My HP Compaq 8510p Review

i can confirm it is ddr3 i know someone that has one

 

I got one of these today and I have some bad news. The 2600 graphics adapter keeps resetting itself. It gives a message the VRU graphics accelerator is restarting.

Apparently its a nifty cut off switch ATI put in to keep the entire pc/windows o.s. from going down when something goes wrong like whatever is happening to the GPU.

It was just browsing the web and my screen kept garbling and going to trash and then I got a blank screen, and then the VRU would reset and the windows o.s. would come back just fine.

It runs hot.

I am guessing either I got a bad unit, or there is a design problem with this particular model.

They are running a sale on them right now for 1479$, which is a nice price considering all the other models are around 2k.

I called HP, and they sent me to a link that had a new version of the ATI software, which I downloaded and installed. The gpu still locked up and reset repeatedly.



If any of you are considering buying it, you might want to hold off until we hear from more users. I like HP, thats why I bought this model, but its the second HP in a little over a year I have tried to buy with a problem. The last model was DOA after 2 hours, though it was a consumer line model. HP did give me a 100% refund that time, unfortunately this time I bought from a mail order house so I don't know what type of return or refund PCConnection will give yet.

It's a handsome unit, in a nice metal chasis, with a 3 year warranty, but....

 

Oh hey I didn't see you post here too

No that's a bad unit, they run fairly cool due to HP massively underclocking the HD 2600. You're the second person I've come across with GPU problems so hopefully it's pretty rare. Good luck!

 

I can get a T7700 with 7200rpm hard disk.
Does anyone know how the benchmarks stack up for the T7700 version of the 8510p?
I am worried about driver issues with games with the 2600 card .... anyone having any issues?

I have been trying to get a good desk top replacement 15inch and am down to this and the IBM T61p. Availability may be the issue (exact model configuration availability that is) in this part of the world (South Pacific).

 

Is there a temperature sensor diode on the GPU? There's no temperature reporting in the Catalyst Control Centre (the stock version nor the modded drivers).
I've tried numerous versions of RivaTuner, ATI Tool and ATI Tray Tools to see if temperatures appear in that, but to no avail. The only tool I've actually manged to get working is the beta ATI Tool, and it didn't show any temps.
I have speedfan, and it shows me about 6 temperatures, but they're unlabelled.

Any ideas?

 

Check your PMs!

 

anyone have pictures comparing the 14.1" t61 to the 8510p?

 

My brother has a 15.4" T61p. We're going to post some pictures when the semester ends, but that's probably too big for you

 

I decided to go for a repair with mine. Those weird crashes are really annoying. I had NO problems with arranging an engineer to come and do a on site repair. and Im in UK
Seems like HP Business support is much much - a he** a lot better - than the normal one
He is going to replace the Motherboard so we'll see if this was the problem
Anyway at the moment Im very happy from the service Ive been given - even though repairing means that my computer - my baby - is a bit faulty hehe
Ill keep You posted

 

OK, keep us posted!

 

so you are saying that for a laptop thats less than 2gs they will come and provide door to door service??
I never heard of that,but if thats indeed true, then i m willing to fork out extra few hundred for it!

 

HPs business warranty is amazing.

 

HP gives 3 year international (actually works :]) on-site warranty with this notebook so for 1500$ is the best buy in my opinion!
Otherwise I would go with Asus coz it has 2...

 

All I can say is WOW. Wondering how come never heard anybody from the street saying this.

Now i am really gonna have a hardtime deciding what to get(f3sa,f8sv,f8sa,c90) ignorance IS a bliss!!
shooooot
didnt even know about 8510 until last night when i saw you guys talking about it by accident.
btw, can the hd2600 in 8510p be overclocked? been reading about how its supper underclocked!

and is that 1500+ tax? from hp? and you said global? does that only apply if i live in the US? ( i am i vancouver canada) If i have an adress in the states, ship it there, and bring it back to Canada, would my international warratee be void?

thanx guys

oh also any words on the docking station? noticed this is a bottom connection unlike the expantion ports in their pavilion models. how much and what does it have?

