*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

I didn't before he said so... can I ask why your returning yours?

 

I started this thread by complaining about the paint coming off the keys on my dv8 keyboard, then I went down for the count with a sinus infection (!) Anyway, here's my problem: why should we need to use a plastic cover to keep our keyboards from looking like they're 5 years old after a month of normal use? Well, I finally got a call from an HP case manager and they are shipping me a replacement keyboard - I was glad I didn't have to lose the machine for 2 weeks. They even said I could take it to Best Buy and they would do the installation for me. I'll have to see how the new one does. I have two other HP notebooks - dv4 and dv7 and no trouble, but they have white keys and black characters. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Sorry for making this so long over a relatively trivial issue, but here's my main concern: I got a great deal on this during the height of December coupon frenzy and I planned to own it for 3-6 months and get most of my money back on a resale. Worn out keyboard won't be easy to sell.

 

it's a real concern though. i had a feeling the keyboard would do that the first day I got my laptop in. It just "looks" like that will happen, as this thing LOVES to hold onto every possible oil/grease/etc from our hands. Nice to hear that HP is willing to at least man up and send you a replacement keyboard.

 

My dv8 arrived via FedEx yesterday morning and I've been quite busy transferring files from my old computer, getting everything set up, and customizing settings.

Even though I haven't had much chance to play around with the laptop, I really like it so far! I haven't had ANY problems with it yet, and everything seems to be functioning flawlessly (knock on wood!).

I took a look at msconfig and noticed there are a TON of applications loading at startup and loads of services running by default. I've been happy with boot up times, but are there any websites out there that easily explain what items I can remove from the services and startup tabs? I'm sure I could improve startup times quite a bit by getting rid of all the unnecessary stuff that loads up every time I power on.

I like HP MediaSmart's interface, but doesn't Windows Media Player do everything the HP software does? If so, I'm thinking about removing the HP software, but then maybe the shortcut keys on the keyboard won't work?

Is there any other bloatware installed on these machines I could easily do without?

Thanks!

 

question: i have the nVidia 230m GT on the dv8.. can i change the GPU like in a PC?
i was wondering if i can so i cand upgrade it to 320m

 

Was that a joke? The 320m is weaker than the 230m

 

This post right here pretty much explains it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5832851&postcount=2372
(Don't mean to sound like a if I come off that way...just got off work and I'm really tired).

 

I don't really want to explain any service that i have disabled but this is my list :

Application experience
Bitlocker drive encryption service
Computer browser
Diagnostic policy service
Disk defragmenter
Distributed link tracking client
Distributed transaction coordinator
DNS client
HP service
hpqwmiex
IP Helper
IPsec policy agent
Media center extender service
Net Tcp port sharing service
Parental controls
Protected storage
Remote procedure call RPC locator
Remote registry
Routing and remote access
Secondary logon
Security center
Server
Smart card
Smart card removal policy
Tablet PC input service
TCP/IP netbios helper
Telephony
Webclient
Windows Defender
Windows error reporting service
Windows media player networking service
Windows search
Windows time
WMI performance adapter
Workstation
WWAN Autoconfig

Don't disable any service if you don't know what you are doing.

 

post edited by MattMJB0188

 

Nice....wish I would have seen that when I was going to buy mine. lol

 

7d bid? :lol:

 

Sorry to hear that you are getting rid of yours....I am waiting for my tax refund....should be any day now, before pulling the trigger on this laptop....I am going with the fully loaded Lightscribe Blu-Ray dvd rom they just added for 100 more than what yours sold for.

 

No disrespect (and I know the auction is over regardless), but forums like these don't typically allow you to advertise for personal profit. Linking your own auction clearly falls under the *spam, self-promotion* category, so... just something to keep in mind for future reference. I spend a lot of time over on Slickdeals, and you can get banned over there for doing that.

 

I wasn't sure, I emailed the head moderator to double check and he never got back to me. My intent was never to break any rules over here, I just figured a lot of people are looking to buy the dv8 and lurk around here asking about deals. My listing was a really good deal and a lot of people could have benefited from it.

