nw8240 or nw8440

Good day,

I'm looking at buying an HP notebook, and what has caught my eye is the nw8240 and the nw8440. Now I have found one of each and I'm not sure which one would be better. I know the 8440 has a better video and the processor is duo core, but anyway, just looking for another opinion. Here are the specs:

NW8240:

- 2.26-GHz, 533-MHz FSB, 2-MB L2 cache Intel Pentium M processor 780
- ATI MOBILITY FireGL V5000 graphics controller with 128 MB of discrete
- 15.4-inch TFT WUXGA wide-viewing angle (1920 x 1200 resolution and 16 M colors)
- 2gb (2x1gb 533 MHz) DDR2 SDRAM I DIMM
- 80 GB 5400 rpm SMART
- DVD+/-RW MultiBay II Drive
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG 802.11 a/b/g WLAN
- Integrated Bluetooth® Module
- NetXtreme Gigabit PCI Express Ethernet Controller (10/100/1000 NIC*)
- 56K modem with digital line guard
- HP TPM Embedded Security Chip
- 8-cell high capacity Lithium-Ion (69Wh)
- Keyboard with dual pointing devices
- 90-watt power adapter
- Mobile Intel 915PM Express Chipset

NW8440:

- Intel Core Duo T2500 2 GHz ( Dual-Core )
- 2 MB - L2 cache
- 1 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 533 MHz
- 80 GB - 5400 rpm
- DVD±RW (+R DL) / DVD-RAM - plug-in module
- 15.4 TFT active matrix WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050)
- ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 - 256 MB
- Fax / modem - MDC - 56 Kbps
- Network adapter - Ethernet Fast Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.11g
- Keyboard touchpad pointing stick

The 8440 is almost $100 more than the 8240. Any thoughts?

Cheers,
schnut

 

I'd lean toward the 8440. Mostly because of the dual core processor and the WUXGA on the 8240 seems too high for a 15.4" screen. Unless you actually need that kind of resolution.

But the biggest differene is the processor. So you probably should look at some Core Duo reviews and see if the kind of work you expect to do would benefit enough to justify the cost.

Another thing to look out for is whether the 8440 is coming equipped with 1x1GB or 2x512, as that could add cost to you later if you want to upgrade.

Also, I expect the 8440 would be better for Vista, if that floats your boat.

 

hi celondil,

Thanks for the reply... do you think it would be worth waiting for Intel Core 2 Duo to come out?

schnut

 

It's a tough call. nw8440 has a graphics card that has H.264 hardware decoding, and it's somewhat faster at graphics too and comes with 256 VRAM. It's also dualcore. If you need any of these, then you should get it, otherwise nw8240 may be just as good if not better (it's WUXGA, 2GB RAM, etc.).

I might be upgrading to nw8440 from my nw8240, because I need H.264 decoding and 256 VRAM for HDV editing, but that's just my needs.

 

I'm looking at the 8440 as well, and planning on HD editing as well. Is the 256 MB video really helpful for this? I'm not familiar with what H.264 decoding is, can you explain? I'm assuming the screen is a matte finish, how is the brightness and clarity, I've never seen one?

 

nw8440 is okay for HD V editing, but for the most demanding HD footage, you need a latest dual processor workstation. I hope you are speaking about HDV editing.

Yes, 256 MB is helpful in HDV editing and playback. At least, Avid Liquid requires the minimum of 256 MB of VRAM for HDV 1080i editing. Other editing solutions may not be that picky.

H.264 is the codec used to store HD on HD-DVDs and it's quite a standard in files as well. It's a very demanding codec, and it's helpful to have a hardware support for its decoding (or so I think) - or you need a very powerful processor.

I can speak only for nw8240 screen, but I believe nw8440 has a similar screen.
It has matte finish, and brightness is good at the maximum level. The screen is very clear. There are some minor negative things about the screen (e.g. dark parts in bottom corners, etc.), but they are so small that you forget about them very quickly.

 

I am expecting nw8440 to come in anytime soon. I would like to add one 1gb ram to it to make it 2gb total. HP sells one stick for mroe than $500!!!!!! Then they refered me to an authorized HP dealer who told me rams for this was made by Kingston. But Kingston didn't list any rams for nwXXXX models. Then I found one stick for almost $200 at Crucial's website. Does anyone know where I can get cheaper 1gb ram for this unit? I am in the U.S. Who makes rams for this unit???, by the way?

Michaelmorio

 

On paper, any notebook DDR2 that operates at 533 Mhz or higher would be fine. In reality, mixing RAM types can lead to issues. Better to buy matched RAM.