Just Arrived!

I just got my NX8220 last night and I must say, it's a very nice unit. My first impressions of the unit are very good. The build quality seems higher than the model it replaced (NX7000/X1000 Series). The body is sturdy and is a nice black/dark graphite color which gives is it a very professional look. There were a few things that I caught my attention.

1. The LCD is somewhat bright, but not as bright as the NX7000 I used to have. Also, looking at a plain white background (or website), the screen seems to "shimmer" or something to effect due to the design of the LCD itself. Plus the light distribution is 85% even, I get some darker spots and the top/bottm edges are a bit lighter.

2. The LED indicator lights on the front are actually sharp as other owners of this series mentioned (actually the holes cut out for the LED's). They're positioned right where your wrists are and when typing, it'll brush over these LED's and are very uncomfortable. This was resolved by scraping the edges down (carefully).

3. Took me 5-10 mins to figure out that the bluetooth and WLAN is incorporated into 1 switch. To turn one on is to turn both on. HP included software to disable/turn off a specific wireless device, but it would have ben nice to have seperate switches for each.

Those were the minor things that I found with the unit. Nothing really big, but mainly annoyances. I did however have a bigger issue regarding the validity of the units "newness". My unit had finger prints all over the unit, including 2 on the LCD, the glide pad looked used (dirty/smudges) & the Microsoft label on the bottom looks like it was pealed off and stuck back on (some of the center of label is missing).

This question goes out to other NX8220 owners in Toronto. Where did your unit get shipped from? I don't mean the actual HP box that the notebook was inside, but the bigger outer box. Normally, they're shipped from Mississauga, but mine came from their Oakville (Bristol Circle) location which is known to be their returns facility. I just want to be sure that I got a brand new unit and not a refurb'd/returned notebook. I know this may sound like I'm nit-picking, but if I drop this much money for a new notebook, I expect to get a new notebook.

Thanks,
-Vb-

 

hi,

good to hear you got your machine...i hope your enjoying it....just to answer your question about where my unit came from, is missisauga. Thats what was on the on the invoice. I would call in and check ask about the unit.....to double check on that....just to warn you.....at least for the one year warrenty..support is not 24/hrs + the wait to get transfered to the right person could be a journey. Good luck with rectifying your suspicion. Let us now what turned out.

 

Well, I finally spoke to HP regarding the shipping location of these units. Well, they told me it should come from Mississauga and should not come from the Oakville location. They assured me that the unit did no get shipped from Oakville, even though the packing slip and shipping label clearly indicates that it was shipped from Oakville. They're only response was that I must be mistaken and that I can ship the unit back for a replacement. Since I got 30days to figure out if I'll keep this unit, I guess I'll make my decision then.

-Vb-

 

Venombite
As you're also a moderator of Toshiba forum, how is the nx8220 compared to Toshiba notebooks, like , the M45. How about the LCD and build quality compare to each other.

Thanks

 

I find that the overall build quality of the HP units to be higher than the Toshiba's. I've used, seen and repaired notebooks from both companies, and the amount of problems related to manufacturing is much higher on the Toshiba side. Also, the parts used on the Toshiba notebooks seem thinner/less durable vs the HP. Again, this is just my personal opinion and I'm sure there are a lot of other Toshiba owners that would disagree with me, but I would still consider an HP over a Toshiba.

Regarding the LCD's, well, Toshiba uses their "Enhanced" LCD in their M40/M45 models (TruBrite I believe it's called) and you definitely get a WAY brighter/sharper image from one of these "Enhanced" LCD's. The LCD on my NX8220 is generally bright, but I do wish it would go an extra 25% brighter in some cases.

The one major thing I didn't like about the Toshiba M40's design, was the fact that the keyboard is off center. They have a huge control panel on the left for the power button and audio controls. I know this shifts the keyboard to the right a bit, but it was not necessary. The NX8220 has everything balanced and looks a whole lot better.

Oh, the silver palm rests is another issue. If you type a lot, the silver palm rests will probably turn black from all the color being rubbed off. This will make the silver notebook a terrible sight. This is not covered under warranty to get replaced.

I hope this helps. let me know if you have any other questions.

-Vb-

 

Thank you venombite ,that was very clear and helpful.

I think i'll buy nx8220 over M45 since the price of M45 here is like 300$ or more higher than nx8220.

 

Hello can you tell me what material the nx8220 is made of. Also on the HP site it now shows free 3 year warranty
thanks

 

Ross,

According to HP's site, the NX8220's display cover is made of a magnesium-alloy. The LCD top cover does seem more durable than the standard plastic in some of their other units. The remaining body of the unit feels like standard plastic. Overall, the unit feels very sturdy without any unnecessary flexing.

If the unit now has a promotional offer that includes the 3 year warranty, it's a pretty good deal and I'd recommend getting it.

-Vb-

 

Venombite & heartofgold

Thanks very much for the info. I have narrowed my selection to two the NX8220 and the Tecra s2. With HP's free 3 yr warranty the NX8220 looks like a better deal.

thanks Again
Ross

 

is it for bussiness?

 

I would use the computer mainly for work ( mainly excel and word )but would like to be able to play some games in spare time.

