Ordered a new Compaq V3000Z...

It was time for an upgrade and the dual core V3000Z fit my requirements perfectly.

Here's the specs...

– Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
– AMD Turion(TM) 64 X2 Mobile TL-52 (1.60GHz/512KB)
– 14.1" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800)
– NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 6150
– 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (2x256MB)* will upgrade to 2GB later
– 60 GB 5400 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
– Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
– 802.11b/g WLAN
– 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
– Microsoft(R) Works/Money
– Genuine Windows XP Home Edition Backup CD
– HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

APP Price - $1060.16(incd Tax) Free Shipping
MIR - $100
Total - $960.16

Now the pain of waiting for HP to build & ship it!!!
Build Date is June 21.

 

Congrats! The v3000 looks really nice.

Should be a sweet machine. I just ordered a very similarly config'd dv2000z, but with 100 GB hard drive and 1GB of ram.

If you didn't order the remote control, you should. I have the dv1000t, and love having a remote to control mp3 player, dvd's etc.

The remote is a great feature!

 

if the CPU is too slow for you you can always buy the TL-60 at http://www.buy.com/prod/AMD_Turion_64_X2_Mobile_TL_60_35W/q/loc/101/202701315.html

also you guys should seriously consider Bluetooth when ordering a new laptop.


btw what is the APP?

 

Doh! I forgot about the remote. It was in the back of my mind but somehow I didnt remember the remote when I ordered. The V3000 is the first Compaq they have offered quickplay. Maybe thats why I missed it! Well it should be around $15 or so. Will give them a call and see if they can add it.

Thanks for reminding!

APP = Academic Purchase Program, basically if you work/go to school/college you are entitled to a rebate(~ 6%)

The availability of the X2's are really poor. Its been close to a month and they(especially higher end ones) are basically out of stock every place I have looked. AMD should really have to work out some way to get the processors to the consumer as soon as possible. The 1.6 should be fine. I expect it to be slower than my current 3200+ in single threaded apps but should be faster in multi-threaded ones. The 6150 will also be much faster & future proof than my lowly Geforce4 go 440

About Bluetooth, personally I really dont have any need/use for it. I have a RF wireless mouse and it works well and getting 2GB RAM(aftermarket) might be worth and will be useful(to me) lot more than bluetooth.

 

Isn't the remote just a feature with the dv2000?!

Anyway congrats miner, **** I'm salivating over those specs- jus grab more ram- plz give us a full review with pics!

 

OFFTOPIC Wow, Notebookreview.com censored my "cuss" word = dam(n)

 

Thanks Rabid. PLanning to order RAM from newegg and will do review as soon as I get it.

People have different levels of tolerance I guess, we received some complaints from other members, so it had to be blanked out.

But you can use Crap, we have taken it out of the list

 

There is no remote control for the V3000Z. Only the HP's get it.

 

Finally! They shipped it

Jun 21, 2006
5:19 PM
Picked up
KUNSHAN CN
Package received after FedEx cutoff

5:19 PM
Left origin
KUNSHAN CN

 

Can't wait your review. I always wonder if 1.6G X2 can beat any other Core Duos in higher freq.

 

Will do a review as soon as I can. Crossing my fingers hoping it would arrive by the weekend.
The 1.6 should be quite similar in performance of a T2300. Its not going to beat any of the higher clocked Core Duo's.

 

I ordered pretty much the same thing, build date is the 28th

turion 52
1 gig ram
60 gig hd
regular dvd/cd rw

ive been reading about all the dv2000 vs v3000 threads for about the past month, glad i went with the compaq amd.

could you give a brief overview of your cleaning of the OS? i read thru the stickied dv2000 and it seems pretty straightforward. Just would like to see it from the same laptop.

thanks

 

Nice config. I will definately try the reinstallation and see how it goes. I will also try installing both Windows Vista(64bit/32bit) and Ubuntu linux on it as well.

 

Mine also shipped today, and I'm salivating. Unfortunately I used the free shipping 5-7 business days Probably not until next week. Similar config but low Ram since I'm ordering it separate! So cheap too!

Dan

 

Hey all,

What kind of deals are you guys getting on RAM? Are you just getting RAM that matches the specs HP uses? I ask because a lot of the stores selling memory online have a disclaimer that your computer "only supports modules made with a specific type of chip; if you see what looks like exactly the same memory elsewhere for cheaper, it's quite possible it will not work with your system."

Is this just a scare tactic so they can charge more for certain memory? Is it to keep those who don't know the specific type of RAM they need for their computer from buying the wrong type? Or is it a legitimate warning?

