*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

it sounds like HP doesn't put much crap on their machines anymore. if you uninstall the crap you don't want... it should run great. i understand that there is some hp stuff on there that is worth while. IMO, it's not worth the effort to do a clean install.

 

There was a guy in this thread asking if the dv8t possibly can be delivered early. My shipdate was the 17th. I just looked at my status for the build and it was shipped 2 days ago on the 15th. So I guess I am right in saying it is possible to receive it earlier.

 

Every laptop desktop I've owned on the very first day I do a clean install of the OS. Reformat, repartition and then install a fresh OS.

I probably will not reformat this time around until Win 7 has been in the field for a while longer. The reason is that I installed a clean install of Win 7 on my other HP laptop the day after Win 7 was released and ran into some driver problems. Most of the problems were fixed but I had to do a LOT of finaggling and browsing for a couple of drivers. As of today, that laptop performs wonderfully but there are still some issues with the touch stuff above the keyboard and the sound just doesn't sound the same.

I hope you catch my drift.

This monster of a laptop that should be here in a few days should be fast enough anyway without a clean install or a simple run of crapcleaner to uninstall excess bloatware.

 

I'll try increasing the dpi size first instead of reducing the resolution. Since decreasing the resolution the pic would be blurry.

 

I don't see the problem here, because I guess 90% of the cases the issue about the font size is when browsing the web. I use IE and Opera, both of them has a CTRL+- function to enlarge and shrink. But in any case, the larger resolution the better.

 

sorry for the noob question but how do you increase dpi size on windows 7?

 

You don't increase dpi size (dots per inch). You increase font size, picture size or whatever you wanna increase. Most of the software can do that, so can Windows 7. The way of increasing can be bitmap or vectorial, depends on the nature of the object you wanna increase and the software you're using to do that.

 

If I'm looking for a college stream, I just google the game and justin tv.

Justin tv Michigan at Michigan for example.

 

Oh, and http://www.channelsurfing.net/

 

Hello there everyone. Thanks so much for all of your comments, they are truly invaluable. I just bought a second hdd caddy and an 80gb intel x-25 gen2, but I have NO idea how to move the operating system from my 320gb drive that came with the system to my new SSD. Is a clean install necessary? Are there any detailed instructions on this process anywhere? Thanks in advance! Jason

 

Personally, I would do a clean install. One of the quirks of an SSD is that it requires a different partition alignment than hard drives for optimal performance. This means a simple backup and restore using something like Acronis won't yield satisfactory results because the partition on the SSD will be aligned incorrectly.

I had a similar situation on a desktop when I added the Intel SSD. I chose to do a clean install as the most reliable method both of getting partition alignment correct and getting Windows to set correct options for optimal SSD use.

 

Just ordered mine!!!! Can't wait till it gets here. Now its time to sell this dv5t that I have. I hope I can get a good price for it.

Here's my order:

HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
• FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 3GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
• Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Espresso Black)
• Intel Wireless-N Mini-card
• No TV Tuner w/remote control
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• HP Long Life Notebook Battery
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelop

 

A fresh install on your SSD is not necessary but preferred. You would need a copy of Win7 64 of the same edition as your installed OS and used the key underneath the laptop (not done it myself, but reported by others) and HP drivers.

If you simply want to copy the original OS from the 320HD to the SSD, the copy feature of Acronis is your friend. Be careful with the cable, the connector is very small and needed to be inserted real carefully into the MB connector. You could use the 320 GB HD in the second slot for the HD. In that case I would just as soon, used the SATA connector to remove the HD and just leave the MB cable alone.

Good luck,

 

Got it yesterday! This thing is fast! Everything pops open quick! I had a bit of a problem with the Dvd-Rom... i was installing something and about half way through, the drive started skipping back and forth and the installation progress stopped. I updated a bunch of drivers... and it seemed to do the trick.

 

Congrats on your beast!!! Enjoy it !!!

 

Congratulations! I am glad you are happy. You have a very nice computer.

Larry (Ocean)

 

Congratulations. Just out of curiosity how long did it take from when you placed your order to shipping?

 

ordered it on 11/02.
estimated build date was 11/10.
production was delayed 2 days and was given $50 gift card to hp store.
shipped 11/12 with an estimated delivery date of 11/18.
showed up two days early on 11/16.

 

Purchased a dv8t on October 27th, delivery date was November 9th but got it on November 6th.

Unfortunately the screen had a couple of lint/ant size objects lodged between the outside glass/plastic and the LCD. One was almost in the middle of the screen and also cast a shadow if a light source was behind me. Looked like an espresso colored piece of plastic.
The lint like piece was white and glowed when the screen background was bright and the piece also appeared to cause a rainbow type effect when the background colors changed.
This made it very distracting to use the computer, called HP CS and had it returned. HP is sending out a new one on November 25th with 2 day shipping.

Lets hope this one is issue free.

