Reduction of resolutions on Wide Screens (WXSGA+) ie NX8220

I am trying to find out how a wide screen ie NX8220 deals with a reduction in resolution ie from 1680*1050 to 1024*768.

Does it

a) Use part of the total panel area for smaller resolution which is centalised.

b) Use part of the total panel area for smaller resolution which is NOT centralised ie top left corner.

c) Does it use the whole screen area, but interpolate the resolution creating a slight fuzziness. Some laptops do this better than others.

d) Does something else?

If I go for a wide screen (NX8220) it is important that it can deal with the smaller resolution properly in particular the 4:3 aspect resolutions.

Thanks,

Sam

 

Like most laptops, not very well. When LCDs desktop or notebook are run at a non-native resoltuion, they get blurry or fuzzy, You can increase the DPI to make text larger if it is too small. No matter waht resolution it is run at, it will fill the screen.

 

The ATI card in my L2000 has an option to either strech or not strech native resolutions to fit the screen.

So, when I want to play a game at 1024 x 768, I get a 4:3 square, nice and sharp, with black lines on either side (like watching a regular TV signal on a Widescreen TV)

So, if you set the right option, 1024 x 768 should appear normal, and centered in your widescreen.

YMMV, but this works for me...

 

Sam,

For any non-widescreen resolutions, it will stretch to fill the screen or you can change one of the display settings to prevent stretching as Wintermute indicated.

When not stretched, it will only use part of the screen and display it in the center (black borders around the edges).

I hope this was what you were looking for.

-Vb-

 

Excellent. According to HP sales it will only stretch. My gut told me not to believe him. Looks like my gut is right. I should be getting a call from a HP technical guy tomorrow to confirm. So thanks .

By the way Venombite how are you getting on with your 8220.? especially your LCD?

I am still agonising whether to purchase a 15.4 or 6125 15". With the resolution reduction issue possibly going away then 15.4 is looking less problematic.

So what do you think.... am I being a bit of a luddite, and accept that the 15.4 will blow me away!!!

Cheers, and thanks to all,

Sam

 

Wintermute, special thanks to youself for first confirming my hopes. WHich ATI card does your machine have? The 8220 has the X600.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Sam,

I'm enjoying my notebook. There's no real problems with the unit overall. The LCD is great after I got the replacement unit. The only LCD had a "shimmer" problem, but it turned out to be the brand of LCD used by HP. The brand I have now is different and looks AMAZING even though it's not Brightview.

With regards to the Stretching, yes, the nx8220 has that option as well because it's part of the ATI drivers. It's located in the Advanced Display Properties.

Personally, I like the widescreen feature, especially when watching movies. It allows for better viewing of widescreen movies, IMHO. But it really depends on what you're looking for. A 15" screen is taller than a 15.4" widescreen, but the widescreen is wider (of course).

Some issues that I can see with the nx6125 are the weight (it's about the same weight as the nx8220) and graphics card (ATI x300 with possibly shared video memory rather than full dedicated like the nx8220's ATI x600).

I think you'll get better battery runtimes on the nx8220, especially with the new BIOS upgrade. Before the F.0E BIOS update, I was getting an idle runtime of a bit over 4 hrs, but after the update, I believe it's pushing to almost 5hrs. Power consumtion has dropped from approx 15-16W to under 12W (depending on screen brightness) with WiFi on. That's what I consider a major update to their BIOS/Power Management scheme.

I think you'll be happy with the nx8220. I'm happy with mine and I'm pretty picky about my stuff and I'm impressed with the overall notebook quality/features. I'd also recommend getting the HP extended warranty to 3 years total. It's a good insurance pilicy if you ever need it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-Vb-

 

VenomBite,

Thanks for your excellent comments on the nx8220. Tell me did you look at the Dell D810 as that is my possible alternative?

Also do you have any problems with the fact that the HDD shares a PATA port with the CD/DVD unit. Apparently it can be a problem when burning or ripping CDs and DVDs.

Again, a big thank you for your efforts.

Sam

p.s Is it possible to autosend an email notification to the person that one is replying to in the forum?

 

Sam,

I have looked at Dell, but it was mainly the D610 because I wasn't thinking of a widescreen notebook. I then looked that the nc6230 but cost quite a bit. Then I saw that the new nx8220 came out and I was impressed. Overall features was great and it was at a decent price range. I then decided that was the one I wanted.

I haven't heard a lot of good things about Dell's in general (units feel cheap/plasticky) and their support is lacking (that's what I've read, but everyone gets bad experiences with every company, so I can't be too hard on them).

