HP Pavillion HDX Entertainment Notebook PC (Penryn)

I read the review for this new notebook from Laptop Magazine's website:

http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/HP [...] htm?Page=0

This sounds like a fantastic notebook. However, I have a few questions concerning it.

1.) Anyone know when this is coming out? I called HP and they said its their new flagship laptop but they said they're not sure when its coming out. Maybe later this month they said.

2.) How are the HDX notebooks of the past? The new one in the review will be featuring an Nvidia DirectX-10 compatible video card (though no idea if they'll be using SLI or only single card). Have they held up in the past as good quality notebooks?

3.) I've got a budget of about $5,000 to buy a new laptop. I travel quite a bit and I also game A LOT. Thus the need for a powerhouse laptop. Some might say it's not worth spending that much on a laptop when you can have a better desktop but my desktop (from Alienware) will put any laptop on the market right now to shame. So I know the arguments but I still want a laptop that can handle Crysis and the like. I've looked at Falcon NW and Voodoo but they are so extremely overpriced that I can't justify it. Hypersonic is cheaper but I know very little about them.

So, basically, my question is first about this new HDX laptop and second, whether I should go with that or look to a different company to get the most bang for my buck. I would think $5,000 would be plenty to pay for an extremely powerful laptop that can not only play the games I want at good quality but to also function well and not fall apart on me within a few months.

The new penryn Intel looks great and that might be the reason for the delay because as far as I know, no notebooks have this model processor in it.

Any feedback you could give to my queries here would be greatly appreciated.

Unleaded

If u want to game alot, then spend the $5000 on SAGER NP9262(the best notebook currently)
17" with 1920x1200 resolution
Q6700
2 8800M GTX IN SLI
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
3x200GB HDD 7200

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np926 [...] -2273.html
http://www.xoticpc.com/shopping_ca [...] figure=yes

Costs $4612

Using a Sager right now. Build quality is excellent. Haven't had to call customer support yet. Sager/Clevo is actually the company that makes laptops for companies like WidowPC and XoticPC who just rebrand them with their names.

Thanks for all the info.

Only thing I do now before I buy the Sager is ask if I should wait for the 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300. That's the penryn model and it doesn't seem like Sager offers it. Do you know how much better is than the Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (which I've heard is actually better than the Quad core models that are available at the moment).

Unleaded

I'm looking through the killernotebooks.com options and they don't seem to have as many options as xoticpc has (i.e. an HD optical drive, SLI only available through the Turion X2 duo model, etc...)

What types of home made modifications am I missing here?

Unleaded

arent killer notebooks more expensive than sager ones lostandwandering?(i wish i knew your name, cuz i have i to write your username and it takes some time )

also i agree with u about the MOBILE CPUs, desktop CPUs perform better but they run hotter.
Even for some CPUs like E6750 and T7800 that have the same speed, the E6750 performs better because it has more FSB

Yeah, Killer Notebooks is more expensive than Sager, but it has it's advantages. Customization, heat sink mods (to add more surface area -> more heat dissipation) along with the fact that you deal with the owner personally. Very good customer service. It's got all the pros and cons of working with a small company: it's much more personal and customized but it might take longer to build and it'll cost more.

If you're interested in contacting the owner (Mark), I can PM you his email. I'd rather not post it up on the forums, doing things like that tends to attract spambots.

HP HDX is only bigger than SAGER NP9262 and IMO it has a better design
But for specs SAGER NP9262 is alot better than it, it supports new 45nm CPUs too like E8400

Clevo is supposed to be releasing a 15.4'' notebook to compete with the Alienware m15x. Supposed to be a powerhouse in a portable form. If anything, I would wait for that now.

Quantum: The OP was the one who brought the HDX up in the first place. That would indicate that he knows the downsides to such a large system. And besides a select few 15.4'' systems, most are not suitable for a lot of gaming, which the OP stated he does.

No chance you're gaming on the HDX for 2-3.5 hours unless it's minesweeper.

It's still just a 9 cell battery not a nuclear fuel cell.