Ross

 

hello
For about the same amount of money one could get a
HP NX8220 Pent M 1.6ghz with 2x512MB 400mhz DDR2 SDRAM
or
Tecra S2 Pent M 1.73 ghz with 512MB DDR1 SDRAM

Would one see any difference in performance/speed? Would it be wiser to get more ram or a faster processor. ( Computer would be mainly used for work ie word/excel and occasional games)

Thanks

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ross

 

homeworld 2, world of warcraft

 

There shouldn't be any issue playing these games on the NX8220. This unit has the X600 w/64MB (PU313UA). This GPU is supposedly similar in overall power to an ATI 9600/9700 GPU. This should be enough to play your games.

The minimum requirements for Homeworld 2 is an 833Mhz CPU & a 32MB Graphics card & recommended is only a 1Ghz CPU. With these overall low requirements, there shouldn't be any issues at all. Same goes for World of Warcraft.

I just have to recommend one thing when buying a notebook. Get more than what you need. A better CPU, GPU, etc..., just overall better specs if you have the money. Most notebooks are not upgradable, so you're stuck with what you buy. If you keep the system for a while, the newer games would still be able to be played since the specs should meet minimum requiremenst of these new games. Just a recommendation.

-Vb-

 

hi,

i've been using my nx8220 for mostlty nongaming purposes, but so far what i've played has been great. I've played command and conquer and fifa without any hitches. I have 128megs of video memory and 512 of ram.

I was serioulsy considedring upgragin to 1 gig by adding an addtional dimm, but was wondering if HP's warrenty be void if i do it myself. I'm dreading calling them and asking...lol.....

 

Hey Switcher,

Currently, I seem to like my notebook as well, except for the minor "newness" issues I had (still can get it exchanged if I want). The 314 model is the one I'd recommend anyone to get vs the 313. The overall specs are way better for a bit more.

Regarding the ram, you can add an additional module to the system without any problems. You would access it at the bottom of the unit. The other module is located under the keyboard. This will not void your warranty since ram is considered a User Replaceable Part.

If you're going to upgrade your ram, you may want to either get the ram from HP for this unit or get 2x512 modules and replace both at the same time or 1x1GB module and remove the old one. I've read that there could be performance drops after adding memory that are not 100% identical (brand, speed, etc...).

-Vb-

 

Vanombite: If the NX8220 and the NC8230 are exactly the same and now the warranty is the same too, then where does the difference in price come from?

 

Zeec,

I just checked HP's site and they are currently just offering a special on the NX8220. They're including the 3 warranty for free (limited time, not forever).

Here's a list of improvements I noticed (NC8230 vs NX8220):
- Warranty $167CDN (3yr Std vs 1yr Std, not including special offers)
- Faster CPU (PM 750 vs PM 740)
- 3 Button GlidePad & GlidePoint vs button GlidePad only (I prefer the GlidePoint myself)
- Serial port on the side of the NC8230

For all the improvements, there's also some drawbacks:
- NC8230 doesn't have a DVD+-RW drive
- It also lacks 64MB of video memory (Std 128MB in NX8220)

From those differences listed, I could see a $300CDN price difference.

Even though I don't get perfect white on my LCD (as I indicated and so have others on the NC8230's) due to the LCD design & possibly because of a special scratch resistant coating added to the LCD's (HP Panel Protection System, not sure if it's a coating), I'd still like the NX8220.

-Vb-

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Venombite

 

Switcher,

The NX8220 & the NC8230 both have the Smart Card Reader (unless they just left the slot and removed the acutal hardware from my unit).

Is 60GB too small of a drive? Wow, you must store a lot of stuff on your system. If that's the case, you may want to get yourself an external USB/Firewire drive or even an NAS which hooks up dirfectly to your router to give you networked storage. These come in larger capacities and cost about the same.

Or, you can even get an extra HDD that fits into the Multibay II slot (remove the DVD-+RW and swap), that could effectively double your overall available storage. The only minus is the added cost (I think it was $400CDN).

-Vb-

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Venombite

 

Venombite,

My NX8220 was also shipped from Oakville. Who did you ask for and what did you tell the people at hp? I am wondering if I should call and ask for a replacement.

Roman
RomanRoman@@Gmx.net

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by romanroman28

 

Hearing about these models shipped from the returns facility makes me a little uneasy. I was informed that currently HP only has around ~87 units left in stock of the 314 model, but I was planning on waiting a week or two to make the purchase in case there's a price drop. I don't want to wait too long until the only units left are the ones that have been returned by unsatisfied customers, but it appears that it may already be too late...

Also, I haven't read about any problems with dead pixels on the LCD. Hopefully that won't be an issue when I get mine either...

 

Anyone ever test 3dmark 2005 with nx8220? I just tested mine and the result was 1138marks with 800x600 resolution. Is this normal?
My nx8220 is 1.73Ghz model with 512mb ram and 64mb video memory.

 

Ching82,

Your score is not that bad. The new 3DMark05 program is just VERY demanding and even the best GPU's will probably get a low score. You can't compare the 05 version to the older ones as the scoring is different. I got 1200 for my NX8220 and that's after installing the ATI Catalyst 5.5 drivers from the ATI site. The original drivers that came with the unit only got a score of under 800.

My system setup is pretty much the exact same as yours, but with 128MB of video memory.

-Vb-