 

I know it seems harmless, but I've seen a handful of forums where they come down hard for that kind of stuff (among other things). It personally doesn't bother me--was just passing along a friendly "heads-up". If it wasn't me, someone else would have b*tched and moaned about it. That's one of the reasons I didn't overtly post a link (instead PM'd a link to those who requested) to those cheap silicone covers on ebay--it was from a small private seller, and in that situation you simply can't prove it's not you trying to make a profit.

 

sorry o was thinking that thre 320m was better... but anyway... can the gpu be swaped? like a pc gpu?

 

look a few pages back.

if you are willing to spend money, yes.

 

Funny you had that instinct - this is the first keyboard I have ever had this happen to. Is it happening to yours, or just feels like it will. At the first sign of wear, I would go direct to HP Resultions and get a new one. In case you want to sell it, save the pristene one for that.

Are we really the only ones who noticed this? Mine is 50% rubbed off on 1/3 of keys - and yes, I wash my hands This could be a recall issue, or maybe a bad prdn run.

 

I am confused: you say $2,700 is the same as you pad for your dv8. I paid less than $1,000 for mine in December and the only differences I can see are that I have no extd wtty, though I do have an extra 8 cell btty and a TV Tuner (waste!). Are people really paying over $2,000 for dv8's these days?

Anyway, good luck with the Qosmio and please post back to us here with your experience.

 

Yes, people are. When you go above the base config, it's bound to happen

 

Deleted, sorry

 

lol ya. I paid quite a bit considering I maxed out just about everything...
I also got a bunch of accessories with it.
Totaled $3800

It's all from a student loan at school.

Here's a more detailed post of the specs I got:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5748421&postcount=1931

 

Good luck finding a free-floating gpu from the same core-type! It's typically impossible to buy them separately--and when I HAVE seen a site offering them, they always had huge huge markups. It's really not worth it to even consider. Your only viable option is to scan ebay for cards that have been plundered from dead systems--new cards are hard to find, and even then, would you trust them to work?

Jeebus, as a student, didn't you consider saving some of that money for... food? $2000 of that could buy a lot of Ramen and Pot Noodle!!!

I have not noticed this issue, and I have had mine since November. In fact, I am rather pleased with this keyboard, as I have not seen any friction wear on the heavily used keys (space bar). My last laptop (thinkpad) began to show signs of shine within 4 hours of heavy typing. My sisters macbook show signs of wear after only a few hours. I've got a silicone cover on the way, so I don't intend to find out how bad it can get.

Worst case scenario, you can buy HDX 18 keyboard replacements for $20 shipped on ebay.

 

Well I wanted a nice laptop that will last me a few years as mainly a desktop, but also for some classes that I need it in.

And fortunately, I get free school. No scholarships/grants/etc.
My mom is the Dean's secretary, so I get the dean's grant. In order to get that, I have to live at home and be a fulltime student, which also gives me their healthcare for free too. So it's not that bad of a deal.
But I am going for a PHD, so I want to get some nice stuff now that I will have for entertainment later on since I'll have another 5-6years after community college and I will be broke as a joke then.







@Matt, here's the marketplace at notebookreview,
this is where you should post your link.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

 

Even with a maxed out laptop now, you'll be tempted to upgrade within a year or two There's a heavy heavy price premium on new tech, and after a year you'll begin to really lose out on that investment if you resell.

Never be on the bleeding edge of technology! Much too costly.

I am slightly disappointed in the choice of parts used in that build though... I figured they'd have put a better card in that Q, considering the starting cost is so high. You basically ended up with a lower-power 9800m GT... kind of disappointing, when you could have gotten an older variant for way less. At the $4000 range, you could have had your pick from the top of the line from any manufacturer. Another 4-5 months and every manufacturer will have their own i7 variants.

As an example, you can get a new Alienware with the older C2D Quad with the 280m--the difference in graphical performance is like the difference between the 360m and 230m--at a price range of between $2000-$3000.