 

My father bought it for me in US, brought it to Poland, and now Im using it in UK and thats where it goes for warranty. Call HP Canada business support just to make sure, but from what I know U should receive the same warranty. Ackeron did the same thing You would like to do Ship to US, take it through the boarder

HD2600 can be o/c but its quite limited right now, even without o/c is a amazing card. Read couple of reviews, compare against its bigger competitor - 8600GT and decide what do You really need and want
HP sells the 2GHz, 1GB, 160GB, model (as in my sig, but I added 2GB stick myself) for $1497 or sthing like that. I think taxes depend on the state You ship to. Yet there is a lot of shops to sell it even cheaper (of koz only couple of bucks) without taxes. At least I didnt pay any taxes to NY

I cant help You bout docking station, but there was somebody who actually bought it.

Good luck with Your choice!

Edit: from Your sig I can see that U want good battery time, well this HP runs for over 3 hours easily when doing office tasks. Lovely

 

Thanks Destiny, ya batt life is one of the main things leading me to the 8510 now. But it doesnt have eSATA nor a built in camara.

Do you know if theres a program to down clock the HD 2600 of F3SA so i can squeeze some more batt life from it?
I thinks thats what hp did to 8510p in the first place to get the 3hours+ isnt it?

 

U could possibly try AMD GPU tool as it worked for overclocking it so downclocking shouldnt be a problem yet I would not expect much more battery time from this as I guess Asus thought about it as well.

 

thanks dude

 

Did you ever figure out the SpeedFan temp value that applies to the HD2600?

 

For that check Everest and also AMD GPU tool

 

buy it from cendirect, $1275 Canadian and No PST
i bought it about 1 week ago(i'm in vancouver too), after shipping and tax is about $1360..., and the 8510p arived the next day because they have a warehouse in vancouver

 

WOW, that's amazing, never new that! THANKS
now just to be sure:
"ATi Mobility Radeon HD 2600 512MB Semi-shared"
is that 256 or 512? and its ddr 3 right?

and any words on the 12 cell batt and the docking station, and the warranty service?

comparing this and the asus F3SA now.

8510p: bigger stalk batt, 3 year warranty, hdmi, better construction
F8SA: built in camara, eSATA, faster cpu, and maybe better video card?

almost identical prices

BTW, i can add ram to it easy right. asking because brand name laptops usually makes this hard

 

The HP 8510p has no eSATA that I'm aware of, unless you are referring to the expansion dock that has a built it SATA drive, which really does not offer the same expansion capabilities as if the notebook had a dedicated eSATA port.

 

ok thats fine

what about the video?
512 or 256? ddr 3 or 2?
and the 12 cell batt?

 

512 GDDR2

6 Cell Battery

Check with Asus directly and or a few retailers to see if a higher capacity battery will be available.

 

sorry scoob,
i mean the hp
cuz it showed on their website theres a huge 12 cell batt, just dont know if it fits to this model.

Any docking stations?

 

This is a HUGE benefit of the HP 8510p over any other notebook that I'm aware of. Not only does it come standard with a great 8 cell battery, and great battery life, but you can replace it with a 12 cell, and AFAIK you can even add an additional battery to a special receptacle on the bottom of the notebook to extend it even further!

Check these links for more on accessories, http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF08a/321957-321957-64295-321838-3329741-3355678.html, http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc_expertise/notebook-accessories/index.html.

 

HP 8510p 256 dedicated GDDR3

 

I don't think you can replace the 8 with the 12, since the 8cell is an "in case design". However looks like the 12 is an add on docking station type, and it powers the laptop thru the docking port?
Can anyone confirm that?

But that did you mean by" can even add an additional battery to a special receptacle on the bottom of the notebook to extend it even further!" ?
There is another space in the laptop where you can add another battery beyond the 8 cell and the 12 cell( which is provided by docking)?


Man 8510p definitely looks tempting. I just need to figure out this "to your door" 3 business day, 3 year warraty. In the description it said "nationwide", which makes it sound only in the US, but somebody in the forum said its global.
so if anyone can elaborate on that, it would be awesome!

 

I replied in another thread, but if you get onsite it's to your door in Canada for sure. Just have to pay more.

 

cool thanx

 

How's the noise level of the 8510p compared to the t61?

 

The 8510p's fan runs all the time, quiet or loud depending on your usage. I find on battery/office/light tasks it's very quiet, or at least quiet enough that you won't hear it unless in a dead silent room.

But if you're on AC + Max Performance and doing GPU intense tasks, the fan seems to stay louder longer to cool down the system, and is relatively noticeable all the time. If you change the system profile to Balanced however (when not gaming etc), I find it stays quieter and cools down just as fast.

