HP Pavilion HDX 9399sx “Dragon” Evaluation

Not too long ago HP bought the high-performance PC company Voodoo PC. At the time no one knew what, if anything would be the outcome of this acquisition; would HP absorb Voodoo? Or would they continue the line like Dell did. In the end we got rumors, and hints at something big on the horizon. These started just over a year ago. Even while reviewing the tx1000 I was hearing rumbles that there would be a great new book from HP something to rival the high-end gaming and multi-media notebooks out on the market, something to surpass them. Now a year later the HP HDX9200 “Dragon” has hit the streets and we at Planetx64.com have been fortunate enough to get one of the top end models (HDX9399sx) in house. This is not only for review but we are also giving one away to one (very) lucky reader. Will this be the prize of the year? Read on to find out the ups and downs of owning a Dragon.

Product: HP Pavilion HDX 9399sx "Dragon"     
Author: Sean Kalinich
Reviewed on: May 10^th 2008
Product cost: $4037.99 (as reviewed)
Manufacturer: HP
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64.com Staff
Discussion Thread

{mospagebreak title=Packaging and Accessories}
Packaging and Accessories:
The box that the Dragon showed up in was plain HUGE. I mean, yes it is a 20.1” notebook, but the box was much larger than I thought it would be.

Inside were the usual suspects and quite a bit more, everything from the brick sized 180Watt power supply to a fully functional remote, to a hi-density HD-TV antenna. There was a lot of stuff packed in there all in a flat box that covered filled the upper 3 inches of the box. I will cover the contents in more detail later.

On top of this was a wall poster that doubles as a quick launch guide and explanation of all of the buttons on the Dragon. Underneath all of this and secured in some serious looking foam brackets was the HDX9399sx. Even covered in plastic and cradled by the large black foam caps it looked impressive. Lifting it out of the box (after putting on my back brace, this thing does weigh over 15 pounds after all) I removed the end caps and plastic. It was then that I was able to get my first up close look at the Dragon.
Simply put it was love at first sight, everything I loved about the look and feel of the tx1000 was magnified in the Dragon. The glossy black lacquered look, this time with subdued swirling designs visible “under” the surface of the high-gloss coat. The HP logo on the top looks silver and has a 3D effect when the Dragon is off; I found out later that this is due to the logo being illuminated by the displays silver backing. Since the black surface of the top is not directly on this backing it gives the HP logo the impression of depth.  A large silver “arm” meant for support of the 20.1” display enhances instead of detracts from the look of the closed book. The rounded corners and lack of sharp angles is again a major feature of the Dragon and add to the artistic look and feel of the Dragon.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part I}
Appearance and Walk-around:
Appearance Part I
Now that we have enjoyed the spectacle of the top of the closed book, let’s look around the edges.
Starting at the front we see a similar arrangement as the tx1000, with two headphones ports, a microphone port and an IR receiver. Missing are the power and wireless switches, something on the Dragon that was not on the tx1000 is the cluster of activity lights on the left hand side. These small blue lights indicate HDD activity power, and if the notebook is charging or not HP has added very faint icons on the back of the screen to indicate which is which if you have the screen down. The charging indicator only lights up if your battery is actively charging. If you are plugged in and the battery is full the light is out.

Another conspicuously absent item is a latch for the screen. There just isn’t one; this is due to the clever method HP used to connect the screen. This hinge has coiled springs in the hinge that helps to keep the screen down when closed. I will cover the hinge in more detail later. Turning the Dragon ¼ turn clockwise we are now looking at the right had side of the Dragon; here we find a pair of USB 2.0 ports and something rather nice. A Blu-Ray DVD-RW drive, this high-end feature is a very nice touch and one that I wish had been an option on the tx1000. At the back of the right hand side is a small opening for a locking cable to keep your Dragon secure (although any would be thief might get a hernia trying to snatch this one and run…).

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part II}
Appearance Part II
Another quarter turn clockwise brings us to the back. The first thing that grabs your eyes here is the massive hinge for the 20.1” display. Once you have gotten over this you will find (from left to right as you are facing the back) an IR port for a TV or perhaps even a Set Top box, a Line-In port, S-Video and an Antenna/Cable port.

In the middle is the hinge for the display. This heavy duty object takes up about 6-1/2 inches of the back of the Dragon. This hinge is roughly 1/2-inch thick at its base tapering to 1/4-inch after a curved 90 degree turn. The hinge wraps under the Dragon and is secured to the body from the bottom. The pivot point is designed so that when the book is open the display “stand” rests down into the curved surface of the mount this gives the hinge more durability than your average notebook hinge, which is a good thing as it has to hold up a 20.1” screen.
This hinge is a very clever design. When you open the screen and the hinge reaches its fully extended position a latch is released that allows the screen to pivot giving it a range of 90 to 45 degrees of tilt. This is done without changing the distance to the screen unlike traditional notebooks.

