Questions about the v4000t

I am thinking of selling my desktop to buy one of these beauts. But I have a couple of q's first.

How is the battery life on the 6 cell?

Do you guys know of any official reviews for this notebook?

Can the optical drive be replaced with any other drive?

How is the viewing angle and overall quality on the screen on this model?

Can you put core duo processors in it?

Also when putting a different processor in this machine is there a sticker or something that voids the warranty or could I just put the old processor back in if I needed to send it in for the warranty?

Thanks in advance!

 

I can answer a couple of those questions.

The drives are standard except for the faceplates. Some facelpates others might have a problem. So you can replace the drive but you will have to look around for a faceplate which roughly matches the stock plate(if you want a perfect fit).

No, even though the Pentium M and Core Duo share the same number of pins, the pin layout has changed so they wont fit in each others socket. You can only replace the existing Pentium M with another Pentium M.

 

For me, its just "barely" enough.
Don't plan on doing any gaming away from an AC outlet. The battery life on "max performance" is around 1 hour. The fan runs at high speed 'cause the graphics chip is so hot. This kills your battery life pretty quick.

If you set it to "max battery" then you can actually get almost 2 hours of gaming. The graphics card runs at half speed, and makes much less heat so the fans run less. You can play games like UT2004, Enemy Territory, and Quake 3 perfectly fine at maximum details and anisotropic filtering on.

If you're doing word processing, and aren't using the Hard drive, then you can get about 2.5 hours of battery life.

It seems that it takes slightly over 3 hours to charge the battery from when it is completely dead.

There are a lot of people here who have bought one recently. A couple said they were going to do reviews. I don't think they have yet.. I've seen them post a bajillion pictures. They're here on this forum, you might have to dig back a couple weeks.

Of course..

I have a brightview, and the viewing angle is great. If you look at it from the extreme top or extreme bottom, then you can't see any colors. You're going to need to be looking down from above the laptop's keyboard.
The left to right viewing angle is acceptable. You can see the colors alright from the sides, but if you want the best brightest colors, then you really have to be right in front of it.
The screen doesn't have a privacy filter or anything.. So anybody who sneaks up behind you will easily be able to see what you're typing.

You're joking right? Of course you can't.. It's not even the right chipset. But a 2.0 Ghz Pentium M is not bad at all. And you'd have a heck of a time trying to find a core duo laptop with similar build quality, a 15.4" screen, and a good ATI chip for less than $2000.
Keep in mind that there is a bug in Windows right now that
prevents the power management of the Core Duo from working properly. Microsoft has known about it since July, and there is no patch yet and no date on when the patch will be available.

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/01/28/toms_hardware_uncovers_power_drain_issue/

 

I'd recommend doing a search of the reviews on this site for HP dv4000 reviews, too. I reviewed mine with the x700, and so did Togus. Our computers have the same internals as the Compaq v4000t - the only differences are the badging and the QuickPlay options on the HPs.

 

You must have very low expectations in terms of "performance". At 1280x800 (default res on the panel) with CS Source, it's barely playable for me, avg about 50fps or so on medium detail, no AA or AF in cs_militia. I'm on a 1.86 tough it could be ram since I only have 512MB, but the improvement shouldn't be THAT great. Will update once I get my 2x1GB sticks in.

But of course I'm biased since I have a 4400+, 2GB RAM, X1900XT on my desktop.

 

Oh yeah, 6-cell gives you about 2.5hrs with WiFi on, surfing and listening to mp3s. I personally went with the 12 cell, a little heavier, but close to 6hrs battery life is awesome.

 

CS Source is a different generation game than those that I mentioned.. That's why I mentioned those specific games.

CS Source requirements:
1.2 GHz Processor
256MB RAM

CS Source recommend:
2.4 GHz Processor
512MB RAM

Quake 3 Arena Requirements:
200 Mhz
32 MB RAM.
4 MB video card.

Quake 3 Recommends:
400 Mhz
64 MB Ram
16 MB Video card.

Enemy Territory Requirements:
600 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM,

UT2004 Requirements:
Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz processor (Pentium® or AMD 1.2GHz or greater recommended)
128MB RAM (256MB RAM or greater recommended)


As you can see... CS Source is not on the same par as any of the games I stated above. Except maybe UT2004. But I've found UT2004 to run fine at maximum graphics settings in "max battery" mode. Just don't try to run UT2004 with the anti-aliasing turned on in "max battery" mode.

 

I was wondering if it is possible to use the v4000t on the lap with WiFi on and running normal aps like Word. Will blocking the fan on the bottom cause it to overheat very quickly? I returned the v5000z due to this problem and am hoping a Pentium M will run cooler than a Turion. Thanks

 

i'm doing it right now

the fan rarely even comes on when on battery power

 

If you block the vent it will overheat after some time but you can work with it in your lap and still leave the vents open.
Pentium Ms do not run cooler than Turions, especially in v4000t where you have a very hot GPU

 

I made this mistake when I first got my machine. I had the computer on a pillow on my lap in the ol' Barco-lounger and in an unaware moment blocked the cooling vent (there's only one fairly small vent on the machine). In self preservation my Dv4000 shut itself down due to thermal overload before there was any damage. Since I've downloaded Notebook Hardware Control so I can see the cpu temp. on the tray at all times.

 

Hmm.. My v4000t has a little vent on the back and a vent with a fan on it on the bottom.. I think the vent in the back is for intake and the vent on the bottom is for output since I don't feel any air coming out of the back, but I can feel air coming out of the bottom.

By far, the X700 GPU in the v4000t generates more heat than the CPU. Even in the power savings mode on the GPU. Usually the reason why the fan turns on in my v4000t (according to mobmeter) is that the GPU is getting above 55C. Meanwhile, my CPU is at 45C or lower.