HP Compaq nx9420 Review Discussion

The HP Compaq nx9420 notebook is a 17-inch screen business machine that comes with a Core 2 Duo processor and ATI X1600 graphics card. The nx9420 is great for business people or engineers that need a desktop replacement style notebook that packs power. Following is a full review of the nx9420.

Read the full content of this Article: HP Compaq nx9420 Review

 

Superb review Ivan! I was quite suprised by the price of this notebook, considering its build and features.

 

That's one very extensive review Ivan, well done! Obviously a well researched buy and I agree this would fit the needs well of a developer that needs lots of screen real estate to get work done (much more efficient) and the power to play and do other things outside of work

 

Yup, great review. Loved how you included undervolting/overclocking results.

 

Superb review of what is I suppose in a way the bigger brother of the one I have. Above and beyond - start up times etc, comparison of 3DMark scores with 1gb and 2gb ram etc. Good read

 

Thank you so much for the review. I am in the market for a new 17" nw9440 (WUXGA). But I appreciate the level of detail you used for how this PC integrates with you home and work life (which will be very similar to my requirements).

Thanks for the details on installing Vista Ultimate... I plan to dual boot XP and Vista Ultimate... and use Vista as soon as I determine that it is a stable platform to do all of my work on.

Great Job!

 

I like reading your review. It's one of the most comprehensive reviews I have come across. Good job!

 

This is one of the best reviews I have read here, both in style and content.

 

Excellent, in-depth review, I enjoyed reading it.

 

Beautiful review Ivan, thanks! The nx9420 is the best 17" business notebook out there in my opinion.

How much of a difference have you noticed between the Core 2 Duo and the Pentium M?

 

Wow! As everybody has said so far, really awesome review! One of the best I've read...

I also have an nx9420 and must agree with you on all points! Overall, an excellent laptop!

 

Hi people!

I just have arrived from my week holiday on Malta (a small country between Italy and Tunis) and I can see my review on NBR! Wow - many good replies. Thanks guys. Thanks to Andrew the review got a bit in the fluency and style of the english language! I write a lot and Andrew needs to make it smooth - he did a great job too.

Yes as many people say in the 17" business class it is probably the best value for money - powerful and robust.

Your question is actually very good since I used to have 1,86 GHz Pentium M and this Core 2 Duo runs at 1,83 GHz, so the single core speed can be compared with ease. I have a feeling (I cannot say in numbers) that Pentium M 1,86GHz is au pair with this core 2 duo. Speed is one thing - single thread apps run the same obviously, but core 2 duo offers smoothness of running multiple apps or speed improvement (up to 160% or so) in multithreaded apps like AVIVO coder, STALKER etc... And Windows really use both cores with a great performance improvement in the office and Windows work.

The other thing that shows Core 2 Duo as a clean winner and a much better processor in comparison to the old Dothan is the temperature. Pentium III/IV was hot, Pentium M Banias and Dothan cores were warm. Core 2 duo is cool. I love its low temps - actually GPU is heating CPU in nx9420. Undervolting helps even further and you can test 3dmark05 at 55 degrees C! Pentium M goes to 75 in that test.

So speedwise they are about the same in games and singlethread apps and tests, but a new nm technology shows its advantages with Core2Duo making it probably the best notebook processor at this time. I also would like to point out the differences between 5xxx and 7xxx series and also 2xxx series. As far as I know there is a marginal difference in speed in favor of 7xxx processors due to their 4MB cache, but only in either very controlled conditions (special tests) or in very specific usage as servers (optimized code) or number crunchers with repetitive and recursive functions. The difference in price is high (it used to be, it is going down probably now) and I for example took the 1680x1050 res screen with T5600 instead of 1440x900 with the T7400 proc. I think I made a good decision.

Cheers, and expect some updates along the way, since I have discovered some more interesting things with the fan, undervolting and battery.

Ivan

 

In his really perfect review Ivan said that BIOS supports VT, but in some other I have read that it is not supported... What is the truth- I really need that (Fedora to run under XP)...

