HP Fansite

2 GB Nvidia Quadro FX5000M card announced; coming to Elitebook 8740w

Nvidia has just announced their first bunch of “Fermi” Quadro workstation class graphics card that supports DirectX 11 for both desktops and notebooks. The Nvidia Quadro FX5000M not only has 2 GB of memory (which we already knew about from ’service parts’ for the Elitebook 8740w that have been posted on HP’s website for months now), but is superior to the current (and now, former) top of the line Quadro FX3800M in almost every way imaginable, at least on paper.

Aside from having double the memory, the Quadro FX5000M is also Nvidia’s first, and currently only, mobile Quadro card supporting the latest iterations of DirectX (DX11), OpenGL (Open GL 4.0) and shader model (5.0). Compared to the Quadro FX3800M, the FX5000M has more than double the number of cores (320 vs 128 cores), 20% more bandwidth (76.8 vs 64 GB/sec) and of course, again, has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory (vs the FX3800M topping out at 1 GB; GDDR3). There’s even an unseen “improvement” in terms of heat/power consumption, since the Quadro FX5000M still has a TDP of 100W, so theoretically it should perform much better than older flagship Quadro cards, while consuming similar amounts of energy.

The best part of all this is that the Quadro FX5000M will be available for the Elitebook 8740w in the future, though at an unspecified date and price. If you’ve already gotten an Elitebook 8740w, fear not for there’s always the ability to swap parts like people have been doing for ages… You’d better start studying that 8740w service manual now!

Two ‘Books, one bag

Well, here’s a little picture for everyone’s entertainment while waiting for Part 3 of my “choosing an ultra-portable” journey… It’s the HP Elitebook 8440p stacked on top of a 13 inch Apple white/plastic MacBook! Before anyone asks, no I don’t use Macs =) (don’t own one either).

Anyway, I figured I published the first two parts of my series a little too early – because what I ordered hasn’t arrived yet, and I really want to have some ‘in the flesh’ pictures to show you guys. So expect the conclusion of the series to be dragged out to mid to end July after the delivery guy rings my doorbell!

New Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 dual and quad core chips appear in Elitebook CTO options

Hey, what do we have here… looks like HP has quietly added a bunch of new and currently unreleased Intel Core i3, Core i5 AND Core i7 Mobile processors to their Elitebook line of notebook PCs! If you’ve checked out my posting about the HP Envy 17, SOME of these new processor options may not come as a surprise, but I bet you never knew about those new Core i3 Mobile processors, huh?

All of today’s new processors have already been priced and are available for order, which is strange because even Intel themselves have only scheduled release to be in “Q3 2010″. But then again, it’s gonna be Q3 2010 in less than 48 hours (July to September), so HP probably wants to be the one of the first ones out of the door (along with Dell, thanks Chema) with these spanking new options and has put them up already as a sort of ’preemptive action’.

For the Elitebook 8440w, 8540w and 8740w Mobile Workstation notebooks (which have 14, 15 and 17 inch LED-backlit displays respectively along with Nvidia/ATI workstation class graphics cards), as well as the more conventional (and affordable) 15 inch Elitebook 8540p notebook, these new processor options have appeared under CTO. In case you don’t know what it means, CTO stands for “Configure To Order”… so you’ll find these new processors absent from the “specifications” section but buried deep inside the “Configure your model” section.

• Intel Core i7 740QM – This new quad core processor succeeds the 1.6 GHz quad Core i7 720QM of 2009 with a slightly higher clock rate of 1.73 GHz (quad core), and Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz (versus 2.80 GHz). L3 cache remains the same at 6 MB.
• Intel Core i7 840QM – Replacing last year’s 1.73 GHz quad Core i7 820QM, this guy packs 1.8 GHz of quad core goodness (8 threads in total, of course) and Turbo Boost up to 3.20 GHz. However, the 8 MB worth of L3 cache of its predecessor remains unchanged here.

