*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

[trentonx]

Well, guys...Not happy. Got my machine this morning...opened (was very excited) and a RED stuck pixel appeared right in the middle of the screen... Totlly disappointed. Sent it back.

Doesn't the warranty cover dead pixals? you'd have to wait but you should be covered for free repairs.

[hovercraftdriver]

I just replaced my T7300 with a X9000. It took me 4 hours to replace it. You dont need anything but the processor.

The computer runs much cooler now. Before it was degrees 41c at idle and now 29c.

How much was the x9000 and can you link to where you got it from? Benchmark scores/performance increase much with it? thanks in advance.

[umar]

has anyone updated thier BIOS, there is a new version on HP website

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...s=2093&lang=en

OH and also what are your CPU temperatures? i m worried abt mine, Core# 0 is at 32 while Core# 1 is at 42 always even at idle.

[trentonx]

My HDX is in Anchorage, AK!!!! They finished building it on the 27th, 4 days before they said it would be finished .

I bought an HDX for school work and home, make it's hard to answer HP when they ask what I use my computer for

I got mine with 2.5 duo CPU
4GB ram
1900x1200 screen
8800 GTS
320 GB harddrive

I'm really glad I came on these forums thanks 2.0 for all your help I didn't reply but I've read through every post to make sure I was purchasing a machine I could be happy with.

I'm an animation student at digipen and I'm currently intering at TBanimation. I'll be using my laptop to run games like outpost 2 in 1900x1200 rez :P

ok ok no I have other big games to run mass effect which I'll be buying soon.

also thanks to this thread for finding me a bag to carry the laptop in

I'll post what happens on the 2nd when it comes in. I'm so glad I saw your past 2.0 about the coupon not lasting much longer. It sealed the deal for me.

[Jazzyman1024]

Trentox,

I am also expecting mine on July 2nd. From Shanghai, to
Anchorage, to Indianapolis, then hopefully here to St. Louis.
What a trip. I hope some kid got on board and stowed away!

Mine was also 'built' a few days early. Hope they didn't cut any
corners. From these posts, I'm afraid to touch anything, like
downloading, upgrading, installing, etc.

I'm not an IT type, and I'm almost sure my old versions of Adobe
Premiere and After Effects won't run under Vista 64-bit. I just hope
I can wirelessly get to my brokers, so I can manage my sinking
portfolios.

Based on recent posts, I cut some frills, like 4 to 3 RAM, and 2.5 to
2.4 processor, and one step below the highest HD monitor. I also used
a $500 coupon, which I'd never have known about without this forum.

Thank you thank you thank you! Gee, I hope everything works.
Now all I have to do is call Charter Cable, or switch to ATT for wireless.
Any opinions?

Penguin Productions

[2.0™]

has anyone updated thier BIOS, there is a new version on HP website

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...s=2093&lang=en

OH and also what are your CPU temperatures? i m worried abt mine, Core# 0 is at 32 while Core# 1 is at 42 always even at idle.

I tried the new BIOS, but the fans run all the time - as they said it would. Too much noise. Fans should only run when gaming or when >25% CPU utilization. Web browsing and othe light tasks, one should only hear the HD's spinning(which is oddly sort of soothing) and periodic CPU fan toggle.

Cores at Idle should be around 35C. 42 is a bit high. I had something similiar and also wide fluctuations. So I opened up the HDX and cleaned off the thermal compound, replacing it with arctic silver 5 on both the GPU and CPU. They did a poorish sort of job with the thermal goop. Too thick and not full coverage. Ran W prime and 3D mark06 for an hour to stress it after I was finished. GPU idles between 43 and 46. Max 66. CPU cores 33-37. Max 53.

BTW, scores for Wprime were 31.26secs. 7876 - 7898 3D Mark 06

One must use the service manual to disassemble/reassemble the unit. Takes around 3.5 to 4 hours to complete the job. I took pictures, might upload. Not a job for the faint of heart. But not an impossible job. Must have the proper tools and use something to protect screen and lid finish.

Next job: Clean install of Vista x64. I mean, really now, the amount of bloat is fantastic.

[Black Knight]

HDX arrived. Up and running. One word: Gorgeous.

WOW I am one week late but congratulations! FINALLY!!!

How are you going to go about disinstalling bloat? clean vista64 reinstall form a DVD or is there another way I am unaware of?

Personally I have the impression that it's a lot of work just to gain a few GBs... And nowadays a GB is not that much... You really think you are going to gain some speed? I would just get rid of Norton...

Probably you know this already, but in case you don't when you start going nuts about those icons in the "GAMES" folder that keep changing, I found a little program that fixes them:
http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/vgee

(better than messing with the registry each time IMO)

[joshyy]

Hi all,

I'm seriously thinking about buying an HDX9350.

One of the uses will be to take it to our monthly LAN party, so carrying the beast is in order at last once a month.

So my question is: what do you guys use to carry it if needed?

I've seen mention of the Dicota Multigiant, but are there other solutions? Maybe even something as crazy as a backpack? What about a messenger bag/sleeve combo?

Thanks for your input guys

[2.0™]

WOW I am one week late but congratulations! FINALLY!!!

How are you going to go about disinstalling bloat? clean vista64 reinstall form a DVD or is there another way I am unaware of?

Personally I have the impression that it's a lot of work just to gain a few GBs... And nowadays a GB is not that much... You really think you are going to gain some speed? I would just get rid of Norton...

Probably you know this already, but in case you don't when you start going nuts about those icons in the "GAMES" folder that keep changing, I found a little program that fixes them:
http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/vgee

(better than messing with the registry each time IMO)

Hey, Thanks!

