Newbie about to bite the bullet- some questions

Finally, exactly one year after buying a thinkpad t61p im all set to jump onto the HDX18t bandwagon...

i would be grateful for advise on:

1. Is the SSD the famous Intel x-25? Is it worth the extra $ or should one settle for a 7200rpm HDD?

2. Any suggestions for whether to got with q 9000 or q91000 or qx9300 from a price-value basis? As in are any of these choices worth the extra dollars?

3. is there a refresh coming anytime soon? its been out for almost 9 months now.

4. Can you point me to some place where one can buy additional 4GB DDR3 ram cheap rather than buy it from HP direct?

5. Whats the best carrying case for the HDX18t?

6. Can the hybrid TV tuner be used outside the US to receive TV signals?
thanks a lot for your time and thoughts.

 

1. I don't think SSD drives are worth it right now. Wait maybe a year for the price to come down.

2. If you have programs that utilize four cores than get a quad core. If not, it will only use more battery power.

3. Don't Know.

4. New Egg.

5. Probably a backpack, New Egg will probably have some.

6. Don't know, never used one.

 

thanks a lot..i could not find ddr3 ram for hdx18t on newegg.

 

btw can you/ some HDX18 owner confirm what brand the SSD is which is currently inside it? thanks

 

3. They just added the backlite keyboard and the 130M GPU last month. Therefore, I don't think there will be a refresh anytime soon.

6. No you can't.

 

thanks.
is the backlit keyboard also color matched or is it different?
what is the 130M GPU? is that the graphics card?

 

Scroll down for pics of my HDX16. Its the same as HDX18, just smaller.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=300646&page=161

The 130M is the graphics card. It is new and pwns the 9600m.

 

thanks. i dont think what you are saying is factually correct:

1. HDT18t offers the quad core option. HDT 16t does not.
2. HDT18t offers DDR3 RAM. HDT16 offers DDR2 only.
3. HDT16 is naturally cheaper.

 

You are correct. However, I was referring to the fact that they have the same backlit keyboard which you were inquiring on. Also the HDX16 is priced a little higher believe it or not.

Edit: If you spec them the same that is.

 

I love the HDX line.. powerful and still offer the higher resolution screens. But they all come with the infinity dust collector display. There is no way to clean out that dust if it gets trapped between the two glossy layers. And the infinitey just adds too much to reflextion/glare to a already glossy screen. I wish HP would add other display options.

 

infinity dust collector.... lolz. n1.

Have you guys tried vacuuming it out? Take the wand and put it on the edge of the screen while forming a seal around it using your hand or something and let it suck the heck out of it.... worth a shot.

 

thanks. no one knows who makes the SSD which is in the HDX?

 

If it's 80GB it's an Intel- they are the only ones who make SSDs with that capacity. Heck, hard drives period. lol...

By Intel I mean the X25-M.

 

I just got the HDX18t with the QX9300, and I love it. If it had an SSD option on the website, I would have had it configured with one. Are you seeing an SSD as an option on HP's website? Never mind, I just saw it. Dang! I wish I knew who makes it. It's great that it's 160gb.

I got the Q9300 because HP was offering a 30% coupon, and it was the same price as the C2D 2.8 without the coupon. I thought that the Quad might give me some future proofing, and I've heard that it helps with video rendering and Photoshop. Also, with the coupon, I was able to get dual 320gb 7200 rpm drives versus dual 250gb 7200 rpm drives, and 8g ram verses 4g ram. I had set my price point, and I was all set to get the C2D 2.8, but when the coupon came out, instead of getting an even lower price on the C2D, I decided to get the Quad with more RAM and bigger HDs for the same price.

I've tried several bags, and my favorite is the Targus 17" CPT401 which you can get for $50 (including shipping) from Amazon. It holds the 18.4" nicely with plenty of pouches, dome protection, and it holds the big power supply, too.

I don't find the screen too reflective: I was afraid that I would, but it's quite beautiful, and I don't notice the reflections.

 

thanks..

1. yes the ssd option is on the Hp website...last option on HDDs.

2. can you share the 30% discount code. Im about to buy today. u can send a private message or post it here.

thanks a lot

 

its a 160GB and i ask because i know reliably from a friend in intel that their product is abt 25% better than wd or seagate.

thanks

 

well as regards to the tuner, i have the pciex1 based internal tuner, i think it should easily catch signals outside of the US, for one thing it should be switchable from PAL to NTSC, and i think it should be good, as in my case it does DVB and Analog...perfect for me atleast

 

As far as i know the tuner is NTSC ONLY. Can you please verify yours is PAL and NTSC?? If yes, did you buy it in the US or Australia?