What kind of HDD is compatible with HP 3D Drive Guard?

I'm going to buy a brand new 500 GB from a local store. I notice that my Presario CQ45 has the (v4.0.3.1).



How do I determine that a HDD is compatible with the software?



Thanks

Reply 1 : What kind of HDD is compatible with HP 3D Drive Guard?

3D Drive Guard should work with all drives since it's just software telling drive when to park the heads.



Some modern drive have similar feature built-in, it should not interfere with Drive Guard either. However I'm not 100% certain on that.

DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I am building my next laptop. My question is simple....is the ENVY 17 w/ SB worth the extra money over the DV7Tqe w/ SB? After I price each one:



Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz

Graphics card: 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics [HDMI, VGA] edit

Memory: FREE Upgrade to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) edit

Hard drive: 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive

Primary battery: High Capacity 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard)

Display: 17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)

Primary optical drive: FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner

Networking Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) edit

Keyboard Standard Keyboard

Total with EPP: 1090



ENVY 17

Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edit

Processor: 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz

Graphics card: 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6850M Graphics [HDMI] edit

Memory: 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) edit

Hard drive: 750GB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive

Primary battery 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 2.25 hours

Display: 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)

Primary optical drive: Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner

Networking Intel: 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)

Keyboard: Backlit Keyboard

Total: 1629



I am using the computer for gaming, school and personal stuff (web email etc). No video/music editing, but I will be playing the latest and greatest games as well as lots of multitasking. Is the Envy really worth the extra cash? The DV7Tqe has many free deals and seems to be a great value, but I also do really like a sleek sexy computer such as the envy. At the end of the day, is the extra $$ worth it for the envy?



Thanks

Reply 1 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I personally made my decision based on two simple things.

I needed the full HD screen and the much better GPU.

So there it is. Whether you need Full HD vs. HD+ (or whatever they call the 900p resolution these days) I can't tell you. That is personal favor. I need it, because the lower res does not give me enough real estate pixel wise on the screen to run my CAD programs.

If you are gaming a lot, the highte end GPU in the envy will be worth it.

Look into HP Academy for some good pricing. In the end, the envy will always be more expensive, but for me, it is worth it.

Reply 2 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

Any coupons out there for either of the two models?

Reply 3 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

Envy 17 (the non 3D version): "NB1977" for $250 off.

DV7T: "NB2688" for $375 off.

Reply 4 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I would recommend the Envy 17 because it's got the 1920x1080 display. In a laptop as big as 17" that costs this much, you should have the option to get a higher resolution than 1600x900. HP really needs to step up when it comes to the lack of screen options on their DV series.



If you're not set on HP, this Sager might be a better choice: (I recommend Sagers a lot more than I recommend HP's, especially the DV Series.)

Sager NP8170 (Built on Clevo P170HM) Custom Gaming Laptop

It's also got a better graphics card according to notebookcheck benchmarks that compare the NVIDIA 460M with the AMD 6850M.



or a cheaper option that has better battery life but a less powerful graphics card:

Sager NP5170 Custom Laptop (Built on the Clevo W170HN)

Reply 5 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

How's the battery on the envy 17? HP site says ~2.75 hours on 6 cell but it has switchable graphics doesn't it? Should be better.

Reply 6 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I might also consider that the dv7tqe has better security options than the Envy. The outer casing appears more structurely sound as well and perhaps built to keep things cool. The Envy, no matter which way you slice it, was built for gaming and is configured for this. Better graphics and lighting. I am certain the Envy's bios also have good tweaking options for over-clocking.

Reply 7 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I'm still trying to figure out which one I want.



One thing is for sure....I would PASS on the Envy 17...as it is a total rip-off. The Envy 17 3D is a much better value than the standard Envy 17. If you configure both computers to the same specs (watch the GPU), and use the coupon...you don't really save much over the 3D version.

Reply 8 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I too faced the same problem as the OP a month ago and ultimately decided to go with the DV7T.



My reasons are as follows:

1. I owned a previous generation Envy (15") and never like how it works adn eventually sold it. The darn thing burns like a hot patato after a while (reminds me of a certain high end laptop with a fruit logo on its cover), so much so that I couldn't bear typing on it because the metal wrist-rest area is so hot.



2. My favorite game NBA 2K series, constantly crashed on the Envy for whatever reason and corrupted the game file (I have no idea what the cause is, but the game worked fine on my desktop and current ASUS laptop), perhaps the heating was an issue, but it was intolerable to me and I didn't want to take a chance again.



3. The $. HP had a 30% off coupon on the DV7T that can be used on top of the savings, I specced out a $1500 machine (2720QM, 8GB, Blu Ray and all the other goodies) and paid about $1100, taxes included.



