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.

HP Night Light illuminates Elitebook 8440p playing Left4Dead 2

HP Night Light in action on Elitebook 8440p running Left4Dead 2

Wondering how effective the HP Night Light is in HP’s Elitebook models? How about the gaming performance of the HP Elitebook 8440p when it comes to the sequel to everyone’s favorite zombie-horror game? Well, everyone, I’ve got a treat for you today: you get the answers to both questions in this single article! I just happened to be playing Left4Dead 2 on a friend’s newly acquired Elitebook 8440p (don’t forget to plug in the charger for maximum performance!) and come on, what’s a survival horror/zombie game without playing in the dark for ambience? So last weekend, I switched off all the lights in the room, whipped out the HP Elitebook 8440p and started up Left4Dead 2 for a little “Dark Carnival” multiplayer LAN fun!

As you can see, the HP Night Light (the little light above the notebook’s display) illuminates the entire keyboard pretty well and even the area around it (you can spot my travel mouse to the right if you look hard enough). What’s great about HP’s implementation of their Night Light is that it isn’t annoying or too bright; and there’s no light leakage, so the illumination is focused solely on the keyboard area.

As for gaming performance, I ran Left4Dead 2 (yes, with my newly installed Zoey skin/voice mod!) on a HP Elitebook 8440p configured with 2.53 GHz dual core Intel Core i5 540M, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 320 GB 7200 RPM hard disk drive and 512 MB Nvidia Quadro NVS 3100M graphics with the following settings in Left4Dead 2:

• 1600 x 900 resolution
• No film grain
• 2X MSAA anti-aliasing
• 2X anisotropic filtering
• Vertical sync disabled
• Multicore rendering enabled
• Shader – Low (GPU dependent)
• Effects – High (CPU dependent)
• Model/texture – Medium
• Available memory – High

Turns out that the Elitebook 8440p performed pretty well with the settings above, with frame rates hovering around 24 to 40 frames per second: enough for navigating through all the action from saferoom to saferoom. I have one big tip for gaming on notebooks running the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 mobile processors: Always plug in the notebook to a nearby power outlet. This new generation of processors are even more picky and sensitive than their old Core 2 Duo counterparts – bringing performance down to minimal levels to stinge on power when running off the battery. Only when plugged in do these new processors run at full tilt, even letting Intel’s Turbo Boost kick in whenever possible, for maximum performance.

Oh, in case anyone is wondering, I tested the Elitebook 8440p with the uncut, butt-kicking version of Left4Dead 2. There’s word that the cut/censored version of Left4Dead 2 brings a noticeable frame rate increase thanks to reduced levels of in-game blood and gore (among other things).

Assassin’s Creed 2 for PC, mark your calendars

As many of you may know, while I’m not busy with books, papers, friends or HP products, I also love, love, love PC gaming. Did I mention how I recently picked up Assassin’s Creed 1 for PC, played it on a borrowed HP Envy 15 and loved it? No? Well, now you know. After playing Batman Arkham Asylum for PC last December (and writing about its singleplayer experience earlier this month), I sort of went on a “third person action” gaming spree. My “latest” third person perspective game was 2007/2008′s Assassin’s Creed 1, which I started and finished within last week – strange how I missed picking it up when it first came out.

Since it’s an old game, I won’t be writing a full length review about it (though you should lookout for my reviews of Batman Arkham Asylum 1 and Left4Dead 2, as well as a few new HP notebooks, in the coming weeks). But simply put, it was a game with a great storyline, decent character development, lots of nice scenery and part-action, part-stealth gameplay. Though it had its fair share of issues such as missions that get slightly repetitive after awhile and jagged edges/below average image quality (due to either lack of anti-aliasing and/or upsampling from 720p to 1080p, not sure which one, because the PC version of Assassin’s Creed 1 was a direct console port), I still loved it as a whole… and I’ve been looking forward to Assassin’s Creed 2 for PC since.

Well, the release date of Assassin’s Creed 2 for PC, the direct sequel to the original game, was announced less than 12 hours ago – mark your calendars for March 16, 2010, if third person adventure games are your thing (or if you just like intriguing storylines). I hope that after all that waiting (and delay, compared to the console versions which were already out since November 2009), the developers have gotten their act together to go that extra mile to make Assassin’s Creed 2 less of a console port, and more PC optimized (real 1080p and anti-aliasing up to 16X CSAA please!).