No, the issue with the PATA is only if you burn faster than 2X for DVD's. I haven't burned any CD's for a while, so I'm not 100% sure if there will be a problem with burning CD's. I'll give it a try tonight and see what happens. With DVD's, the buffer drops a bit, but it jumps back up without any problems. I can also surf the web and run apps without any problems either.

What do you mean by autosend an email? So if I'm responding to your post, you want to send an email to me? I know if you subscribe to the thread, if it gets updated, you will get an email that the thread has been updated. Just goto the thread, on the top has a Thread Tool drop-down box, just select subscribe and select the options you want.

-Vb-

 

VB,

I only wanted an email when a reply came in on the thread to trigger me to go in and have a look. Yes your 'Subscription' tip is the answer.

Thanks again for your great and full replies.

Sam

 

Sam,

You're welcome. If you need any more info on the nx8220, just let me know.

-Vb-

 

VB,

I really appreciate your help. Do you have the NBD onsite warranty, and if so have you used it and what was it like. If not what have your experience of HP support been?
I am planning to take out the 4 year nbd onsite which is about £250.

My Experience of Dell's level one was intermediate, but once you got through to them that the laptop was bust the onsite engineers were brilliant. It was all about going through the system. However if I did buy a D810 I was going to buy 'business support' which basically enable me to talk to a more qualified engineer in the first instance. I think HP uses level one in one's own country, UK in my case.

Also I would be interested on how the nx8220's LCD performs outside. It would be nice to have the opportunity to do this. I gather these new glossy screens are great outside, but too glarey. The Dell D810 has a brighter LCD on it top resolutions, I think they call it 'Ultrabright'. Is there something similar on the nx8220 - is it 'brightview'?

Thanks again. You are been really helpful.

Sam

 

A few extra questions about LCD resolution manipulation.

a) How does the nx8220 cope with reducing the resolution in order to demo something to a client as WSXGA+ would be too small. I guess one would use a 16:9 (wide) version of 1024 * 768 interpolated to use the whole screen.

b) As a), but this time using an external monitor for demonstrations.

c) How does it cope with output via a video projector?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions,

Sam

 

Third question.... does the nx8220 support dual monitor display where you can have half your work area on one monitor e.g outlook and visual studio on the other. This may be OS thing. I have not use this feature thus far, but I have been informed that it is really useful if you are using more than one monitor.

Thanks,

Sam

 

Sam,

Just an FYI, you can actually use the edit button (bottom right corner or your post) to edit the post (if no response has been posted yet) to keep it cleaner. Some might just read the last post and not bother with the earlier posts, so only some of the questions will be answered.

But, in regards to your questions, hopefully I can answer all of them, so here goes.

1. No, I didn't get the Next Business Day Onsite warranty. I just got the standard 2yr extension on my warranty to up me to 3yrs total (Pickup/Drop-off plan) as this was the cheapest , so I can't really say how their onsite service is.

2. HP support is a bit spotty sometimes. It really depends on who you speak to at the time. Some support reps I spoke to were completely useless, while others shined like the sun. HP also has a Business support team which I also believe is better than their general Consumer team, but this is not always the case. I have dealt with L2 and up support from HP and they do go the extra mile to try to resolve the problems. One of the L3 support engineers I was speaking to actually sent me a handful of CD's for testing (slow burn speeds, 10min to burn a 700MB CD @ 16X) rather than telling me to go out a buy different brands. I found that very professional on HP's & the L3 engineer's side.

3. The L1 support is random. The calls get put into a queue and will sometimes route to India, while other times to the US (in my experience), but if you always get the UK, then you're lucky. The skill level from one location will probably be on par, some better, some worse, but none totally useless (I hope).

4. I haven't had the opportunity to use the notebook outside. But I don't think it should be too bad vs the new glossy screen. It's got an antoi-glare coating on it to help. The LCD is also very bright (brighter than my 1st nx8220) so that will make seeing this a bit better in the sun.

5. Yes, HP's technology is called Brightview. It's generally all the same vs other manufacturers. I just group them all into the "Enhanced" LCD category.

6. No, the nx8220 (actaully, all their Business notebooks) don't have Brightview. It's a completely un-needed technology in the Business sector, but the LCD itself is still bright enough. I have to lower the brightness when working on the unit at home, so it should be fine for most.

7. When using smaller than the native (max) resolution, the images will stretch to fill the screen. This will cause the images to be more jagged/blurry because of the stretching. But you can disable this feature in the Advanced Display Properties. With this option disabled, and you set you res to 1024x768, it will only use 1024x768 out of the 1680x1050 available pixels. The image will be displayed in the middle of the screen with balck borders around the edges.

