creative 5.1 usb surround card with Logitech z5500 speakers instead. I'm sure most of you are familiar with z5500 (IMO, one of the best speakers developed by Logitech till date). There are some minor issues, especially with s p a c e bar, which at the left side makes squeaking noise.. But hey, nothing is perfect . Over all this laptop is better than my 2 years old vaio in most departments. At the end, the grass always looks greener on the other side... Also, why I always find other person more interesting than the one I am with... (Relax guys, its only meant for humor, no underline meanings

Enjoy

 

Has anyone else noticed the loud "POP" sound from the speakers when starting up or shutting down?

 

Stick it on the High Performance Power profile and see if it runs cool and quiet. Mine gets hotter than a frying pan in the back left side (bottom where the exhaust vents are), and the fan turns on/off/on/off. Not exactly quiet.

Many here state they are upgrading from something a few years old, so of course this dv7t would be the best thing since sliced bread. But, if you have dealt with recent notebooks with the variety I have, you'd see that the dv7t is nothing special. Sure, the i7 is nice, but it runs too hot, the battery life is poor, the display is mediocre, and mine won't work right with an SSD. A BIOS with more options than just "EXIT" would be nice, too!

 

I had some popping during my wipe/reinstall Win7 process but the popping went away after I reinstalled the latest IDT Audio Codec drivers from the driver thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=404164 ) Try installing that if you haven't already done so.

Also, another thing that could possibly be causing it is the SRS sound processing from the IDT software. Double click the music note icon in the system tray (mine auto hides so you have to click the arrow to get to it), when the control panel comes up on the main window there should be a somewhat large SRS Premium Sound logo. Directly underneath that if it says enabled with a green dot click that and it will turn grey and say disabled. Restart and see if it goes away.

I prefer all of my audio to sound exactly like what the band/musician/movie people intended. This cheap 'premium sound' processing makes everything sound like crap IMO.

 

I feel fortunate that I have no dead pixel issues or too much keyboard flex but I am still considering returning the laptop because of the sheer size of the laptop. I am not sure if this laptop is portable enough for my needs as a college student. What do you guys think about the size of the laptop? The only reason I am considering keeping this laptop is because of how little I ended up paying for it (400 dollar coupon + 170 dollars in refunds for shipping delays).

What are your views about the size of our dv7t quad's?

 

If anyone has looked at both the dv8t and dv7t quad, I'd appreciate knowing how the LCD panels compare, particularly with respect to vertical viewing angle. Is the appearance of the dv8t's screen about the same as that of the dv7t? Or different?

I know the screen is a bit larger and 1920x1080 instead of 1600x900, but am not sure that's any practical difference to me.

Thanks!

 

Please don't cross post, this is against the rules and I answered your question in the DV8t thread.

 

This laptop is marketed as a desktop replacement, and not really the sort of laptop that I would advise carrying around. Personally, I would move this laptop around as little as possible because the size of it means the screen is less sturdy and more prone to warping when there's any pressure on it for prolonged periods, which is what would happen if you were to have it resting against your hip in a laptop bag while in transit.

If you're looking for a laptop appropriate for college, light, sturdy, and under 15" with 6+ hours of battery life is preferable, because all you need is web access and a keyboard. The only reason to get a notebook like the dv7t quad is multimedia and games, and due to the mediocre screen, multimedia would only be secondary.

 

I think it is huge too. I don't know how people think it is portable. But i will keep mine because there is no more offer for the dv6t and i already threw away a few manuals and stuff. I guess i just have to bear with the size and weight.

I did what you said but i still get the poping sound.

 

i dont get it, im still only getting 2GB of usable ram, im calling them today to return this if they cant fix it.

 

Check the BIOS to see how much RAM is detected. If it is your desired or intended amount, it may be the OS. If it is still 2GB, HP may have made a mistake and gave you 2GB instead of your desired amount.

 

4GB is in there, but it states HARDWARE RESERVED is 2048MB. It sucks. It takes up 800MB for windows, and leaves me 1.2GB for applications and the like. Something is definately wrong. 2GB of ram are sitting in limbo.

 

Well when i was a teenager i would get much more weight everyday to school, so this doesn't bothers me at all.

 

Delete please.

 

I always have it set on High performance, yet it doesn't get hot as you mention. Did you get the new Bios flash ? I heard it makes the fan unstable and loud.

 

Request:

Could you guys please tell me if you got the latest drivers from HP.com, and did they cause any problems? I'm hesitating as I don't want to "test" new drivers and have serious problems after...

 

After my fresh install I grabbed all the drivers I needed from this http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=404164 thread. Some link to HP's site, some link to Intel. The only exception is the nVidia driver which I grabbed from this site http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers

 

Well, the laptop alone makes it 7-8 pounds. If you add at least 2-3 college books, notebooks, loose leafs and other tools it makes it over 20 pounds already.

 

I don't see how this laptop is "huge", let alone large at all. It's a portable computer with its own screen. Hence, a laptop. The "standard" size most people go with seems to be 15", therefore I fail to see how a couple extra inches (17.3 in this case) turns something from "small and portable" to "large and heavy" to the point it would be returned for that reason alone.

