*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

[NotebookGrail]

List of questions/suggestions (8740w) for HP reps:

5) SSD ? What was the question?

Why is the SSD's performing so bad in 4k read/write. The reason is poor CPU power management in the QM57 chipset. What is HP's answer to the problem.?

[Aikimox]

Why is the SSD's performing so bad in 4k read/write. The reason is poor CPU power management in the QM57 chipset. What is HP's answer to the problem.?

Added the question. But can you prove the "poor CPU power management" statement?

[kartik_subbarao]

Mine too...man, ignorance is bliss. After months of not noticing it, now I'm annoyed by it.

Sorry

For some reason I happened to notice it immediately. My right hand kept feeling uncomfortable with how that side was constantly hitting against the table and then going back up. I put a couple of business cards under the upper left corner as an interim workaround, looking forward to a better one.

[NotebookGrail]

Added the question. But can you prove the "poor CPU power management" statement?

Read this, this and this

Its a fact from those thread discussions that Intel 5 series boards have too much aggressive power management. It is fine for regular HDD's , but kills the SSD performance.

Credit goes to this post by tilleroftheearth for finding it.

[HiddenUser]

@Aikimox: You've forgotten my question

Since HP uses 2 different motherboards in his 8740w, one for quad core processors and another for dual core processors... well, do you think that they could refresh the model again with a new motherboard ready for Sandy Bridge CPU's?

[sgogeta4]

Doubtful. Sandy Bridge will most likely only belong to the 8750w and 8550p/w.

[knight427]

Doubtful. Sandy Bridge will most likely only belong to the 8750w and 8550p/w.

So do you think they are going to ditch the 8740w early? In January our CPUs will obsolete with no options for potential owners to get the latest and greatest. It doesn't effect me, but why would anyone pay $2,000-$4,000 (in early 2011) on a laptop with last-generation CPUs?

[snovvman]

Hello,

I just got an 8740w: DC display, 250GB SSD, 840QM, 16GB, FX3800M, factory-installed Windows 7, and backlit keyboard. To date, I have not had an HP notebook that is so buggy!!

I updated the BIOS to F.08. I am using HP Protect Tools, pre-boot authentication/biometrics.

1) The Dream Color seems to conflict with HP's display management. Sometimes the ambient light sensor would stop working, sometimes the Dream Color would change to a VERY warm color temperature on its own, forcing me to run the DC control and "reset to default".

2) Intermittently, the notebook would not come out of suspend/sleep. After power up, the computer would just shut off.

3) Intermittently, the BIOS startup does not display properly (with HP logo going to lower right. It's larger and displayed in seemingly 8-bit color.

Any help for these issues?

Two other questions: I noticed that HP is now showing "NVIDIA Quadro 5000M graphics with 2 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory" as an option. Is this an upgradable item? Same with a faster CPU--can the notebook take the next step faster processor (can't remember the designation at the moment).

Thanks for any info.

[Aikimox]

Doubtful. Sandy Bridge will most likely only belong to the 8750w and 8550p/w.

Totally agree. There's no way we can have a full platform refresh for 8740w (it would require a new mobo). It's pointless for them and for us. Even if they would decide on something like that, we'd still have to pay more money for the upgrade (total upgrade) than buying a new system.

On the other hand, the new CPU's aren't going to offer a huge performance boost. 10-15% is what it looks like. Not worth the effort, IMHO. 20% more battery life? Nah, not interested. I'd only like to add SATA III...
I'd probably switch at 22nm, skipping Sandy Bridge.
Besides, I don't see how this machine will become obsolete in a year.

[m8o]

@snovvman - not sure if you'll accept this, but my answer to your observation is to disable ambient light sensor, both in the HP software/profile and the Bios.

In any case even after doing that, switching brightness automatically even by un-plugging and going on battery can/will switch the 'tone' of the gamut if you right-click on the desktop and click the gamut/profile pop-up menu item, and requires the reset to default trick. DC2's implementation on this machine definitely likes a 'static & consistent' operating configuration.

BTW, have you been reading this and the prior thread for a few months? I ask, because you're likely to encounter black screens on boot [after the HD activity diminished, hit Tab 3 times then Enter to shut-down cleanly], or a horribly out-of-sync display during this 'burn-in' period. However I just had it [the latter] happen to me again after a OS software update and re-boot, but it has been happening less frequently. So the idea one of the thread participants (I forget who) put forth that it apears this machine suffers bugginess on boot during some initial burn-in period still seems sound. Still tho, I have most of my problems on re-boot, and less so on clean shut-down and boot, and don't remember having a problem coming out of Hibernate.

Welcome to the "owner's club".