It really is an awesome unit. Excellent build quality. The screen is simply perfect. The sound especially while gaming is off the hook. Was playing COD2 and the rumble from the subwoofer adds a nice immersive touch. It's more immediate than the floor subwoofer I was using with my old setup.

Also hooked up a Wacom Bamboo tablet to take advantage of Vista's native tablet support. Installed Onenote...

It's the first computer that I've owned in 20+ years of owning them where each time I look at it when entering the room I awe-struckly say, "damn."

Anyway...

Bought an OEM version of Vista X64 off Newegg for $99 (+frikkin' tax, but free ship). Going to use a free tool called Activation backup and restore (ABR) to save the product code and activation of the HDX's Vista install. This way I don't need the product code off the box of the OEM version nor will it have to be activated again.

Did save the HP background though ('cause it's pretty sweet) and the swsetup folder.

Reason for going clean... need to streamline the install and gain more raw control over it. Not expecting overall performance to jump appreciably. But boot time should lose about 20 to 30 secs. Currently I'm looking at about 2 mins before CPU idles. Not really worried about the GBs gained though since I have way more than I need or will probably ever use.

[The Deity]

Well I'm finally on my way to joining the select group of popped vertebrae disk folks better known as HDX owners.

I've read through all 70+ pages of this thread following the highs and the lows. It's a shame HP tech support sucks so badly but the core reason why reading everything in here concreted my decision to purchase a HDX was that despite all the heartache people went through, the consensus was still the same, the HDX is an awesome bit of kit. If you can still love the machine after all that it must be on par with ambrosia.

I'm from Australia and to date we still only have two configurations available to us. And given that the computer market hasn't adjusted with the Aussie dollar (By this I refer to the current strength along side the US dollar. Where before it was $1AUD to $0.5US, it's now almost even. Alas the price differences between the respective countries still stay the same. If I could I would have purchased from HP US but no no no, they want to milk as much money out of you as they can by buying from HP Aus. So...) I figured I may as well source from overseas. As no other HP would sell to me I went, as most others in my situation do, to Ebay. Giving myself a $2000 AUD limit I got:

CPU: T8300 2.4 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
HD: 320 GB (Dual 160's I assume)
Screen: 20.1" WSXGA (Would have liked the full HD but beggars can't be choosers)
Video Card: Radeon HD 2600 XT
Drive: Lightscribe 8x (I don't own any Bluray or HD movies or media so I figured I'd wait for the Bluray writer to drop in price. I have externals so I'm not short on storage)
OS: Vista Home Premium 64 bit + SP1

Which came in at $1,730 US.
Question 1 Is that a decent deal? I've read about people getting them for 50% off and others using the $500 voucher and those lucky few sobs who won one... (Congrats regardless, awesome win.) But I wasn't lucky enough to score any of that so this was my last avenue. Regardless, if it's in working order I think I did well. After all my last Dell 5150 was $5,500...

I've read through the horror stories, as mentioned before. As such, I'll be looking for:
1) A Graphics card :P Although from what I have seen the ATI models had no troubles.
2) Testing my webcam and TV tuner for recording. 30+ seconds of webcam record if I remember correctly to test.
3) Dead pixels
4) Quicklaunch buttons (Any word from HP concerning a "working" patch that allows users to actually "use" those buttons?)

Question 2 Anything else to add to that list? I think most of the problems were with the nVidia models. As it's SP1 I can't use the non-signed driver work around correct? That's if I need them at all.

Question 3 I've read about people wanting to upgrade their Graphics Cards, namely from the Radeon to the nVidia. There has been some umming and the mention that a new motherboard may be required. Has anyone actually done it? I'd like to extend the life of this lappy as it will be the only one I purchase for a while (Uni student.. And thus I had to sell a kidney to get the HDX) and putting a new GC in at a latter date would allow me to do so. Will I have a better chance dropping a new ATI series in when it comes out?

Question 4 I only got 2 gig of RAM as the two offers I was bidding on were 2.4 GHz 2 GB and 2.1 GHz and 4 GB. From a mathematical pricewise standpoint the 2.1/4 was the better deal but to upgrade to a 2.4 and sell the 2.1 for the sale price wasn't going to happen. So does anyone recommend a 4GB Notebook RAM kit? Lower price would be best (I've seen $72 and lower) but I'd like decent RAM while I'm at it.

Question 5 I've been looking at carry bags. The Ilugger is about as sexy as a cold naked Margaret Thatcher. The Dicota is nice but the only cheap place to get it (PC Connection) makes you jump through a hoop to get stuff internationally. Then there was one other, an eX-something that I can't quite recall. The Dicota was the only one I could see the inside off so I'm trying for that is the official HP one is no longer available. The actual question is are there any other alternatives? Any Aussie responses would be great as I'd rather not fork out any more in international shipping charges.

Well sorry for the long winded post, I'm just a wee bit excited about what's coming in the mail . I'd like to think it'll work out of the box but Murphy and his law seem to follow me a lot recently... That said it will be about 12-14 days before I get it so that hardest phase of the purchase has begun... The waiting.

So I look forward to entering this cramped lounge next time with an actual HDX.

Special thanks go out to:
2.0 (Encyclopaedic knowledge and never shy about answering a question. Hopefully a HP rep is reading these forums and hires you to direct the support team...)
asuhoru (Always good for a laugh. Glad your HDX worked out well for you mate.)
Tinman(Kudos for sticking to your guns. Living proof that persistence is key. Bloody shame you had to go through what you did though. Happy it worked out for you.)