 

nice review

ive just got one of these lovely NX9420 2 weeks ago

Core 2 Duo can do VT [with the lastest BIOS and enabled] the Core Duo cant

in Virtual PC 2007 you can use it

 

I'm very eager to read your findings regarding these!

 

OK guys here is the update (I was travelling for a week, so I apologize for the delay):

1. Fan TURNS OFF! Yahoo! But you need to restrict ATI GPU in it's heat producing capabilities by underclocking either in CCC by using the best battery option or in ATi tray tools. (don't forget enabling this in BIOS). But the BIOS settings should really be lowered to turn on at 50. So The BIOS setting isn't so useless after all.
2. Optical drive has some strange issues - it doesn't read all I put in. I will need to test this more. Either Vista has a strange way of dealing with optical drives or my is faulty/different.
3. RM Clock doesn't actually always work. The lowest multiplier is locked. It reports good and expected values, but I cannot confirm that always. I really want NHC - it was a far better solution (based on my Pentium M experience) than RM Clock. AND BTW it uses the dreaded .NET framework.... Hm.... I uninstalled RM clock - I don't like it. Full stop. Too complicated for my computing skills. I know this can be and must be better
4. This notebook likes dust!
5. I still haven't learned to use the numeric pad! Hm... Lazy me.
6. I am really happy with this notebook.

Other things - battery is very good. It can work well over 4 hours when used on minimum brightness and in windows work.

Ati tray tools works flawlessly. I really can notice the speed gain in games. I still think it is the best Ati OC software ever made.

This notebook would like 7200 drive. 5400 is barely enough or too slow to match the speed of the other components. I am thinking of upgrading the disk. I tested with Hitachi 80GB 7200 RPM and it has an average of 45 MB/s falling down to 32 at the end. That is 50% more speed in comparison to the integrated 5400! I tested it also on the Asus S96J and it really makes the difference. 7200 rocks.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

You should; after you get used to it, you'll wonder why you didn't use it before.

I agree with you there. As you know, I have been unsuccessful in getting ATT to work with my X700 under Vista. While I am using PowerStrip in place of it (which works fine), I miss ATT.

You might be interested in one of the new 160GB 7200RPM drives for the ultimate drive performance.

Thanks for the update Ivan, it is nice to hear updated opinions after you have used the notebook for some time.

 

That keyboard looks like the same one used in the HP DV8000 series. That model has been plagued by keyboard problems. Just take a look in the HP forum, and do a search for it.

With the DV8000, the keyboard is poorly designed (internally). Initially everything works fine. But after a couple of months, problems start appearing, like missing keystrokes, shift keys that get stuck, etc.

I wonder how solidly built this keyboard is going to be.

 

the lowest multiplier for core duos can't be changed regardless of program. .950 v is the minimum voltage allowed for the cpu, not just for rm clock. when i ran rm clock in vista (not the newest version), it did seem to have glitches.

 

Do I must add 667 DDR2 or I can use 533 DDR2 for this laptop?

 

Either will work but ideally you want DDR2-667 because the processor's FSB is 667MHz.

 

Thanks.. Another stupid question is it possible to OC CPU in notebook???

 

Has anyone asked which IEEE 1394 ports the NX9420 has? Is it
FireWire 800 /IEEE 1394b: Up to 800 Mbps (100 Mb/Sec)
FireWire 400 /IEEE 1394a: Up to 480 Mbps (60 Mb/Sec)

Also has anyone else asked about XP Pro SP2 restricting IEEE performance?
Microsoft Windows XP supports 1394a and 1394b, but as of Service Pack 2 the default speed for all types of FireWire is S100 (100 Mbit/second). A download and registry modification is available from Microsoft to restore performance to either S400 or S800

 

Its a mini-Firewire port (IEEE 1394a); very very few notebooks have 1394b. Usually that can be found on Macs.

Yes Microsoft did set the transfer rate at about 1/4 of the rate after SP2, I forget why.

