*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

Just gotta say..

This DV8t is freakin' fast.



Watching Star Trek in Bluray and playing bejeweled blitz on this side. Razor sharp image.

Aloha and happy pre-thanksgiving.

 

Glad to hear that. If all goes well mine should be shipping in a few days and should have it early next week.

 

Just an update after spending some time with my dv8t.

I ordered the Targus Premium 18 incher...hopefully that should take care of the enormous task of moving this laptop around.

I took it to school (specifically yearbook class - I am the photo manager so I require photoshop and the school computers are wretched)...anyways...the girls approved of the design and constantly atested to how "big" it was...but I just said jokingly that it was a mans laptop.

I did some work in photoshop and I've decided to buy a bigger monitor for my desktop. I am so glad that I made the switch to the 1080 resolution, it really is fantastic being able to run two windows side by side without any horizontal scrolling.

The speed is INSANE and I have noticed that the graphics do skimp in some games - but never seem to quit giving their best when using photoshop for example.

I remember seeing a post asking if it could run Premiere Pro. I have Premiere on here and it seems to meet the requirements and it does boot up quickly - I would say that this laptop would make a great secondary computer for editing, but definitely not a primary editing machine unless you very rarely do such tasks.

Anybody come up with any easy ways to get rid of these pesky finger prints?

 

I have been a longtime ZoneAlarm fan.

But sometimes you have to revisit your preferences and see if they are still valid.

Symantec rewrote Norton from scratch for the 2009 version. It bears no relationship to the old cpu hog it used to be.

The new Norton Internet Security 2010 (NIS 2010) installs in 2 minutes and doesn't even require a reboot.

They are aware of the negative reputation they had built up so when you click on the system notification area icon, the window that comes up shows your system cpu utilization % and your NIS cpu utilization % (I guess so they won't get blamed for slowdowns that are not their fault).

NIS does idletime scans which run when the computer is not being used and don't require a schedule.

The home version includes licenses for 3 comptuers and there's a small-biz version that gives you 5 licenses for about $120 bucks.

I really like it and no hated the old version more than me.

 

I ordered the only 18" bag from HP's carrying case section. Targus 18" Deluxe Nylon Case. Not sure if its the same one. It was 40 bucks or so at HP. I almost bought another iLugger (go check that shiz out!) since I have one for my other 20" Laptop and figured i KNOW it'd fit.

I was a bit skeptical because some reviews said not to get it that it doesn't fit the dv8t well. Some said it fit fine.

Anyway I took some pics to show you all. Its actually a very nice carrying case for our laptop.


I store the power pack in this compartment. Put the Monster drink to show size


I store my mouse in one of the pouches on the bottom left, an external HD in the right side.


It fits perfectly. You do have to remove this velcro piece which is to partition the area that the laptop sits in. It fits in the entire area.

As for the fingerprints, I know of no real solution other than wiping it when you can. I use a lens cleaning cloth and I fold it nice and skinny and leave it above the quicktouch bar area.

Cyberbeach- I will check out Norton's again because of your recommendation. It was just hard to purchase it again after years of using it. I also didn't like the fact that older versions you had to use a special Norton Removal Tool because it was so dug in, too. But I will check it out now. Thanks!

 

Can you open it up and take some pics. If you have another 15.4 inch laptop take some side by side pics because I want to see how it will look agaisnt my HP DV5T.

 

Also to everyone here raving about 1080 I hope u guys realized that this a STEP DOWN from the standard. It use to be 1920x1200. Hp is making a fool out of you as marketing it as "TRUE HD". They're doing nothing but cutting costs and putting EXTRA money in their pockets without the consumer seeing as less savings. It really pisses me off..

 

Not really a step down. Its the same rez as tvs (seeing as its a more media centric computer) besides the the next screen size would be 19" for 1920x1200.
The dv8t has a wider profile then most laptops (the 1920x1200 is more square)

its more about preference really.