Nice, HP, very nice. But can you please tack on Intel’s Core i7 Extreme Quad core processors as options as you’ve promised (in the Elitebook 8740w’s manual), pretty please?! EDIT: HP does offer the 2.0 GHz quad Core i7-920XM Extreme as an option for the Elitebook 8740w in some countries, but it’s still not as ‘mainstream’ as the conventional Core i7’s which are available everywhere. Also, the 2.13 GHz Core i7-940XM will be making an appearance soon…

Well, HP hasn’t left out the ‘baby’ of the Elitebook line, the Elitebook 8440p. How kind of them to allow you to soup it up with Intel’s latest Core i3-370M or Core i5-540M processors, among other existing options from earlier this year…

• Intel Core i3 370M – The Core i3 370M is a 2.40 GHz dual core processor that will sit above (but not replace) the current dual core 2.26 GHz Core i3 350M processor. The only change here appears to be the slight boost in clock speed; the 3 MB L3 cache and lack of Turbo Boost in the i3-370M makes it consistent with other Core i3 Mobile processors Intel has released so far.
• Intel Core i5 450M – This is one of the lower end options in Intel’s Core i5 series of processors. It has the same 2.40 GHz (dual core) clock speed and 3 MB of L3 cache as the i5-520M, but a slower 2.66 GHz Turbo Boost speed (versus 2.93 GHz Turbo on the i5-520M). Unfortunately, there appears to be a little typo by HP here regarding Turbo Boost speed (it’s supposed to say 2.66 GHz, n0t 2.93 GHz)

And that’s it, folks! There you have it, Intel’s latest Mobile Core i3, i5 and i7 (standard voltage) for Summer/Fall 2010; revealed and now available from HP as options on their Elitebook PCs. Will we see similar processor refreshes for the low-voltage Intel processor line on the 12 inch Elitebook 2540p ultra-portable and Elitebook 2740p tablet in the near future? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Later this week ON HP Fansite: If you’re a long-time reader of HP Fansite [shame on you if you're not ], you would probably know I’ve been shopping around (for way too long, since January!) for an “ultra-portable” computing device that suits my needs for mobile productivity/working on the go (Planning to attend a few conventions and trade shows next year, anyone got any invites?). Having looked at everything, from HP’s Elitebooks to Lenovo’s X200-series Thinkpads to even the iPad (and everything else in between); I’ve finally made up my mind. Find out what I’ll be getting and why, later this week!

Elitebook 8740w’s ATI FirePro M7820’s confirmed relation to Mobility Radeon 5870

This picture is for illustration only =) but you get the point

Totally excited about the upcoming 17 inch HP Elitebook 8740w? Then there’s even more exciting news! It’s obvious now that, not only does the Core i7 Quad, 4 DIMM RAM slot sporting Elitebook 8740w want your attention before you drop several grand on a MacBook Pro 17 “for graphics design”… it also wants to be an Asus G73 (a gaming notebook, the only one in the market at the moment with ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 graphics) fighter as well. A reliable source who only wishes to be known as “HP Fan” has posted findings on their recent hands-on with the ATI FirePro M7820 equipped Elitebook 8740w, that the FirePro M7820 is based off the consumer top-of-the-line (for mobile graphics) ATI Mobility Radeon 5870! Like its consumer counterpart, the workstation-class FirePro M7820 supports DirectX 11, has a huge 1 GB of memory and sips a humble 50W at max (compared to 100W of the top Nvidia Quadro FX3800M card).

Want proof? HP Fan has discovered that CPU-Z lists the Elitebook 8740w’s FirePro M7820 to have GPU and memory clock listings of 700 Mhz and 1000 Mhz respectively (which is in-line with the listings detected by CPU-Z in various reviews of the Asus G73 + ATI Mobility Radeon 5870, and also specifications on AMD’s official website). Even better yet, the ATI FirePro M7820 in the Elitebook 8740w has apparently the more powerful GDDR5 memory (because weaker GDDR3 and DDR3 variations of the Mobility Radeon 5870 exist) and it  scores 12,249 points in 3D Mark 06 (even when unfortunately paired with a comparatively, lowly Core i5 520M dual core processor); ORB even lists the card as “ATI Mobility Radeon 5870″ (!!!).