 

I bought the NX9420 to do some limited video editing on the road and was thinking about getting a external firewire drive to use. Not sure if I would see the diff but I think it would be a significant difference.

Then to have microsoft limit it to 100 instead of the limit of 480 that IEEE 1394 can do, something wrong about that. Its a limiting performace boost, and wee want all we can get.

Any thoughts would be appreciative.

Thanks
Dave

 

Long time travelling. Here I go again...

First thanks to Chaz for having this thread answered in my absence. Cheers!

1. Well I hope my keyboard survives a long period of time. furrycute you made me nervous now!
No problems so far - and I game a lot. And Chaz - I am very surprised how a habit can be strong. I started to play Operation flashpoint with settings that use only the main part of the keyboard! And the game normaly uses the numeric part too! I switched to the default - and couldn't find the buttons when they were needed the most.

2. RM clock is ancient history. NHC that works in Vista proved again to be the best software for the Intel/ati combo there is.... I love that small program. It works as usual - powerful, silent and reliable! http://www.pbus-167.com/nhc/nhc.htm#anchor_download

3. I undervolted my proc quite heavily and it works fine so far. I am quite curious what my 6 thermal zones are since they all have different temps. I will need to check this more. CPU on idle is 40, playing FEAR it hits 52! Well. This is only a quick test, and I will make a more detailed measurements.

4. The new ATT beta 1.3.6.1041 is available for download - works fine in Vista!
So NHC + ATT make me very happy! The real testing phase is coming up! http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/ATI-Tray-Tools-Download-9040.html - use the beta link.

5. I recently started to play (again) the old Operation Flashpoint with the newest FFUR 2007 SLX addon. Well pardon me but Armed Assault is not so playable as this one is.... It is so good and runs very fast. Why to play fancy ARMA when I have this! Well I must be mad anyway! BTW OFP uses the numeric pad by default! Yahoooo!

6. No dead pixels yet. Phew!

7. I still use 7.2 ATi drivers. Do you guys recommend anything else? It is May and June coming already. My drivers are old...

8. I found that battery doesn't charge when it is just slightly used. At 97% it says plugged in - not charging. at 95% it says plugged in - charging. It charges up to 100%. I tried it a few times and it seems to be a feature not a bug. Now I see the logic behind it - batteries lose their capacity mostly when charging and discharging just a bit. I hope HP did this on purpose in an attempt to save the battery from charging when it is almost completely full.

9. There is a bug in Vista when you get a dialog Access denied in Windows Explorer and you press OK. It behaves like you pressed Shift beforehand and selects multiple files and folders in the main window!

10. There is a new BIOS for nx9420! HP recommend people to install it. It can be found here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...sId=1839153&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2096

And Dave - external disk you say. Well if I am not mistaken the fastest disks are still (way) below 100 MB/s (did I miss something here?). And I think that USB 2.0 disks are cheaper than Firewire. So perhaps you want to try it first with and test with HDtach and see if there is actually any difference?

Cheers,

Ivan

 

Hey Ivan! (I guess you have the same name!)

Yes it is. But not so easily. The OC is based on FSB overclocking. So until you have the right tool to do it - you cannot overclock. Some notebooks have the BIOS option and the most don't. There is SetFSB and one other software I cannot remember the name that can be used on particular notebooks.

Notebooks are also tricky due to heat. Usually people overclock just a bit and then undervolt along the way so they get a bit faster and a bit cooler notebooks. Stability drops down with undervolting and overclocking. But if you set your FSB just 5% faster it will bring more than 5% speed increase.

I am thinking of overclocking my notebook, and I will most surely give the details if I succeed.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

Actually this is not so straightforward answer. When I wanted to upgrade my memory I was specifically searching for the HP 667 MHz memory. Not anything else. I checked some forums and info on sites from manufacturers that make the same memory as HP and all info was showing that the best is to use 667 MHz HP memory. Some say it becomes unstable even with the same type thirdparty memory. I must admit that from my experience with memory chips and modules I have had no bad experiences (except one server that was constantly frying whatever memory you put inside - motherboard issue) - but this made me think and I went and bought the original HP. One interesting thing was that the thirdparty memory was even more expensive than HP which is still more expensive than other memory you would say it can go into this notebook.