Just look at the cost of the Sagers, equipped with the i7 AND the 280m for under $2k

 

the 3800 was with all my accessories...surround sound, 2tb external, 27 inch screen, printer, dock, port replicator (pointless), and carrying case.

The toshiba comes with a backpack, and other things as well included in my price, and i get 200$ back.



yeah, I want a sager, but the one I want comes out to be like about 5000. lol.

I only have about 2600 for the laptop with the purchase of a backpack on the side and then some other things(can't do this shoulder targus bag crap). The screen size doesn't really matter to me much, as long as it's around 15" I'm happy. But I need some power, and graphics....

The thing I need my laptop for is Programming (windows mobile [possibly android/webOS/iphone], windows, web design, java and javaFX), Graphic design, some light gaming (counterstrike source, team fortress 2, and possibly Modern warfare 2 or fallout 3 - haven't decided if I feel like buying them), and then of course school. Plus I use alot of the AutoDesk softwares ( link), and need to be able to use those as I am working on my inventions/house designs/etc also.

(I'm starting an online business(es) and need something I can use for all of the above as it all ties into that some way).
The reason I'm getting a nice laptop now is it will have to last me a few years (will prolly become just a desktop replacement after then), but I have been using a desktop that had 700mb of ram for the longest time, agp port for the vid card LOL and about 50gigs of space, then went to a ty laptop, but now I want something that I could use for a while like I used my desktop.... I know it becomes outdated right away, but untill my online businesses become fully operational, this will have to last me. lol.

So after that LONG post, any recommendations? lol.

 

Nah, not really--considering the amount, I just wanted to complain about the video card. For graphical work, the graphics card is by far the most important factor, so I just wondered why you settled for that.

Instead of a high-end PC monitor, why not just go with a 1080p TV? I just got a 40" for $450--overkill you might think, but at least it can serve a separate purpose in a large abode once you complete your schooling.

 

lol. I would much rather have gotten a 40", but my desk barely allows the 27" I have now. haha. I don't even have access to the DirectTV we have in my parent's house right now, so no need for that...Only gaming stuff I have is a PS2, and 2 regular Nintendos (one in perfect condition in the box with all original papers/manual/plastic wrapings. haha).
So only form of entertainment I have at my house is my computer.

I will eventually get my sager laptop I want, but not till I get a better job in the near future.
Or I might just build a sweet desktop that I can upgrade for a while, and just buy a laptop when I need mobility.

 

There are 2 new models in Switzerland. The 1180ez and 1190ez.

I just checked the specs and the only difference i can see is the chassis... (morpheus 2.0 for 1090ez and morpheus 2.1 for 1190ez).

1090ez :

http://h41306.www4.hp.com/artikelDe...72cf22282eec231f5:1260&sku=VL131EA#tech_specs

1190ez :

http://h41306.www4.hp.com/artikelDe...22282eec231f5:1260&itemid=428754&partner=1260

Any idea on the differences of this chassis Morpheus?

 

well i just made the big decision to buy this monster and ive read the reviews people have been posting and thx to all of them. I have not recieved this laptop as of yet because the build date is FEB 19th 2010. I am looking forward to seeing more post and maybe some pictures of how this monster looks. Below you will find my HP DV8T that I purchased and the total out the door price. From HP online. Did not get the 1TB or the best processor as I dont see the point in paying an extra 500 dollars just for extra space and a minimal boost in speed. wont be running that many programs at once on mine anyways and I dont need that much space. One thing i do like about this laptop is the HDMI port so that I can plug this baby directly in my HD TV and BAM my laptop on BIG SCREEN...WOW BABY i cant wait.

I have seen reviews on the toshiba and i think for the price and the dexterity of HP its a better deal also the look and feel. I have seen and played around with Toshibas in the past and dont like them at all plus they are built in Japan just like the HP. As far as Graphic cards are concerned i think the difference you see is minimal when you are running games and doing photo editing and such.


