*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

Yes, here, HP Iberica cannot make CTOs directly. But hey, I'm lucky after all , since I can configure the 8740w as desired (after waiting 3 months though ). Not all european countries allow that

Nope, the warranty is directly given by HP (3/3/0 Next Busy Day On Site) not through my reseller. The reseller is only a middleman who cares about customizing the machine through the wholesaler.

 

Hello all! I'm loving my 8740 but I have two problems.

First, after coming out of sleep, the login window is black. I can see the mouse icon but nothing else. I can type in my password fine and get to windows but the screen never shows up. Any ideas? I have the latest drivers already.

Second, in the system properties window, it says "Installed Memory: 8.00GB (3.93GB usable)". It's W7 64 bit.....why is only 3.93GB used as RAM?!?!

I'd really appreciate some help. Thanks all!

 

Do you have the latest BIOS (F.05)?
Also, when did you purchase your system?

 

thank you for your help but my understanding of CTO is not to give an arm and a leg

I cannot think of spending 5000 EU / 6500 USD (at least, I guess) on a laptop anyway at the moment.

(Companies, I guess, get special rebates since this is a business machine, but I would have to pay the full price)


Even the 2800 EU / 3600 USD Aikimox did spend I find not that cheap but his machine is nice and that price not out of reach.... However, yes, I know, European prices are higher of course so the price at the end would be higher here in Europe anyway


So, I am only a nagger who wants to complain


Anyway, you lucky new 8740w owner, if you dare, tell us the price of your machine, anyway

 

Isn't it a bit worrying that on an top premium laptop you have to start with modifying it with thermal paste?

Yes, 1900x1200 is nice, that is what I currently have on the MBP as well.

Seems like I have a lot to think about here Thanks for your input!

 

Fwiw, I'm a software developer as well. I used a MBP for few months a year or so ago as my primary dev machine. (I was doing mostly Java dev, but also some Windows .NET and Adobe Flash dev .) IMO, the MBP chassis and power design is superior to most any PC based hardware. While the 8740w is significantly more powerful than any MBP, most of the power goes unused for general software development (e.g. non 3D). Whether or not you included an SSD drive would make a bigger performance difference in either system.

The main reason I switched back to a PC based laptop is that I couldn't get used to the Macbook keyboard layout. I really missed the Home/End & Page Up/Down keys for source code navigation. Also, while I like OSX, Windows 7 is so much better than previous Windows releases and has made me not feel bad for using Windows as my primary OS again.

Regarding some of your specifics:

• The 200w 8740w power supply is huge. (Interestingly, the power supply that came with the docking station is even larger.)
• The fan will be on low most all of the time. It is not loud, but it is always on and not silent. If you work in office environment with other people and some external noise, you'll will not notice it. If you work in silent home-office environment, you will notice it, especially if you are used to a MBP.

The color depth on the DC2 display is impressive and better than a MBP. It's not super bright, but is more than sufficient for typical environments. Otherwise, the screen quality is similar IMO. The m8740w is the only PC based laptop I've seen with a screen that I would say is comparable to MBP screens (especially considering my affinity to Matte displays.)

IMO, if you like OSX as your primary and are okay with MBP keyboard layout, then get MBP. Otherwise, if you're okay with some minor fan noise, less battery life, and massive power supply, then the m8740w is an excellent choice.

 

Oh, Aikimox didn't _have_ to modify it with thermal paste. He just wanted to crack open that hard outer shell to get at the gooey, delicious center!

More seriously, I'm pretty sure the reason he repasted was because he wanted to see what was under the heatsinks, and possibly so he could take pictures (back in the old thread, if I remember right). The thing is, of course, that once you remove a heatsink, you _have_ to repaste.

