*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

The title says it all, we shall continue here and the old thread will be closed and linked to the new one shortly....

You can access the old thread following this link.

General Information:
Press Release
Detailed Specs
Datasheet PDF
Support Center
Closeup Pictures and Two 8740w Side By Side

Dream Color 2 Specifications:

Contrast Ratio 800:1 typical
Brightness 210 nit typical
Backlight RGB LED
Viewing Angle ±89° Horizontal, ±89° Vertical (typical)
Technology Type 30-bit In-Plane Switching (IPS)
Color Depth 10-bits/color
Display Colors Over 1 billion colors (native mode)

Color Gamut Coverage CIE1931 (x,y) CIE 1976 (u',v')
NTSC 109% 129%
AdobeRGB 114% 127%
sRGB 154% 148%

Drivers:
Download Drivers and Software

Manuals:
Maintenance and Service Guide
Customer Self-Repair Videos

Reviews:
NBR Review - 840QM, M7820, DC2 !




Benchmarks:

Benchmarking Thread!

Graphics Benchmarks (3DMark 06 / Vantage):
M7820: 11944 / none (520M HP 8740w) source
M7820: 12249 / none (520M HP 8740w) source
M7820: 12356 / 7462 (520M Asus G73JH w/5870) source
M7820: 12373 / none (720QM HP 8740w) source
M7820: 12402 / none (520M HP 8740w) source
M7820: 12553 / 8123 (720QM MSI GT7xx w/5870) source
M7820: 13063 / none (820QM HP 8740w) source
M7820: 13451 / 8463 (820QM Clevo W860CU w/5870) source
M7820: 13191 / 8345 (840QM HP 8740w) source
2800M: no benchmarks available source
3800M: 12308 / 6666 (720QM HP 8740w) source source
3800M: 13323 / 6584 (920XM Dell M6500) source

HP 8740w Comparative Benchmark: 720QM vs 820QM
Includes 3DMark06, PCMark05, wPrime, Cinebench

Temperatures:
Idle, 720QM+3800M:
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, 520M+M7820: GPU 67C, CPU 86C source
Furmark, 520M+M7820: GPU 75C source
wPrime, 520M: CPU 84C source
...

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

NOTE: Some of this information is several months old and now may be incorrect. An update is in progress; please check back in a few days.

Is the DreamColor display the original DreamColor or the DreamColor 2?
The press release confirms that the 8740w will be offered with a new DreamColor display. HP Fansite referred to the display as DreamColor 2. Also, orders with DreamColor contained the following line item: VG322AV LCD 17.0 WUXGA+WVA DC2 f/CAM 8740w.

When will the DreamColor 2 display be available?
HP initially offered DreamColor 2 in late March, but later cancelled the orders. HP provided no public explanation. In late June, HP once again started taking orders for systems with DreamColor 2. Initial delivery is estimated for mid-July.

Is the DreamColor 2 display a 10-bit IPS panel?
Yes, according to HP Fansite. The press release confirms 10-bit color, but not the panel technology. A post in this thread claims an email from HP confirming the technology as IPS. (credit: NotebookGrail)

Will the DreamColor 2 be available with all of the offered GPUs?
Yes. There was an early rumor, based on a comment at HP Fansite, that the DC2 and ATI M7820 were incompatible, and thus the DC2 would only be offered with the nVidia 2800M and 3800M. That appears to be false. This YouTube video shows the 8740w being demonstrated with M7820 and DC2 by an HP employee at a trade show.

What are the differences between the ATI FirePro M7820, nVidia Quadro FX 2800M, and nVidia Quadro FX 3800M?
Articles at HP Fansite and Engadget indicate that the M7820 is based on the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, a top-tier card. The M7820 differs from the 2800M/3800M in that it likely will support DirectX 11 and ATI's Eyefinity multi-monitor technology. The GPUs will differ further in their certifications for various professional applications.