 

I wouldn't go so far to call it a stepdown. More of a lateral. A preference. I like the wider aspect of it. Some do, some don't. 16:10 ratio (1920x1200 as one example) is the norm. 16:9 (dv8 aspect ratio) isn't quite yet. But they are becoming more and more prevalent especially in newer systems that are being pushed as 'multimedia' machines. Dell, Asus, Sager. Those manufacturers are pushing 'Full HD' with the same 16:9 aspect ratios on their newest lineups.

1920x1080 is by definition 'Full HD'.

Aloha

 

http://www.hphdx.net/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/46/threadid/2154/scope/posts/Default.aspx

Plenty of pics there. I love this bag!

 

that bag is bad for your back though rage... my buddy has back problems because of using that type (messenger) bag.

 

1080p - Perfect for blueray.
1080p - Perfect for hooking up to widescreen 1080p TVs
1080p - 16:9, the preferred Aspect Ratio for today's media.
1080p - Awesome for gaming!! IMO
1080p - Perfect for HD OTA Broadcast TV.

Just some advantages to 1080p.....

 

Could be I suppose. But thankfully I won't be using it enough to really cause me any problems.

Sorry to hear about your buddy though.

 

Is anyone doing Photoshop on it? Is it hd enough? Not doing pro work, just a lot of family history and websites and stuff.


but, mine eyes not as young as they used to be sure it beats my Tosh Nb205 for eyestrain, tho!

 

Question..............Does the DV8t come with the mini media remote control? Or do I need to purchase that from HP?
Thanks

 

Is 41.99 a good price for this bag ? Normal price HP claims is 59.99.

 

It comes with it.

 

and if you order the integrated hd tuner, it comes with an additional slightly larger remote that has a numeric keybad. only complaint is that both remotes are IR so you need line of sight.

the sound on this thing is so good, i like to listen to streaming radio throughout the house. if you're looking for another remote that plays well with media center but isn't IR, I recommend the Dinovo Mini. It's expensive, but you can find them on sale. It is bluetooth which is nice and the integrated mouse and full qwerty keyboard make it really nice to surf the net w/ my pc connected to the tv.

 

Does anyone know why HP does NOT HAVE A good deal for the DV8t for black friday. Look at this current Logic buy offer. $20 OFF coupon.

4 Weeks ago they had a $500 off coupon. Hopefully this changes Friday?

http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/hp-pavilion-dv8-18-inch-laptop/14626.aspx

 

By resolution you are NOT getting more width, it TAKES height and adds nothing. Also, who says you have to have a 19inch screen for 1920x1200. Last years thousands of notebooks with 15.4 inch screens were sold that had 1920x1200 resolutions. And if some people thing this is too small for them to read then INCREASE THE FONT SIZE!!!!

I'm quoting this from another thread..

16:10 standard :: 16:9 standard

1280x800 :: 1366x768
1440x900 ::...............
1680x1050 :: 1600x900
1920x1200 :: 1920x1080
...............:: 2048x1152
2560x1600::...............
------------------------

So as you can see the only thing you stand to gain from going to 16:9 from 16:10 is less height and a larger notebook. All while paying the same price... Seems like a rip off to me, being as the manufactures dont pass the savings they are getting switching to the new ratio to the consumer.


Also if 1920x1080 is "Full HD" then what have I been doing for the past almost 4 yrs now with my dell 3007 that has a native rez of 2560x1600? Am I doing "extra full hd"?

The orgininal reason why 16:10 was implemented was for coders/photoshop ppl/excel users because of the less vertical scrolling.

 

Have you hooked your 1080p computer to a 1080p tv? It automatically adjusts to the TV's rez. So it doestn' matter what the native rez is for the laptop.

 

They're waiting for Cyber Monday........

 

Don't remind me. That's cheaper than what I paid and I got mine not that long ago!!

So yes. $42 for a 18" Laptop bag is a good deal IMO.

Remember, you're pickings become slim when you go to a 18.4" laptop.