I can understand returning this due to hardware issues, dead pixels, severe warping, keyboard flex or other issues.....but to about a *slight* size increase from more typical laptops and complain about an extra pound or two borders on incessant. Personally I consider the size of the dv7t as what the average should be, and I can't see how anyone can tolerate a 15" screen, let alone less. Don't even get me started on "netbooks". Nine or ten inch screens? As a preference? SRSLY??? You might as well use your damn phone.

Then again, this is coming from someone who has been using a 42" Westinghouse 1080p monitor at 1920x1080 as my primary desktop monitor for the last three years, so it will take a 24" laptop screen before I'm even remotely satisfied with portable screen size.

My home theater consists of a projector and a 240" image (against a white wall in a room with zero sunlight). Most of my friends still can't get past the wow factor, yet at the same time I have a friend who isn't impressed at all considering his father runs an AMC and he gets to view IMAX films late at night by himself (or with friends) after the theater has closed, so my 240" image might as well be a 25" television as far as he's concerned.

My point is that everyone has their own set of standards and preferences. Some of us have already fallen in love with our dv7t's, while others can't help but either compare it to the dv8t or comparable models, or find fault with it to the point it's destined for a return.

 

But that is less than one kilo more than a 15" notebook.

 

Well, an average person would be complaining with their backpack weighting only 10 pounds. And with laptops of course they would expect to carry more weight but 20 pounds; you can imagine their faces. The backpacks from most of my classmates are literary empty like 1 book and notes. And for extreme people like me who carry everything to college because we don't feel like taking anything out of the bag because i might forget to bring something, easily makes it beyond 30 pounds.

If it is a desktop replacement that i would want then why not just buy a new desktop since i get cheaper components and better performance. The idea is a fast portable machine. My first laptop was 15~16" and i thought it was a little big but this one is even bigger. If a cellphone could do all everything i do on the laptop i would not mind getting one but we all know that is not the case. So, ya a lot of complains but since it gives me all the performance i want; i have to bear with the downsides.

 

I once overheard someone who purchased a macbook "air" because their prior laptop was "great, but it was too heavy". How heavy was it? 5 pounds. So they sold their "great" (yet "heavy") laptop in exchange for a lighter model with specs that were several years behind the model they "traded up" for. Ah, mac fans. God bless 'em.

When I first started working out I used 25lb dumbbells and gradually increased the weight over time. I'm quite familiar with exactly how much 25lbs entails. The only way someone could have 25 pounds within a single backpack would require lugging all their college books, materials, and laptop within a single space. Who the hell puts a laptop in a backpack anymore? That's what laptop cases are for.

If this laptop was *twenty* pounds I wouldn't ing mind one bit. Laptops may be portable but when in use they're STATIONARY. Their weight is arbitrary. If you're THAT bothered by the fact it weighs more than a few pounds, I suggest getting back in shape, pronto.

 

I wanted a desktop replacement cause I dont have the space for a desktop but the first thing I did before buying was to check the specs to see how much larger and heaver (~1.5 lb) this was than my current laptop to be sure it fit on my desk.Students dont like 17 inch notebooks cause they dont want to lug them around. Now who expects a 17 inch laptop to be lighter than a 15 inch laptop ,dont we know that going into this, and a 1.5 lbs isnt an unreasonable increase. Then I bought a notebook cooler because I dont expect any multimedia laptop with a nvidea card to run cool.The first thing I did when I got the notebook was to make the recovery disks, the second thing was to calibrate the display.Now this is all straight out of computers 101 yet how many posts does this address ?
I was lucky I had no dead pixels, a firm keyboard , I like the audio and the monitor looks decent after calibration .The viewing angle is terrible ..but you cant show me a laptop display that dosnt shift color when the viewing angle changes.(but this one is the worst) Its responds is like a tn panel.
This is a sub $1000 laptop, I wasnt expecting an alienware, as long as this thing holds together I feel I got a good deal. Do you guys see what decent core2duo systems are selling for these days.
Im not dissing any of the guys here that have real issues with their products,
( this should be their forum) nor do I wish to offend anyone,Im just trying to put this all in perspective.

 

@nincow
Weight lifting is not the same as carrying something around. Try carrying around the dumbbell for an entire day and you see how annoying it becomes. Lifting something is not a problem but the distance you have to carry it with. I can lift a heavier computer case with no problem but once you carry it over two street blocks you feel the difference. Also, lifting a dumbbell is different from lifting a laptop. A dumbbell is designed to work out arm muscles while when lifting a laptop you have to use your finger muscles too.
Laptop cases are cool but not as comfortable as backpacks for moving around a lot. In addition, laptop cases don't provide enough space to carry a bunch of college books like backpack does. Of course, backpacks have downsides too like becoming bulky to walk around.

@josephlreyes
I did anticipate the differences but I did not know it would feel this different.