How many external screens and what max resolution does the M7820 support (via ATI Eyefinity)?
This YouTube video and this Tom's Hardware article show the 8740w driving three external monitors in addition to the built-in panel. A post in this thread claims support for up to four external monitors.

How many memory slots does the 8740w have?
Dual-core models come with two memory slots, quad-core with four memory slots. (credit: Thecla)

What make/model is the 256GB SSD offered by HP? Does it support TRIM?
Probably Samsung. Don't count on TRIM support until HP finishes testing the firmware.

Does the 8740w have a backlit keyboard?
The 8740w may be configured with a backlit keyboard.

What kind of discounts or coupon codes are there?
Some report discounts up to 28% by calling particular HP reps. HP also regularly offers a discount on its web site.

 

Tips & Tricks:

Improve dual-core CPU temps by installing the heatsink for quad-core units.

Reported Issues:

Crashes when all four SO-DIMM slots are populated.
Intermittent crashes following resume.
Abnormally high fan speeds following resume.

...

 

Can anyone get VT-x working with ubuntu in VirtualBox? I can't, but I know VT-x is a feature of the i7-840qm

 

Reply to this post from the old thread:

I agree, but if you are not able to get rid those bad sectors once you've formatted the disk (select full format!), I recommend knight427 consider the awesome HDD Regenerator tool. You can run it in order to do an in-depth scan and, in trial mode, you'll be able to fix up to 1 bad sector (if any). Most times, bad sectors are produced due to improper sector magnetization. If this is the root cause, HDD Regenerator will fix them without problems.

 

@Aikimox, did you happen to copy the contents from the first 3 posts of the old thread. Looks like SAM has deleted it. Let me know, if you run out of luck, i have a local copy

 

To DC2 owners. Let me know if you see this problem. I have reported it before, haven't got that many responses.

Configure DC2 to your liked color space and luminance, etc. When you boot your computer wait until the HP MDA loads and icon appears in tray. Now open HP MDA, you should see the brightness increase/decrease based on your set luminance.

Now again reboot the notebook with the power not plugged in. Wait until HP MDA load and appear in tray. Now, plug the power back in. You should obviously see the brightness increase/decrease to the setting that HP MDA was configured to (without even opening the app - not just to default windows brightness, but to the one set in HP MDA).

I find it really annoying that the HP MDA doesn't properly load even when set to load during start up.

 

Yep, bios F.05 broke the startup of the MDA. It used to work right, remembering the previously loaded gamut and intensity, on battery and on power-plug, in F.03.

I noticed a new annoyance today. I was working in Lightroom, so I set the HP Power Assist profile to High Performance. That translates to setting the OS to High Performance. Well, my High Performance profile had max brightness set to 90% for some reason. Then, because the OS's brightness intensity was set outside of the MDA, the MDA profile was altered to get "User" prefixing the name, and the old "red/yellow tint" effect kicked in. ...all within the course of a few seconds. Resetting the gamut profile to the default set everything back (after fixing the OS's Max Perf profile to have a display intensity of 100%), but still, annoying.

 

Check Disk took forever to run this time, and it found lots of stuff to correct I guess. I'm back up and running. Thanks to everyone for their help.

 

Hmm, I don't see any problem (F.05). The brightness changes slightly around the value I preset in the MDA, and it's totally in sync with the ambient light. At least, that's how it looks to me. Never had the tints, unless using the Fn+F10/9 keys or forcing the brightness change through the OS power profiles.

The problem will most likely return soonish. This is what I call the "shift". Could be due statics buildup and might result in a drive failure. Better be ready to upgrade to a SSD

 

May be your HP MDA luminance value is in sync with the windows brightness value. That's why you don't see a difference.

 

I assumed it was related to my regular crashing. I'm guessing having Windows shut down instantly does bad things. Not sure how much more of this self-imposed punishment I can take.