 

Mostly true, lol.
You don't need to do it. My goal was to see the cooling system and its potential.
I'm not annoyed by the fan noise. Been even trying to find a way to force it on lower temps, thus further reducing load temps. To me, the max boost at 85C on CPU and GPU is a bit too late, I'd prefer 70-75C instead. That would make the machine very loud of course but the load temps would never reach 80C. (they hit 85C sometimes, during heavy gaming)

@ Sotton,
"Retail price as configured" doesn't mean I paid 3.6k USD.
I spent ~2.6CAD including Int'l shipping and fees (customs). This could be further reduced to 2k, but wasn't that obsessed with getting the best possible deal.

 

2600 CAD (which is 2000 EU or 2500 USD) for that machine is a really fair price

( or best deal of the century, if you ask me )

 

I use the 8740w in my lap very often when using Lightroom in max performance mode, and my fan never bothers me and the fan sound or heat output never reaches that of my old Dell 1720 that contains a processor that's a small fraction of the processing power of the i7-720 in this machine. But the 8740w machine is certainly not 'silent' as you decribe your MBP; but incredibly quiet given the performance it offers. As was discovered by one of our members, HP uses "the good stuff" for the thermal paste from the factory (you may need to search the original 8740w owner's thread to find those discussions).

 

Deal of the century belongs to me.
I've got everyone here beat by a mile.

 

I understand well, in fact, I'm not wealthy and I've done a tremendous sacrifice purchasing this monster I've said it before, it's absolutely UNFAIR the high prices that HP charges to european users when doing a CTO!! Why do american users pay at least 1000-1200€ less than us with the same config? Too bad HP!! With this policy, I'm pretty sure they almost won't sell anything related to bussiness computers in Europe

Yes, the same here.

It is But if you want this gorgeous machine, you can Read this previous post from our mate Aikimox Well I did not take that course due to the keyboard I needed a spanish keyboard, with special characters not found in the US keyboard, like our 'Ñ' letter, but if you're an english speaker, you can buy the system in the US with the English - US keyboard. I think there is no difference between the pure english keyb. and the american one. I know I could have bought the keyboard separately, but I didn't want to risk more than is safe.

Yes, the price is ABSOLUTELY INSANE, as you'd expect: 4041€, taxes and shipping included But I hope to have done a good investment for the years to come (at least 6-7 years).

Good luck mate

 

And at the same time the correspondents on CNBC are b*tching and moaning about the level of taxes over here in the US. Phft!

 

It arrived last week and I do have the latest bios. I'm mostly worried about the RAM. Why would it say only 3.93 usable??

 

You never revealed the price, so it doesn't count
Did you get it as a present?

Someone on this forum had a similar issue.
I think (not sure) it's either the wrong mobo revision or (most likely, imho) incorrect memory modules placement.
I'll look for the links...

 

Ok. Thing is that I have 4x2GB sticks so they can't be moved around. All the slots are full.

 

^^ What CPU do you have?
Also, I assume you have a 64-bit version of Windows?

 

i7-840

And yes, it's 64 bit. Triple checked that.

 

Doesn't mean you can't pop them out and shuffle the ordering around.

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I believe the person who had this problem simply needed to re-seat/properly seat the memory, finding it wasn't making proper contact when it came from the manufacturer.

...tho that doesn't address why you'd have 8 Gigs shown anywhere... so that may be off.

 

I had this problem back when I had 2 machines. I re-seated them several times, eventually it just worked again. But i had crashes going on at the same time, so I don't remember exactly what I all did.

 

No, I don't have relatives that are that generous.

Whether you believe it or not, it doesn't change the facts.
You probably wouldn't believe me even if I told you.
But let's just say that every time I see you guys post your final cost, it makes me giggle inside.

 

But didn't your deal involve selling off your 8730w which is where a large portion of your "savings" came from by buying a base model and getting great deals on parts on eBay? You've never made it clear if you applied that entire sale to your "deal", or if you are only considering the profit you made on the 8730w in the "deal" (I think you said you made a net profit anyway, can't remember for sure).

If the former, then mine was free. You see, I traded my labor for the money I used to pay for this laptop .