4. I don't really think I need the 1080p. Since the DV7T has the 6770M card, it's probably better to run games at the 1600x900 resolution anyway. And with the money saved over the ENVY, I could very well go buy a 22-25" 1080p TV and hook that up to the HDMI port and use it for movies or whatever else I need full HD for.

Reply 9 : DV7Tqe vs ENVY 17

I like recommend the Envy 17

E6520 Owner's Thread

Just ordered up an e6520. I'll post pics when I get it. Any others out there want to post pics and personal reviews? I'm upgrading from a Thinkpad T60, hoping I don't find too much fault with Dell's "Trackpoint" and keyboard.

Reply 1 : E6520 Owner's Thread

E6520 owners, please post some pictures to see live pictures of the laptop and the cooling system!

Reply 2 : E6520 Owner's Thread

Will the USB 3.0 module I ordered with my 6520 work like Native 3.0?

Reply 3 : E6520 Owner's Thread

I plan on ordering a E6520 today with the following specs:



i7-2620M

Win 7 Pro x64

3 Year ProSupport w/ Acc. Damage Prot

2.0GB RAM (8GB to be installed after arriving)

250GB 7200rpm Hard Drive (to be replaced with Vertex 2 240GB)

9-Cell Battery

DVD+-RW

Intel 6300 WiFi

Webcam

Bluetooth

FHD Display

Backlit Keyboard

NVS 4200M



Haven't gotten my quote back, but configured it was $1870. This will also be my first 15" laptop with a FHD display. My eyes are pretty good, hopefully they're this good.



edit: Quoted around $1585

Reply 4 : E6520 Owner's Thread

Very well chosen specs! Especially after the installation of 8GB RAM and ssd. If I were you, I'd choose the quad core cpu i7-2720QM since the price is close to i7-2620M.

Reply 5 : E6520 Owner's Thread

I don't see myself using quad core much, and I'm assuming it will push more heat/less battery life.

Reply 6 : E6520 Owner's Thread

I also had the dilemma between 2720QM and 2620M but i chose the quad core. I won't change this laptop anytime soon so I think that quad core will last more in time. In 2-3 years it will still be powerful enough and more adequate than the dual core.

Reply 7 : E6520 Owner's Thread

Fortunately I have the luxury of pushing down older laptops to other employees, so I have little buyer's remorse.

Reply 8 : E6520 Owner's Thread

I ordered mine on the 30th of March and should receive by the 14th of April. I opted for the i5-2410 2.3GHz dual core because I don't need a very powerful CPU for the work I do. In 2-4 years I could upgrade it to a more powerful quad core cpu if needed. Will post pics of the system once I receive it. Also plan on installing intel 510 series 120GB SSD drive.

Reply 9 : E6520 Owner's Thread

I know this is a double post - but this thread will likely be around a lot longer than the other one.



On Temps:



Look at the screenshots in the review. That is 99c with Furmark AND Prime95 placing synthetic loads on both the CPU and GPU at the same time. This is a worst case scenario and can ONLY be produced through synthetic loading of the machine.



In "normal" use which includes games that heavily load both the CPU and GPU you will not see temps this high. You have to take Furmark with a grain of salt.



Putting the E6420 and E6520 (that both have the Quadro 4200M and both have the 2720QM processor) under the same load does show the tradeoffs between the 14" and 15" chassis. The E6420 heats up and cools down more quickly than the E6520. This is mainly due to the extra mass in the cooling system E6520. The fans are the same, but there are physically longer heat pipes in the E6520. The E6520 also has a larger area of magnesium in the base. Each machine will get into the 80s if you put a heavy processing load on them for an extended amount of time. The E6420 is more "spiky" with temps while the E6520 is smoother with temps but bulkier.



They might be closer to each other with dual core processors since they produce 10 fewer watts of heat. I know they will be closer without the 17 watts of the Quadro. Still, this much processing power in a 14" chassis is nice. Even with the Quadro and Quad core the temps are lower than what I was seeing in the previous Latitude generations.

Authorized service center?

Does anyone have experience working with Asus as an authorized service center? If so, how did you become one? Is it worth it?



There are zero such centers in my state according to the Asus support site and looks like it could be a good opportunity. Getting any kind of response from Asus reps, support phone calls that get escalated to managers, emails to various people, etc has been frustrating to say the least...

Reply 1 : Authorized service center?

i have vast experience working with customers who came to us after they had their notebooks serviced by asus or their asp. I will plead the fifth on this one. At the same time i know plenty of people who had a good experience. I am one of them. If you know what to say and what to expect typically you should not be surprised by any major service center.

Reply 2 : Authorized service center?

From what I've heard, it's not going to be worth it. Asus is EXTREMELY stingy (fact). Pay won't be as competitive as other companies (speculation). They recently had to rework their internal organization and whether it's for the better or worse, I'll plead the fifth as well

Reply 3 : Authorized service center?