So If you are upgrading - I recommend the original HP memory: EM993AA (512MB) and EM994AA (1GB)

Cheers,

Ivan

 

Hi ejl,

Yes you are right - the lowest multiplier is locked on core 2 duo. Do you know why I am getting three multipliers 11 in NHC? And I can set different voltages. Strange. I set them all to the same voltage and it works.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

HI, I am a little afraid about CPU temperatures on mine 9420...
I use EVEREST for this monitoring and just Vista multimeter add on for CPU usage detection...
Temps of both CPU cores rarely goes less then 50 C even almost 0% activity... When utilization is over 50% or more it goes immediately to 58,59 degrees... And when usage is about 70-100% few minutes it is more then 70C...
I afraid it is not normal...
Do somebody have similar experiences, may be those temps are not dangerous...
I see here undervolting can help- with what program I can do that and is possibile to OC this CPU???
thanks

 

Anyone know if you can change the 3945 Intel wireless to get into something with draft n? I love my NX9420, but would REALLY like higher speed wireless.

 

Nothing to worry about! That is ok.

I guess the wireless can be changed. It is accessible under the memory cover.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

Bad news guys - my power adapter died today in the middle of the work! I bought a new one since I have a lot to do over weekend, but I will get a new next week. So I will have 2.

It just stopped giving 19V at the output. When I put my ear close to it I swear I heard beeps! Strange.

50 USD for a new one here in Croatia - original HP with additional plugs for other HP models (smaller plug).

Well although I already earned 8 times the price I payed for this machine with it since march, I hope everything will be fine until I get a new one.

I just thought you would like to know this...

Ivan

 

I have more than 1 year experience with my nx9420 and I'm very satisfied so far. The only thing driving me sick is the temperature... Especially around wireless card, it's abnormally high. SpeedFan utility reports values up to 90+ degrees celsius and bottom cover gets amazingly hot. This is what I'm absolutely unhappy about...

 

I have a NX9420 running Vista Ultimate and i'm interested in updating my bios n Vbios however cannot find any of these updates on the HP site for Vista Ultimate?

Has anyone with vista ultimate managed to update these?

Cheers Dudes!

 

System BIOS files are easily found on HP site. Video BIOS (for your GPU card) are not available as far as I know. You will have problems searching for those.

 

Hey, my nx9420 is close to 2 year now(built in march 2006) ... but you know, after such a long time, it`s still awesome!
My only concern is that I could never build Recovery Disks ,and windows(xp) is starting to get full of BS ...I`d like to format it and reinstal,but without the original XP (which was suposed to be on the hdd) I can`t do it. Now, is there any way to bypass that and actually create the recovery disks?(I`ve only tried to do them once, and it said that a set was already created..which is bummer...)

 

Hello Ikovac!

It's been quite some time since you've written that great review on the HP nx9420. I had bought mine a month prior to your review. I really like my laptop but I actually feel sorry for anyone who will need HP Support. It's non-existent. The people over there can only read from a script. Whether the online chat support, or the 800 number, you will not get anyone who could help. Any time I've called/chatted support, I've spent +2hrs, with at least 45 minutes hold time while the hp personnel reviews his manual. All and all a horrible experience. That said, I do love my laptop and I've downloaded the product manual that includes part numbers. Here is the link:

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01058816/c01058816.pdf

Since it's been almost a year since your review, have you any experience with a mini-pc N wireless card? I figured I'd check with this forum as I refuse to contact HP because they just can't support a product they've put out.

 

A little more update about my nx9420.