The sad part to all this good news? If you’re looking to go for the color-precise DreamColor display option HP offers, you can only pick a Nvidia card to go with it. However, if you’re not some photographer, hardcore graphics designer, or work at DreamWorks… just someone who wants a computer for “regular” CAD and design work, which can also double as a very nice gaming notebook, then the HP Elitebook 8740w with ATI graphics is probably for you. Pair it up with a Core i7 (Quad) processor and the Elitebook 8740w + ATI FirePro M7820 can effectively become a nice alternative that’s lighter and more compact than the Asus G73 gaming notebook (and also the Alienware M17x gaming notebook). Nice!

So to get DreamColor (and forced with Nvidia graphics, at the moment) or butt-kicking ATI graphics? That is the question… but just remember that the ATI FirePro M7820 supports DirectX 11 (Quadro FX3800M) doesn’t, performs better (in gaming, at least) while consuming half the power of the FX3800M and is a whopping $895 cheaper than the FX3800M (strange, isn’t it) using HP’s CTO notebook configurator. It’s also noteworthy that “HP Fan” says there will definitely be a new graphics card option towards later this year for the Elitebook 8740w, and it’s probably Nvidia “Fermi Quadro for Mobile” (say that three times as fast).

ATI FirePro M5800 appears for Elitebook 8540w; DreamColor in May

They’ve done it! They’ve finally done it! Earlier today, the 17 inch Elitebook 8740w appeared in its full unofficial glory on HP USA but the good news keeps on coming – seems that in the midst of all the 8740w madness, HP has also quietly added the new 1 GB ATI FirePro M5800 workstation graphics card (the one discovered 2 months ago in a service manual) as an option for the existing 15 inch Elitebook 8540w. They’ve also added a little note on the same specifications page (here) stating that DreamColor display options for the Elitebook 8540w will be available in May.

The listed “DDR3″ ATI FirePro M5800 suggests that it could be based off an ATI Mobility Radeon 54×0 or 56×0 card, instead of the Mobility Radeon 5800 series rumored earlier, which means that it won’t be a whole lot more powerful than its Nvidia Quadro FX counterparts, but will still offer two main advantages – DirectX 11 support and power-sipping efficiency.

Breaking: HP Elitebook 8740w pic, specs and prices hit HP USA!

HP Elitebook 8740w FINALLY makes its appearance

Don’t say we didn’t tell you something big was coming in mid-end March, because we did! And now it’s here: the HP Elitebook 8740w has just appeared on HP’s USA website – complete with a profile picture, half a dozen pre-built configurations and specifications, including ATI FirePro M7820 professional workstation class graphics appearing in its full glory. You can have one for yourself (the most basic model, of course) for a fairly affordable $1,999, while the almost-fully kitted out Core i7 quad model will cost you $3,899.

We expect prices for certain configurations to be able to hit the $5000 mark and over once more pre-built or configure to order models are released, especially with options for up to Core i7 Extreme (no word yet on whether it’ll be last year’s Intel Core i7 920XM quad core or the forthcoming Core i7 940XM quad core), backlit keyboard, Dream Color 2 and up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.

What puzzles me at the moment is why the seemingly high-end ATI FirePro M7820 is available only in the two lower end/cheaper configurations featuring regular Intel Core i5 processors and just 2 GB of RAM… I mean, ATI has always been affordable (versus Nvidia) in most cases, but the huge $1,000 price difference we’re seeing on the pre-built models? That’s just because you’re not getting Core i7 and loads of RAM that the Nvidia Quadro 8740w models have… and that sure makes one wonder WHY?!

And the magical question asked by people who DON’T want/need a 17 inch workstation-class laptop – will HP share some of the Core i7 Extreme and ATI FirePro love with the existing HP Elitebook 8440w and 8540w models? Quite likely.