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) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
• $100 OFF! 8GB 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)
• Blu-ray +/-R/RW with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Espresso Black)
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• HP Long Life Notebook Battery with support for Extended Lifecycles
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Instant discounts you received:
$200.00 Notebook instant rebate
$94.45 Coupon

Order subtotal $1,794.54

Grand total $1,942.59

Thanks again for the post and keep them coming...I will reply to anyone that has questions once i get my laptop in my hands.

 

Actually, HP sent me a new dv8 keyboard (Fedex left a door tag Thursday and now I have 34" of snow, (##@@%%!!). I will probably try the silicone pad Moko recommends and save the new keyboard for if/when I want to sell this one. BTW, are you suggesting that the HDX-18 keyboard may be better made, or just more easily acquired? Problem using HDX: silver coloring will look weird on my black computer, ya think?.

As to how bad my key are, I am really curious to know if *anyone* else is having the problem. Mine is *not* minor, and we are not talking about a little "shine" here! The white embossing is 75% gone on about 1/3 of the keys (ie, it is dull brown, can't be seen in low light. Anybody have any similar experience? Strangely enough, if it continues and I don't like typing with the silicone pads Mokofoko suggested, it's a deal-breaker for this computer. Thanks.

 

If your parents have a direcTV DVR that is networked, check out DirecTV2PC. Works great on my dv8, although I have heard problems with people trying to use an external monitor.

 

Actually, HPs are ranked one of the highest for failing. lol.
Toshiba was in second place for the lowest (lost by a .01%), but there's a graph of a huge survey that's been floating around, wehn I find it, I'll post it.
I personally had no problems people were talking about except for the video card crashing, but it would take maybe 3-4 seconds at the longest and it would recover.

To my knowledge, HP is built in China, not Japan.
They have a huge building in Japan as they pretty much joined forces with Yokogawa in 1963 to help market HP products in Japan....They did not build there... Just curious as to where you found this info.
On the other hand, Toshiba is built in Japan. In my experience, products from China, especially higher end electronics, tend to be more faulty. Just my experience though.

The graphics card is not only a little bit better, which is what most people look at, it is ddr5 and not ddr3.
Therefore it can handle alot more fps and other things aswell. Hence why tons of semi-pro/pro gamers I play online with are all getting this laptop, especially since it is extremely easy to upgrade without taking the entire laptop apart.

These are just more of a friendly comment in reply, don't take them as me trying to be hostile. I'm really tired, and it tends to come off argumentative when I'm tired.


But anyways, you machine is a nice one, if I didn't need the extra umph, I would of had a similar config.

Nice! Thanks for that info Murray!!
I knew there was something out there, and I've heard of slingbox, but never really investigated much further.
Thanks again!

 

It's from squaretrade. It also doesn't mean much. My head has been POUNDING for two days, but maybe someone with some stats background can fill the rest in. All I'm saying is ST doing a survey isn't necessarily the most reliable.

 

Hi,

I was going to buy HP Pavilion DV8-1110EA Core i7 Laptop - VY144EA this week

Can someone say some cons on this laptop before I buy it please ?

I saw the toshiba qosmio and it's pretty good but in europe it's more expensive then in USA and even there isn't the X505 in europe yet just the X500

All help/opinions are appreciated

Thanks in advance

 

The only real difference between the HDX18 keyboards and the DV8 keyboards is the backlit feature, which requires a separate power cable, the connector for which is missing from the DV8 hardware. Functionally, it is a perfect replacement through. I cannot say whether or not the build quality for the HDx18 boards is actually better, but $20-$30 per board isn't a whole lot to spend I think.

If you're the type who can actually live with a keyboard and NOT use a silicone cover... then in my mind it really shouldn't matter what brand or model you go with, because all keyboards eventually end up in the same state if unprotected. It's just a matter of when.

Swapping the keyboards on one of these things is easy as pie--pop off the quicklaunch section, and then you have access to the keyboard.

 

Good to know...haven't investigated square trade...
but definitely good to know.

The only real cons I can think of is the newest bios has bricked a couple laptops, but you never really hear about the good ones. There have been a few people that have reported a successful bios flash with the latest version.