Now that we have marveled over the engineering of the hinge we come to the true 7.1 analog audio-out ports. The Dragon boasts a port for Side, Rear, Center/Sub, and Front speaker outputs. These are 1/8 jacks so you will need adapters if you want to use most home theatre speakers. The final port is the power port; this is your power umbilical and connects to the massive 180Watt power “brick”. A small blue LED is located on the back corner of the deck to let you know when you are connected to external power. In addition to the ports and of course the hinge there are two exhaust vents one is for the GPU and one for the CPU, they are located on opposite sides of the hinge and multi-media ports.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part III}
Appearance Part III
Taking our third ¼ clockwise turn we are looking at the most crowded side of the Dragon. Here we have (again from left to right as you are looking at the side) two USB ports, a LAN port (1Gb), HP’s 3-port expansion port, a 15-Pin VGA port, HDMI port, and an e-SATA Port.(powered by a Silicon Image Sil 3531 SATA controller) A word on this e-SATA port, I was not able to test this port as my e-SATA enclosure died a horrible death but I can tell you to approach this port with caution, I have read (no confirmation) that it is enclosure picky and does not work with SATA I drives. This means you will want to make sure you have a good e-SATA enclosure and a SATA II drive before plugging in. next to the e-SATA port is a 4-Pin FireWire port, a multi-card reader (it can read Sony Memory sticks (including Pro) SD cards, MMC cards and XD cards) the last thing on this completely packed side is the PC Express 54/34 slot.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part IV}
Appearance Part IV
Giving the Dragon our final quarter turn we now get to actually open the book up and see the inside.
Lifting the screen, and you can feel the spring resistance from the hinge, you get your first glimpse at the working end of the Dragon. As mentioned above once the hinge is fully opened you will feel the screen release and can adjust it to your viewing comfort. Now that we have the Dragon opened and ready let’s look over what we have.

The front portion of the deck is a matte silver color with a glossy coating, under this coating is a similar patter to what is on the back of the screen.
This pattern is in white and does not stand out from the surface, in fact when under direct light the pattern fades from view. In the right corner are the usual stickers proclaiming CPU and GPU as well as an OS logo, as well as the words “HP Entertainment Series”.

Slightly off from center and, in a shallow depression, we find the touch pad. This is the same dimpled surface that I loved from the tx1000, it is smooth and easy to use with the tactile reference coming from the small dimples in the surface. The scroll bar is separated from the main touch pad by about a ¼ inch making it easy to feel when you are using it and preventing accidental mouse movements while using it.
The right and left mouse buttons are large and comfortable to use, they are also very quiet which to me, is a very nice touch. I do not like the large clunky buttons that make loud clicks that you get on most notebooks. In the left hand corner of the deck are the same three activity LEDs that I talked about earlier. Here they are also labeled with small icons to indicate function.
Next on the deck is the keyboard area, as we transition to this area we see a similar look to the tx1000 with an oval shaped depression around the keyboard and another glossy black bevel, this is even with the level the touchpad is on.

Speaking of the touchpad, in the bevel area just about it is a small button to disable the touchpad surface if you are typing or using a USB mouse. Next to the button is a small LED to indicate status Orange for disabled and Blue for enabled. The Dragon features a full keyboard complete with number pad, the keys themselves are rough surfaced, and short throw keys that are also very quiet. One thing I do not like on many notebooks is the clunky keyboards with long and stiff movements. You end up feeling like you are typing angry to get anything done. Even with the great surface and movement of the keyboard it was not all Mt. Dew and Funoins, the same small right-side shift key that gave me so much trouble on the tx1000 was back, the same one that cause me so many typing errors (/. Instead of ?) The number pad also threw me but this was more getting used to it being there than anything else.

The dragon also has a space for the included remote; this fully featured media center remote clips in securely to the Dragon and is released with a lever on the right hand side. Now this is great in theory but the Dragon that I reviewed would not come out so easily, although I think this was just an issue with this unit as the spring meant to push the remote out felt very weak. One other issue with the placement of the remote is that the keyboard is not centered in the deck; this puts your hands in an awkward position when typing or gaming. The palm of your left hand almost rests on the touchpad, it is not uncomfortable but it is awkward and takes a while to get used to. I can tell you that I appreciate the ability to quickly shut off the touchpad with the keyboard set up this way. One good point about the way HP setup the keyboard is that it is close to the front and not set back on the deck like many other large display notebooks, this makes typing easier and more comfortable (with the exception of items noted above).