I'm also curious what your RAM vendor(s) of choice is (are).

I'm waiting to buy my dv2000 until I see a thorough review (that's not in badly translated Korean) and until HP starts offering the discrete graphics they promised. In the mean time, I'm enjoying hearing what all of you have to say when you receive yours.

Thanks.

 

AMD's high-performance integrated memory controller is much more demanding than Intel's old-fashioned chipset-based controller so you have to be careful to buy good RAM. Also, since the TX2's and Socket AM2 desktop AMD64 chips are so new not all memory vendors have properly tested their memory. For now I'd favor vendors that are known to work well with the regular Turions such as Crucial, Kingston, Transcend, maybe OCZ DDR2-667. Verify whatever you buy with MemTest86+. Good luck to all the early adopters .

 

v3000 looks very good,but i am afraid the performance of turion is not as good as we expect.
The performance of turion X2 TL60 is lower than that of core duo of 1.66G in some reviews.

 

Yeah? Well........

EAT OUR 64-BIT DUST PUNK!!!!
(VROOOM-VRO-O-O-O-O-O-O-OO-O-O-O-OMMMMMMMM!!!!)

Kidding aside, I think that's how most AMD buyers feel about it tzwx. It sucks that the intel is faster. But think of it as this:

*Core duo as a Honda Civic
* X2 Turion as a well equiped Jeep
* Vista as a mountain trail


Hey Miner! Hurry up with that review already . Gorsh I'm going crazy waiting for someone to review it. I might have to chain myself to the radiator (again)

 

Yoohooo!!!!! Its here and in my hands. It looks great. The keyboard feels good(initial opinion) Oh and there is a lot of junk pre installed as usual.




The fan is barely audible. With the laptop running with PowerNow @ 800MHz and surfing the web, the processor temp hovers around 40C. The fan rarely turns on with this setting. With the processor pegged at 1.6GHz, the fan runs at the lowest sped level and the temp stays around 35C. Fairly cool and quite IMO. The keyboard surface does not heat up for regular use. I havent pushed the laptop hard yet to see the maximum temps yet. The left palm rst(located abve the HDD)gets a bit warm when the hard drive is being accessed. The bottom other than the hard drive area is also cool.

Will post more pictures later tonight.

 

oh em gee oh em gee -_-

 

wow! your v3000 looks very nice!

 

Please do a review of this real soon! Please, Please, Please! Thanks and it looks great!

 

Yes, I will....Gimme some time will ya guys....I do have to go to college and work and do the review as well. I will review it as soon as I can.

 

First priority is college, then give us the review. Many of us have been waiting for awhile, but we can also wait longer if needed so take your time.

 

I think we all second that Miner. The last thing we want is for you to be a busboy with a really sweet laptop. Take as much time as you need.

Heck, I don't even need a review, I'm pretty much sold on that pic and it's specs.

(Rubbing Magic Eightball) Come o-o-o-on Office Depot- give me a sweet in-store config sale on v3000z or dv2000z!

 

They'll let you customize one in store?

 

So my v3000z got here today and I've been playing on it all day. This isn't a real review but here's the basics:

1. It's awesome.
2. Keyboard feels different considering I came from a Dell, but it's very nice so far.
3. Screen is generally great, glossy is glossy, could be a bit brighter for daylight scenarios but nothing out of the ordinary here.
4. Unconfirmed, but I do believe the built in mic is f**cked. Not a big deal/component, but slightly annoying.
5. Doesn't run hot at all really, there is some warming under the left palm, but nothing terribly noticeable and not at all bad (unlike dell's which burn).
6. It's gorgeous.
7. It is slightly finger print prone, but nothing a kleenex can't fix.
8. Lighter/thinner than I was thinking it would be. Maybe its my imagination but it certainly feels lighter than my 5lbs Dell, and I started to get worried by the dimensions quoted at 1.5". It's not. At the back its a lil over 1" but not by much.

As for gaming, I don't believe in all that 3dmark nonsense. I've run 2 games at this point: ut2004 and prey. You can play ut2004 very easily, no big shock there. Prey is playable although not screaming, but it looks pretty **** good. Playable to me means 25fps and up with occasional dips. It's fine for casual gaming, just don't expect eye candy and 60fps.

Summary: awesome. This is a great machine, and considering I only payed 850$ for it (soooo cheap), its even more amazing! If you're on the fence, NOTHING else out there gives you the quality/price/components mix. Period.

Oh and did I mention its real slick looking

Dan

 

hey dan, how did u get such a low price!?
could u tell us the specs also?