The only other one is the stock vid card crashes every now and then, takes aobut 3-4 seconds and the it says it recovers.
There has been a few work arounds to get the newest vesrion of the video card to work (the one from nvidia) but I forget the cons of using their version. Also, Matt has been trying to use the dv7's vid card driver, and from what I have seen him write it's been doing great so far.

That's all I can think of. I am by far no expert, and I'm sure others will elaborate on what I have said and give you better/more indepth information about everything.

 

I'm going to have to agree with this. I've seen the reports, and I've seen the rebuttals. Trusting SquareTrades data is like trusting a Midas Brake shop in publishing vehicle failure rates. There's a lot of factors which affect those scores.

A LOT of failures are the direct result of uneducated users. A good number of problems are either caused by the user (and passed off as general failure), or misdiagnosed by the user (mistaking a software issue for failure).

When it comes down to it, HP got where it is by having the most widely available and cheapest comparable products. This attracts the GENERAL users--the people who want the cheapest alternative, and those who don't know better. The more expensive (and specific purpose) systems tend to attract another section of the consumer pie. So tell me, who's more likely to take better physical care of their units, the owners of the cheap or expensive products? Who's more capable of handling small issues that crop up, completely avoiding the need for warranty intervention?

And for that matter, those results from Squaretrade include data on warranty REPORTING--not necessarily actual failures. Someone reports a bios issue to squaretrade where the fan won't shut off--sound familiar? A technician comes in, resets bios defaults, and problem solved. Guess what, that laptop now shows up as a failure on the Squaretrade list (because it was reported and HAD to be investigated by a paid technician), whether or not it was something that could have been easily handled by a competent user.

When it comes down to it, there should be a +/- 50% deviation for those results--because you simply can't account for human stupidity. They aren't lab findings. All those laptops haven't been subjected to the same environments and situations. Those results mean nothing. That said, I don't doubt that HP has higher than normal failure rates--just not of a magnitude by which we're told. In fact, I believe all of those results are inflated beyond what they should be.

 

Sorry to be a dead-horse beater, but the one issue you didn't respond to was the coloring on the HDX keyboards - aren't they silver (I owned an HDX-16 and it was, as are the ones pictured on ebay now)? If so, I would think it would look pretty strange on my "expresso black" dv8. Any thoughts? Also, I may have had exceptionally well made keyboards, but I have never had embossing come off of keys on a Dell I used for 3 years or a Toshiba I used for 5! Not even a bit of wear showing (I still have them in a closet - my "museum."

 

Isn't the touchpad of the dv8 silver? It should match perfectly, along with the chrome trim, wouldn't you say? I'd MUCH rather have silver keys--you're less likely to see wear and fingerprint oils.

As for the lettering--you may have just gotten unlucky. I've had mine longer than you, and my keyboard shows no sign of wear at all. I've owned 4-5 previous HP laptops since 2003, and none of them ever had lettering rub off. In fact, I think you're the only person I've read about who's had this particular issue with the DV8t. HP has pretty much established through past action that they will replace an in-warranty keyboard if any lettering completely wears off.

 

Not to be a buzzkill, but I must disagree on several points:
1. While HP has regional HQ and manufacturing in Japan, the vast majority of their plants seem to be in China. Every HP/Compaq laptop I've ever bought was assembled and shipped from China--NOT Japan.
2. The differences in graphics cards is nearly all-important when it comes to gaming. The 360m provides 50% better benchmarks when compared to the 230m. That's night vs day differences when it comes to high-end games on high resolution. Good luck playing the original Mass Effect on high above 10 fps with the 230m.

You paid a rather high price for some of those upgrades. HDD-wise, you'd be better off sticking with the stock 320gb and buying an HDD Caddy for $40 and getting a drive on sale. The ram is still overpriced at this point, and during gaming you're not going to see a noticeable improvement over the stock 4gb. The extended battery is nice, but how often do we end up moving these behemoths? No real bad choices in that build though... you might have profited from waiting a bit though, as HP comes out with a coupon for the dv6/7/8 every month or so which might have brought your cost down $100-$200.