But overall build quality and finish looked nice. I had opted for the long life battery and BT.
After a full charge, with BT turned off, I left the computer running with the IE browser open and the battery died within 2 hours, was a little disappointed but I guess it is a large screen to power.

The volume and bass/treble controls are amazingly frustrating and in-operable.

Windows 7 appears to be slower than Windows XP on my older computers. It might be because of the transitions in opening windows and applications now in Windows 7, Windows XP seems snappier for some reason. Will tweak the settings once the new machine is here. However the overall experience for some reason was better with Windows 7, can't put my finger on exactly what it is but there's something different.

Great forum, made my decision from all your input. Thank you for all your posts!
Inspite of the screen issue I feel very comfortable with the dv8t purchase and look forward to using it as the desktop replacement.

 

You are correct. I did not notice near as much bloatware as HP has before. There really is not enough the be concerned about.

Larry (Ocean)

 

i wound up removing:
games. (the uninstaller once in the programs folder.)
norton.
hp advisor.
slingbox.
ebay shortcut on desktop.
microsoft office 60 day trial.
microsoft live toolbar.

aside from that, i didn't notice much else that need to be removed.

however, i some how have 80 processes running in the task manager which seems a bit high. i've never owned a laptop before, so i know there are some more processes that i don't have on my desktop. i'm going to use software tomorrow to investigate what is running. i've seen a thread in here somewhere about software that is used for investigating things in msconfig and killing unnecessary bootup software. we'll see what else i discover.

 

It's the whole new policy nowadays. 2-3 years ago you couldn't get sh*t from any laptop manufacturer. Only when the market went down they learned to respect their customers.

 

after reading this article im a little worried about my dv8 purchase.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/...rvey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/1#comments

Have you guys had good reliability with hp overall?

 

anyone else have problems getting their iphones to sync?

what motherboard does the dv8 use, is it gigabyte?

 

Yea I read that too but I wasn't sure if this was the best place to post it. The article doesn't really go into much detail about what broke or what models anything really so its hard to say how accurate it is. for example asus dosnt really sell many discount laptops while hp has a large discount line at walmart.

 

bump...........

 

I dont know how valuable my word is, since my dv8 is only coming in a week or so, but Im not worried about that article. You have to keep in mind that HP is a very widely used brand, and therefore more noobs and people who don't take care of their computers are using HPs. All of us in this thread with the exception of a few, are experienced enough to keep our dv8s strong.

 

I'm not a statistician, but, the labeling on that graph is, imo, misleading.

The biggest numbers are on the red bars, which are a projection, and there's no information on what the trend points are to justify those projections.

If you ignore the red bars and look at just the blue bars, there's not as much spread between the different companies.

 

Please....

I am pretty sure the new dv line will be good. The HDX line is excellent and for HP to cut that line and switch to the dv8 line tells me something.

I will say that my older HP laptop was a DV6640US and it died like a month after the 1-year warranty. But those laptop were famous for MOBO issues. In fact there was/is a class action lawsuit out over them.

Anyway, that was a while ago and I've been really happy w/ my HDX18. I will not be getting a dv8 for sometime if ever just because I want to sit back and see how they are after enough people test them (like I did w/ the HDX series). Plus, can't beat what I have now!

 

So i found a case for this laptop but now im looking to find a laptop cooler. Anyone have any suggestions for a laptop of this size?

 

oh thats a problem with the i7 mobo.

 

I do. There about 2-3 really good ones. But everyone has been really happy w/ the Zalman. It was $90 a couple months ago, but now you can get it for $50 shipped.

Here are some good resources for laptop coolers for an 18" laptop.

And here is a good thread w/ pics of the Zalman and tons of discussion on it.

Hope this helped.
----------------
Now playing: Cavo - Crash
via FoxyTunes

 

DigitalPersona just reported that it is NOT connected. My fingerprint reader was working properly now suddenly it is not.

Des anybody have any idea why it is NOT connected? When I have not touched it?

Does your device manager shows the fingerprint reader? Mine does not show it, except for a biometric device? Is that it?

Not familiar with fingerprint reader.

I just enabled the virtualization in the bios for the XP virtualization feature , could this caused the fingerprint reader to go out?



UPDATE: installed new SP and DigitalPersona driver. Problem fixed.

 

Glad you got it up and working again. I'm curious to know whether or not you found out the reason it wasn't working properly. Was it XP mode?

 

@wolfskinbjc (if you're still around)

I'd like to know if that caddy kit you bought worked alright for you

I'd like to buy one from the same seller, but I'm nervous it won't work when it comes (since dv8 technically isn't listed). That is, if you've even received and/or tested the stuff yet.

Please let me know, my dv8 should be shipping today, and I'd like to pop my 80Gb in from my old laptop when it arrives. (Don't have enough $$ for that SSD I want yet )

Thanks!