 

He probably used the APP student program( go students!) to knock of some cash off the price.

 

Guys, would HP Mobile Remote Control compatable with V3000? You can buy it seperately. The remote control board spec. it compatable with V3000. Did anyone tried?

 

Quick Update - Windows XP reinstallation is a breeze provided you opted for the $10 disc, no need to worry about SATA drivers as in the dv2000t. But the only issue is getting quick play to work. It works fine within Windows but the direct feature(which allows to boot into QP without bootingWindows was unable to install). For now I used the 3 recovery DVD's which I had burned to recover back to the factory state with everything as it was. The recovery disc's take an age to get back to the factory state. It took nearly 2hrs and I spent the whole night trying to reinstall Quickplay

Anyways the build quality is pretty good - no creaks and squeals anywhere. The screen does produce some ripples when the lid is pressed but for a relatively low end laptop, the quality is above average. The finish is fingerprint prone but HP provides a ice microfibre cloth with it.

The keyboard has some flex as well especially around the arrow keys. If havent used a Thinkpad keyboard, I dont think there should be any problems adjusting to this one.

The screen has some decent amount of light leakage but nothing that bothers me.

The volume up/down, mute and the quickplay buttons are all touch sensitive. It is a nice feature since it is activated by just running you hand over the markings. It does make a sound every time you use it and might be an annoyance in a quie place like a library.

I havent been able to test the battery life yet will post an update on it as soon as I can.

If you guys any more questions/comments let me know. Expect the review o be submitted sometime early next week.

 

Hey Miner
Congrats on your new laptop!

Does your touchpad scroll when sliding your finger along the right side? My new dv2k has markings on the right side of the touchpad, indicating that it will scroll pages when you slide your finger along the right edge of the pad (as my previous dv1000 did), but it doesn't seem to work on my dv2k.

Just wondering if it works on your machine, or if you know of what settings I need to change to get it to work!

Thanks

 

Thanks and Yes the touchpad scrolling does work. If you are using Firefox then you might need to update the drivers. I assume the touchpad is Syaptics. They have new drivers on their website which should allow scrolling to work in FF. Install that and see if it works. If the scrolling doesnt work anywhere then have you gone through the advanced settings of the touchpad?? You can access it through the Mouse properties menu(control panel)--> Device Settings and click on Setings.

If all else fails then try reinstalling the drivers is all I can think of currently.

 

My V3000z with the TL-52 came in yesterday as well. It looks like all the early birds were getting their machine all at once. If anything, it's a much more stylish machine than the V2000z (ML-37) that it's replacing.

This one came with just XPhome. Since I am planning to dump XPhome for a flavor of 64-bit Linux later; perhaps Ubuntu. Drivers may be an issue there. I may even try the Vista Beta (x64 variety)

In general, the V3000z runs cooler (palm) than the V2000z. But at this point, it looks "hot" for lack of a better word. If I have time, I will test out others reaction at a local Starbuck...

Some minor quirks:
- I wanted a Turion X2 sticker, just got the standard Turion
- Burning the system recovery asked for 15 CDs! Good thing I opted for the DVD writer, which takes 3 DVDs. What do they put on these things?

 

tti_7, would you test SuperPi under Ubuntu 64? I figured linux will have better result than XP. I am not sure if it is because of 64 bit OS or Linux OS.

 

so you would whole-heartedly reccomend this laptop over the v2000z? I'm still leaning toward it. Is the screen really that bad? I believe 2 reviews I read, from this site, said that they loved the screens on the v2000z and had no light leakage.

I can get a v3000z, kinda skimpy on specs, for almost the same price of a very nicely eqipped v2000z.

I know i said a few weeks ago that I had ordered a v2000z, but just at the last minute I couldn't go through with it because of the impending review from this place.

 

I would tend to. The design of this laptop is much improved over the V2000. My brother has a V2000(Pentium M based) and I have seen and used it as well. From the relatively few hrs of use I can say the V3000 runs cooler, the fan is less noisier and looks much better than the V2000. The V3000 definately has some quirks, one such is the fingerprint prone surface. I'm sure there are others but only time will tell about those.

Another small update - With just light use - Wifi on, surfing and typing documents, the 12 cell battery lasted ~5 hrs:30 min. So extrapolating to the 6 cell. It should be around ~2 hrs:30 min - 3 hrs:00 min. Probably the same numbers as the V2000z.