A bit after 1 year warranty was over, I got a sudden death of the power adapter (does hp install some kind of self-destruction device in there?). Actually, I just left my nx9420 for some 15 minutes alone and after coming back found it switched off. I couldn't switch it on any more. The power adapter was quitely ticking (asking something like "Kill me" it I guess). The battery still got the energy left for a bit more than 1 hour, so I performed some quick backup.

After calling some hp official service centers around (here in St.-Petersburg, Russia, we got 5 of them and about 10 in Moscow), I found out that they don't have a spare part available. Neither here, nor in Moscow, crazy russian service! The best option was to wait for some 4-6 weeks for the spare to be delivered. That was not definetely not an otpion for me, as I'm working at home a lot. I tried some universal power adapters, but didn't get them to work with my notebook. As I discovered later, they got some special chip in the hp-compaq adapters that laptops try to recognize and refuse to work if there's no such chip. Smart hp asses! After all, I managed to get 65W Compaq adapter, but it was unable to charge the battery and the laptop was working toooo slow, performance index in Vista has dropped from 3.4 to 1, so after some more research I'd found a way to get the adapter from Finland in about 2 weeks.

I was using 65W thing for a little while and looks like it killed my battery. After getting a brand new 90W original hp adapter, the battery has "charging" state forever, but doesn't accumulate any energy, always 0%. I removed it, as I'm almost always working on AC power, but a while after I inserted it back in, and now it's going up, like 3% a day, right now it's 8% charged after 36 hours

As I mentioned some posts above, I had some overheat problem, so I've bought a notebook cooler, it helps, but during intensive CPU usage, temp. still goes up to 80C and more. Only @ 85C notebook cooler starts spinning up and temp. goes down to 80C. Again, the cooler slows down and the story continues. 85C - cooler high - 80C - cooler low - etc.

I've found Notebook Hardware Control utility that is able to control the cooler speed via ACPI, but it reports ACPI control system problem. Does anyone have a correct ACPI NHC module for nx9420?

 

Hi guys,

My nx9420 works flawlessly. No heating issue whatsoever. My power adapter died the way UncleBob described too. But in Croatia you can buy original HP adapters even in small shops. I did that when my died and then went to service. Service guys gave me another one so I have two now (they come in very handy in fact since, I leave one always plugged in at my desk and bring the other one with me in the backpack).

HP service in Croatia is very good - lots of spare parts, quick service.

I take my battery out when I am on main power and my battery still holds 2,5 hours of windows work, and battery power setting in Vista.

I am planning to buy another laptop though. This one served me well enough, but new games need more power!

Ivan

 

If you're still looking for a XP install CD. . .
Actually, it's very easy, as long as you still have the Windows/I386/ folder.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91129
You'll get a clean Windows without any extra software or HP drivers, not even SATA drivers.
Those are easy to add with nLite.

Remember!!! Two things to back up before you do anything else, you must have these to be able to make a new install CD!!!!

1 - The special serial (not the one under the laptop, described in link)

2 - Windows/I386/ folder

It worked flawlessly on my nx9420 as soon as I read the whole description in the link . .

 

Unfortunately I have the same problem too. My CPU temperature if very high, about 80 degrees. I have Windows Vista Business Edition, a 7200 rpm HDD and 2 GB of memory (I added an extra 1 GB and changed the 5200 hdd).
I tried to play a game (Call of Duty 4) and it works fine, untill it shut's itself down because the CPU reached 100 degrees C.
Does anyone have any idea about this ???

By the way, a friend of mine with the same notebook had to replace his charger because of the charger problem you guys mentioned: it just stopped working and beeeped.

 

Well, after some more months running Vista I decided to switch back to XP, thanks to SP3, I've been waiting for.

After running XP for just 2 days I'm totally surprised. CPU temp hardly reach 60C @ constant 100% CPU load. I've been ripping a couple of DVDs and it had been running smoothly for about 12 hours continuos full CPU load with no additional cooling I had to use with Vista.

Another thing is that NHC ACPI module is working just fine with XP. The same module was not functioning properly under Vista.

