*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

[kartik_subbarao]

I'd be interested in compiling a list of who has which problems, which components and when your computer was made/delivered. Here is the proposed format.

NBR username | Shipped Date | CPU | GPU | RAM config | OS | screen | Problems
Notes:

kartik_subbarao | 6-14-2010 | 820QM | FX2800M | 4x4GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1,2

Thanks again for all your efforts on this!

[TechAnimal]

People measure lag on LCD and plasma TVs by connecting them to computers and running a timer on two displays (CRT and TV). If the CRT is considered to be zero then the lag on the plasma or LCD can be calculated. Would this not work for laptop displays as well?

[lostbuyer]

People measure lag on LCD and plasma TVs by connecting them to computers and running a timer on two displays (CRT and TV). If the CRT is considered to be zero then the lag on the plasma or LCD can be calculated. Would this not work for laptop displays as well?

There is always some concern when using the two outputs (rather than a splitter) that lag is introduced by clone mode, possibly asymmetrically. However, having an external CRT vs. the native screen should give at least a lower bound on input lag (assuming that the crt is getting any extra lag introduced). Comparing this setup between a DC2 and non-DC2 screen should give a split between the two.

This seems to be a handy and pretty easy-to-read tool for measuring input lag:
Refresh Rate Multitool .exe - [H]ard|Forum

(Some in the same thread suggested this timer:
smtt.thomasthiemann.com - Technical support for the program SMTT
)

[knight427]

Last Update to Problems: 7-15-2010

1) Fan - fan stays on medium after waking from Sleep mode and will not shut off regardless of CPU/GPU temps...this problem is reportedly fixed in BIOS F.04, but that version is not yet through testing and is not currently available

2) Crash - fan suddenly ramps up to maximum speed, 30 seconds later the laptop goes blank as if it has lost all power...suspected problem is GDDR3 conflicting with 4 dimms...problem is perhaps solved by HP, but no official word yet on when solution is to come...claims made here suggest all newer laptops should not have this problem as the fix has already been implemented in the factories...anticipated fix is mobo replacement

3) Freeze - during startup, the computer freezes at some point during the animation (4 color dots rotate and flower into the Windows logo)...freeze may also occur during blank screen after this animation just before the Login screen appears...users must hold down the power key for several second to power down the system and reboot normally goes without any difficulty


Last Update to Roster: 8-9-2010
NBR username | Shipped Date | CPU | GPU | RAM config | OS | screen | Problems
Notes

knight427 | 6-1-2010 | 720QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3
Notes
I traded this one into HP for an upgrade that was supposed to be tested and ready to go...not so much

knight427 | (see "a") | 820QM | M7820 | 4x2GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3
Notes
(a) HP had on-hand, made way before DC2 units
(b) 4 dimms was completely unstable, reduced to 2 and now crashes/freezes 1-3 times per day
(c) still feeling out new ATI driver, it did change fan behavior under heavy GPU loads

Koshinn | 7-14-2010 | 840QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | W7P | DC2 | No problems so far. Haven't tested 4 sticks of RAM
Notes

kartik_subbarao | 6-14-2010 | 820QM | FX2800M | 4x4GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1,2

NotebookGrail | 7-14-2010 | 840QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | WP7 | DC2 | WP7 Automatic Update Restart freezes up

Thecla | 7-10-2010 | 820QM | M7820 | 2x2GB + 2x4GB | W7P | DC2 |
Notes

lethial | 7-10-2010 | 820QM | M7820 | 1x2GB | FreeDOS| DC2 | strange noises
Notes

klangfarbe | 6-15-2010 | 720QM | M7820 | 4x2GB | W7Px64 | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3, high pitched buzz noise
Location: Croatia

[knight427]

^this is what I have so far. I'll keep updating it as people post their info. You can PM the info you prefer. Note that I have a link to this post in my sig, so it will easy to find so long as I keep posting.

[Koshinn]

People measure lag on LCD and plasma TVs by connecting them to computers and running a timer on two displays (CRT and TV). If the CRT is considered to be zero then the lag on the plasma or LCD can be calculated. Would this not work for laptop displays as well?

The problem is that this is not an external LCD monitor, it's built in to the computer. You can't split the output, you can only clone the display onto a CRT, which is not an accurate measure of lag. Cloning output can show zero lag when there is actually much more.

There is always some concern when using the two outputs (rather than a splitter) that lag is introduced by clone mode, possibly asymmetrically. However, having an external CRT vs. the native screen should give at least a lower bound on input lag (assuming that the crt is getting any extra lag introduced). Comparing this setup between a DC2 and non-DC2 screen should give a split between the two.

This seems to be a handy and pretty easy-to-read tool for measuring input lag:
Refresh Rate Multitool .exe - [H]ard|Forum

(Some in the same thread suggested this timer:
smtt.thomasthiemann.com - Technical support for the program SMTT
)

Again, cloning the display introduces lag.

[lostbuyer]

The problem is that this is not an external LCD monitor, it's built in to the computer. You can't split the output, you can only clone the display onto a CRT, which is not an accurate measure of lag. Cloning output can show zero lag when there is actually much more.


Again, cloning the display introduces lag.

Yes, hence my statement that it would provide a floor -- unless activating the second output introduces lag to the main display and not the external, it will give a minimum value for lag.

More importantly, since our options here are between two internal screens, if we can get figures for each, the difference should be accurate (both might be low measures, but they should be low by the same amount).

In any case, it's the best we can do until someone gets a high-speed camera setup working and measures lag directly (which is going to be non-trivial anyway, since the moment of key activation isn't necessarily going to be perfectly clear).

[Aikimox]

Pardon my ignorance - any linky for shooters?

I'd just try 2 games:
Crysis (Demo)
and
AA3 (Free, online multiplayer)

Input lag is almost impossible to figure out unless you get a way to count it. As far as I know, this can only be done on a laptop's LCD with a 60 fps video camera and capturing your mouse click/keyboard press in frame with the screen to see when the screen responds. I don't currently have a 60 fps video camera, but I'm working on it.

I didn't want to even know the actual numbers. All you need to do is play a few online FPS games and see if you feel the same level of responsiveness and precision.
Ideally, it has to be a game you already know very well.

[Koshinn]

In any case, it's the best we can do until someone gets a high-speed camera setup working and measures lag directly (which is going to be non-trivial anyway, since the moment of key activation isn't necessarily going to be perfectly clear).

YouTube - Testing input lag

Made that about a year ago.

I'll be honest with you Aikimox, I haven't played games in such a long time that I wouldn't notice it.

[HiddenUser]

One question probably omitted, and I think it's relatively important.

Since the color space modes are controlled by software and there is no (physical) button to switch among them, what about if the user reboots and loads another operating system, for example, Linux? Is the color space remembered between reboots? That is, if the user enables the sRGB space in Windows and then reboots and loads Linux, will the color space be the same?

Anyone? I know the majority of users are not Linux users, but you can try with a live CD too, for example, KDE 4 Live CD Download it from one of the mirrors and burn it to a CD-RW or install on a pen drive. This distro has a nice GUI (it's very user friendly).

Simply run Windows 7, set the color space to sRGB mode, then insert the live CD and reboot. Watch the color differences between the graphic user environment of the live CD and Windows.

Thanks, it's important for Linux users (like me), since I think no Linux version of HP Mobile Display Assistant is available.

@vasbinde: Eric, is there a Linux version for Mobile Display Assistant planned? The EliteBook 8730w was SUSE Enterprise 10 certified but there was no version of Display Assistant for this OS.