 

I change the brightness quite often from 40 to 210 but most of the time it's around 100. When ambient light changes it can jump to +-10 around the value currently set in the MDA. And of course, as soon as you change it in the MDA the windows brightness value changes accordingly. That's how it should be, IMHO. I still don't see a problem.

You should be pushing towards a proper replacement, you know that. At the very least, they must replace your mobo.

 

I have only myself to blame at this point. I could have a new machine by now, but I have to wait until DC2 is cleared of some outstanding problem...my tech refuses to take the risk of sending me yet another faulty machine, so I opted to wait instead of settling for less than requested (which is way more than I paid for...so again, nothing to pin on HP here).

 

Yeah, in that case I'd do the same - wait. DC2 is well worth it

 

Possible DC2 problem? I'll love to hear if ramp.psd displays as a smooth gradient for you in 10-bit mode.

 

Well, I don't intend to use 10-bit mode, I just want the pretty colors (and the wide viewing angles...actually it's mostly the viewing angles).

 

Ordered the Intel Core i7 940XM today and will replace my current 840QM (840 will goto a Dell m6500 of a colleague)

Have a strange problem.

The SSD in the upgrade bay is not started when I enter Windows, after I run Intel Matrix Storage Console and do a rescan the drive is found and works with no problems. When I restart windows it's the same again and the drive is not active. To prevent that I have to rescan the drive each session of windows I was wondering is someone has the same problem or a solution.

 

@m8o, can you try the ATI method of verifying the ramp.psd using the CS5 32 bit program? (Want to see if it makes any difference) I don't have access to my 8740W now, so can't try it right away.

 

Yes, CS5 is the way I'd been doing it, following the instructions from the PDF. (I did not know there's another way to test; unless you mean just draw/paint a 16-bit gradient, in which case I've always seen every integer division of gray on the 8-bit boundary when I do that)

 

What i meant was to use the CS5 32 bit instead of 64 bit. The default is 64 bit.

 

aH! Ok, will do. I'll only be able to later today/tonight. Working on the E6500 right now and won't be able to go to turn the 8740w on until later.

 

Hey m8o,

Have you received your brain cell yet? I'm looking at either the brain cell, the cache or a waterfield sleeve.

 

Nope, hasn't been shipped (seems to be still back-ordered) I've been meaning to e-mail them the last week. I'll do that now.

 

Looks like BIOS F.08 is out. Nothing stated other than support for nvidia Quadro 5000.

 

Would be nice to see how the new Nvidia card performs.
Too bad it's not compatible with DC2 and also very expensive

 

I find the 32-bit binary is behaving the same as the 64-bit binary.

Oh, I was about to click the link to the drivers! What happened?

 

No new drivers. Silly me forgot to install the ones from the 3rd of August. Current latest is ver.8.743.3.1.
Tom2D: 576

 

Installed the latest bios with no problems. I also updated the video bios (Included in the update). I also found out that it's possible to install the latest Quadro drivers from the nVidia site. It use to be that you could only use the HP video drivers.

 

I need to find a way to cool my HP Elitebook 8740w while it is docked in the HP 230w VB043AA docking station. Can anybody out there tell me how this can be done? Are there products available to attach to the station while in the dock? Please help. Thanks,

 

Why do you need to cool it ? you get errors ?

I have the same dock and everything is fine. Remember that in the bios you set the "fan always on" while plugged in.

 

I don't remember anyone posting the Aug 3(not sure when it was actually available) driver link before.

 

So maybe I wasn't totally delusional yesterday
Anyway, the last driver from the HP drivers page is ver.8.743.3.1. Check your version in CCC and update if necessary.


@KarelR,
How's the extreme CPU? The temps?
I wonder how much hotter than non-xtreme processors does it run?

 

(I searched but could not find a "buyers guide" thread so this one seemed the most appropriate, please let me know if this post is not in the right place. Thanks.)