 

My keyboard looks like my old laptop keyboad too. Shift, Win, ctrl, 2, i, o, a and t are almost without any inscription.

I'll call HP one day when i want to loose patience with them (sick support here in Europe) even if the truth is that i don't really care of the letters on my keyboard.

I don't understand how the hell, a company like HP producing computers since the "last century" can fail in this kind of part. I mean, this is not a new technology, or anything new for them...

 

I agree 200%.

 

I never even really thought about half of the points you had just stated, and I do have to admit, that was very nicely written.
I have to agree with everything you just stated here 100%.

That is a good point on the extended battery. I personally took mine to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays as I have a iTV class (Essentially an iTV class is where the teacher is at another one of the college's campuses, and teaches over a webcam). They do have laptops there for you to use, but it's alot more conveinant to be able to save all my data straight to my laptop and have my personal setup for shortcuts/autohotkey scripts/etc. Even when I do take my laptop to school, I bring the charger with.
But the rest of the time it's sitting in it's dock on my desk.

Personally the only real benefit I can see about an extended battery is if you plan on taking it on an airplane trip or roadtrip (even though a roadtrip you could get an adapter to plug it in to the cigarette lighter).

I once again have to agree about the ram as I never went above 3gigs unless I had a ton of programs open or had GIMP (Free photoshop like program) open with the tons of gigabytes of brushes I have. Other than that, I've never seen it go higher than 2-2.5gigs.

 

Thank for your quick response

I will wait for other user opinoins so I decide if i buy it or not cause reading through this forum I heard that there where some DV8 users who went for Toshiba Qosmio after trying it but there never was a Toshiba Qosmio user who went to a DV8

Makes me think that the Toshiba is much better in some aspects

Thanks in advance

 

Me too, i have 4gb of RAM and 1GB of them is dedicated to RAM disk (for windows temp folder and firefox cache). And even with just 3GB, i never run out of memory. I will upgrade to 6gb just to move the Adobe cache in RAM disk (then my RAM disk will grow up to 2.5gb or 3gb, i'll see)

Note : I benched my RAM disk, 2500MB/s write and read... Even my SSD (one of the fastest in the market) is just more than 10 times slower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_disk

 

Random question:
I know with macs you can set a "turn on computer time" and a "shutdown computer time" - but I've never seen these options on windows.

Is there a way to do it?

 

Yes there is
This is one program that can do the job

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/Shutdown-Monster.shtml

 

Yeah, that only allows shutdown though. :/
I wish you could turn it on at a certain time, that'd be cool.
But I'd only really see it being useful when using remote desktop from a different location, unless you use the computer at a certain time daily/weekly/etc.

I know you can write a script in AutoHotkey to do this.
You could also write a simple script asking how long till you want to shut it down, and then it will do so.
(I recommend AutoHotkey to everyone. It's a VERY powerful macro/scripting program. [you can even use it with AutoIt ])

 

I found a way to completely get rid off IE.

Uninstall IE from "Turn Windows Features ON or OFF".

Then delete the Internet Explorer folders and files remaining in the computer.

Then delete any Internet Explorer registry key or value with Regedit (More than 1MB of Keys in the registry just for this BS).

After this, when you try to start Device Manager, Event Viewer or any apps from Microsoft Management Console, you will get a message like "MMC requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater to be installed".

To fix this problem, just go to RegEdit and add this :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer

Then, create a string entry (REG_SZ) with the name "Version" and the value "6.0.0.0" under the subkey.

Done.

For the first time since Windows 98, i completely deleted IE and everything is working well.

Internet explorer is just the worse browser i have seen. Any freeware like Opera, Firefox or Chrome is doing much better. So why Microsoft doesn't provide an easier way to completely uninstall it? Good question... Anyway, for the first time, IE is over...

If you want to try, don't forget to backup your files and registry.

Note : You have to take ownership of some files, folders and registry key to delete them.