Cust satisfaction isn't a problem. Our shop has a very large base of return customers for a reason. I do much work for clients that would rather pay (and void their warranty in the process) than wait for an RMA and all that good stuff.



I'm looking at this as more of a way to expand our customer base. After all... no service centers in my area? Seems like almost-free advertising.



Pay isn't an issue. Plenty of work done for other manufacturers in the past.



Still a bad idea?

Reply 4 : Authorized service center?

i am not sure if you realize it but they pay in peanuts, literally. way back when the oportunity presented it self i declined due to the compensation being far below expectation. what they pay asp to replace the mainboard is 5x lower then average asking price by a pro who has done it thousands of times. that leaves the question... who do they have working on these products if the pay is in peanuts. this goes for most major repair centers. dells gold level support are the exception to what i have found but they cost a pretty penny for the end user

Samsung Nc210 versus Nc110

Hi there. Does anyone know the exact difference between these 2 other than colour (silver versus black). I read rumours about an Intel N570 in the Nc110 but cannot find this product.



Other queries: Is there any light 12 inch netbook with MATTE screen and good performance made by Samsung ? Any other ones I should look at ?



PS: John to replace the wife's NC10 was thinking of a N140 but cannot find stock anymore, you once sent a link but cannot remember where.

Reply 1 : Samsung Nc210 versus Nc110

Quote:

Originally Posted by perfectionseeker Hi there. Does anyone know the exact difference between these 2 other than colour (silver versus black). I read rumours about an Intel N570 in the Nc110 but cannot find this product.

You can compare the specs (except the NC110) here .

Quote:

Originally Posted by perfectionseeker Other queries: Is there any light 12 inch netbook with MATTE screen and good performance made by Samsung ? Any other ones I should look at ?

Samsung's current range seems to be devoid of anything with a 12.1" screen. In fact, 12.1" notebooks in current production seem to be quite rare. If you are interested in this size then a refurbished business notebook may be an alternative to a netbook. for example this Dell D420.

Quote:

Originally Posted by perfectionseeker PS: John to replace the wife's NC10 was thinking of a N140 but cannot find stock anymore, you once sent a link but cannot remember where.

In UK the N140 appears to have been replaced by the N145 which share's the N140's long battery life and matte screen (which part of the world are you?).



John

Reply 2 : Samsung Nc210 versus Nc110

John, am in Belgium but buy in the UK. Well the problem is she really loves the keyboards of the NC110 and NC140. The changed it to the N150 ... and she really dislikes that keyboard. So am wondering if the N145 has same keyboard feel/keys as the N140. Thanks

Reply 3 : Samsung Nc210 versus Nc110

I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the N145 is an update of the N140.



Look at the specs here and the user manual here.



You could also ask Samsung support about the differences between the N140 and the N145. I would use the email facility at the bottom of any of their FAQ pages. This link might work.



John

Reply 4 : Samsung Nc210 versus Nc110

There is a refurbished N140 here. I bought one of these last year for a friend in Ethiopia and it was like new.



John

Inspiron keyboard characters

I have a new Inspiron N5030 laptop. Some punctuation characters, when typed, appear as French. For example, quotations show as and the question mark as . Need help soon in order to maintain my Web site. Many thanks.
-- Philip

Reply 1 : Inspiron keyboard characters

Head to the control panels and change the keyboard or region?

Reply 2 : Inspiron keyboard characters

Many thanks. That simple fix appears to have worked.

Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Hi I am new to Linux, so please be gentle with me!



My toughbook is cf28-p variant with (i assume) intel 830 chipset.



Just when I though I had the video problem resolved by inserting various parmeters within the grub, it has returned to its former unstable state.



After Mint is installed!!!



through bootup either black screen completely, flickering screen with graphics partly resolved, to finally various shades of black and white, screen half to one side and flickering.



Some times a press of Fn+F3 key will provide a rather poor Mint screen (lacking in colour), maybe 1 in 10 attempts!



If I use a second monitor plugged in the rear, things are more helpful... 4 in 10 attempts at the Fn+F3 keys and I might get a crisp sharp and green Mint page, however sometimes the cursor vanishes.



I have trawled through various sites, but am getting nowhere! worse still are those who reference to a fix in X11/xorg.conf.....But this file no longer exists in Mint Julia.



Any clues, anyone... (note, touchscreen doesn't work either, and mouse is incredibly slow)

Reply 1 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Did you look at the Mint Install in this forum? I'll go find it.

TEST site:forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic - Google Search

I used Azrial's search machine above.

Found this.

Toughbooks and Linux

Read the whole thing. The 28 guys are marconi and klonsdale.

I'm more 29 oriented.

If you can get into edit mode I think Klonsdale said use i915.modeset=0. I think.

Read it and see if it helps. If you get stuck, holler.

