Being a person who enjoys keeping up with the latest features of products and frequently updates software, I installed an update for the HP Elitebook 8730w’s Nvidia Quadro FX3700M graphics card via Windows Update yesterday. It was called “nVidia – Display – FX3700M”… upon restart, I found the screen brightness of the HP Elitebook 8730w was about 10 to 15% dimmer than usual and the colors became out of whack, even with the brightness cranked up to the max and ambient light sensor off. Only when I plugged the AC adapter in, the brightness and colors went up to normal for about 5 seconds, then it was back down AGAIN! The notebook also no longer detected the display as a DreamColor display and the “Sharpness” option (see the screenshot above) had disappeared from the Nvidia Graphics control panel. I almost panicked as there was no way to remove the update, even via the Windows Update ‘remove updates’ panel.
In the end, I uninstalled all the Nvidia drivers and downloaded the one from HP’s website. Evidently, it’s not the latest driver but at least brightness is back to normal again, colors are accurate again, and the notebook detects the DreamColor display and show the Sharpness option again. Well, HP Elitebook 8730w users, you’ve been warned. If you still feel like installing that update, do it at your own risk!
Netbook? Who needs a netbook when you can have THIS! The HP Elitebook 2530p blows away literally any netbook in the market, looking utterly stylish (sexy?) while at it. Of course, such greatness comes at a price – you could buy several netbooks with the price of just ONE Elitebook.
Still, that won’t stop me from comparing the Elitebook 2530p to my humble Mini 2133 and the 2140… (excuse the tiny wireless mouse dongle connected to the Elitebook in the picture above)
The Elitebook 2530p is wider and slightly longer than the HP Mini 2133/Mini 2140. I’d gladly carry a slightly larger bag if I owned one though! Oh, naturally the Elitebook 2530p is about 300 grams heavier than the Mini 2140 but the weight difference wasn’t too significant though.
In terms of thickness, the Elitebook 2530p is a wee bit slimmer than the Mini 2133/Mini 2140. HP says the Elitebook 2530p is 25.2 mm thin while the Mini 2140 is 26.7 mm thin. Put on the Mini 2133/2140′s 6 cell extended battery and it becomes a different story – I like the Elitebook 2530p’s 6 cell battery which sticks out the back of the notebook, as opposed to the Mini’s 6 cell battery which extends downwards so you have a thick bulge at the back that makes the notebook hard to store.
One other thing is that the Elitebook 2530p’s keyboard is about the same size as the one on the HP Mini’s except the arrow keys are larger on the Elitebook while its function keys at the top row are a tad smaller. The Elitebook 2530p also has dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys, something I appreciate a lot. Well, that’s all for today, the Elitebook 2530p is perfect for what it is and dare I say, flawless… with the exception of price and the fact I can’t keep it =( , of course.
What’s the perfect match for a HP Elitebook notebook PC? Why, a HP Elitebook USB flash drive with 16 gigs of memory, of course
Sure there are plenty of 16 GB flash drives out there… but this one has a slide in/out connector (in a world of flash drives using caps and covers) which eliminates the need for a separate cap for protection AND it matches any HP Elitebook notebook PC perfectly. And did I mention this thing reads at 40-45 MB/s and writes at 30 MB/s?
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.
Based on my extensive usage and testing of the HP Elitebook 8730w (2.53 GHz dual core, 4 GB RAM, 17 inch DreamColor screen, Windows Vista Business, Nvidia Quadro FX3700M 1GB workstation graphics) since November, I’ve come up with a list of battery life numbers that can be achieved using this Mobile Workstation notebook PC. Using the included primary battery:
- Gaming – 1 hour (Display at the brightest setting, high performance mode)
- Graphics rendering – 1 hour 30 minutes
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 continuous use – 1 hour 40 minutes
- High-definition movie playback – 1 hour 40 minutes (Display at the brightest setting)
- Documents, excel and casual web surfing – 2 hours 30 minutes
- Combined usage (Some documents and typing, music through headphones and Photoshop CS4) – 2 hours (Display at medium brightness, balanced power mode)
These numbers were recorded when the battery ran down to 3% and Windows went into sleep mode. The battery life numbers have also been rounded down to the nearest 10 minutes.
So there you have it; now you know what to expect from the HP Elitebook 8730w when performing specific tasks. Adding on a secondary battery, that is HP’s Extended Battery option, will effectively double those numbers listed above.