 

Are you kidding about the savings? Look what kind of laptop you can get for $1,200 at Dell, Asus, Sager, Gateway, IBM, etc......and then come compare it to the HP DV8.

You'll be hard pressed to finding a better bang for you buck. So I think your savings argument is completely flawed.

What would you like to see for the cost of the DV8?? I don't know how much more competitive HP can get.

 

So if I had a 768 res. Laptop and hooked it up to a 1080p LCD using HDMI, I'd have a true 1080p picture coming to the tv if I played bluray from my computer??

News to me, but this is my first laptop w/ a HDMI output.

 

Awesome, Thank you!

 

define ' full hd'.... anything above standard definition, 480, is hi def.

 

HD is a specific pixel size (1920x1080)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_video

 

Yea, he got a swissgear backpack

 

no anything above 480 is high rez, not hd. HD is a defined pixel ration (16:9)

 

Now mo', I'm really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but dv8 is one of the best deals of all time.

no seriously though, you're talking to people who are spending <$1000 on a laptop equipped with Blu-Ray, 2 HDD slots, 4+Gb Memory, etc the list goes on. Although what you say might be true, we're still getting Blu-Ray's full potential, and that to me is nothing to argue with (it's a media pc anyway!)

Now go, take this rant of yours to a forum about how evil corporations are stealing our pixels for profit, and not a forum specifically about the dv8. k?

 

I received my DV8t earlier this week and so far I'm really enjoying it. I just wanted to know if the turbo boost feature for the i7 cpu, is something that activates automatically or you turn on. If it's manually activated I was hoping someone could explain how to turn it on.

 

Cutting costs maybe. What kind of price do you expect since they're jipping us by chopping 1920x1200 to 1920x1080?

About three years ago, I bought an HDX Dragon 9300. 20.1" screen (@1920x1200), 4 gigs of ram, Bluray player, a 250g HD and an Nvidia 8800GTS graphics card. With a 250-300 dollar coupon I ended up paying $2400. Great laptop? You betcha. Worth it imo? Yes definitely. It had a great build quality that any Dragon owner would agree. It IS that nice.

Now here comes the 18.4" DV8t. Smaller screen, chopped down to 1920x1080, better ram at 4gigs, 320g hd, plus a better graphics card. I also got a bluray burner installed. Cost me about 1200 with a 500 coupon. So 1700 without. Still, its a much much faster computer with a couple of 'extras'.

I don't understand how you think HP is jipping us. I can see you grumbling if we were paying well over 2k for this but not for 1000-1200 that most of us are paying WITH coupons FROM HP.

 

It turns itself on by disabling unused cores and accelerating the ones that are being used when they hit 100% as long as the processor isn't over a certain temperature. Might be a reason to keep your fan always on.

As for the 1200 > 1080 jump, get over it or go buy a different laptop with a 1200p screen. Most people don't notice the 120 missing, and most people don't even buy 1080p laptops to begin with; the average user isn't missing that much. Programmers might be looking at a business line notebook anyway and at the value, won't be complaining.

 

I bought a dv8 in October. After using it for one day the following occurred: the Windows Welcome Screen with password logon field started twitching/bouncing. I could not enter my password because the cursor would bounce back to the beginning of the enter password field. I also got 2 error messages over the course of approximately 10 days. The messages disappeared so quickly I could not read all, but gist of it was display driver error . . . recovered.

I've contacted HP support and they had me test the keyboard keys and run dx tests on the hard drive disk. Those tests passed and now the support guy suggests I simply remove password protection. These problems don't occur every day but this is a brand new laptop . . .

Any ideas on what might be happening here? Thanks for your help.

 

toshi, did you by chance update graphic drivers? Either way, maybe try to reinstall the stock ones off the swsetup folder. Uninstall the old Nvidia driver first to be safe.

 

No I have not updated anything. I don't think I know enough to try and reinstall anything. Thanks for your help.

