I was able to install Windows 7 Professional (x64) on my Dev laptop today. It didn’t take that long to install and once up and running I had 6 Unknown Devices present in the Device Manager. All I had to do for 4 of them was right click on the device and Update Driver from internet. Windows Update recognized the 4 devices and downloaded drivers for them. This is a list of the drivers that had to be downloaded or installed manually:
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Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller (driver downloaded from windows update)
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Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller (driver downloaded from windows update)
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Ricoh xD-Picture Card Controller (driver downloaded from windows update)
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AuthenTec Inc. AES2810 (Finger print sensor) (driver downloaded from windows update)
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HP Drive Guard Driver (download HP 3D Driveguard (Vista) softpaq sp39410.exe)
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Direct Application Launch Button (download HP Quick Launch Buttons (softpaq sp43616.exe))
Once the drivers where updated manually I noticed that I had 4 new Windows Updates to download all of which were the following drivers:
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A newer AuthenTec Inc. AES2810 driver
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A newer ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 driver
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A newer Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection driver
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A newer Agere Systems HDA Modem driver
All in all a pretty clean and simple install. That probably more so because the the hardware is fairly new.
The only thing that does not work properly is the mute button (part of the quick launch buttons). Not a big deal I will probably just have to update the software when HP updates its library for Win7 in October. Other than I am really liking Win7 so far on this laptop, it runs very well alongside the 8GB of RAM I have installed.
Update: 2009-08-08 - Seems I was wrong about the mute button it does work, however it does not register to Windows that the mute button is enabled so Windows does not display the little red disabled symbol on the speaker icon in the notification area.
Update: 2009-08-29 – I was able to get the AuthenTec Inc. AES2810 finger print reader setup to login to Windows 7 with my fingerprint, it works like a charm. To do this you will need to download the BETA version of the enrolment software here:
The blog site Three Wise Men has a tutorial on how to actually install, setup and enroll your finger print so you can start using this feature.
Update: 2009-10-22 - HP has started to release updated drivers for the 8530p which the new audio driver has fixed my mute button issue listed above. As of todays date (2009-10-22) there are no Windows 7 Professional (x64) drivers. I have installed the Windows Home (x64) drivers and they seem to work as expected. Visit the HP site here.
So I have been doing my homework on laptops over the past month-ish because I wanted to replace my “desktop replacement” laptop (17” HP DV9418CA) with a more portable yet still functional for what I really use it for laptop. Don’t get me wrong my current lappy is a fine machine (when running XP pro) and has a lot of bells and whistles but portable it isn’t and lacks in the memory dept (max 2GB).
I have owned 3 laptops over the last 5-6 years; all have been HP and never had any issues to date. Because of this HP was top of the list for a replacement but unfortunately their latest line based on my research has had some cooling issues along with some lackluster components (LCD display, HDs) (this based on the chatter of various user forums I used for research not actual defects).
Some of my requirements were:
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2.0 GHz or higher dual core CPU
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Supports over 4GB RAM
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Supports Wireless B, G, N
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Supports 10/100/1000 GB LAN
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Supports Bluetooth
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15.4” (or less) LCD (matte finish) (supports 1280 x 800 or higher)
I ended up dropping the consumer grade and moving into the business class machines which are more expensive but it is all relative since the features you would pay for on a consumer machine you get automatically in a business machine for example a basic 3 year warranty.
In the end I picked the HP EliteBook 8530p, it had all of the requirements, was a name I trusted based on previous experience, was given better than average reviews on various sites that review laptops and had lots of satisfied users on the various user forums. Also I was impressed by the actual technology that went into the design and structure of the 2008 models as seen here in this breakdown video made by HP. Now maybe it’s all FUD but none the less I have had the laptop for a week and so far it has gone above and beyond my expectations (knock on wood).
The laptop came with no applications installed other than the HP software and the drivers which was cool; no other crappy trial-ware garbage to remove, packaging was very simple yet effective. The machine came with Vista Business SP1 (x64) and a downgrade license for XP (x86), I stuck with Vista. I also purchased Office 2007 Pro and bit the bullet; a 4GB PC6400 memory module from Crucial bringing the total memory to 6GB.
Note: I purchased the memory through TigerDirect.ca by calling one of the sales team directly. Even though they don't list the memory they can purchase anything from their suppliers at a discounted cost. The memory module ended up costing less going this route (pricing for this item on CAN sites was often over $500 bills if you could find it) than it would have buying it directly from Crucial w/exchange w/shipping w/brokerage fees, plus I got 2 day delivery on the memory for the price of ground shipping FTW!!!