Apparently there is an adapter that will allow dv8000 series notebooks to work with the xb3000 Expansion Base, but there also appears to be a limitation as well:
"When used with a notebook that requires the expansion base adapter, the following features will not be supported: VGA port (monitor must be connected directly to notebook's VGA port), power button (must use power button on notebook), stereo microphone jack (only mono is supported)."
Ever since I ordered my dv8000t I have been mulling over what to do about audio. I'm a serious audiophile and my desktop has a high end PCI audio board in it that I used as a preamp run to my home audio setup.
Gaming and 5.1/7.1 sound really aren't important to me. I'm not much of a gamer, and what little gaming I do is done on an Xbox 360. I don't plan to watch DVDs on the notebook, since I have a home theater for that.
But high quality music playback on the PC is very important to me. I was wondering if there is anyone here who has used anything other than a Soundblaster cardbus solution with their notebook.
I am seriously thinking of getting the Echo Indigo IO Cardbus soundcard and pair that up to a set of Sennheiser HD 650 audiophile headphones for the road. The nice thing about this setup is I can use it with either of my notebooks.
If you found yourself in the same situation regarding high quality music playback on your notebook I very much would like to hear from you.
Definitely 7400. I bought mine when the dv8000t first came out. Ordered in March. There wasn't an option for the 7600. If there had been to be honest I would have chosen that one. Can you give the the link to the drivers that you use and how they are configured to use 512?
Downloaded the drivers you recommended from tweaksrus but know I cannot locate the memory profile. When loading these drivers it must write new profiles. Can you tell me how to locate the memory setup with the new drivers. Appreciate your help!
I am using custom drivers from Tweakrus.com and they make use of 512MB of memory. Are you sure you have a 7400? because if it is a 7600 Go series, I have heard it doesn't use system memory... only onboard...
Downloaded the drivers you recommended from tweaksrus and I still show 256mb of memory not the original 512mb. Any Ideas?
Apparently there is an adapter that will allow dv8000 series notebooks to work with the xb3000 Expansion Base, but there also appears to be a limitation as well:
"When used with a notebook that requires the expansion base adapter, the following features will not be supported: VGA port (monitor must be connected directly to notebook's VGA port), power button (must use power button on notebook), stereo microphone jack (only mono is supported)."
That's probably not a big deal for most users.
--Jerome
I didn't read all the details... Thanks for pointing that out since VGA port and audio is very important to me... I'll just get the xb2000 model...
Congrats on the new purchase, and don't be suprised if you get it before the 23rd make sure to posyt any questions as I am always here to help
I just received notification that my notebook shipped today. I suspect that I'll receive it Wednesday or Thursday. The timing will be good since I am on vacation this week and I'll have time to set the notebook up the way I want and migrate all of my data to it.
I just received notification that my notebook shipped today. I suspect that I'll receive it Wednesday or Thursday. The timing will be good since I am on vacation this week and I'll have time to set the notebook up the way I want and migrate all of my data to it.
--Jerome
Can you comment on HP's estimated time?
I was wondering if yours got built earlier or later than the estimated date.
Mine is to be built by 8/28 but I wanted to know if HP usually gets it done earlier or later.
The estimated ship date for my notebook was August 23. So it shipped a few days ahead of the estimate. IIRC Sledgehammer70 had a similar experience when he ordered his system.
One thing I completely forgot from his review though, is that HPs assembly plant is in Shanghai, China. I only noticed that the second time I checked the tracking status on the FedEx website. So that might mean I receive the notebook a little later in the week than I originally expected. No big deal as far as I'm concerned.
Btw, I also ordered the xb2000 Expansion Base and it is already here waiting on the notebook. I'll post some comments on it when the notebook arrives and I get it all set up.
jerome,
That would be great to let us know how the xb2000 expansion base works. I am interested in the sound for it alot and other features to see if it is worth getting or not. Did you get the extra hard drive option with the base? Look forward to what you have to say about it.
craig
I ordered the xb2000 with the 250GB hard disk option to use as a backup-to-disk device. I have a 400GB external USB 2.0 hard disk that I have all of my music on.