 

Whats a safe operating temperature for this laptop? It seems to get pretty warm while I'm gaming.

 

Totally. They did that last year, too, I think. I remember expecting really great deals and ... nothing. Except for that live.com 40% cashback fiasco.

Maybe they'll surprise us with something awesome on Friday, but if they don't, it's pretty likely that a $500 or 30% off coupon will roll around in the next month or two. And maybe they'll have a cool new upgrade for the dv8t by then.

 

IF I would of known this was gonna be it I would have acted on the 5% off coupon from earlier this week. Makes no sense that they do it this way.

How do I got about the 40% cashback with fiasco?

 

lol bing/live does a cashback thing (was only 20%) here and there it pops up

 

Unless you're in a super, super rush, the 5% would have been a bad move. Seriously. They'll have $400 off or something like that soon. $500 or 30% within a month or two.

Last year, live.com advertised 40% cashback on hp purchases on Black Friday. People spent hours and hours trying to get through. Only a few did.

Now, live.com has changed its name to bing.com. It usually has about 5% cashback for hp, but it's sometimes higher. This article implies that bing.com will have decent cashback for hp on Black Friday.

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/23/black-friday-bing-cashback-offers-up-to-additional-35-off/

You get bing.com cashback by searching for "hp" on bing.com and finding results that say "bing cashback." Right now, it's 3%.

The terms of bing.com's cashback program say that you don't get cashback if you use a coupon or discount.

Ebates has 5% cashback on hp purchases now. I didn't see anything in their terms about not being able to use a coupon, too.

I hope you end up with a great deal!

 

Help me!

I bought this computer with 2x320Gb 7200rpm hard disks. I'd like partitioning first hard disk because I want to put ubuntu and a data partition. So, I need about 3 partitions (data, root and swap). The problem is hard disk has 4 primary partitions:

1. SYSTEM (200Mb). I think this partition is a boot manager and diagnostic tools.
2. OS (290Gb). This partition is operating system (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits).
3. RECOVERY (15Gb). This partition is recovery data (F11 option).
4. HP-TOOLS (100Mb). I do not know what is that.

The problem is maximum primary partitions per disk are 4 and all one are create by manufacturing configuration. I need to erase one partition (maybe HP-TOOLS?) or backup-it and convert one partition on a extended partition to create other partitions later (data and linux partitions).

I don't know if I can put os partition in an extended partition and if restore system will work later.

What can we do?

 

Yeah, I'd wait for a new coupon from HP. If you can't wait maybe you can sign up and get the student discount.

And if you can't wait and do order, HP does hold a 21 or 30 day pricematch. So say you order it now and 2 weeks later a 30% coupon comes out you can call them and they will credit your credit card the difference.

I did this personally when I ordered my HDX18. But you have to call while the coupon is still active.

If you go that route, I suggest you call and order over the phone and have them explain the process to you.

Good luck!

 

I plugged my logitech G9x mouse into my DV8 and it read it as "Unknown Device". The same thing happened when I plugged in my Flash Drive. The port has been working fine for the last week, but now doesn't read any accessories. Does anyone know of a fix for this? I really don't wanna have to send it in to get looked at.

 

Oh I didn't think they could give you the difference. I would imagine you would have to reorder to get the latest coupon. But I'm logicbuy.com changes their deal tonight as the current ones expires 11/26. I do plan on waiting for atleast the $200 off coupon to come back.

 

I didn't have to reorder and they credited my account while the computer was in the build process.

I know that if you want to add or change your setup then you have to reorder and it's a pain.

 

Try this. Click the start button, look for HP's Recovery Manager. Go thru the section that says reinstall drivers that came with your computer. Then follow the instructions.

Good luck

 

I found some resources online and the problem seems to be solved now. I'm just glad the port wasn't bad and I didn't have to send it back!

 

Right on Dsmalls. Glad it worked out for you in the end.

Have a great thanksgiving (if you celebrate it)