Reply 2 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

That's right, at the boot screen arrow down to stop the automatic boot, then type "e" to enter the edit mode. then at the end of the line space once and type "i915.modeset=0 then hit the enter key. BTW if you use the debian edition of Linux Mint you wont have to do the modeset and debian runs faster on a 28 than main edition. Welcome to the madness.

Reply 3 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Thankyou both for your input.



But still no success,



There seems to be some differences of opinion with regards the i915.modest, some say it should be 1 and others say 0.



I tried (0) this morning, updated grub etc... But that just seems worse.



I get opening grub menu, then all the packages installed etc etc, after a few seconds the screen goes black and then changes to a weird translucent white starting from the bottom and working towards the top.



With imodeset=1, I get like a raster effect and the screen flickers.



I have also tried inserting "device=intel" on same line. (in both modes, still no joy.



Maybe its time to consider the debian edition or having another go at Ubuntu.



Regarding the forum posts, well I thought I had just about read everything, but the new MINT has no xorg.cnf file, so a lot of the former posts aren't relevant.



Anymore suggestions guys.

Reply 4 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Did you try nomodeset?



Looks like the revisions have outrun the thread. Sorry you weren't helped.

Reply 5 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Wow, debian seems to work out the box, as you said,( well so far at least!)



Touchscreen doesnt work, but I suppose I could live without it.



Thanks guys

Reply 6 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Forget the last post, the problem has returned.



After say 4 successful boots, straight til the logon screen (password etc etc).



The black screen has returned!!!!



I get opening grub gui, then some installer lines flash past, then a few seconds of black screen, the wheel comes up for 4 seconds, then black screen for another 4 until I hear the beep to prompt me to login. Where upon it remains black.



Have tried editing the grub at the front end with,

915 resolution

915 resolution mode 800x600



the autocomplete (tab) recognises 915resolution, but when I do a crtl-c for a promp, 915resolution -r or-l or -c does nothing.

so I am unable to confirm for sure that the bios has intel830 chipset, but that the machine is a cf-28 p variant.



have also tried:

i915.modeset=0 and 1 and nomodeset (but within grub itself, each time doing an upgrade grub)



Any further assistance would be appreciated.



PS tried Ubuntu10, but that just managed to remove my hdd from bios!!



Nightmare

Reply 7 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

You are not forgotten.

How are you loading the Live CD's?

I have no experience with Debian.

I fooled with Xubuntu on a CF-28 but not enough to figure a few things out. Then the mouse went goofy so I dumped it.

Did you look around in the 10.4 Ubuntu thread?

I skimmed the Linux Mint thread and it has become antiquated. Unless you went to an older version of Mint and then it would be o.k.

How much RAM are you running? 128 isn't enough but 256 and above would be fine.

The X desktop (terminology?) of Ubuntu is good but resource hungry.

My use of the modeset commands has been in the the Grub menu only. We are dealing as I think you realize with a chipset issue.

O.K. here's an idea...when you install your Linux version, check the install update box while installing. There have been some changes (daily?) and improvements of Intel resources in Linux. What I am trying to do here is to get the new stuff on the machine though if you get the black screen that's no help either (screams).

Sorry...rambling here and can't help it I just ate dinner. Maybe a brownie would help.

For the record state your model # please. And ram.

Klonsdale stated how the edit should be done better than I could do. See a previous post above.

Hey, if you get loaded (there's an idea) check your xorg.log and talk to us about the contents.



Disjointedly yours,



Jeff

EDIT : i915.modeset=0 goes on the line after quiet splash

Reply 8 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

If you have less than 256mb of ram then you are going to have issues such as you are having. 512mb would be better. You did not say but if you are running 128mb of ram then you have a CF-28m which is more difficult to deal with. Right now I do not have Linux installed on my 28 but after I finish this semester I will reinstall it and see if I can help. For what its worth I am running Linux Mint Debian edition on my CF-27 MK4 with 512mb of ram and it runs well and I have had no issues with it.



Jeff just reminded me of something, if you delete "Quiet Splash" then you will be able to get a text output of the boot process and get a better idea of where the boot process is getting bogged down

Reply 9 : Linux Mint Julia cf28 black screen again

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLonsdale If you have less than 256mb of ram then you are going to have issues such as you are having. 512mb would be better. You did not say but if you are running 128mb of ram then you have a CF-28m which is more difficult to deal with. Right now I do not have Linux installed on my 28 but after I finish this semester I will reinstall it and see if I can help. For what its worth I am running Linux Mint Debian edition on my CF-27 MK4 with 512mb of ram and it runs well and I have had no issues with it. Jeff just reminded me of something, if you delete "Quiet Splash" then you will be able to get a text output of the boot process and get a better idea of where the boot process is getting bogged down

Excellent. Thanks for above.



Hey Klon, how about another earlier version of Mint? That would more nearly match the information in these pages if nothing else.