8. Using an external monitor should be fine using only 4:3 ratio resolutions. You can use widescreen resolutions, but that will make the desktop too big on the TV and the desktop will scroll (virtual desktop) when you move up or down beyond the edges. If you had a widescreen TV, that should be different.

9. A projector will work in the same way as the TV, but both will depend on the capabilities of the TV/projector. They can only display the supported resolutions, so going too high will turn the desktops to virtual desktops.

10. Yes, the nx8220 supports dual monitors. It's actually part of the display drivers. You can span your desktop onto 2 screens. I did this with my TV, I had my desktop stretched sideways, the LCD on the left & TV on the right. I was capable of playing a movie on the right side and surf the web on the left without any problems. I believe you might be able to run 2 different resolutions on each display (i'd have to verify that).

I hope this has helped to answer your questions. Just let me know if I was unclear on something and I'll try to explain it clearer.

-Vb-

 

VB,

First of all a superb reply. Extremely comprehensive.. A big thank you for your efforts.

Regarding:

5,6. BrightView, Ah it is the Glossy technology. Must admit I have mixed feelings about this anyway as I find it is too reflective, and too similar to a mirror But that may be the luddite in me.... Anyway a bit acedemic as the nx8220 does not have it anyway.

7,8,9 As far as I can see to get the appropriate resolution on the external crt or projector one would select the 4.3 resolution on the laptop, and in the first instance probably have the black margins, and then if it is too small to interpolate. I assume the external crt/ projector will then just display 1024 *768 or whatever 4.3 resolution you choose as full screen like my current Dell.

Just as an addendum here, is it possible to mimic a 4.3 LCD on the nx8220 ie have left and right margins and then interpolate to this 15.1"ish size? For example only use a 1400 * 1050 4:3 space and then interpolate a 1024*768 resolution into this space. This would then mimic what would happen on a standard 15.1" 4:3 SXGA+ LCD if needed. Would be brilliant if it could do this as one would have the best of both worlds.

10. Great.


Oh by the way not that I will want to do it, but is the x600 upgradable as apparently it can be on the d810? This one is more out of curiousity.

Thanks again VB. You are a star...

Sam

 

Sam,

Thank you for the praise. I just hope I covered everything.

Regarding 7,8,9, it might actually be possible to run 2 different resolutions for the internal & external displays. I'll give it a try tonight and see if it works on my TV which runs at 800x600 and my screen at 1680x1050. I remember doing something like this, but I think I had to enable Theatre mode in the advanced display properties.

You can have your LCD perform the interpolation while the external will have the correct 4:3 ratio resolution.

Regarding your addendum, I don't think this is possible to do this.

The x600 is not upgradable, so if you're looking for something faster possibly for future games, you may want to get a unit with a faster GPU to start. Currently, there's only a few brands that are capable of doing this, but their units are usually fairly pricey, and there's not a 100% guarantee that the video cards will actually be available (might have to by directly from manufacturer of notebook).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-Vb-

 

Hi VB,

Again a big thank you for your prompt reply.

Yes would be very interested in what you find out about 7,8,9.

with regard to the x600, I am not a big gamer, if at all. Although I would want to edit video if possible, retouch photos.

Thanks again,

Sam

 

Hey Sam,

That's no problem.

I'll let you know when I try it tonight.

For video editing and photo retouching, it's mainly all CPU & memory/HDD intensive, so you don't really have to worry about the video card that much. The video card will have big impact on CAD or 3D rendering/modelling apps.

[UPDATE] Just tried the video output to my TV and it looks like you can have 2 different resolutions for each display. I had my TV extended to the right of my LCD. The LCD was running 1680x1050 and the TV was 800x600. You have the option in the Advanced Display Properties to maintain widescreen resolutions on external displays. I couldn't test as my TV only supports a max res of 800x600, but I don't see it having a problem working.

-Vb-

 

VB,

Thanks again.

I am now trying to understand how the laptop will behave when demonstrating to clients. Typically I will need to reduce the resolution to say 1024*768 so that they can see what is going on.

The options so far are:

a) reduce to 1024 * 768 native with black border.

RESULT:Too small

b) expand 1024* 768 to use whole LCD.

RESULT:Gets stretched, and looks unprofessional

c) Interpolate to a non wide 4/3 screen area, so only left and right margin. Same screen size as a 15.1.

RESULT: Cannot be done which is a shame as this would be the ideal.

d) Interpolate to a wide screen resolution ie something like 1200 * 768.