Hi guys, need som buying advice. I am a software developer looking for a 17" laptop with best possible performance spec which makes me interested in the 8740w. A few things has me thinking though:

GPU.
I very seldom do any gaming or any other kind of work that requires any serious GPU power at all, which graphics card should I go for? If it was only a matter of price, I wouldn't mind buying the most expensive one, but I guess that it is also a matter of battery life, power consumption, heat and need for a larger than life charger etc. I *NEVER* do any AutoCAD or similar.

Screen.
I spend more hours in front of my laptop that I wish to think about, so I want a screen that looks and feels really good, but since I dont do any graphical work, color matching, oversaturation etc. really isnt a problem. Is the DreamColor mainly intended for these requirements, and so isn't really worth paying extra for in my case?

HDD
I notice that HP doesnt seem to have SSDs in even their most expensive pre-configurations ($US4000+) even though the laptop itself must be targeted at customers willing to pay, is that something that should make you considering not going for an SSD, which would otherwise seem like a logical choice if performance is a major concern, and price really isn't (meaing, I'm prepared to pay for stuff I really need/want, but no point in paying to much of course)

Thank you in advance for any comments, pointers etc in regards to this!

 

@improwise,

GPU, - go for M7820. It's the best option in terms of max performance, min price, least current consumption and heat. Since you don't need CUDA and won't be using Nvidia preferred apps - there's no question - M7820, hands down.

Screen, - DC2 is not only about colors, it's also about viewing angles. I'm a software developer and do think that the screen is the best investment and the main reason for buying this system. You won't regret spending extra for it. There's no better screen currently available for laptops.

HDD, - go for a regular HDD. Since money isn't a huge problem for you, wait till December, when Intel rolls out their G3, - a new gen of SSD's with up to 600GB and a performance boost.

 

* Get the ATI card. Not only is it the most affordable, it's also one of the best performers.

** My recommendation would definitely be to get the standard WUXGA 1920x1200 display. However, if you want to save some cash or have trouble seeing small text, perhaps the lower resolution WXGA display is better suited.
Most (not all) of the people on this thread that have Dreamcolor display did not buy because it's essential for the the work they do.
They paid the premium mainly because they figured their video games would look cooler in a professional laptop with in 10-bit color.

But don't tell that to Aikimox though. LOL :laugh:

*** I would just get the cheapest HDD HP offers and use the savings towards a SSD of your choice. By far the best upgrade you can make to your laptop.


I much rather spend my money on 2 SSD and set them in RAID0 than on a pretty-looking screen. Matter of fact, that's what I did. :yes:


I use my laptop to run CFD simulations, not to play video games. But that's just me.
You dont' need pretty-looking colors for engineering work. :laugh:

 

Do you really think that?

 

"HP 8740w: i7-840QM, ATi AMD FirePro M7820, 8GB RAM, DC2"
"Playing: DotA (WC3:TFT), SSF4, L4D2, L4D, Empire: Total War, Counter Strike: Source, Marvel - Ultimate Alliance, Age of Conan, Starcraft 2"

I don't know, call it a hunch.... LMAO :laugh:

 

Jobs: Active duty military, graphic design on the side
Hobbies: Digital photography (12mp DSLR + Photoshop CS5), video creation/editing, painting, programming, and of course, gaming

:laugh: You mistakenly assumed causation because of correlation. A common mistake, but one that people really should stop making; it makes them look foolish.


Oh and I watch a lot of tv/movies on my computer, which definitely benefit from the wide viewing angles and 100% sRGB.

 

@RampageII, did you try the SSD power management tweaks discussed in this thread. I am almost getting close to double the 4K values in SSD benches and real world.
View attachment 55735

 

Yeah, OK.....

You like to watch movies at extreme angles on your laptop?
I'll have to try that some time.
RGB and 110% adobe color gamut to watch movies?.... right on. :laugh:

No, not yet.
I've been meaning to try that.

 

Way to straw man.