I did not buy the xb2000 with the speakers in mind. I was purely interested in it for the ergonomics of its design. I'm not really depending on quality sound from the stock notebook setup or the expansion base. I'm even thinking of ditching the Klipsch 5.1 THX Multimedia speakers that I used with my desktop and replacing that with a dedicated external DAC and headphone amp for use with audiophile grade headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 600 or AKG K 701 Reference headphones. I've never been truely satisfied with any PC speaker setup, even my $500 Klipsches. And it might make better sense to use my notebook only as a high quality transport and to offload everything else to audiophile grade gear designed expressly for that purpose.
I ordered the xb2000 with the 250GB hard disk option to use as a backup-to-disk device. I have a 400GB external USB 2.0 hard disk that I have all of my music on.
I did not buy the xb2000 with the speakers in mind. I was purely interested in it for the ergonomics of its design. I'm not really depending on quality sound from the stock notebook setup or the expansion base. I'm even thinking of ditching the Klipsch 5.1 THX Multimedia speakers that I used with my desktop and replacing that with a dedicated external DAC and headphone amp for use with audiophile grade headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 600 or AKG K 701 Reference headphones. I've never been truely satisfied with any PC speaker setup, even my $500 Klipsches. And it might make better sense to use my notebook only as a high quality transport and to offload everything else to audiophile grade gear designed expressly for that purpose.
--Jerome
I am also wondering about the sound quality but I'm getting it mainly due to the design (it just looks cool). This dock is the main reason I got HP instead of Dell. Dell sells the 3rd party one that really stinks.
Just wondering, did anyone try using the s-video output from the xb2000 base to a TV? I'm just wondering about the max resolution size? Obviously, the VGA port from the laptop directly to my TV would be better but I don't want to plug/unplug that each time I disconnect from the dock.
Nvidia 7600 is supposed to support "span" mode with support for independent display settings on each display. This way I could watch a movie on the TV while still using the laptop display for other stuff. I do this now with my PC - TV setup.
I have a quick question. I am getting my ZD8000 3ghz cpu, ATI X600 256 meg vid card, 1 gig of ram, 80gig IDE HD, and 800mhz FSB machine swapped out for a DV8000t with 1.73ghz cpu which I understand is a 533mhz FSB, nvidia 7600 256 meg vid card, 1 gig of ram and a 80gig SATA HD. Am I getting a better machine or am I getting screwed by them? When I bought my machine a bit over a year ago I paid $2000 for it. If I look this one up it only sales for like $1500. Im loosing out $500 for this swap. They are acting like they are giving me a huge upgrade for something I sent in 3 times and never got repaired. They are also trying to point out that it is now out of warranty and they do not have to replace it even though it was under warranty when it was sent in the first time and never fixed. I just hve this feeling im getting screwed here for a lesser machine. Is that the case or is it just me being hung up on numbers?
You are getting a huge upgrade. CPU prices have dropped dramatically, the 3GHz Pentium 4 CPU uses too much power and underperforms (especially compared to the dual-core CPU you'll be getting), and you're definitely not losing $500. $1500 can buy a much better machine this year than $2000 could last year, and it shows in the deal they're giving you. Believe me, this will perform much better than the old machine.
It sounds like HP support is going out of their way to make you a happy customer - they're giving you a better machine as an out-of-warranty replacement.
Even if the FSB is considerably lower? Or does that not play much a part since its only mhz?
The P4 CPU needed that much extra memory bandwidth in order to begin to compete with the much faster CPUs like the AMD64 and Core Duo. The P4 architecture was fundamentally flawed - that's why a 1.73GHz Core Duo CPU at 533MHz FSB can beat a 3GHz P4 CPU at 800MHz FSB.
So this is all around a better machine? Is the 7600 better than the X600? Also I swapped the 1680x1050 screen for the ultrabright view 1440x900. A guy I talked to said it looked much better and still super clear like the higher rez screen. Does anyone know if this is true?
I can't answer the screen question, but the 7600 GPU is undoubtedly an upgrade over the X600. It's capable of the latest video tricks that the X600 can't do, such as HDR. It's also just plain faster.
I used to own a p4 3.4 ghz laptop with all the trimmings and this hpdv8000 with a 1.66 duo core processor runs much faster and smoother. I have the 1440x900 screen ultrabright view screen and it is great, sure you will be happy with it.
