NX8220 thoughts

Hi, thanks for a great forum, I've been reading a lot here, and just wanted to share my views on the NX8220 shortly:

Previous notebooks:
Compaq n800v
IBM X31


Specs for the NX8220:
1,86GHz
512MB 400MHz DDR2 (2x256)
60GB 5400RPM HDD
ATI X600 64MB
Intel 2200 B/G Wlan Adapter
WSXGA+ (1680x1050) Display


Well, moving from a 3,5 lbs IBM X31 to a 6,2 lbs beast is not an easy thing to do, but I guess its a matter of getting used to it. I did it because I got tired of 1024x768. The only thing I really miss is the pointing stick, but I just wouldnt pay 30% more for the NC8230 just to get a pointing stick and more warranty (USD2440 vs. USD1830).

The NX8220 has a great quality feel and a really nice design, something like a modernized IBM design, really good looking. The smooth graphite-colored wrist rest area is also great.

What I really dislike is the fan. I am seriously going crazy with this fan noise, I wonder if the notebook is poorly constructed when it comes to heat dissapation or if all 1,86 centrino laptops are like this. I have heard that DELL and Fujitsu/Siemens with the same cpu have the same problem. My friends 1.6 IBM T42 is as quiet as my old X31, I wonder if the new T43 with 1,86 cpu is as quiet? The noise is not acceptable at all, if I could I would return the notebook just because of this.

I'm not quite satisfied with the WSXGA+ display, which was the main rason for buying this notebook in the first place. If you look closely you see that the screen has some kind of crystal look to it, it's especially visible when looking at gray fields. I have never seen anything like it before, and looking at a movie shows it even more, blue sky looks like it's dirty or something. My collegue has a Dell Precision M70 with a WSXGA+ and it seems to have the same crystal look, I don't think it's as clear though.

I'm also surprised that HP doesn't ship any power saving/battery management software, like IBM does, the windows built-in utility is worthless if you ask me.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great notebook, I guess that you can't get a powerful notebook today that is light (like 5 lbs), has a great high-resolution screen (1400x1050 or 1680x1050), and is silent. If fan noise is someting that doesn't bother you, then go ahead. And we're talking about the fan being on for a minute, off for 30 secs, on for 30secs, and so on. This is also the case if you don't do antything particular, The fan is doing this while I'm writing this post, with cpu load at only 4% and cpu at 780 MHz.

I would appreciate tips of reducing the fan noise if at all possible.

In conclusion, I really think the NX8220 was well worth the price (bought it on HP's spring campaign) even though I wonder if the Acer 8101 would have been a better hoice

 

""""""""Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great notebook, I guess that you can't get a powerful notebook today that is light (like 5 lbs), has a great high-resolution screen (1400x1050 or 1680x1050), and is silent.

I think you can. I just got T42 1.7GHz Dathon (equivalent 2.6 GHz P4), Radeon 9600, 728 MB RAM, 40G HD , 14" SXGA screen, total weight - 5.8 lb.
It is dead-silent, the fan os always off, and it is cold. I can't find any warm areas after hours of use. $1600 it was.

Also, check this website
http://discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=catagory&include_type=15

Compal CL56 is dirt-cheap and has excellent specks/reputation. It's a Radeon 9700+SXGA+Dathon combo.
Plus, discountlaptops.com gets 10.0 out of 10 on resellerratings.com, WAY better than ibm or dell, for example.


"""""""""I'm not quite satisfied with the WSXGA+ display, which was the main rason for buying this notebook in the first place. If you look closely you see that the screen has some kind of crystal look to it, it's especially visible when looking at gray fields."


Does it mean that NX8220 comes with different display than zv5000z series? WSXGA+ screen on zv5000z is so good, even SXGA screen on my T42 lookes washed out a little in comparision. Zv's screen is very bright, crisp and has an outstanding viewing angle (much better than T42's wide-angle screen) and unparalleled saturated color. I'm surprised you aren't happy and think that your screen came from a different manufacturer than mine. The only issue I can find would be some yellowness to the white color. Although I can only see that when I put zv5000z and T42 next to each other.

 

I think the crystal look can be reduced by lowering the screen brightness.

For the fan noise, I recall reading about a utility to lower the CPU
voltage.
Reducing the CPU voltage reduces the heat produced, but you have to
test that the CPU is reliable at the lower voltage.

Also, the new pci express based notebooks run hotter than
the previous generation. So a T43 would be hotter than a T42.

 

well, the display is very bright crisp and has a fenomenal viewing angle, but that strange crystal sensation.

That asus v6v looks really great, too bad I don't like in the US. I can't believe the T42 with SXGA+ is only $1800, here in Sweden you have to get the T42P to get that reosulution, and then we are talking aroung $3000, which is silly.

But hey, it's silent, which is really nice.

Thanks for the info on pci express.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by rpd30

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>ClockGen lowers the CPU speed. But I found no use for that - all it does is lockes CPU at some speed your specify. PowerNOW! gets disabled and once clock gen is applied, CPU does not automatically adjust clock with the load anymore until you restart notebook. Plus, PowerNOW!, as it is, is good enough and makes ClockGen redundant for AMD notebooks.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

I haven't tried this, but check this out:
http://www.pbus-167.com/chc.htm

The idea is to keep the same clock speed, but lower the voltage to the CPU. Less voltage means less heat.
Whether this works or not depends on the CPU (it's not guaranteed).

 

Late reply, but I just wrote a page about how to fix this. It's for an nw8240, but it should be exactly the same procedure for the nx8220. Take a look at http://avkrok.net/nw8240/windows.html.

 

Just a few quick items:

1. The issue with the crystal effect on the LCD. This is a problem with the brand of LCD used. Their early production runs had the bad LCD's (don't know who makes it), but their newer builds have a new Samsung LCD that eliminates this shimmer effect and is also brighter and more even. You may want to send the entire unit back in for an exchange, that's what I did.

2. The issue with the fan, well, there's a new BIOS available F.0F I believe is the version. This runs the fan slower so it'll make less noise.

3. Power management software is not needed. I have not had any issues with the Windows Power Management features. My nx8220 has an idle time of over 5hrs with an Intel PM 740 1.73GHz CPU. Another user with a 1.86GHz CPU had similar runtimes as my unit.

-Vb-