HP Fansite

No, don’t release Windows 7 yet

As opposed to those making petitions and screaming and yelling for Windows 7 to be released (aka in a “I want it, and I want it now!” manner), I don’t think Microsoft should release Windows 7 that quickly yet. Sure the Beta of Windows 7 looks, feels and seems to run pretty well thus far and lots of people are satisfied; now anticipating the launch of Microsoft’s new operating system more than ever. But why not wait a while more for further testing and any (more) bugs to be ironed out to perfection so we actually have a STABLE operating system in the end when it launches.

Why the rush for Windows 7 to be released? There’s already the beta version available of 7 available for download and you’ve already waited two years since Vista (seven to eight years if you’re coming from Win XP), what’s a few months compared to that? I’d go with Microsoft taking their time to perfect Windows 7 instead of releasing it in a hurry, in a clumsy manner.

More HP Mini’s to come

From sources, HP is planning several new Mini (Note) netbooks for 2009/2010 – An 11.6 inch LED display Mini is on track to be launched this summer which will be “not much larger” than the current HP Mini 2133/2140 netbooks and may use a different Atom processor from the current N270 in the Mini 1000/2140. There will also be another model, slated for later this year in the 3rd quarter and a Mini Note tablet currently being at the “concept testing” stage.

Windows Vista is laggy. Right…

It’s been almost two whole years since Windows Vista was released and more than two years that we’ve been hearing the endless criticisms and statements shooting down the operating system. No doubt Apple’s “Get a Mac”  ads (whose nature subsequently turned into “constant anti-Vista preaching”) have played a large role in diluting people’s minds and implanting the idea that Windows Vista is crappy. Most of the time, many small issues in Vista get over exaggerated into huge problems.

And what’s worse is that majority of these Vista-haters probably have not even used Vista before! – the idea in their head just came from word of mouth from friends, the net, comments in some of the so-called “technology magazines/websites” or some of those ridiculous Get-a-Mac ads. The most they do is probably walk into a computer shop, use a PC or two running Vista (use as in move the mouse around for a bit, click on the start button, open Internet Explorer) and conclude “oh it looks pretty… but it’s probably slow and useless anyway”.

My first experience with Vista was somewhere in February 2007, not long after the final release by Microsoft, where I had Windows Vista Ultimate running on a then-new HP notebook. From that point in time until now, I have been using Windows Vista and have never looked back. During my 23 months with Windows Vista, I have not had many issues with the OS at all; aside from the system coming up with an occasional dreaded blue screen of death during my attempts to run some ancient games (read: 1996-1998 games) and incompatibility with Norton Internet Security 2007 at the initial stage.

I’ve also been able to run Photoshop CS3 (and quite recently, CS4) and many, many modern games smoothly on Vista…. umm, not to mention multi-tasking (running many programs; plus some heavy ones like Photoshop with multiple RAW images loaded) is part of my daily life. Hey whaddaya know, no crashes, my system isn’t laggy, and I haven’t got a BSOD since my last attempt to run a 1997 game 13 months back. All in contrast to the usual Vista stereotype.

I had “another one of those days” again this week, when I was using my HP Compaq 6510b (yeah it’s an old notebook, anyone care to sponsor me an Elitebook? =) and was approached by some guy who happened to see my Windows 7 wallpaper which became the conversation starter. Apparently once you get an impression of something, it sticks in your head, even if you never tried it before.

Dude: Hey is that the latest Windows?
Me: No, it’s just Windows Vista with a wallpaper which says Windows 7.
Dude: (looking confused) So this isn’t the latest Windows? How come this (points to “Windows 7″ on the screen) doesn’t say Windows Vista?
Me: It’s just a wallpaper I downloaded from the net.
Dude: Oh… anyhow, I heard Windows Vista is horrible.
Me: It’s not as bad as people say. I’ve been running it fine for almost 2 years now.
Dude: But it’s slow right?
Me: Not exactly, unless I’m running a few huge applications at one go… in which case, any PC would run slowly.
Dude: Then it must be laggy in something, like playing games…
Me: I play lots of games at home, mostly on their highest settings on Vista and they still run quite well in fact.
Dude: That can’t be right. Windows Vista is huge and slow.
Me: Have you personally used Vista before?
Dude: No, I just heard from people that it sucks.
Me: That’s not always true. No doubt it uses a little more memory, I think it’s still as usable as previous Windows versions.
Dude: But in the end, it’s still laggy, isn’t it?

Oh bother! The era of insane, sometimes completely false, anti-Vista sentiments will soon be over… I hope Windows 7 will turn future conversation pieces of the world from “Windows Vista sucks” to “Windows 7 rocks”.