 

No, that was a separate project I had to scrap. If you recall, I had enough parts to turn a base model into a well-equipped 8730w.
Actually, the reason why I scrapped that project was precisely because of the deal I scored.
Therefore, no, my deal did not involve the 8730w I was planning to upgrade and it did not involve the sale of the parts I had gathered.
I still have the DC1 display (you wouldn't believe how much this one cost me. But that's another story ) and FX3700M GPU.

 

For those of you waiting for a nice deal on a Sandforce SSD, here is one awesome deal.

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB for $205

 

A question not easy to reply:

Since HP uses 2 different motherboards in his 8740w, one for quad core processors and another for dual core processors... well, do you think that they could refresh the model again with a new motherboard ready for Sandy Bridge CPU's? The 8740w it's very recent (launched on late march), and I don't think they release the next generation (8750w/8760w) until early 2012. The 8730w was released on late August 2008 and it has been active until May/June 2010.

BTW, I think it's a very good question for the Experts meeting at HP Forums

PS: This does not change my mind about the 8740w. For me it's a dream machine and my order is still in process

 

You should also ask them why it's so dang expensive to buy it outside of the US [as if we don't know; re-seller markup + taxes].

 

Yes, great questions!
I'd also ask if there's a chance of seeing a 6000 series AMD FirePro in it and whether or not the next model (8750w?)will be 1200P

 

Yes, that's the idea, mainly ask if we'll be able to upgrade our system (aftermarket) to a Sandy Bridge processor (if HP makes this possible, it will NOT be cheap, of course) and/or to a new ATi/AMD FirePro graphics card equivalent to a new card from the Radeon 6000 series.

 

We should probably organize these suggestions into a single list of concrete questions. However, I suspect we won't be given much information about future upgrades and future models. Still, it it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

Sandy bridge has a different socket.

Although I really hope they will offer an updated FirePro from the Radeon 6000 series.

 

Ugh. I was just playing StarCraft 2 when my screen went to verticle grey-ish stripes. The machine wouldn't respond to anything (CTRL+ALT+DEL, Start Key + Tab, etc.) and I was forced to do a hard shutdown.

I have to assume this was caused by the graphics drivers. Anybody have a similar issue?

 

You didn't take my point. I already knew. What I've said before was:

Hence I've said that this upgrade would not be cheap (mobo + CPU replacement) too.

 

Do you monitor the temperatures? This could also be due to overheating. I remember there was a hot discussion about SC2 killing video cards. Not saying that to scare you, but that's possible.

 

I haven't been monitoring temperatures, no. What do you guys recommend for a utility?

I did, however, put the framerate cap into the config file for SC2 to prevent overheating.

Also, as it turns out, I wasn't running the latest ATI drivers. I updated them and played SC2 for about an hour without issues. (Of course, I had played for several hours in a row previously without issue as well.)

Hopefully that fixes it. It seems to have fixed the stupid mouse pointer corruption issue I was getting, so that's good.

 

I ordered a new 8740w and I'm happy to say that so far, it seems to be working well! I haven't seen any crash issues. FYI -- The BIOS that came with the unit is F.08, 8/20/2010.

One minor problem (which was definitely not there in the previous unit) is that it appears to be slightly off balance. When I put it on a table and adjust the display for normal viewing, the lower right corner lifts off of the table very slightly (but noticeably).

I wonder if this is an issue with the unit itself, or whether it's just
with the rubber feet. Anyone else seeing the same issue? Thoughts/suggestions?

 

I can confirm the same thing. And it looks like the rubber feet are of slightly different thickness.

When gaming on a notebook, temp monitoring is a must. Try HWinfo32.
In thins case, I think the problem was the drivers.

 

Is everyone on F.08 already? How did I miss that? I read every post.

 

It seems that they simply changed the numbers. It should be F.05. Need to double check...

<< Yep, F.08 is the renamed F.05 (it adds the FX5000M support)

 

Now that you mention it, the closest right side of the laptop is slightly raised off of my take. Hm.

 

Take your laptop to a wooden or rough table. Put it on the table. Rub it in a circular motion, without pushing on it. The "bigger" feet will, in time, rub off until the laptop is level. DONE

Took this treatment 20 min to make mine level.

