HP dv7-2040US - Windows Performance Index 5.6

Here's my Windows 7 Score.

Processor: 7.0
Memory: 7.0
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming: 5.9
Disk: 5.9
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Total: 5.9



And here's my Vista score. It was a 5.3 but the Solid State drive and 7200RPM secondary drive maxed out the Disk performance area nicely! Hell, I have been playing with this thing more than my new pistol! That's a hard decision for a Redneck computer programmer!

Well here's my performance index "benchmark" since Everest benchmarks are not an option.

Processor: 5.8
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming: 5.6
Disk: 5.9
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Total: 5.6




Did I win?

Edited:

. Against Apple EULA!

I understand completely as to why under most circumstances, but this was a legal copy. Look around and there are no hacked versions of 10.5.5. I know this because I was trying to get it working on my Acer but it didn't work. So I tried the patches on that install to no avail. The method I used to install it on the HP Super Laputer is documented by Apple so it wouldn't be illegal to post it. It was as simple as putting in the install disk and following Apple's directions of which I won't list here since I will abide by your forum's rules. (btw, no, I am not being a smartass, so don't interpret this as so. I am just clearing it up)

I apologize for violating the forum's rules. I was unaware of Apple's prohibition of installing OS X on non-mac hardware. I have heard that running under a VM was legal which is not running directly from Apple's hardware. And I know Apple allows Darwin to be run on any hardware so you can understand my confusion of the legality of this.

I will be more careful in the future.

Ok, BACK ON TOPIC! I added the 3DMark2001SE benchmark. I am going to redo that one later because I had some programs running in the background and I realized I was running on Power Saver. :P

Why, is 23,000 good for 3DMark2001SE or something? I honestly don't know anything about these benchmarks.

I am writing up a full review of the notebook to post on the forum as well as for my other new notebook...

My new Acer Aspire 5535-5018 scored around 5500 on the same test. It has the AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-80 2100MHz and an ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3200 GFX Card and 4GB RAM. I'll get the real benchmarks for that one up here tomorrow.

I just found a page that lists my graphics card pushing past 29,000 on the same benchmark. My processor and memory are definitely enough to keep up so I need to mess with the Catalyst Control Center settings and redo this test in Safe Mode with "High Performance" power mode on and compressed air blown across the motherboard to keep it cool. I am charging it up right now because I ran it dead last night doing a bunch of benchmarks on battery

Ubuntu 9.04 x64 installs, boots, and runs flawlessly.
ATI GFX Card is very nice
Touchpad sucks ass. I hate the slick style. The buttons are recessed lower than the touchpad so I am always accidentally touching the pad with my thumb which gives random mouse movement.
IDT Audio driver crashes at startup sometimes.
Volume slider above keyboard will randomly stop showing the volume level meter on the screen when you adjust it, but it still adjusts the volume.
You can't upgrade internal wireless or video cards

The screen is SUPER bright and vivid!
It is a total battery hog.
Surprisingly, it does not overheat! I have had it get to scorching 170 degrees ferenheit when sitting on the passenger seat of my truck, but when I opened it up and used it, there were no issues. It cooled down with no problems. Other than that, I usually see from 100-120 degrees for core temp when anywhere from idle to semi-cpu-intensive tasks on a table. 113 degrees is average.

Audio is very clear. Has a subwoofer and a REALLY NICE Audio control panel! Very useful when dealing with HDMI output.

Boots certain Intel-based operating systems from Apple without modifications.

I wiped the HD clean and installed Vista Ultimate. I then downloaded all the drivers from HP and left off all the extra crap. BIG problem with this is the 3D HD Accellerometer protection thingy inside wasn't working. There was no driver listed for this computer!! So after some heavy googling, I found the driver! When I installed it, it toasted my computer and I couldn't boot. Tried it 3 times with no luck. I just gave up because it's better to not have that feature than to deal with HP's customer "service". Plus, my solid state drive doesn't need protection from impact and I backup on external drives daily.

For the price it's a good machine as long as you don't mind the little quirks and a big bright illuminated HP advertisement on the case on the opposite side of the screen. Going to figure out a way to make it illuminate Tux (that's the Linux Penguin for you Linux GNUbies. lol)

Complaints I have are the stupid designs it has on it.
It is not upgradable (i.e. gfx/network cards)
Each core is only 2.0GHz so programs that don't take advantage of multiple cores can run slower than a 2.6GHz P4.

Cool thing is that it overclocks itself 13% to almost 2.3GHz!!!
From what I read, this is only when one core is being utilized heavily such as when compiling source code. The CPU Multiplier is set to 7.5x w/ 266MHz FSB during normal operation which ends up at 2GHz. And is at 6x or about 1.5GHz during power saving modes. But when needed, the multiplier jumps to 8.5x which brings it just under 2.3GHz which is super cool! Everest shows an overclock of 13% when it does this because it actually is overclocked. Intel's newer SpeedStep is responsible for this and acts in the same way the i7 does. I found that keeping the CPU temperatures low increases the time you are overclocked. I removed the bottom cover of my laptop and turned my truck's A/C all the way up. Temperature outside was about 45 degrees so the A/C dropped it down deep into the 30's. I got my CPU core temperature down to 79 degrees but I could have had it colder if I was patient but holding a 50lb laptop up like that is tiring to say the least... I ran the Everest Ultimate benchmarks and blew my old benchmarks out of the f'in water!

The laptop is huge. Makes a great desktop computer that can be brought with you WHEN NEEDED, but I don't like the weight and physical dimensions. My Acer Aspire 5535 is my "daily driver" laptop I keep on the center console/armrest in my Dodge Ram.

If I was to do it all over again, I would not buy it ONLY because HP locks the hardware in tighter than a dog shittin' razorblades. Can't swap out any hardware on this machine and can't mess with any settings for overclocking the CPU. I have only been able to hack the multiplier to stay consistently at 8.0x, not the 8.5x max. And forget about changing the FSB frequency!

The touchpad is seriously the biggest annoyance of all. I would get a new laptop just to get one with a matte finish (both the touchpad & laptop case) similar to my Acer, and with some solid separation between the mouse buttons and the pad such as the Aspire 1640's. Even my Aspire 5535 gets jumpy mouse movement but at least there is a 1/8" or so separator. I would also get one that was modifiable.

But the internals are pretty sweet on this machine so I am content with what I paid for. It is upgradable to 8GB of RAM and the CPU came out this year so it will keep up with technology changes for a while. The Q9XXX series chips are in demand by enthusiasts. The Q9000 is on the bottom of the series, but it is still near the top on the list of all current processors out there. It's rumored that Apple is putting it in the new MacBook Pro and you know they don't f'ck around when it comes to hardware in their Pro series computers.

Let me know what you end up with and be sure to post your thoughts on it!
Make sure you get the dv7-2040US if you want the same laptop. Many stores sell the dv7-1xxx series and they are much weaker. The dv7-2040US is actually kinda harder to find but Fry's Electronics has it and many places online have it. The other dv7's are setup similarly externally so you can test the feel of them and decide if it feels comfortable to you before you order one online.