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part V}
Appearance Part V
Behind the keyboard is a row of touch sensitive buttons, the power button, and a finger print reader.
The touch buttons worked very well and were neither overly sensitive nor hard to use. HP struck a very good balance with these to get them working as well as they did.
The power button located at the left end of this row is the standard type push button. Next to this are a series of QuickPlay buttons that allow you to quickly (imagine that) launch applications to support playback of multimedia. From left to right (again) the QuickPlay buttons are Launch the QuickPlay application, Play DVD, and watch TV. The DVD and TV buttons launch the portions of the QuickPlay application that support those features, for TV it allows you to watch Analog, Digital, recorded TV, SlingBox, Vongo, and Internet TV while DVD playback supports standard and Blu-Ray HD DVD playback. SlingBox and Vongo I will cover later under the software bundle.
The next group of touch buttons is the playback controls (stop, play, pause etc). Next to these is a single button that looks like a movie projector. This is a most useful button as it turns off all (with the exception of itself) LEDs when you are watching a movie or TV, it makes watching easier on the eyes as your eyes are not drawn to the brighter points of light on the deck.  Centered in this row of buttons is the finger print scanner.

This is a cumbersome place to put the finger print reader as it is most difficult to get your thumbs in place to use it. Since you cannot use your thumbs as your ID you are left with using the less secure (as it is less unique than your thumb) fore-finer or index finger. Even using that is awkward as you have to rotate your hand to line up with the reader.
Next on our tour of the touch buttons are the Wireless on/off button and the Mute button, these are different in that they change color from Blue to Orange with orange indicating that the device (sound or wireless) is also off. Next are the volume slider/ up-down buttons. Here you can adjust the volume in one of two ways; you can tap the + or – to turn the volume up or down respectively or you can slide your finger along the graduated hash marks. For treble and bass you have a slider that is similar to the volume but in addition you have labels for each control touching the text treble or bass shifts the slider to control that audio out-put. The last button is the eject button. This is another handy little button that removes the need to hunt for the tiny little eject button that is on the Blu-Ray drive.
Behind the touch button row is a large expanse of nothing, this is the extra space left over on the deck to fill out the area needed for a 20.1” wide screen display. Now HP could have jammed it full of lights and LCD/OLED/LED displays but they went for a more aesthetically pleasing glossy black with a curvy almost Oriental art print on the right side and two long back rubber bumpers to prevent the screen from rubbing on the deck. Leaving this free of gaud not only cleans up the look but also allows for extra cooling, this surface area is a great heat exchanger. I am not sure if that was by design or just happened but it does help to keep the Dragon’s fire cool.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part VI}
Appearance Part VI (the Screen)
After wandering all over the deck we finally take a look at one of the highlights of the Dragon. The 20.1” Widescreen 1080p (1920×1200) display. This eye-popping monster is contained by a bevel that is made of more glossy black plastic. Along the bottom HP has added the same dimple pattern that is seen on the touch pad. This is to disguise the Altec Lansing speakers just under the surface. The HP logo is present in the center of the lower bezel with the Altec Lansing logo in the left corner and the HP Pavilion HDX logo in the right.

Above the dimpled area on the sides of the bezel are small round rubber pads and two longer pads, the round ones cover screws used to secure the bezel and the longer ones at the top mimic the purpose of the ones located on the deck by preventing the screen from rubbing on the deck.
The top of the bezel contains a pair of microphone receivers for the dual-array mics built into the Dragon.
In the center is a Webcam, this web cam has a twist you can actually tilt it so that it remains focused on you even with the screen tilted back to about 15 degrees.
Last but certainly not least is the 20.1” Ultra Bright HD display, this display is very clear and crisp with surprisingly little glare or reflections. Color is also very vivid with good visual depth.
The lack of an easily accessible brightness control for low light viewing is annoying but is not too big of a deal.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part VII}
Appearance Part VII
Closing the Dragon (I know it is hard) and flipping it over we take a look at the underside.
The bottom of the Dragon continues HP’s trend of attention to detail. There are eleven rubber feet that keep the Dragon up off of any desk it is on, these vary in size with the largest being along the back edge.
Starting from the front edge of the Dragon and moving back I will cover the highlights here. At the front edge there is one long and one short removable panel. The longer panel covers the space for the two 250GB Western Digital 5400 RPM drives. These two drives are easily removable so if you should want to move up to larger or faster drives it would not be an issue nor take all day.

Next to the HDD space is an opening for the Intel Wireless card (Draft n) this is noticeable by the three distinct antennas that are used for the extra range and performance. Next to this is a slot for an “integrated” Cellular wireless card. This is a nice option, but as I do not know where you would be able to buy the cards on their own it is useless if you do not have it installed at the time of purchase.

To the right and at a slight angle to this is an air vent this would appear to be for the PC Express slot and Multi-Reader. In the center of the book and behind the HDDs bay you will find covers for the memory and the built in HD TV tuner. The covers here are a little odd. You cannot just open the cover for the TV tuner. You have to open the RAM cover before you can remove the TV Tuner cover. Once you do get the covers off you will see that HP has made things nice for you again. Unlike many notebooks, where the RAM is on both sides of the board, the Dragon has both DDR2 slots accessible to you under this single cover. 