You ignore my primary reasons for purchasing the screen, ignore the fact that you claim that people purchased DC2 to play games and change your argument to something akin to "watching movies is a waste of an IPS screen," without realizing that, maybe unlike you, I don't watch movies alone.

You do realize that probably 95% of HDTVs do NOT use TN panels, right?

 

haha,

See, this is the part where after reading this "(not all)" from my original post, you would have paused for a moment and said to yourself; 'He's definitely not referring to me' and simply dismiss my comment.

But what do you do instead?
You get defensive about it.

If my comments do not apply to you why do you get defensive? LOL :laugh:

 

It's ~ 150% sRGB

After you almost ordered the "DC2 screen" from eBay for 450$, it's somewhat strange to hear those "anti-good-screen" comments. It almost sounds as if you regret not getting it in the first place.

Another thing is, how can you dare to comment on a screen you haven't seen???
The difference between the DC2 and regular laptop TN LED screens is so enormous that if money isn't a big issue (and that's the case here if I understand the question correctly) one absolutely must have it.
You'll notice it in everything: movies, photos, gaming, you name it...
Needless to say that returning to my M17X RGB LED (the second best screen up to date) was impossible. I simply can't look at TN screens now.

 

For a moment i thought i went back in time...

Same arguments- no one willing to give up

 

@RampageII:

In fact, the DreamColor screen is not the best partner for the hardcore gamer. Despite of the "bring your games into life" feature with its real 8-bit per color component output, and assuming the game supports that color depth (that is, up to 16.7M colors simultaneously, when normal latop screens only can output up to 262,144 colors at the same time), it suffers from quite a bit lag. Koshinn made tests before and he realized that 50ms lag is the average for this screen. This is not acceptable for hardcore gamers, but for the occasional gamer it is, of course.

All in all, the DC2 screen is an 'all rounder' IMHO. Manly focused for working with graphics, you can benefit from its technology watching movies with superb color reproduction (I'm pretty sure this baby puts almost all other laptop screens to shame) and playing colourful and rich detailed games (if you're not a hardcore gamer), but gaming is not the intended use. After all, HP isn't going to create a top notch professional notebook only for gaming, or is he? LOL

@Aikimox: I think you should add to the DC2 screen features the average lag measured by Koshinn and put a note similar to this: *this screen is not intended for hardcore gamers*

 

Even better! Thanks Aikimox.

You're right, I was tempted. You know me, I can't resist a good deal.
Oh, and it would have been $400 in my case.
But then I came to my senses. lol

Where have I ever said that DC2 is not a better display?

Where did I say it was the "best partner for the hardcore gamer"?
I only said it would make the colors look pretty.

Well, we gotta do something if we ever wish to reach 300+ pages again right? LOL

 

If I remember correctly, the lag wasn't discovered in games but in some music instruments simulator program.
I was trying to see that lag in FPS online games and never encountered it.
The only mild lag was discovered in 2D games and apps (credits to Gaah) and is only related to immature drivers.
There are no games (at least in my library) that suffer from the the input lag, and I game enough to claim it.
So, let's call this subject "Under Further Investigation" before we come to some firm conclusions.

@RampageII,
I understand. It's just that the original question was about a very good screen when money isn't an issue and since the guy works in software development (as I do) I can definitely say that it is worth the upgrade.

 

Are you talking about the post from "improwise"?
Did you miss the part where he said;

"I want a screen that looks and feels really good, but since I dont do any graphical work, color matching, oversaturation etc. really isnt a problem. Is the DreamColor mainly intended for these requirements, and so isn't really worth paying extra for in my case?"

I would say the standard WUXGA or even the WXGA displays are great candidates for what he needs.

 

I guess, we should ask him to clarify this point but my impression from his post is that he's not so worried about paying extra.
In fact, the most expensive GPU option (FX5000M) is 1.5k above the price of the M7820 and was willing to pay for the most expensive one.
Anyway, let him come and speak his mind again
Still, I'd go for DC2 even if needed to sacrifice the performance.