Good I hope so being I play World of Warcraft on my laptop. I run it at 1680x1050 now with the ZD8000 and its perfectly clear. Im hoping for the same when the new one gets here. I am hoping too that when they send me the list of items that need to go back with the old machine I can find it all. Its about the only thing Im sweating.
Actually I havent even messed with the settings. Just using it as it came to me, so just using whatever the default settings are so far. If I need to will adjust them, but so far havent needed to
Gotcha. On WoW I adjusted a lot of the graphics up. Especially resolution because of the fact it was looking a bit blurry at the 1280x1050 setting. When I increased it up to 1690x1050 it was perfectly clear. You should look at it there is a huge difference. Also what is HDR? and can you get nvidia drivers from nvidia or only from HP like with the ATI cards?
You can get the drivers directly from nVidia in your case. On their Download Drivers page, select "GeForce Go 7 Series" in the second box - this gives you a driver specifically for the notebook video cards. ATI offers a similar option - on their website, you just need to click on "Notebooks with ATI Graphics" on the Driver Download page, and the Catalyst Mobility 6.8 for Windows XP appears for download.
HDR is "High Dynamic Range" - it basically utilizes advanced shaders to provide more accurate and detailed ranges of exposure in graphics display - the brights look brighter and the darks look darker, so to speak. In many cases it gives more lifelike effects in games.
I did just adjust WOW to the highest setting and there is a difference, even on silent hill, I just chose the widescreen setting with the highest resolution..now even nicer looking!
Amazing isnt it. I mean on the ATI X600 the FPS in wow dropped to a crappy 19 but with 2gig of ram I noticed no stuttering at all but it still looked amazing compared to lower rez.
I tried to get the drivers from ATI before and it wouldnt work. It always said I had no ATI card on the machine. If you look at the list of supported machines HP isnt one of them sadly. Unless that has changed in the past few months and they were added.
if your new laptop is running at 1440 x 900 you will see better performance across the board over your current setup. Why i say this... well for one the 7600 is a much better card than your current X600. Also in regards to graphics the 7600 supports newer tech that blows the X600 out of the water.
So if your card is running at a lower res "14440x900" instead of "1680 x1050" you can see already the graphics card won't have to push as many pixels... so the GPU power will be used for other things. As for the CPU.. you will see a much smoother performing CPU now with the Core Duo.. 1.73Ghz or higher will run great for you. Now I am not sure if your CPU supports 667MHz FSB but I know my T2600 supports 667MHz FSB...
For drivers in your new system use the ones Tweaksrus put out, they are more current that what HP offers and they are tweaked for max performance I use them and my buddies use them in theirs and they work great
I understand at a lower rez it will not have to work as hard. The biggest thing is will it look as good. going from 1280x1050 to 1680x1050 was a huge difference as it went from being blurry to being as sharp as it could.
From the posts I read on here the 1.73ghz cpu only goes to 533mhz. Unless a previous poster is incorrect.
I take it then I need to get drivers from tweaksrus instead of getting them straight from nvidia?
Comments
http://www.lavalys.com
has a program called Everest that shows all kinds of useful info about your pc...including temperatures.
Apparently there is an adapter that will allow dv8000 series notebooks to work with the xb3000 Expansion Base, but there also appears to be a limitation as well:
"When used with a notebook that requires the expansion base adapter, the following features will not be supported: VGA port (monitor must be connected directly to notebook's VGA port), power button (must use power button on notebook), stereo microphone jack (only mono is supported)."
That's probably not a big deal for most users.
--Jerome
Gaming and 5.1/7.1 sound really aren't important to me. I'm not much of a gamer, and what little gaming I do is done on an Xbox 360. I don't plan to watch DVDs on the notebook, since I have a home theater for that.
But high quality music playback on the PC is very important to me. I was wondering if there is anyone here who has used anything other than a Soundblaster cardbus solution with their notebook.
I am seriously thinking of getting the Echo Indigo IO Cardbus soundcard and pair that up to a set of Sennheiser HD 650 audiophile headphones for the road. The nice thing about this setup is I can use it with either of my notebooks.