Behind all of this is the battery. This heavy brick sized item is capable of giving you roughly 2 hours of regular usage. (Battery life is another topic).
On the left of this is the 5^th part of the amazing sound system HP has stuffed into the Dragon, the HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer. This desk firing speaker provides some impressive low-end range to your audio experience. By having it in an area with a higher weight density it allows it to produce low frequencies without vibrating the notebook.  This prevents distortion of the sounds and helps to create richer lows, but I will cover the sound from this setup later in this review. To the left of the Subwoofer is another fan grill, this one is for the 8800m GTS 512MB card that is the muscle behind the 20.1 display. To the right of the battery is a panel with your OS key and model information. Here you will find the books serial number, part number and other items you might need for tech support. Along the very back edge you can see the bottom mount of the screen hinge, as I mentioned before this monster of a hinge does an amazing job of keeping the 20.1" display steady.

After looking the Dragon over I have to say that HP’s Dragon, with a few minor exceptions, has one of the most well thought out and stylish designs I have seen in a larger notebook. At lot of careful planning went into this design and it shows.

{mospagebreak title=The Bundle}
Bundled Software:
The Dragon ships with a laundry list of applications, some are useful but most just take up space on your hard drive and should be removed. As with all my system testing I run the systems as if I had bought them and like to set them up as I would. Most times I will do a fresh install of Vista x64 Ultimate but since the Dragon actually shipped with Vista Ultimate x64 I decided to simply remove applications that I would not need or use to make the copy more my own. I removed the following applications before testing (I will cover other applications that you might not want from the software bundle later).

AIM 9 (never use)

Office 2007 activation wizard and student edition (Installed Personal copy for use)

MS Works (Never use and can conflict with Office)

PowerPoint viewer  (Installed Office 20.107 with PowerPoint)

Yahoo Toolbar (resource hog and potential Malware portal)

HP Photosmart essentials (not needed)

Norton Internet Security (Installed NOD32 did not want to use the 60-day trial)

HP Customer Experience Enhancements (did not do anything that I could see)

HP Update (ran often only to tell me there were no updates)

Acrobat Reader (Installed Acrobat Pro)

HP Help and Support (did not need)

The following applications had to be updated to work properly:

HP QuickPlay – prior to updating BluRay playback would fail (to get working I had to run the 3.6 update from HP’s site then install the Auto Update from the application, when I tried to just run the update from inside QuickPlay I would get an error on restart or shutdown)
Other wise this application was fairly useful, although in reality it was only CyberLink/HP’s version of Media Center with Blu-ray playback enabled.

CyberLink Youcam – (would not start the Web Cam until upgraded)
This application allows you to capture and manipulate small video clips and still images using the built-in webcam. There are built in templates that add a dash of fun to any picture or clip.

The following applications worked out of the box:
Muvee – This is a home movie making application similar to windows movie maker, but perhaps with a bit more style. You have options to burn your movie to disk (DVD, VCD, SVCD) as well as create files for e-mail, the web and simply store them on your system, you can even send them to your mobile phone. Muvee is very easy to use and can get you on your way to making your own slide-shows and home movies in no time.

WebPlus 10 is a very interesting application. It is a very easy to use HTML content creation utility. This application has quite a few built in templates that you can customize to your tastes. Everything from a Photography site to a dating site is available in the templates section.

CyberLink DVD Suite Premium – This handy little package allows you to burn DVDs CDs, as well as watch DVD movies. CyberLink’s DVD Suite Premium also includes a label making application and DVD authoring software in the form of PowerDirector. This is a very functional editing and authoring application, unfortunately it will not allow for authoring of Blu-Ray disks so you are limited to Dual-Layer DVDs as your largest format.

DigitalPersona Professional – This application allows you to use your fingerprint scanner to log into the Dragon. Unfortunately that is all it allows you to do. I would recommend getting something like PSQ protection suite ($20) this will allow you not only to login with your finger but also to register commonly used websites and even applications.

The Sims Life Stories  – This is another chapter in the Sims anthology.

My HP Games – Web based games from various authors provided by HP

Recovery Manager – This is an important utility as it allows you to restore drivers and applications on the fly without having to do a complete restore. You can also create your own complete restore DVD from this utility.

Vongo – Vongo is an internet streaming video rental service. The application can be run stand-alone or as part of QuickPlay.

Sling Player – this application allows you to watch TV from your home as long as you are connected to the Internet. The down side of this is that it does not work unless you have a “SlingBox” setup at home.

I actually ended up uninstalling both Vongo and Sling Player as neither were application I would use and they both launch at start up and take up memory space.