The T61p my brother has is dead silent (it might not even be running) unless you're doing heavy work, but the fan ramps up pretty quickly if you are. It's still not as noticeable as the 8510p however.

 

Dear Ackeron,

thanks for your nice review!

Regarding the fan noise. Many 8510p-users (me too) seem to be disappointed because of the constantly running fan. A discussion was started at http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1168521

As you are more of an expert than we are, what do you think? Can this issue be solved technically? Is it an issue?

Thanks,
Dominik

 

At the moment, with 51-55 degrees celcius, on the balanced profile, the fan is hardly hearable. I dont know what people are complaining about?? Clean Your FAN!!!

 

Clean the fan? How about clean your ears!

 

Lol what I meant is You would be surprised how much dust can the radiator and the fan catch. Its very easy to clean that. My laptop is running around 6-8 degrees less in Idle and around 15 in High performance mode than it used to.

 

Wow, how loud is the 8510p's fan? Seems like its pretty bad? I have an 4 year old emachines m5310, and that thing over heats alot, and the fan is actually on all the time as well. But it doesnt really anoy me until it kicks in to its highest level.
Never thought about this issue.

Anybody know if the asus F3SA or the F8SV has the same issue with the fan?
Is it loud and always on as well?

 

The 8510p is brand new and the fan is not dirty, yet. The fan is too loud and annoying. The fan of my NX6325 is running about 50% of the time, but at the lowest speed it is almost unhearable. The fan of my 8510p is running constantly and is about as loud as the 2nd gear of the NX6325.

I also have to mention that I am running Ubuntu 7.10 on both notebooks.

 

My HP was 2 months old. You should have seen the amount of dust taken of the radiator! If You dont believe me just check. I couldnt believe what I saw when the engineer opened it to change mobo.

 

OK, thanks for clearing that up for us!

Now, just to let you all know, I JUST received my 8510p today, and the only sound that I can hear emitting from it, is a very soft rush of air coming from the heat exhaust vent. I don't know what all these crybabies are whining about!

 

Scobberdoober, what operating system are you using? Would you also be so kind to give us temperature details? Thanks!

Output of "acpi -t"
Thermal 1: ok, 35.0 degrees C
Thermal 2: active[4], 45.0 degrees C
Thermal 3: ok, 39.0 degrees C
Thermal 4: ok, 38.0 degrees C
Thermal 5: ok, 28.0 degrees C
Thermal 6: ok, 40.0 degrees C

The fan is definitely running all the time and at a disturbing level. I am comparing it to my NX6325-notebook, which is standing next to the 8510p.

p.s. Gotta check if there is some dust under the hood.

 

wow, all these complaints about the fan, maybe i should wait for a verdict beforei order mine \

 

Screen from now:
running Power Saver mode, my gf is talking over skype, I'm browsing the internet (6 tabs in Mozilla opened).
Notebook sitting on the desk.

 

Hey everyone. My new 8510p has a terribly grainy screen!

I contacted HP today, and they were very cool about it. They are going to cross ship me a new one, and if I don't like it either, I can get a full refund.

I custom ordered the 1200x800 screen, do you think I should go for the higher res, even though it will be more difficult for me to see?

 

hey scoob can you take a screen shot of the desktop at 1440X1050?
I know its gonna be smaller to read, but I have no idea just how hard is it?
Been going to best buy and futureshop, and nowhere has a 15inch with that kinda resolution on display!

What do you mean by grainy?

and how much was for you to custom order the 1200X800?

 

Wow Destiny...is that 19c accurate? I've never seen my GPU go below 40c, hah. The problem with the fan/audio is that it's highly subjective. Some find it whisper quiet at anything but high speeds, for others its tolerable, and for others still it's a deal breaker even at the lowest speed.

Someone could always make an audio clip of their 8510p fans at various temps and we could compare. Maybe some models are just louder, I dunno

 

After I started using 1680x1050 looking on things on the other HP with 1200x800 seems like looking through the magnifying glass. LOL

@Ackeron, see Yourself in Everest. AMD GPU is showing same temperatures. MY HDD does not give any readings (Fujitsu blah - cant wait to change it to 7K200 ) so I believe this in not a mistake. If Your GPU is around 40 check if You can feel it through the plastic between Presentation and Mute buttons where the GPU is located. I cant feel anything

 

Can some kind soul who owns an 8510p please post what firewire chipset it uses? If you check device manager in the control panel is should say what brand the chipset is.

 

RICOH

I'm a kind soul.