RESULT: Potentially fine as no stretching, and may also be ideal if the resolution exists. I guess there would be some resolutions that behave better than others ie integer arithmetic instead of reals to interpolate.

Any comment hugely appreciated.

Thanks,

Sam

p.s
a) what does dual channel memory mean ? Is this the number of modules?
b) Can you change both modules from the underside of the laptop ie no hidden modules under the keyboard.
c) How do you get rid of a cat who insists on sitting on your lap while you are trying to type a question on this forum!!!???

 

Hey Sam,

There are 2 other alternatives.

1. You can use the native WSXGA+ (1680x1050) resolution but increase the font sizes of Windows so your customers can see the text.

2. You can get the nx8220 with the WXGA screen rather than the WSXGA screen. It has a max (native) resolution of 1280x800 which is better to view fonts and stuff. It still looks good (because it's native res) and should be similar to a 4:3 monitor running at 1280x1024 (font size wise).

Regarding your other questions:

1. Dual channel means that 2 streams of data can be transfered at a time (1 read/ 1 write). Just imaging if you had a road only 1 car width wide. You would only be able to move 1 car at a time. Dual channel generally adds another lane to that road and allows each lane to have access to the memory controller.

In order to get Dual Channel, you need 2 things. A systemboard chipset that support Dual Channel memory and 2 identical memory modules (size & specs wise).

2. The nx8220 supposedly supports Dual Channel memory (according to Intel's specs on the 915 Express chipset, but don't know if HP had this feature removed). One slot is located under the unit, while the other is under the keyboard. I spoke to HP support and they said that you will not void the warranty if you open the keyboard to add more memory.

3. Throw a bit of catnip in the corner of your room. Catnip is like crack (from what I've seen on TV).

-Vb-

 

VB,

Again thanks.

a) I know about the windows font settings, but have been informed that they can cause side effects in apps that are not designed with this facility in mind.

b) Can you do me a favour. I was wondering whether you could test the 1280*800 interpolation by changing from 1680*1050 to 1280*800 using full screen. I would be very interested to hear what the quality is like. I would suspect that no stretching would occur since this is a wide aspect resolution.

c) According to my HP reseller's tech support it does support dual channel although you will need 2 memory modules, like for like.

d) Interesting point about the keyboard memory install.

e) The other cat is called Nutty - Nutty by nature and Nutty by colour. We believe she has a secret lifetimes supply of catnip - always spaced out...

Thanks again,

Sam

P.s I see all the Sony followers are getting excited with the new BX.

 

Sam,

Just tested the widescreen resolutions available on the nx8220 and they showed up a bit blurry, but not as jagged/fuzzy as with non-widescreen resolutions. Doing a presentation at 1280x800 should be fine. You could probably tweak the fonts a bit to make them sharper.

The also have 1280x780 & 1400x900 resolutions. All seem to look the same, except 1400x900, this looked decent.

-Vb-

 

VB,

Superb. I really appreciate your time on this.

BTW, I got the same story on changing slot 1 memory regarding warranty, ie it is OK.

I think the only thing to sort out now is the onsite warranty.... and guess what the reseller is now offering a better warranty than HP.... ie they will replace your notebook within 8 hours if they need to take yours away!!! So hopefully I will be able to order today.

Thanks again,

Sam

p.s I have a HP category specialist ringing me back. I will mention the good work of this site, as it benefits them. I believe the site deserves recognition.

 

Sam,

Thank you for the compliments. A rep point would also be an excellent gesture.

I would recommend purchasing HP's extended warranty rather than the store's extended warranty. HP's warranty is vaild worldwide, while the store's warranty is only good at that store (or througout their chian). You can't take the unit to HP after the standard 1 year is up and get it fixed under warranty. Also, if the store goes belly up, so does your extended warranty.

Thanks,

-Vb-

 

VB,

Thanks again. I have given you a rep point. However I wanted to give another , but was prevented!!!.

Sam

 

Sam,

Thank you very much for the rep point...but you didn't have to do that.

I was just wondering if you decided on the getting this unit and with which warranty?

-Vb-

 

Vb,

Yes I ordered the unit yesterday with the HP 4 year next business day onsite warranty, all direct from HP. I ordered the PY518ET model (2.13GHZ,1GB RAM etc)(see hp.co.uk) of which the price dropped again over the weekend. This higer spec model seems to be cheaper than some lower spec nx8220 models... I think it is to do with scarsity of supply. I decided to go for the 4 year warranty although it is more expensive than the 3 year warranty. With my old laptop all the issues ocurred at the end of the 3rd year and during the 4th year, and this is a business machine.