{mospagebreak title=Performance Day to Day}
Performance:
The Dragon:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (45nm 2.8GHz 6MB cache 800MHz FSB, Stepping 6 Revision C0)
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 667 RAM (5-5-5-24)
2x Western Digital (WD2500BEVS-60UST0) 250GB 5400RPM 2.5 inch HDDs (One OS, One Data)
nVidia GeForce 8800m GTS (G92) 512MB (Driver version 175.16)
HP 20.1 Inch Ultra Bright 1080p HD LCD Display (1920×1200)
Intel GM965 Northbridge
Intel 82801HBM (ICH8-ME) Southbridge
Sil 3531 SATA Controller (e-SATA)
A2ML9I9A IDE Controller
IDT HD Audio Codec
HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner
Optiarc Blu-ray ROM BC-5500A ATA
Microsoft Windows Vista x64 Ultimate (w/SP1 and all updates)
Dimensions – 18.7W x 13.4 x 2.23 inches
Weight: Approximately 15.5 Lbs

Day to Day use:
Using the Dragon as my primary workstation at home and the office was both a blessing and a curse.
Weighing in at over 15 pounds and with dimensions of 18.7 x 13.4 x 2.23 inches the Dragon is not easy to haul around. There are very few cases that will fit this behemoth; most of them are over $150 while the only reasonably priced one is commonly out of stock. I found myself packing all the cables and cords into one bag (an Oakley 12.1” bag) and carrying the Dragon under my arm. Not the recommended way to port a notebook, especially one this expensive. Taking it with me camping or on a photography outing was out of the question as it would have been too much weight to lug around on foot for a couple of hours and there is not enough room in my camper to fit everyone and the Dragon at the same time.
The flip side of that is the sheer performance. There is nothing like having a (semi) portable workstation with a 20.1” display and the raw power they Dragon has.
Photo editing was a delight as the large display gave me plenty of room to work; the 8800m GTS 512MB GPU and 2.8GHz CPU ran through filters like butter. Video encoding was also very quick, although the 5400 RPM drives did slow the process down.  Normally while at my office I run a virtual machine loaded with Vista x86 Business and Office 2007. On many notebooks I have used simply starting this brings the system to its knees and makes using the host virtually impossible. On the Dragon I could run this as well as an Ubuntu VM and still work in the background. Office was a breeze, as were DreamWeaver and Flash.
Simply put, there was nothing I was not able to do. The screen was large enough that I had plenty of room to run multiple applications without them getting confuse. The X9000 and 4GB of RAM gave me enough horse power to run them all without any slowdowns.

{mospagebreak title=Multimedia Performance}
Sound Reproduction:
Sound: that simple word does not convey what I experienced with the Dragon. I have never, ever heard such clear and vibrant sound from a notebook. The Quad Altec Lansing speakers combined with the HP triple bass reflex subwoofer made this possible, Blu-Ray movies with their Dolby Digital sound and HD uncompressed sound were reproduced flawlessly. Standard DVDs, CD-audio, games and TV all benefited from this configuration. This sound also seemed to fill the room there was no hunching over the speakers to hear what was being said in a movie, no disappointing game play due to shoddy or tinny sound here.
Granted, sound is a subjective item so per my usual I asked five people to give me a number from one to five in order to rate the sound, I asked them to compare this to other notebooks and to other audio reproduction equipment; the results will surprise you.

Vs Notebook

4.5

4.75

5

5

4.5

Vs Home Audio

3

3.5

4

3.25

3

Some words used to describe the sound quality were: Full, Wow, Deep, Clean, and Ballsy.

Video Reproduction:
As I mentioned above the 20.1 Ultra Bright 1080p (1920×1200) screen has an amazing picture, clean, sharp, vivid. It is great for gaming, movies, video editing, and picture manipulation whatever you want to do on it.
I really could go on and on but I also wanted to cover your options when it comes to Multimedia.
HP has thrown the kitchen sink into the HDX 9399sx. Everything from avi’s to streaming internet movies is supported. With a built in Blu-Ray drive and their QuickPlay application the Dragon is not only a work and gaming notebook but a complete entertainment system, one that could replace your living rooms complete setup. Now most people would want a larger screen to watch TV in their living room but HP has that covered with the HDMI port. An included adapter and IR repeater lets you plug in a set-top box (cable or satellite) with an S-Video port available for HD boxes that do not have Coaxial out.

Granted it would have been better to have DVI-in or Component but that would have probably been out of the question with current space and technology limitations. Now some of you might be thinking about sound, well again HP has that covered with full 7.1 analog outputs for surround sound. I actually ran this in my bedroom for a few days to see how well and if this would work and I was amazing and very happy with the performance. I now had a portable media center that gave me everything I could want.
As per my usual I will not limit you to my opinions of the display quality or the quality of performance as an HTPC. Here are five other people’s opinions as well.

