HP Fansite

Elitebook 8440 and 8540 have better heat dissipation than old generation

I just finished several hours of intensely working out HP’s new Elitebook 8440p, Elitebook 8440w and Elitebook 8540w models this week running several games in a row (special thanks to several friends who helped). Well, to be frank, we weren’t just ‘officially’ testing them – we had lots of fun playing the latest game titles and creating fancy CAD car models while at it!

I’m not gonna post a whole bunch of benchmark and temperature numbers here, perhaps at a later point in time, but today, I want to keep things simple and straightforward. The HP Elitebook 8440 and 8540 models have very much improved heat control compared to previous models. So far, I’m not sure what’s bringing such a huge improvement – better fan speed control, reshuffled component layout or more efficient components – but there was a tangible difference I could feel. After about 8 hours of running a mix of AutoCAD, 3Ds Max, Left4Dead 2 and Need for Speed Shift, I could literally hold the quad core Elitebook 8440w and 8540w models using my bare hands, by the bottom of the notebook, without getting my fingers and hands fried. The dual-core Core i5 running Elitebook 8440p fared much better: after going through the same stress test, it really didn’t feel as if the notebook had been doing any work at all – it was as cool as a notebook that had merely been idling with some windows open.

For comparison’s sake, I wouldn’t touch the bottom of any old generation Elitebook that I knew had just undergone some heavy task lifting because they can literally burn!

Off topic: Anyone know why notebooks can suddenly ‘switch off’ and how to solve this problem? There was an Elitebook 8730w (among other various notebooks) at the gathering which frequently (and suddenly) switch off without warning. I suspect it’s due to overheating (processor can go up to 90-100 degrees Celcius running the same apps/games as above) though I’ve tried cleaning the fan and even removing the bottom panel for better airflow – but no luck.

Happy holidays/Merry Xmas from HP Fansite (+Colin McRae DiRT 2 preview)

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas from HP Fansite, the title says it all. 2009′s holiday season has been a busy one indeed, and I bet most of us are hoping for an even better year ahead in 2010 (better economy, more saucy HP notebooks and hardware, more mind-blowing game titles, etc).

Oh, speaking of games, I’ve just got the new title Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (it’s a car racing game) for PC for review. I had planned to crash at a friend’s place for a mini “DiRT 2 party” since I know several people who have the game too. Unfortunately, because of everyone’s busy Christmas schedule and my friend/the host’s nice HP Elitebook 8730w(drool)’s display backlight failing at the last minute, I ended up having to play the game myself yesterday.

Although I’m not a huge fan of circuit/grid racing (more of an open-world, non-race car racing game fan), I’m a big lover of DiRT 2′s amazing graphics and sound. Gameplay wise, I’ve finished about six races so far and it’s your pretty standard Need For Speed-style, race to the finish and get 1st place kind of game. I have one beef about DiRT 2 so far though – and that’s painfully long loading screens and wait time before/after every race (the so-so hard metal/rock music during the waits don’t help much either).

I’m not sure if it’s my Pavilion dv4 showing signs of age (hmm, frame rates during races are still good) or poor optimization on DiRT 2′s developers’ behalf, but either way, the 1-2 minute long “Loading…” screens are driving me crazy. I’ll have to go see how the game fared (or fares, not sure many of my buddies would have the time for unboxing video games on Christmas week) on some more powerful notebooks. And that’s it for my initial impressions. I’ll be back with a full review of DiRT 2 after I’m done with the game.

Have a Merry Xmas 2009 everyone!