If you found yourself in the same situation regarding high quality music playback on your notebook I very much would like to hear from you.
--Jerome
Downloaded the drivers you recommended from tweaksrus but know I cannot locate the memory profile. When loading these drivers it must write new profiles. Can you tell me how to locate the memory setup with the new drivers. Appreciate your help!
Downloaded the drivers you recommended from tweaksrus and I still show 256mb of memory not the original 512mb. Any Ideas?
I didn't read all the details... Thanks for pointing that out since VGA port and audio is very important to me... I'll just get the xb2000 model...
--Jerome
Can you comment on HP's estimated time?
I was wondering if yours got built earlier or later than the estimated date.
Mine is to be built by 8/28 but I wanted to know if HP usually gets it done earlier or later.
Thanks.
One thing I completely forgot from his review though, is that HPs assembly plant is in Shanghai, China. I only noticed that the second time I checked the tracking status on the FedEx website. So that might mean I receive the notebook a little later in the week than I originally expected. No big deal as far as I'm concerned.
Btw, I also ordered the xb2000 Expansion Base and it is already here waiting on the notebook. I'll post some comments on it when the notebook arrives and I get it all set up.
--Jerome
That would be great to let us know how the xb2000 expansion base works. I am interested in the sound for it alot and other features to see if it is worth getting or not. Did you get the extra hard drive option with the base? Look forward to what you have to say about it.
craig
I did not buy the xb2000 with the speakers in mind. I was purely interested in it for the ergonomics of its design. I'm not really depending on quality sound from the stock notebook setup or the expansion base. I'm even thinking of ditching the Klipsch 5.1 THX Multimedia speakers that I used with my desktop and replacing that with a dedicated external DAC and headphone amp for use with audiophile grade headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 600 or AKG K 701 Reference headphones. I've never been truely satisfied with any PC speaker setup, even my $500 Klipsches. And it might make better sense to use my notebook only as a high quality transport and to offload everything else to audiophile grade gear designed expressly for that purpose.
--Jerome
I am also wondering about the sound quality but I'm getting it mainly due to the design (it just looks cool). This dock is the main reason I got HP instead of Dell. Dell sells the 3rd party one that really stinks.
Just wondering, did anyone try using the s-video output from the xb2000 base to a TV? I'm just wondering about the max resolution size? Obviously, the VGA port from the laptop directly to my TV would be better but I don't want to plug/unplug that each time I disconnect from the dock.
Nvidia 7600 is supposed to support "span" mode with support for independent display settings on each display. This way I could watch a movie on the TV while still using the laptop display for other stuff. I do this now with my PC - TV setup.
It sounds like HP support is going out of their way to make you a happy customer - they're giving you a better machine as an out-of-warranty replacement.
The P4 CPU needed that much extra memory bandwidth in order to begin to compete with the much faster CPUs like the AMD64 and Core Duo. The P4 architecture was fundamentally flawed - that's why a 1.73GHz Core Duo CPU at 533MHz FSB can beat a 3GHz P4 CPU at 800MHz FSB.
What is HDR btw?
HDR is "High Dynamic Range" - it basically utilizes advanced shaders to provide more accurate and detailed ranges of exposure in graphics display - the brights look brighter and the darks look darker, so to speak. In many cases it gives more lifelike effects in games.
I tried to get the drivers from ATI before and it wouldnt work. It always said I had no ATI card on the machine. If you look at the list of supported machines HP isnt one of them sadly. Unless that has changed in the past few months and they were added.
So if your card is running at a lower res "14440x900" instead of "1680 x1050" you can see already the graphics card won't have to push as many pixels... so the GPU power will be used for other things. As for the CPU.. you will see a much smoother performing CPU now with the Core Duo.. 1.73Ghz or higher will run great for you. Now I am not sure if your CPU supports 667MHz FSB but I know my T2600 supports 667MHz FSB...
For drivers in your new system use the ones Tweaksrus put out, they are more current that what HP offers and they are tweaked for max performance
From the posts I read on here the 1.73ghz cpu only goes to 533mhz. Unless a previous poster is incorrect.
I take it then I need to get drivers from tweaksrus instead of getting them straight from nvidia?