Video Quality

4.5

4.75

4.6

4.25

5

Some of the words used to describe the display quality were: Sharp, Clean, Vibrant, Nice, and Crisp

{mospagebreak title=Application Performance}
Application Performance:
PCMark Vantage:
PCMark Vantage is a complete system test that was written by FutureMark specifically for Windows Vista. It like its predecessors is designed to tell you how well you can expect your system to perform with a variety of applications. There are tests for media streaming, media playback, memory usage, gaming, web browsing (with different types of pages) content creation, office applications, media encoding, and a ton of other items. Now no synthetic test can ever replace real usage there is no means of measuring real world usage that can be easily categorized.  This is why PCMark is good to use as a gauge.

32-Bit	64-Bit

The score for the 32 bit suite was impressive at 3788. This actually is better than some desktop systems. The Core 2 Extreme CPU and 8800m GTS are showing off their muscle here. The 64-bit suite came in roughly 180 points higher than the 32-bit suite at 3963, still not bad at all from a notebook (even a $4,000 notebook.)

Photoshop CS3:
There is nothing like being able to move through image manipulation quickly. As a photographer I appreciate the Dragon’s extra CPU and GPU power when running Photoshop. Raw image conversion was as simple as click and it was done. Filters were applied quickly. The 20.1” display had no noticeable color aberrations and gave a realistic representation of the color profile I like to use (8-Bit ProPhoto RGB 300 DPI). In order to give you a test to represent how well the Dragon works in Photoshop CS3 I used Driverheavn’s Photoshop benchmark. This uses a custom built action that runs a stock image through a series of filters that build off of each other.  The time it takes to complete each filter is recorded and I also include the total time for the test to complete.

	Dragon	C2X6800
Texturiser Test -1	1.1	0.9
CMYK Color Conversion	1.2	1.8
RGB Color Conversion	1.5	2.1
Dust and Scratches	2.2	2.6
Water Color	10.6	12
Texturiser Test -2	0.8	2.3
Stained Glass	2.8	4.6
Litghing Effects	2.8	3.2
Mosaic Tiles	6.5	9
Extrude	36.7	33.1
Smart Blur	27	26
Underpainting	12.4	16.9
Total	105.6	114.5

Again the Dragon shows off its power even outperforming the X6800 desktop CPU in many of the filters and in total completion time. This is certainly a book for any pro photographer to consider. In fact while I was testing I had a few inquires about this book by photographers that worked at some of the Big Theme Parks here in Central Florida. After showing them the abilities, I saw looks of eagerness and the gleam of a future purchase in many eyes.

HyperPi 0.99b:
HyperPi is now my favorite test to determine stability and performance of the connection between CPU, Memory and HDD. If you have any stability issues with any of these parts HyperPi will crash. As for performance, well that is obvious, the better the performance between these three parts the quicker HyperPi can calculate the number Pi to the Decimal Place you choose. For testing I ran the 16M and the 1M run.

16M	1M

The times were very impressive for a notebook here as well. I am sure with faster Hard Drives and tighter memory the times would be even better.

Lightwave 9.3 x64:
Keeping on the train of thought that the HDX 9399sx would be a great workstation I decided to run some rendering tests with Newtek’s Lightwave 9.3 x64 edition. To run the tests I ran in discovery mode and used content from the Lightwave 8.0 disks. My favorite render scene is called moonbase and for single frame rendering I use frame 32. Render options were set as follows:
Resolution 1920 x 1080 (1080i HD resolution)
Antialiasing PLD – 7 Pass
Reconstruction Filter Gaussian (Sharp)
Segment Memory was set to 512
Threads were set to 2

Even rendering HD resolutions did not phase the Dragon as it was able to render the single frame in under nine minutes.  This comes close to the performance of some desktops, considering the slow spindle speed of the hard drive and the memory only being 667MHz this is a rather impressive performance and one that should put the Dragon in the running as a viable mobile 3D Animation studio, especially if you use an external SATA drive for capacity and speed.

Xvid Encoding with AutoGK 2.4.5:
Video encoding is a big item, these days, with the most common reason for its use being to backup DVD movies that you purchased to prevent them from being damaged. While there are many applications out to take your DVDs and make them into DivX or XviD files the one I like to use and the one that seems to be the best test of a system (again CPU, Memory and HDD performance) is AutoGK.  I am using the 2.4.5 full release, this application combine several independent pieces to make an easy to use application for converting DVDs to Avi files. For my testing I used a personally made 2-hour DVD, this is SD DV footage that was edited using FinalCut HD and Authored to DVD using DVD Studio Pro HD.

Unfortunately Encoding is where the slow HDD and RAM do come back to hurt us. The encoding took over an hour to run. If you are considering the Dragon for Video encoding, I would seriously consider getting at least one 7200 RPM drive.