While I’m all up for Assassin’s Creed 2, and really happy for the fact Ubisoft is including the full game (unlike consoles, whose players have to buy the two DLC’s which were supposed to be part of the story), they’re charging a whopping $60 for the game. For the record, the MSRP of new PC game titles has been and is usually $50. And I think we have that console game (which was lazily turned into a crippled, console-lified PC game) to blame for starting off the “$60 for PC games” trend. Yes, I’m sure with the launch of Assassin’s Creed 2 as the second ever PC game with a $60 price tag, many PC gamers are praying hard that the disgusting, plain horrid “$60 trend” set by Modern Warfare 2 will not become a norm as other developers release games in the future…

Thanks for the Left4Dead 2 update, Valve!

Playing as the happy chainsaw-wielding Coach in Left4Dead 2

In some other news related to gaming, I’ve just updated Left4Dead 2 to the latest version (I think) after a long while of not playing the game due to crash issues, which some may remember, I posted about more than a month ago. Well after keeping myself busy with other games, relaxing during the Christmas/New Year holidays and more recently, covering HP-related CES news, I’ve finally had the time to start up Left4Dead 2 and pull in some new updates. And guess what? I just finished the first campaign, Dead Center, on singleplayer and it worked the whole way through without a single crash/lag situation happening! Yes, we bumped into the Wandering Witch several times, the bots AKA computer-controlled characters disturbed her and had to take her down (one of the biggest causes of Left4Dead 2 crashes which even Valve themselves acknowledged)… did that a few times without crashing at all.

I’m off to get myself something to eat before I test out the other campaigns, then later today, I’m planning to celebrate this occasion (yes, hurrah for games with LAN support!) by bringing my Pavilion dv4 over to a small L4D2 gathering/LAN party with some other L4D2/gamers I know. Once again, I’m overjoyed that Left4Dead 2 seems to work very smoothly after being updated… that’s another PC game with decent multiplayer and LAN support, for the win! I’m glad I got this game – initially for its singleplayer/multiplayer replay value and multiplayer features (yes, like LAN support and dedicated servers which should be standard in the PC world), and now, good support by the developers for the game. In fact, in my books, any game with either a long, in-depth singleplayer mode (ie Metal Gear Solid 4 and Arkham Asylum) and/or replayable singleplayer/multiplayer (ie Left4Dead) is a kazillion times better than this certain game with overly short, fairly linear singleplayer, apparent disregard by developers for the PC version and poor, extremely crippled multiplayer.

Update: It works!!! It works!! All the Left4Dead 2 campaigns played smoothly for me without any crashes I experienced when I initially got the game. Gamer review of Left4Dead 2 to follow soon…

P.S. I’m in the process of trying to acquire the new ATI Mobility 5830 totting HP Envy 15 for testing… so in case you’re curious about benchmarks and such for the new Envy 15, now you know that’s on my “to-do” list this spring. Have a great weekend everyone.

HP Envy 15 Beats edition featured in Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”

HP Envy 15 Beats Edition in Lady Gaga's music video

So I had meant to post this ages ago but due to a combination of Christmas, lots of HP notebook rumors this month and other things that take precedence in terms of priority, I’m only posting this now. Four HP Envy 15 Beats edition notebooks were recently featured in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance single video.

Camera zooms into two Envy's at 2:45

The Core i7 Mobile packing, ATI Mobility Radeon 4830 blazing luxury/premium notebooks had about three seconds (2:44 to 2:46) of screen time. The Beats by Dr Dre headphones also made its appearance, draped on the third Envy 15 Beats notebook in the video at 2:44. This same pair of headphones is part of the “limited edition” HP Envy 15 Beats package.

Another better view of the HP Envy 15 Beats in the Bad Romance video

Compared to the “regular” HP Envy 15, the Envy 15 Beats Edition is essentially the same notebook inside with “Beats” branding, black casing design (regular Envy is silver/beige-ish) and includes the mentioned Beats by Dr Dre headphones and Traktor DJ software for… well, DJ’s to do their thing with music tracks.

HP Envy 15 Beats Edition product picture

Oh, before you rush out there to place your order for one “just because Lady Gaga has four”, the Envy 15 Beats Edition also gets a $500 price premium slapped on top of the price of a regular Envy. Food for thought. Okay, given not everyone’s a fan of Lady Gaga, at least you can relate to playing games like Left4Dead on full HD/max everything at 60 FPS on HP’s slimmest Core i7 notebook. Right? Have a great New Year’s eve folks!