(Does Vista ACPI drivers have a problem )

With NHC I undervolted the CPU to 1V @ 11x multiplier, as it was not stable @ 0.95V and now I'm totally happy. Well, missing some neat Vista stuff, but it never worked reliable on my 1GB RAM laptop.

And yes, NHC now also works correctly with the ATI graphics card. That's also was a problem with Vista.

Gotta love XP again.

PS. The power adapter is very hot anyway. Looks like it has a problem by design. By the way, guys, could you specify died adpater model in each particular case? My dead one was 384021-001 and now I have 384020-002

 

Now, that I have vacuumed allot of dust from the cooler, I can play and my CPU temperature doesn't go above 80 degrees Celsius anymore.
I have e-mail HP to ask them where I can go an get my CPU and fan cleaned.

It is true, NHC doesn't run very well on Vista, it has ACPI problems and ATI problems too.
I also installed yesterday the ATI Driver from HP's website, because by default I had all the drivers that Vista originally installed, and they worked just fine until I wanted a little bit of gaming power.

 

By the way you can download the latest Catalyst ATI drivers and mod them. After that you'll be able to install them.

Here's the modding tool homepage: http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php

And you can also download the latest drivers from here: http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/

 

How can I exchange the memory module in memory slot 1 in HP Compaq nx9420?
I would like to use 2x2 GB RAM in this notebook.
Thank you.

 

Hi (Sadly)
I also own an HP nx9420 and I'm disappointed. First I was verry happy with the performance and I've upgrade it to 4GB of RAM and 250GB WDC HDD..I still like it's performance when is not in service. After 1 week the guarantee ended the power system failed. You know..when you insert the power adapter into the wall outlet you hear a small pop(like a small short-circuit) ..than that pop was a little louder than usual and the AC adapter stopped charging. (In the computer manual is told that you have to introduce first the adapter into the computer and then into the power outlet) I've sended the pc to a computer service,they repaired it and they told me to always insert the ac adapter first in the power otlet and than in the computer. After a few months the system crashed again..the battery didn't charge, a message appeared in Vista "Power adapter to low for this computer" (it was charging only when it was closed) for 2 days when the power adapter didn't charge at all..only the amber power led blink 6 or 8 times and stop when ac was connected..In 2 weeks a computer service repair it (they change a chip on the mainboard..and they told me that a component is broking at a higher temperature or loads Yes..when rendering..the temperature get to 85 grads..but this is a workstation..not a internet browsing notebook..Why it have all this problems?.After that the computer was functioning properly fore some time..and now..when rendering an image in maya..the battery begin to discharge even in windows appear that the power is connected. When the computer is closed and connecting the power adapter the amber led is ligtning and a silent buzz can be heared..from inside the computer..I'll give it back tommorow to service until it did'n crash for good..
I'm sick of servicing. !!!

Why HP still sell them if there are so manny users that have problems. I have a friend that changed two power adapters (for nx9420) becose they stop functioning. Stupid.. You pay 1400euros and more for a hardware that you now that will crash after a year..STUPID!!!

I'm really thinking now to change the computer and get another one..a true reliabile mobile workstation. Is there any?
Thankyou

 

Just thought I'd update this thread...

My nx9420 is now 3 years old and still going strong as a daily work and play machine! Nothing has ever gone wrong with the notebook at all. I've upgraded the RAM to 4GB and also upgraded the HDD to a 7200RPM Seagate drive. I'm considering putting in a T7200 CPU so that I can run a 64 bit OS, but still not sure on that one as I might just wait a year or so when I finally upgrade to a new laptop. I won't retire my nx9420 though, I'll most likely use it as a backup and web machine at home. Definitely the best laptop I've owned so far...

 

Hey ryanrich,
I just started a thread talking about my nx9420 from 3 years ago as well. Good to see that you're still using it. I'm still slowly updating mine, currently have 2GB of RAM as well as an nVidia NVS 510M now. Hard drive and CPU are possible upgrades that I wish to perform in the future and hopefully your machine holds for your needs.