Cinebench R10 x64:
Cinebech is from Maxon, the makers of Cinema4D. Cinebench is a CPU/GPU based rendering test and is designed to show the rendering potential of your system. I say Potential because it is a static test and not real world rendering.

The Cinebench scores were just as impressive as other applications I ran and bring to light the workstation replacement role for this “breed” of Dragon.

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance Part I}

Gaming:
For all in-game testing I used FRAPS 2.9.4, game levels were played through three times and the average of each range were used in this article.
 
3DMark Vantage:
The second of our FutureMark testing suites we use on Planetx64, 3DMark Vantage is a DX10 based testing suite that is designed to give you a good feel for how capable your system is for DX10 gaming.
The suite includes two intensive graphics tests and two CPU based testing for physics and AI.

Prior to playing with the 9399sx version of the Dagon my highest notebook based score was under 1000 points. The Dragon smashed that mark and then some, coming in over 2600 points.  This is a very impressive number for a notebook of any kind.

HalfLife 2 Episode 2:
In other reviews I have gone on and on about Valve and HalfLife, I still consider this one of the best titles ever released. Gordon Freeman has become an underground Icon, and (so the rumor goes) he might soon be a big screen hero as well. For testing I used the “To the White Forest” level and played from your descent into the mines with the Vortigaunt and Alyx until you reach the hide out where Alyx is to be revived. Settings are shown below.

Min	Max	Average
0	94	51.572

Right out of the gate the Dragon shows its power, Episode 2 was snappy and responsive with an average frame rate of over 50. Sound was also clean and crisp and allowed the aural ambience that Valve brings to the HalfLife series to come into play.

HalfLife Portal:
Although not developed by Valve Portal has the same flavor and elements that made HalfLife such a compelling game. Set in an underground lab you are a test subject undergoing what appears to be a series of “rat in a maze” type tests, as you move along you are directed by a quirky and buggy computer (almost like System Shock and System Shock2). But all is not well, the tests become more and more dangerous while the computer (GLaDOS) becomes sweeter promising you a party and cake when you are done. For testing I ran through tests 8 through 14. Settings are shown below.

Min	Max	Average
0	91	46.744

Portal was also very playable at 1920×1200 with frame rates in the upper 40s. The Altec Lansing sound provided for a rich gaming experience, as with HalfLife Portal adds that extra level to the game experience with the rich and immersive sounds.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare:
COD 4 Modern Warfare is one of my new favorite games. Although it still uses the COD “Bar Fight” AI, the levels and combat experience are impressive. You play different Special Operations Soldiers (SAS Marine Force Recon etc) and move through a series of low level conflicts and missions. From the Barents Straight to the Middle East, you are thrown into one fire-fight after another. For testing I ran the “Blackout” level from insertion to the rescue of the informant. Settings are shown below.

Min	Max	Average
11	89	30.151

COD4 is another very playable and smooth game with average frame rates around 30. The Dragon just keeps knocking down everything I put in its path. In game sounds were great and provided for even more enjoyable play.

Company of Heroes:
Company of Heroes is a Historically based real time strategy game that puts you right in the middle of World War II. Starting off with the invasion of Normandy you work your way through some of the major battles of the war as well as some of the lesser known struggles. Company of Heroes is a very addictive game and one that can occupy hours of your day if you let it. The graphics are very well done for an RTS and the enemy AI is fairly competent. For my testing I ran the Normandy invasion from entry on the beach to the final destruction of all the 88s. I also made sure I completed the secondary objectives.
Graphical settings are shown below.

Min	Max	Average
31	71	55.491

Company of Heroes was no match for the power of the Dragon; it never even broke a sweat. Average frame rates here were over 50. Sounds were also reproduced well by the Dragon; in COH there are many voices that are talking sometimes though gunfire or explosions. These sounds make the game more immersive and fun to play.

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance Part II}
Bioshock:
Bioshock comes to us from Looking Glass Studios and like HalfLife has older brothers to draw on(System Shock I and II as well as the Thief Series) and that we can still see when we look at it. Set in an underwater utopia where people tamper with the human genetic code you have to work your way through the collapse of this city called Rapture in an attempt to find and destroy the evil creator of this Place. Along the way you find that your kind benefactor who has been helping you, is actually the bad guy. In a twist reminiscent of System Shock II (where you find out the person that is helping you is the crazed computer from System Shock I) you find out you were … Well I won’t spoil the game for you.
Graphically Bioshock is impressive even if the colors are cartoonish. The AI is a little straight forward and rough but it is still a very enjoyable game. For testing I ran the Welcome to Rapture level from just after getting the “Electro Bolt” Plasmid to your first meeting with the Little Sister and her Big Daddy.
Settings are shown below.

