HP L2000 Special Edition Review (pics, specs) -- GO LANCE!

ordered a l2000 last week or so, said it would ship on aug 2.

checked last night, said it was already shipped from shanghai and would arrive aug 1.

checked just now and its on the fedex (local) truck for delivery.

yay!!

see my l2000's journey here:
http://tinyurl.com/7fylm




my l2000 stats:
xp pro
2.0ghz
brightview
512mb x 1
80gb
lightscribe
bluetooth
12 cell batt
:hp:

 

I was surpised that Fedex took the longest distance to travel from Shanghai, China to the West Coast of the US! Isn't that the distance from Shanghai to California shortest via the Pacific Ocean? instead, they flew across the largest landmass on the planet - Euro-Asia Continent, then across the Atlantic Ocean, then the East Coast of the US, then California. Wow, what is the logistics or the logic to do that?

 

I ordered mine a week and a half ago. Same exact specs as chefjef. It's finally here today after alot of pissing around....(I'm excited!)

See the fed ex tracking record

Any more news on this memory bus speed issue? (If you can call it that). I'll let
everyone know what mine's set at as soon as I get it up and running.


-J.

 

according to cpu-z my memory frequency is 160 on battery and 166 on ac power, leading me to believe that not only is the cpu "underclocked" on battery power but the ram as well.

i got the 512x1 ram and plan to add 1gb in the next month. i will make sure to get the same specs too - 2.5-3-3-7

the laptop itself is excellent. i have used and played with many laptops as i am in the IT business professionally. the speed is excellent, the software is great - very little unnecessary crap, the screen isn't the biggest but is more than sufficient, the whole thing is lighter and thinner than i had expected even with my 12cell monster, the heat is not more than i expected and i have not applied the patch linked to here since the amd website doesn't list the turion for that patch's use. the laptop already cuts the cpu to 1.6 on battery power and that lowers the temp about 30degrees or so. the 12cell allows for better airflow, and keeps the heat slightly of my lap. nice powercord length too.


HP is coming out with a HP L2000 mobile mouse, but it is wired. i emailed them to ask if they are gonna do a L2000 bluetooth mouse.


overall, this laptop seems to be very solid (as far as laptops go), very fast, very future oriented with the turion and 2gb max ram, etc. warm, but what do you expect for such a slim case. love the usb placement. sounds great, looks great. (ok, only got a 461 in 3dmark, but i knew its not a vaio before i bought it.)


:hp:

 

Hey Guys - I have read all of the messages in this forum with great interest. I originally came accross the review while researching the L2000. I greatly appreciated it and took it for what it was worth. As for battery and gaming - the author clearly stated those weren't priorities and he did not pursue getting timings or numbers - I read other reviews for that information. What is truely wrong with saying that one of the reasons for buying something is due to the brand or relationship with a celebrity? I hate U2 - but I wouldn't hold it against a U2 fan if they bought the U2 Edition iPod.

I purchased the L2000 at a local Sam's Club in Frisco, TX. (Not mail order - they had them in the store.) The $999.98 model they have specs out fairly well - 1.8ghz Turion, 512MB RAM - (two 256 PC2700 SODIMMS), 1280x768 BrightView Display, 80gb HD (pretty sure it's 4200rpm), Double Layer DVDRW drive, 54g a/b/g and bluetooth wireless option, 6-cell battery, and a little cloth bag with a wrist band (my daughter will enjoy that) and a fairly good pair of headphones. The Sam's Club model comes with XP Home Edition as well as Microsoft Works and a trial edition of Office. Numerous other apps are also included like Sonic DVD burning software, Norton software for anti-virus and security stuff, some utilites etc. I spec'd out the same configuration on HP's site and it was a few hundred more.

My work issues the Toshiba Tecra M2 laptops for us to use in the field If you want to talk about heat, pick one of those babies up. Nothing that the L2000 has exhibited even comes close - and the wonderful suggestion to update the AMD driver made it even cooler. (The information in these posts should really be put into the form of a FAQ.)

One thing that is important to mention is that the memory for the ATI video card is shared with the system - you can configure it at 32mb, 64mb or 128mb. Know that whatever you configure it at it will eat into the RAM installed on the system.

I tried several times to change my memory from 133mhz to 166mhz with no success. I wonder - the gentleman that did change his - what processor is in your system and how much memory did you devote to your ATI video card?

I did upgrade my system to 2gb of RAM - bought two sticks of PC 2700 memory from Newegg.com - was about $250 delivered FEDEX overnight. I also installed XP Professional - I have absolutely no complaints about this notebook. I can tell you that I play Unreal Tournemant 2004 (1024x768) with no issues - and I also play EQ2 at the full 1280x768 resolution with no issues. The ATI video card is not by any means a screamer - but it is capable of playing most if not all games (albeit with maybee not all video features turned on - but hey - for $1000 - did you expect a Dell XPS?)

I will post 3dmark test scores of my own. As far as battery - lookup part # 367759-001 which is HP's part number - you will see companies selling the 12-cell batter from $120-140 - note that the battery for the L2000 is fairly standard and is shared by about 40 models (or more) form HP/Compaq. The Sam's Club model comes with the 6-cell model - and I was able to watch a 1.5hr DVD on my laptop recently - had about 30% battery left when I was done. I do have my power settings so that the hd shuts down after three minutes.