 

F.08 is not the same as F.05

F.08 adds vBIOS update for FX2800m/FX3800M in addition to FX5000M support. F.05 doesn't have vBIOS update for FX2800M/FX3800M.

According to instructions the only way to get the vBIOS update for the FX3800M is to use the bootable USB method.

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work.
I made a bootable USB drive using HP BIOS Utility. Tried formatting under FAT, FAT32 and NTSC.
I already made sure to change;
boot sequence to "USB Hard Drive"
"bootable USB device" is active in BIOS
I tried switching between the different SATA modes.

In the end, the USB flashdrives that I've tried are not being recognized by the system during startup.
When I press F9 to select boot device, it shows both hard drives and my SD card, but not the USB drives I have attached.

 

Good suggestion I think I'll try this if it isn't a simple matter of getting replacement rubber feet or something like that.

 

Yes I see the vBIOS update for Nv cards. Would be nice to compare the performance after the flash.

Have you tried different USB ports, 2.0 and 3.0? There could be a problem booting from a USB 3.0.

 

I know this is from a few pages back but... since the dedicated eSATA port isn't powered, you will still need to sacrifice a USB port (on the go) or have an extra adapter to the wall outlet. Also, while HP uses the MXM format, it doesn't mean it's any easier to upgrade than the Dell since both are still limited by the selection that each company offers (you won't be able to use any MXM 3.0b card).

There are no further upgrades you can do for this platform unfortunately. The next reiteration will not be compatible with this platform, so what you see now is the best you're going to get.

 

I only use the 2.0 ports.
The 3.0 ports do not have native support. They only work after OS has booted up and the 3.0 drivers are loaded.

For example, if I put the mouse receiver on a 3.0 port, I can't use it in BIOS menu.

 

Mine too...man, ignorance is bliss. After months of not noticing it, now I'm annoyed by it.

 

I noticed it on the first day but after a few days resting my hands on the palm rest it was already barely noticeable. I don't see it as a problem at all.

 

But it also could be impossible that all of these many rubber feet touch the table at the same time, even if the table is not planar... more important is that it does not shake and the laptop stays stable.

 

List of questions/suggestions (8740w) for HP reps:



0) *** The most important question for M7820 owners**** - When will we have better drivers with decent 2D acceleration?

1) Future upgradeability to AMD 6000 based FirePro.

2) FX5000M compatibility issues with DC2.

3) Fan control (85C is to high of a threshold for max fan boost, it should be lowered to under 80C).

4) CPU heatsink and pipes are too small. Making those bigger would reduce the temps further.

5)Why is the SSD's performing so bad in 4k read/write. The reason is poor CPU power management in the QM57 chipset. What is HP's answer to the problem.?

6) Is there a BIOS support for non PRO GPU's (460M/470M/480M/MR5870/etc) and will those work with DC2
given a void warranty isn't an issue and the heatsinks fit **** Hypothetical question ****

7) How can we remap the QuickLook button in order to launch our default mail client instead of the SoftPaq Installer (on Windows)?

8) Will HP launch a Linux version of Display Mobile Assistant (for DreamColor owners)? Since the Quick Specs claim this system is SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 certified, I think this is a must.

9) Some DC2 owners have tried the ramp.psd 10-bit test and fail to see the smooth gradient that is supposed to be displayed. The visible banding clearly occurs on the 8-bit color division lines. We can't help but feel like we did not get what we paid for. When will this be corrected?

10) Backlit keyboard shows significant flex compared to the regular one. Will this issue be fixed?





Future model (8750w) questions:

1) Will the next model have 1080p or 1200p screens?

2) Will there be a IPS screen option?

3) Since HP uses 2 different motherboards in his 8740w, one for quad core processors and another for dual core processors... well, do you think that they could refresh the model again with a new motherboard ready for Sandy Bridge CPU's?
....
Fill free to post your questions!

 

To check-in on this ... On my perfectly level granite kitchen counter my 8740w sits perfectly level with all the rubber feet touching the counter.