Back to dv7t discussion. I still haven't been able to remove the speaker's popping sound. I did what IXinchnail said but no luck. Latest drivers and no SRS premium and even latest bios but still with the popping sound. Any other ideas on how to fix it?

 

I would like to know exactly how many here are having issues with their speakers. Some people have the issue with the right speaker being noticeably louder, while I've found additional forums where others have claimed that their subwoofer is either not recognized or their left channel comes from the sub, minus the bass. I actually seem to remember seeing something along the lines of "subwoofer disabled" or something to that effect when I was trying to fix my issue with the left speaker. I have yet to pick up my laptop while music was playing to see if the sub is working properly. I suppose I should check that out shortly.

What happened to proper quality control? Aren't major companies supposed to have a dedicated team who test each and every aspect of their product before shipping it out, to avoid unnecessary returns?

To anyone here who has issues with their sub not being recognized, have you figured out a suitable workaround / fix?

And to think, I actually expected this to be problem free out of the box. "New" laptop and all. Silly me.

 

Panning, equalization and bass settings ( ect) are all controlled in the IDT HD SOUND control panel.You should be able to positively determine if your audio is properly working by observing the speakers response to control changes from this panel. Out of the box my bass was overpowering in movies till I set up the audio correctly.

 

I haven't really tested my speakers until now because it was louder than my older laptop's and i liked it. Now that i test it, it feels almost as if the source comes from the right side and then it is spread to the left side.

I feel the vibration when i put my ears on the left side of the speakers and no vibration when i put my ears on the left side of the speakers. But when i put close attention to the left side i think what happens is that the fan is interfering with the vibration source on the left side.

I think that the fan is the culprit for making noise and canceling the sound waves on the left side of the speakers. So, i guess tuning the difference between the speakers will depend on the volume you want to play your volume by adding on the left speakers the extra loudness canceled by the fan.

In my case i don't use the speakers very often but headphones so that i won't bother neighbors in late nights or i so that can watch privately. XD

@nincow and @josephlreyes
You guys don't have the popping sound problem?

Edit: Good news for those who want to configure their ir remote controls. I found this thread after googling after days. http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-entertainment-pcs/912086-configuring-mce-remote-windows-media-player-classic.html

 

No popping here..Im one of the lucky stiffs that havent had any major problems. Is a clean reinstall of windows a common factor for all the guys that have this problem ??? ( I always do it..but for some reason on this one I didnt)

 

The remote battery is too thick and is forcing the cover off the front of the device. I WILL complain.

 

Make sure you insert the battery properly. There is a small metal spring at one edge. Insert the edge of the battery against the spring clip first and the cover should then fit fine.

I had the same confusion myself when I tried to insert the battery into the remote.

 

No popping for me either, though as picky as I am (and I AM a picky ), a pop at startup wouldn't be much of an issue for me. Now if I heard popping or cracking during regular use, that would be another story altogether.

I'll be sure to look into those sound settings someone mentioned a few posts back. I still have yet to use my laptop again. I've used it once for less than two hours ever since it arrived about a week ago. I've become terrified of this machine. I keep thinking I'll just discover more problems with it when I next troubleshoot, and I don't need the headache of returning it. Especially after my Lenovo horror story.

 

I can clearly hear the difference between the left and right speaker even when putting my headphones on. The right side delivers more bass than the left one. This means that the problem does not come from the speakers. Maybe the subwoofer is not connected to the left side and only the right one?

Someone needs to find a fix for this. I read a lot saying that the sound is great in this laptop, mine is not that great, the quality is good, but the volume is not satisfying me.

 

D'oh! Thanks, I thought I had it right. If it wasn't for this forum, I wouldn't even have known the remote fits inside. Who looks at owner's manuals anyway?

 

Loving my dv7t quad. Because of this thread I realized I can control the bass. this thing BUMPS for a laptop!

 

Just to quickly address some of the concerns regarding the right speaker being louder than the left, I think this has more to do with the placement of the subwoofer and that the subwoofer does not have a proper low-pass filter on it. A subwoofer should only play 100hz frequencies and below to remain location discrete, but as the frequencies get higher we are able to locate the source of the sound, which happens to be on the right side. And since the sub is playing higher frequencies than it should, it's like having 1.25 or 1.5 right speakers to just one left. The subwoofer should have been placed in the middle of the case, and the IDT software seems to only think there's only L/R speakers so there doesn't seem to be any easy way to correct the subwoofer frequencies via OEM software.

 

IX, I do believe you may very well have hit the nail on the head. Good show. Though I can't help but wonder why the subwoofer wasn't placed in the center and this issue sorted out before arriving on the production line.

 

I found better sound with SRS disabled and then cut down 250Hz in the EQ by -2db and 4K by -1db. I feel the highs are a little shrill and the bass is muddy with no adjustments - but everyones hearing is different.

In my older Compaq laptop, they used JBL pro speakers (no sub), but the highs were higher quality.

And one question, anyone have a problem with the keyboard? I just had the 'S' cap pop off the keyboard while typing. After a couple of tries, I snapped it back on and it seems okay for the moment.

Thanks,
Dan