EDIT: The ODM for the laptop is Wistron

 

So there is no suprise improve on battery life. Well, at least they do not lost battery life either. If you haven't twick the undervolte, I am sure it is a bit of improve because you turn on the wifi. V2000Z people won't get 2:30 hr if they turn it on.

 

I wasn't planning to since I don't have a 64-bit flavor of SuperPi, Windows or Linux. Anyone? What I am interested is a version of SuperPi that uses the AMD64 registers. A multi-threaded version of SuperPi may be too much to ask.

Under 32-bit, I am guestimating the TL-52 SuperPi performance will be no better than the original Turion single core ML-28 (1.6G, 512K cache). Since SuperPi is single threaded, with a very small working data set, it will favor the bigger cache CPU. SuperPi will not use the 2nd core.

From what I remember, a typical 1M SuperPi uses a total of about 11MB while running, with about 8MB for the dataset. This is too small compared to realworld apps. FireFox with just this website opens uses 32MB (IE uses a bit more).

The power of the X2 will come from multi-threaded 64-bit apps, far and few in between today. But with (finally) Vista coming, I am guessing 2007 will be the year where software developers will move to 64-bit en masse, multi-thread where appplicable. Our own (client side) in-house apps will have moved to 64-bit by this fall. The server side have moved to 64-bit years ago.

 

I doubt undervolting would help since it is already running at very low volts stock. It is running 800MHz @ 0.8V which is the lowest you can go with any AMD processor. At full tilt 1.6GHz, it runs at 1.075V. I can probably decrease this a bit which wont increse the battery life. Maybe I will see some small difference in the heat output.

 

There was an Linux version of SuperPi, but it is precompiled, not source code. I don't know if it will make any difference to re-compile one. But there were patches for SSE3, and I tested on my desktop(3500+). For 2M SuperPI, it is 4~8 second faster than un-patched SuperPI.

Ubuntu has 64 bit desktop version. I just haven't had a chance to test it yet. Another thing is you may update your kernel to SMP kernel since it is X2. Right now, some people start two threads SuperPi to test it. Intel Core Duo get worse performance because they share L2 cache and the Hyberthread only make things worse(big overhead). AMD X2 desktop perform 2 threads almost the same of single thread.

 

Nobody knows what is the lowest boarder of this new X2. But 0.8V is very sound. Intel said 0.75V on Core Duo which is pretty much the same. I think there will be space of 1.075V.

Just wonder if they have feature to turn off one core on the fly. That will be a huge advantage. Intel and AMD desktop won't let you do that, what about this new Turion X2?

 

so did you get the QP to work?

 

Well, QP works from within Windows but the Directplay(QP without booting into Windows) function does not work and I got an error while trying to install it.

Another Update - Tried installing Vista and Ubuntu. In both cases the installation went smoothly but hit a roadblock in Ubuntu with it not being able to recognise the Broadcom wireless and the ethernet card simply wouldnt connect to the network. The same sort of situation with both 64 bit and 32 bit Vista. They couldnt recognise the wireless card and also had problems with connecting to the router with the ethernet. With 32 bit Vista I was finally able to get the wifi working by forcing it to install the regular XP drivers. The Nvidia geforce want recognised off the bat as well and again the XP drivers came to the rescue. Aero wont run with this driver as it isnt WDDM signed but is enough to give you the native resolution.As and when the WDDM drivers are available Vista Aero should work. Also there was one unknown device in device manager for which I couldnt find any drivers.

 

i work mainly with linux and i was thinking about geting a dv2000z, but if there is no wireless then i'm not that sure
miner, have you tried loading the drivers in ubuntu with ndis wrapper?

 

Hmm...sounds like a fresh install isnt worth it..heh...

 

I didnt try that. I was a bit disappointed as well and since reformating, reinstalling 3 oprerating systems takes a long time and even the wired connection wasnt working, I didnt go into full steam trying to get it to work .

I will take another crack at it after I finish the review.

 

lol. now it seems you'll have write a review on how to fresh insteall on a v3000z.

 

i've found these two links about installing wifi in ubuntu (broadcom)
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=25683
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=185174

or you can try the easy way first doing:
add universe y multiverse repositories
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter
sudo /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh
reboot

the weird thing is that the ethernet card wasn't recognized, perhaps it was working but ubuntu couldn't get an ip address for it?
if you need any help let us know

 

Hey Miner:

Thanks for all your work with your upcomming review, the clean xp installs and also your linux installation. It's gonna save me a ton of grief.

Are you aware of this ( http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/) possible driver for the broadcom wireless? I'm a linux neophyte so I wonder. I got the ref off the open suse site. What do you think?

Thanks again.