 

Nothing to do with the virtualization enabled in the bios. Just a matter of driver. Win7 update (set on automatic) somehow disabled the fingerprint reader. So a service pack and new digitalPersona fixed it. There is nothing in the BIOS about a fingerprint reader that I can see unless it is one of the mysterious devices in the first page in the bios that I did not recognize.

Have not used XP compatibility mode yet. Not sure how to do it yet.

 

I bought the HD kit, cable and mylar holder from newmodeus.com, they charge a bit more. Pretty sure it's the same thing. Look at the picture. The kit for DV7 and HDX18 and DV8 is the same.

Pictures posted post#285 I think.

 

I would like to thank everyone here for the informative posts regarding the DV8T. Your postings helped with my decision to order this computer.

Unfortunately, I am leaning towards cancelling my order due to my experience with the ordering process.

I ordered on November 6th with an estimated ship date of November 16th. Yesterday the order status page was still showing the original estimated date. I understand the shipping date is just an estimate so I called HP to try and determine how much longer I would have to wait. I opted for two day business shipping to be sure that even if the estimate was off by a week, I would still receive the computer next week. (where I have a few days off from work and some extra free time to configure it).

The support staff on the phone were very friendly and tried to help. However, after placing me on and off of hold. being transferred a few times, etc. for about 30 minutes, they informed me the order is still in production and they had no way of obtaining a more accurate date. They indicated from past experience to wait an extra day or two and my computer should ship.

This morning I received an e-mail that the shipping date has been pushed back to November 30th due to production delays. However, the order status page still shows an estimated ship date of November 16th.

I am glad that most others here have received the DV8T on or ahead of schedule.

This is my first experience ordering from HP and it has not been pleasant. Another observation is that my credit card was billed shortly after placing my order. Most other companies I have worked with in the past did not charge you until your order was shipped.

 

Hey hey,
I'm still around. Just not much to post lately.

YES! the kid DOES work! Infact, ANY kit that has the HDX 18 listed will work in the DV8.

Playing dragon age on it. All setting max. Only during cut scenes is there a little slow down.
ben

 

Thanks for the speedy response guys! I'm going to order the one from ebay then as soon as I order my Mobile Edge MEV17P case. The thing has nothing but good reviews. Thanks to everyone who submitted case suggestions; I was going to settle for an 18" Walmart case until I saw some of the ones suggested here. This forum is perfect. KEEP UP WITH THE POSTING!

 

Hey Ben, I really hate the HD kit setup. My other laptops have a bracket to hold it no cable and miniature connectors. I was afraid I did break the wire and the connector.

 

Sorry to hear you are having some trouble. Hopefuly it will move along a little faster for you. If you want to see people getting really frustrated with their orders, go look at the Dell 1645 status order thread. Might just make you feel a little bit better.

Out of curiosity, what specs did you order? I ordered a dv8 on Monday I was given a ship date of 11/27 and it is still showing that.

 

Sorry to hear your experience hasn't been a good one thus far I was a little turned off by the fact that they charged me before completion too, but in a way I'm glad because I probably would've spent the money in my bank account before it was charged.

But I hope you don't have to cancel; I would justify the lost patience with the fact that you'll be getting a real solid computer. I just hope mine (which is in production also) isn't pushed back too, but maybe it's a widespread delay. Mine's set to ship today actually (my order was accepted on the 10th), so I'll find out if it does ship before the day's end, and I'll let you know what happens. It is the holiday season after all, and HP is probably really busy.

I went with the dv8t because I had my sights on the dv6t for awhile previously (my previous laptop was stolen last month ), dv6t had mostly everything I wanted in my next laptop and was definitely more in my price range. But I received a nice sized check the same day the $500 coupon dropped and I thought it was just meant to be.

What I'm saying is, this computer I'm waiting for is everything I need and more. I don't know about you, but with the constant promotions and coupons going on, this laptop seems like one of the best deals around. Don't be discouraged by bad customer service experiences (I thought HP was supposed to be one of the better ones anyway) if this is the right deal for you. I think that it was definitely the right deal for me, and I'm going to wait no matter how long (unless the ThinkPad W500 or X200 goes on sale for cheaper first )

Good luck and stay strong!

 

This might have been posted already buy does anyone know the speed of the ram? Is it 1066 or 1333? I'm really hoping for 1333 so the ram doesn't have to play catch up with the cpu but knowing hp they'll opt for the cheaper ram. Please prove me wrong!!!!

 

ram speed 1333

 

The best price I got for the Zalman nc2000 is 57.99 at newegg.com

 

anyone else have an iphone and syncing issues with itunes?

 

Here's one of my chips from my 4GB system.

Looks like 1066. ( I think 1333 is a little too pricey for hp right now)

 

Here's my performace specs. My SSD died and I had to send it back to Intel.

I'll run performace again once I get it in.

 

A small problem here, maybe someone has it too. While watching Bluray movies (Bluray rip to be exact) with VLC sometimes the image starts to stutter, sound is ok.