HP Compaq nw8440 review?

Have you or anyone found a review? I've just bought one for video editing, it seems to have the best features available at present for this work. The product nunber is RM749PA. It has the C2Duo, 100GHD, ATI FireGL V5200 and 1920x1200 screen. Anyone doing this kinda work? Thanks.

perhaps you could do a quick review and some pics? Would appreciate it. What's the difference between the 2 models of 8440 you were talking about in a separate thread?

Haven't had mine long enough for a good look yet, ZombieDawgs is here. His product number is RD 751 PA. Mine has a Core 2 Duo and some other upgrades but they look exactly the same, you can't tell them apart, go by the product number on the bottom. Here's my specs. Product number: RM 749 PA Product description: PROC : Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz, 667MHz FSB, 4MB L2 cache CHIPSET : Mobile Intel 945PM Express MEM : 1GB (1x 1GB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 2 SODIMM slots supporting dual channel Mem STORAGE : 100GB 7200rpm SMART SATA drive ; Dual layer DVD+/-RW DISPLAY : 15.4" WUXGA WVA with 1920 x 1200 Res & 16M Col AUDIO : ADI High Definition CODEC - Intg 16-bit Sound Blaster Pro Compat audio with Intg stereo speakers & Intg directional Mic GRAPHICS : ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 graphics controller with 256MB of video Mem PORTS : 3 USB 2.0, VGA, audio in/out, Power Conn, RJ-11, RJ-45, S-video TV out, 1394a, Serial, Docking Conn, Accessory Battery Conn POWER : 8-cell 69Whr Li-ion battery EXP SLOTS: 1 Type I/II PC Card supports 32-bit CardBus & 16-bit PC cards NTWK : 802.11a/b/g Wless LAN & Bluetooth COMMS : Intg Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Enet PCIe (10/100/1000 NIC) with HP Smart Power NIC Tech, 56K V.92 modem with digital line guard SECURITY : HP Protect Tools, Intg Smart Card Reader, TPM Embedded Security OS : MS Win XP Pro DIM : 28 x 358 x 259mm WEIGHT : 2.7kg

I’ll start by saying that i am not a certified banchmarker or reviewer, so the opinions you’ll find here are those of an enthusiast and therefore susceptible tu misunderstanding or ignorance.
I am an architect and due to my necessity to work on the move, i needed a reliable CAD oriented notebook. What i chose for the task is a 15.4" HP nw8440 Mobile workstation, with a T7200 processor and ATI's "professional" FireGL v5200 graphic card. There are also 2 gigs of ram and a fast 7200rpm Hitachi Hard Drive on the setup. My comments on this product are grouped in 3 distinctive categories, as follows:
1) The looks and the touch. Finishing is very smooth and classy on HP's mobile solutions. This particular model has a sober style, rough and simple but not simplistic or chip looking. It looks exactly the way a business notebook should and I must admit it's personality seduced me from the beginning. The mate black of the case, the straight edges (resembling in a way IBM's design approach) and the tiny HP logos go together well. The mate flat screen is also great for what it was meant to do, with good colors/contrast and a fairly wide viewing angle (fit for client presentations). The machine is rock-solidly built and has a well balanced weight centre, which makes it seem lighter then it actually is. However...after only 3 months of use, unlike other less pretentious notebooks ( I also own a mainstream 2 years old Acer), the nw8440 aged in a surprising manner: a)the keyboard works just fine, but the most frequently used buttons became shiny; b) the rubber little pads and screen protectors expholiate and act like dust magnets so I have to clean them on a weekly bases; c) the speakers sound incomparably worse then at the beginning thou I didn't really used them, but I incline to believe that maybe I just got unlucky and it isn't a manufacturer issue.
2) The Layout. Buttons and keys are where they were supposed to be , but otherwise the layout of the ports and devices is simply horrible. The DVD-ram unit and 2 of the only 3 USB hubs are on the right part of the Laptop. Most of us use a cable mouse, due to the lag and battery problems of the wireless solutions. The cable should not get in the way, so on this machine one can stick it in the free slot on the left side of the laptop. The cable would pass behind the computer and everything would seem ok; but try next to read or copy a DVD(it will get stuck in the mouse cord) or even better, try connecting an external drive or any another USB device and you'll find that working becomes simply impossible, stumbled in cables and and extended on the hole table. A wireless mouse might solve the problem, but the right side of the workspace will still get crowded. So if you plan on using more then 1 USB port, think about getting a port replicator even before you plan on purchasing the actual laptop. You might also consider the replacement of the supplied DVD-ram unit with a nonretractable one. The touchpad works fine (thou if you get on its right side by mistake you'll find yourself zooming in and out without wanting it) but I couldn't see the need of the extra pointing device sneaked between the buttons of the keyboard. This computer is supposed to be a mobile workstation and
I didn't meet yet a designer who even tried for once using any of the two mouse free solutions(touchpad and pointer)in the work process.
3)At work. On multimedia current operations as well as on multitasking, the nw8440 is simply perfect. The processor works fast and everything is very responsive. The OS boots fairly quickly (about 25 seconds) and most of the applications run stable. Benchmark values are also good, and all of that at decent noise and thermal levels. But I have to remind you that this computer is supposed to be a mobile workstation, and therefore optimized for specific CAD and graphics applications, as it is proudly specified to be by HP. I couldn’t tell weather there is a compatibility issue between ATI and the rest of the components or if it is a simple driver problem, but my old desktop, featuring an ATI "unprofessional" moded x600 graphics card, runs simply more stable. Even when modeling in 3D certified software (such as 3D StudioMax, and XSI) the V5200 falls and blocks whit no warning. On the supplied FireGL driver (updated, changed, tweaked) on direct3D and on all the different rendering modes, it is simply not worthy of the "professional" attribute. Even if on slower frame rates, both the x1400(on the Acer laptop) and the moded x600 run more stable and do their job better. When working with 2D, things get more reliable, but the differences between the compared graphic solutions are hardly noticeable and by all means, do not justify the price and expectation difference. Gaming on occasional breaks proved to be better then I expected, even on direct3D engines, which was a bit of a pleasant surprise (existing reviews on the gaming abilities of the card decribing it as midranged)
Concluding on performance, I must say that overall the nw8440 disappointed me. I didn't expect it to blow everything in it's way (or I would've gone for the less portable nw9440 desktop replacement) but I was counting on stability and definitely on more then my much older computers could offer.