Also all technical support is handled locally in the UK. Whether this is becuase I have taken out a Business NBD Onsite warranty I am unsure, but this is where my support will come from.

The price ended up the same as the D810/2ghz/1gb RAM/4 year warranty that I had negotiated hard on, but cancelled due to concerns. If I had gone for the 2.13GHZ on the D810 I would have ended up paying another £200 approx. So I am happy.

Now looking forward to the great arrival.

Thanks again,

Sam

 

Woah! Nice specs. I wish I could have gotten a model with the 2.13Ghz processor. I think you're getting a better unit than the Dell, so you made the right choice.

Well, congratulations on your new purchase and I hope you'll be as happay with it as I am with mine.

-Vb-

 

It has arrived.....!!!

Well what great looking laptop, yes very different from the dell...

I am going to play with it a bit and then report back further. I could not resist playing the Cold Mountain DVD.... great although it seemed the widescreen was within another wide screen so there seemed to be 2 top margins and 2 bottom margins if you get what I mean. I was using Media Player 10 in full screen.

Yes, certainly chic.... and the case,panel and hinges feel very solid. Your comment about the rough area by the LEDS do not seem an issue yet. However the keyboard feels a little(very slight) narrow and softer and shallower to the touch than the DELL and slightly noisier. I wonder if the nc8230 uses the same keyboard. Not a real issue, just an observation...

Thanks,

Sam

 

Sam,

Congratulations on the new notebook! I bet it was pretty excruciating having to wait for the notebook to arrive. Now that's it's here, it's good to see you're jumping right into it.

The issue with the DVD having margins on both sides has to do with the player itself. If you used the player (WinDVD) that comes with the notebook (it did in mine) or PowerDVD (my preference), it should play fine. You'll just get the standard black bars on the top and bottom. Media Player is not the best thing to be using when watching DVD's. It's just best for watching video clips or anything AVI/MPG file, but not DVD.

The keyboard is supposed to be full size and I don't seem to have any problems using it, but then again, I'm kinda used to using notebook keyboards including the older ones (smaller). This keyboard is pretty much the exact same used in the nc8230, except that it doesn't have the Point Stick (aka the nipple), but the spacing is identical.

I thought the keys were fairly quiet except for the space bar, but overall, I felt the keyboard had a good feel/response to them when typing.

Just wondering about your LCD, did you get the LCD without the shimmer/dirty look to the screen?

Now that you have the unit, I'd personally recommend wiping the system and reloading it from scratch. This will clear out all the excess apps/drivers/settings that notebook manufacturers seem to like to install in their notebooks. This will speed up your notebook as well as increase battery runtimes (it did in mine). Just let me know if you want the instructions on how I set my system up.

-Vb-

 

Sorry, been a bit quiet of late.

I have had a play and am amazed at the amount of installed s/w about 7gb so your instructions would be handy. I have created 3 extra partitions and done a disk image backup (Acronis).

I must admit the look and feel is really growing on me. Tonnes better than the functional Dell. Nice solid lid etc. Had a slight concern with the adapter which HP have been great about, simply replacing it. So we will see.

 

Hmmm....an adapter problem huh, what was wrong with the adapter?

Well, the instructions to reload the system is very basic.

1. Backup all your data that you want to keep.
2. Goto the Intel website and download the latest 915 Chipset drivers & 2200BG (this should be your wireless card) drivers.
3. Goto the ATI website and download the lastest Catalyst Drivers (5.8 I believe)
4. Goto www.DriverHeaven.net/patje and download their ATI Modder Utility
5. Goto the HP website and download the remaining hardware drivers (no software, just the hardware drivers). The basic is audio, modem, Xtreme ethernet, SD Slot, Bluetooth & updated BIOS.
6. Burn these files onto CD or transfer to a USB drive
7. Recover the OS using the included HP Recovery OS CD
8. When complete, just install the drivers you downloaded and perform all OS updates

**Note** To install the ATI drivers, run the ATI EXE you downloaded, it'll automatically extract the files and then error out....that's OK. Run the ATI modder utility and point to the driver folder in C:\ATI as this will modify the required files to allow the drivers to install. When complete, just run the SETUP.EXE in the ATI folder and you should be set.

After all the above drivers are installed, you should have no errors/warranings in Device Manager. At this point, you have yourself a base image you can make a backup of and burn to disc.

Now you can install the software you need/want.

With these basic steps, I was capable of increasing my system performance and battery runtimes just by reloading the OS. Let me know if you need any clarification on any of the steps.

If you had to rate the HP vs the Dell on a scale of 1-10 (worst-best) on design, features, etc..., how would you rate this unit?

-Vb-