All in all - I do enjoy this laptop very much. For the money I couldn't find anything else that was a better value - and believe me - I looked. The centrino's would probably have a slightly better batter life - but I bought the Turion 64 because of what's coming down the pipe in the future - 64-bit Windows etc. I have yet to install Fedora Core 3 64-bit - but it's nice to know that I CAN if I want to. Besides the fantastic looking screen I would have to say the built-in speakers are also better than any other laptop I have heard lately. The only thing I wish they would have put in is a CF slot - it does have most other flash memory types covered. It has a single PCMCIA card-bus slot - so type2 cards won't work - but with firewire, three usb 2.0, modem and ethernet (100mbit) built in - can't think of what type2 card you might want to use. Finally - the way this thing is built seems very sturdy. I don't see anything that I would feel that is substandard - the screen doesn't wobble as mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

thats a sweet little lappie!

 

:hp: I was also going to upgrade my L2000 with one more 1GB ram but I don't know much about notebook ram, can anyone tell me what ram to buy (brand, and specs).

 

To upgrade RAM you need to know what is currently in your machine now. Do you have two 512mb sticks or one 1gb stick? (In reading your post above I assume that you have 1gb of RAM installed already.) If you have two sticks of RAM installed, you need to remove one and buy a higher dense stick - i.e. if you have two 512mb sticks you can remove one and insert a one gig stick giving you 1.5 gb of RAM. I purchased my RAM at newegg.com - search on notebook memory - pc2700 - ddr-sodimm. The part I purchased was Viking 200P 1g VGDDR128X64SOD-333 R. I bought two - they where about $225 delivered - $250 for overnight delivery. As long as you put in PC2700 notebook memory it shouldn't matter the brand. I have not seen where putting any faster memory than PC2700 would be a benefit. Hope this helps.

 

i ordered my L2000 from sam's so i think it's one 512 Ram. But i will soon want to upgrade it to 1.5 GB ramby adding one more 1 GB ram.

 

In case anyone's looking for a sleeve case for the 12 cell battery model, I've been talking with the people at SFBags about WaterField Designs sleeve cases. They were able to obtain a 12 cell battery model of the L2000 and matched it to their size 24 horizontal sleeve case. I've got one on the way with a flap and shoulder strap (optional).

 

cel4145,

That L2000 was probably mine! Stopped by the Waterfield offices earlier on in the week to ask about what sleeve would fit my 12-cell L2000 and tried on a number of sleeves. The size 24 sleeve works perfectly, so all of you out there figuring out what sleeves work with your HP DV1000s and L2000s or Compaq V2000s 12-cell configurations now have a suitable option.

Victor

 

Question about Memmory


1. has anyone installed the the low latency Patriot Memmory in there laptop and/or the PC3200. My new laptop is on order, and I want to get the best memory solution off the bat.

A. Patriot Extreme Performance 512MB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 333 (PC 2700) Notebook Memory Model PEP5122700SLL
Cas Latency: 2
ECC: No
Heat Spreader: No
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Timing: 2-2-2-5
Voltage: 2.5V
* Model #: PEP5122700SLL
* Item #: N82E16820220123
* $62.75

B. Patriot Extreme Performance 1GB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 333 (PC 2700) Notebook Memory Model PEP1G2700SLL

Cas Latency: 2
ECC: No
Heat Spreader: No
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Timing: 2-3-5-2
Voltage: 2.5V
* Model #: PEP1G2700SLL
* Item #: N82E1682A0220124
* $154.27


Thanks for any info you might have.


Jason

 

i recently bought the L2000 and i must say it is quite an impressive laptop for the amount of money that is being spend, i have also purchased the 1gig Patriot stick of ram for 93$ off newegg and it should be arriving soon so ill post an update

 

I'm sorry but what part the world do you live so we can buy your notebook ???

 

Anybody else experience a cracked screen back panel and HP could care less?

 

So... is it possible to bump to 2048? I just bought a pair of 1gb sticks, and I can get it to boot with one of those and one of the original 510 sticks, but not with both of the new, 1gb sticks. What gives? Any ideas?

thanks

-gran
HP Livestrong L2000
Turion64 ML-37 1.99GHz

 

What is your BIOS version? Check the treads regarding v2000z and L2000; I used to have L2000 but I forgot the BIOS version that solved the issue.

 

I just upgraded the BIOS, thinking that might have been the problem. I had F.25. I now have F.27

I'm running it right now with a new one in the lower slot (the one blocked by the easier-to-access slot) and an old one in the upper slot, for 1536. Whenever I swap that old 512 for a new 1024, it boots as far as the POST screen, then stays black after that. If I boot with the F10 button pressed, it will go to the BIOS, reporting 2048 system memory, but then when I save and exit, I get the same stalling after the POST screen.

Notebook Model HP PAVILION 0 (EC436AV#ABA)
System Board ID 3093
Processor Type AMD Turion(tm) 64 Mobile ML
Processor Speed 2000 MHz
System Memory: 1536 MB

Thanks,

gran

 

I'm now starting to think one of the sticks may be bad; i just tried to boot it up with just the second stick; black screen from go. pulled that and put in the one that I'd had in it earlier; boot right up all by itself.

Do I misinterpret that as a sign of a bad stick?

-gran

 

Can you boot it with the one that you think is bad and one of the original 512mb sticks. If yes, then boot and run Memtest86+ (you have to burn a CD, it tests before windows boots). This will tell you if you have a bad chip. If you can't boot in any combination with this stick, then it's definately bad.