Hey! Sony Vaio P hands on

Hey! I thought this was a HP Fansite?! What’s the Sony Vaio P doing here? True, but that still doesn’t stop me from posting a picture of probably one of the most hyped up products of 2009 and comparing it against the HP Mini, does it? It’s not mine anyway, neither am I even having the slightest thought of getting one (1. It’s way overpriced for what it REALLY is, and 2. It really doesn’t offer much over the HP Mini I already have besides the smaller size).

My initial impressions: The Sony Vaio P is small in size, it’s like the HP Mini with only a keyboard (chopping off the trackpad bit of the netbook to make the Vaio P a long, narrow PC), and comes in four colors. The Vaio P has a high resolution 16:9 screen with a resolution of 1600 x 768 pixels (that’s a little more than 200 pixels wider than the HP Mini 2140). The bad news is that if you thought the fonts and all were tiny on a screen like the HP Mini 2133′s, you’re gonna scream looking at the even smaller fonts on the Vaio P. I appreciate the trackpoint (or as some put it, the “nipple” point) on the Vaio P though.

The keyboard on the Vaio P has well spread-out keys that many will probably find better than on most other netbooks, like Asus’ Eee PCs and the Acer Aspire One. Compared to the HP Mini’s, the keyboard on the Vaio P has keys which are a tad smaller but better spaced out, though HP’s keyboards have the edge with a full-sized right SHIFT key and more “travel” when pressing a key… the latter, being my preference, is subjective.

Overall, I would consider the Sony Vaio P more of a luxury product rather than a true affordable netbook. While it does have some edges like a high-res screen and GPS, I’m not sure if the weaker-than-average 1.33 GHz Intel Atom processor and high price tag (almost two to three times more expensive than an average netbook) would make people rush for this thing.

HP Elitebook 8730w Performance & Noise

In my previous write-ups about HP’s Elitebook 8730w this month, I provided some battery life figures for the 8730w Mobile Workstation when doing various tasks and also talked about the Elitebook’s gaming abilities. And now, we come to the Elitebook 8730w’s performance figures and noise. Again, here’s the configuration on the HP Elitebook 8730w I used for testing: Intel Centrino 2 (Core 2 Duo) T9400 2.53 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM (2 X 2 GB), 17 inch DreamColor display, 160 GB hard drive and top-of-the-line Nvidia Quadro FX3700M 1 GB workstation-class graphics card.

Temperature and heat: When idling, the 8730w’s processor temperature hovers around the 39 to 41 Celcius range and when doing “light things” such as typing out this write up or surfing the net, it’s around 40 to 45 Celcius. Doing heavy (and multiple) tasks like HD video editing, graphics rendering and gaming, the processor temperature can rise up to 50+ degrees Celcius but so far, during my 3 months with the 8730w, never above 60 Celcius. Generally, you won’t notice the heat being emitted from the notebook, even under intense use (the most your palms and hands will ever feel will be an occasional “slightly warm” feeling), as it only gets hot on the underside of the 8730w… so unless you literally use the Elitebook as a lap-top and place it on your lap while using it, everything should be fine. Speaking of the heat being mostly on the underside of the notebook, things there can get hot (though it won’t burn your hand) so keep that in mind after finishing work and carrying the notebook by your side.

Noise: The HP Elitebook 8730w has a single fan with two side vents. When it’s under light to medium load, the fan runs very quietly – I wouldn’t say dead silent but you won’t notice it unless you put your ear close to the notebook’s fan location. Under heavy load, the Elitebook’s fan tends to spin up but even then, it’s still fairly quiet. You’ll hear a fairly distinct very low humming sound (much more low profile than the usual “whooshing” fan sounds of typical notebooks) which isn’t too loud or annoying… I doubt the person sitting next to you would even notice unless you’re in a completely silent, soundproof room. Compare this with the Elitebook 8730w’s consumer relative, the HP Pavilion dv7 (which spots a 17 inch glossy LCD and shares the T9400 processor) which makes a fairly noticeable “shhhhhhhh” fan sound when being put to the test.

And this is how the HP Elitebook 8730w performs based on Windows Vista’s Windows Experience Index rating system:

• Processor: 5.4
• Memory: 5.9
• Graphics: 5.9
• Gaming graphics: 5.8
• Hard disk: 5.3

Again, I should remind you that the HP Elitebook 8730w uses a workstation-class graphics card (not your usual gaming graphics cards). If you have any questions or comments, do feel free to drop a comment below or email me.