It's a nice laptop, almost got one myself, but it need juice just like all the other large LCD, fact processor laptops out there.

alright it wont last 2.5 to 3.5 hours on gaming but that also means that the sager with a normal 30 to 60 minutes would be about 15 to 30 minutes........but still on the hdx you will get a good 1.75 to 2 hours of game play............plus I was really think they have not gotten the the quad core for laptops yet.......would you guys say that.....I am just really trying to decide between the HP HDX and the Sager NP9262.....what would you guys go for........sager has more stuff but the hp is a hp.......it is the best brand and I have not heard of the sager until a week or 2 ago......so what would you do..........HP or Sager??????????????????????

to Logan:
Well even if Intel releases QuadCore for laptops, i hardly recommend it because most apps/games arent multi threaded

to matthew:
HP has better built quality IMO but the SAGER one has better Specs
8800M GTX is better than 8800M GTS but the difference isnt very much

If u need SLI, then go for NP9262 if u dont need SLI and need something that its battery can last long and also produces less heat go for NP5793 or HP HDX

Sager NP5739 is same as HDX but it has 8800M GTX and its 17"

I mysel like HDX alot because it has a solid design but as i said NP5793 looks very good and has a very good price

Yeah I'd say the Clevo vs HP quality wise will be a personal preference, I depfinitely would take HP's customer service over Sager's not that their is bad or anything.

For me the thing I noticed/liked the most in the HP build quality was the lack of keyboard flex, which is something some laptops experience mmore than others. My old Gateway was rocksolid, just like the old smaller thinkpads I had, the Fujitsu now is a little spongier, so it annoys me, and that's the way I feel about most Clevos vs the current batch of HP. Nothing major, but a foible that bugs me particularly.

But overall both are top notch IMO, and not cheap, so you should get pretty close to the same quality, and just need to ensure the parts match your needs.

Personally I want a quad core, but then again I usually have a bunch of things going at once, and the apps that I need the most power for are usually multi-core aware, like 3Danimation, photo/video editing apps and modern games which while not as aware now will only become more and more so, especially with intel buying the likes of Havoc IMO.

SLI means Scalable Link Interface. SLI uses 2 graphics cards simultaneously to boost performance depending on the game. IMO, SLI is a bit of a waste. It is expensive, doesn't return double the performance for nearly double the price, and it kills your battery life.

IMO, get the best single card system that you can get. Right now, that happens to be the Sager NP5793 (decent support w/ 3 year warranty FYI)

Ok, so if you don't need it unti right after summer, then wait a short time. The new intel Montevina platform comes out in just over a month, with it comes support for faster memory, faster CPUs (plus current CPUs), fast interconnects, all around entire platform boost (google montevina for details);
http://download.intel.com/products [...] op_roadmap

(if that direct link does work, follow this one: http://www.intel.com/products/roadmap/laptop.htm )

Only problem with the above request is the balance between performance and battery.
If you want long battery life and gaming or any other stessful apps, then battery life will fall through the floor, even with an SSD or other things battery life will get sucked up by a CPU and GPU running under heavy load.

Best bet would be to get the powerful laptop, and then a secondary external polymer battery IMO, it gives you the life of about 2-3 batteries, but doesn't really bog you down too much, and easier to manage than 2 extra batteries, etc.

IMO, wait for Montevina, and still stick with dual core (unless you KNOW your app will benifit noticably from Quad support), do NOT get a desktop quad though only a mobile 45nm Quad should be even considered, and even then IMO, go with a better dual core than quad, unless specific need. Also by that time we should see some new option in graphics as well, and if the rumours of an RV7xx based solution are correct, then that would be nice. Even a revamped shrunk GF8800M would be nice for your need of power and performance.

Anywhoo, unless you need to buy in the next coupla weeks, wait for the Montevina's launch.

alright what is a external polymer battery and where could I get one for a mostly going to buy HP HDX????? also the new intel will not be on a laptop....or will it..............plus only REALLY new laptops are going to support that.........now would you say to get (if there is a choise) (will this drain my battery more) a intel Montevina's or a 2.8 ghz EXTREME INTEL......thank you for helping me on this stuff...... :-)

Go for T9300 its the best price/performance ratio CPU between those and
2.5 vs 2.8 doesnt make alot of difference and isnt worth the price

SO one question......I didn't get this form your letter........is it (Montevina) going to be on a laptop or desktop........

Yes, it's for laptops, dubbed "Centrino 2"

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20080218PD210.html

Mate dont think about it alot, no one knows the exact release date, and how it will perfrom and other things.......
if u want to wait u never can buy a new thing

Alright now I have goten the sager out of my head.....now I have to chose between the the Dell xps 1730 and the hp hdx......dell is know to have the best gaming laptops!!! so what should I do???

Alreight never mind I have chosen the Hp HDX.....If you disagree tell me why......and tell me a better computer

Mate everything i tell u, u do something else lol
I told u to get SAGER NP9262 it has a good battery life (better than XPS) and for no reasons u said no

Also u have chosen the HDX so how can my idea affect your decission?

Best laptop in the world=Sager NP9262 (=a true desktop replacement)
HDX=Good gaming +desktop replacement
XPS M1730=Good but very overprice laptop