Min	Max	Average
17	59	31.461

Score another 30+ FPS game for the Dragon I am beginning to think there are no games the Dragon can’t play. Here again the sound system comes into play Bioshock has a lot of in game sounds and voices that are important to the atmosphere of the game. The Dragon’s sound system was able to reproduce these very well and maintain the frantic game environment.

Assassin’s Creed DX10:
Assassin’s Creed came on the scene a few months ago and has proven to be a controversial game indeed. With patches that disable DX10.1 (a better version of DX10 by far) and dubious “improved 64bit support” people are talking about this game. The actual game itself is loosely based on historical events and persons. What this means is that, yes there were Templars in Jerusalem, and yes there were assassin cults as well. Throw in a few historical names as characters and voila! You have a game. The actual premise of the game is that an assassin turned bartender (there is a switch) is being used by a group to find out information about one of his ancestors buried in his genetic memory (the collective subconscious). But the piece of genetic memory is blocked, so the bartender has to “sync” with the memory by progressing through each stored memory, the more he follows what his ancestor would have done the more in sync he is. For testing purposes I ran through the opening level from the beginning of the siege of the small town to the part where you drop the logs onto the Templar soldiers.
Settings for play are shown below:

Min	Max	Average
8	57	27.365

All I could think at this point was Wow!, I was (and still am) extremely impressed with the Dragon’s power. To be able to play Assassin’s Creed at 1920×1200 and come in just under 30 FPS (considered by most as full motion video) is simply amazing. I thought for sure that this one would drag it down. In-Game audio was amazing here as well, voices were rich, sharp and easy to understand. Other game sounds were also well reproduced.

Grid (Demo):
Grid is a new game coming out from Codemasters, the same people that brought DiRT to us. Unlike DiRT, Grid is set in the world of high-performance road track racing. Graphically the Demo is amazing; driver AI and car physics are horrible though. Cars simply do not handle like that. I do not know what it is about game developers when it comes to driving games. They seem to think that racing is all about sliding through turns. Yeah you would do that on a Dirt track but never on asphalt. No matter the developers intent Grid is a visually stunning game and one that uses a lot of heavy rendering. For my testing I used the BMW teams race one I ran all three laps regardless of finishing position. Settings are below.

Min	Max	Average
14	34	27.462

Grid fell into the same range as Assassin’s Creed with average frame rates at about 27 FPS. The game sounds were incredible; I kept waiting to smell the rubber and engine oil.

Gaming Conclusion:
Gaming at 1920×1200 on a notebook! I am amazed and overwhelmed by the gaming performance I witnessed from the Dragon; every game I threw at it was playable with average frame rates never dropping below 27 and most over 30. When I started to evaluate the Dragon I had four games in mind, but after the Dragon breezed through those without breaking a sweat I added two more just to make sure I had not chosen easy games, I dropped in Assassin’s Creed (DX10) and the Demo of Grid. I am glad I did as they were the two that had average frame rates of 27. This shows that the Dragon still has muscle to spare even for the latest titles and DX10 play. I could see the Dragon as a serious gaming station all on its own. Yes it does not have the power of SLI or even a stock 8800GTX but for a portable gaming station I cannot think of a better choice (once you find a carrying case for it).

{mospagebreak title=Battery Life}Battery Life:
You would think that with everything the Dragon has under its hood that battery life would be in the dump. Well, I am happy to say that you would be wrong. I found that during normal usage (word processing, web browsing etc) you can get roughly two hours out of the battery.
If you are gaming (any game) your battery life is reduced to about one hour and fifteen minutes.
Playing a standard DVD yields about one hour and forty-five minutes and finally Blu-Ray movie playback drops you down into the one Hour range.  This is with the default power profile; I am sure that if you setup profiles for each type of usage you will be able to get more out of the battery. I still would make sure you keep close to a power source to feed the Dragon’s power appetite.

{mospagebreak title=Price/Warranty}
Price/Warranty:
Ah, yes… I knew it would come to this one. How can I put this? The a standard Dragon can be picked up for about $1,799.99, which is a great price; this gives you the same size as the Dragon I tested but not the ferocity. To get the HDX 9399sx you will have to shell out the credit card maxing sum of around $4,037.00 USD before shipping and tax. (This was generated using the HP product website.) Granted you do get a lot for this amount but on the whole it is one major investment.
Warranty for the Dragon was disappointing at best. HP offers only a one year warranty on this expensive monster. I was hoping for a better standard warranty, although you can purchase up to four years with HP pick up and return. This will add an extra $270 to your price tag. With the Dragon I had in for testing, in the lower right hand corner of the screen there was one single stuck pixel. This tiny blue dot stands out like a spot light on dark back grounds. Unfortunately HP does not cover a single stuck pixel under warranty (I think up to 6 are not covered).
But there is a good side to this, I spoke to the people sponsoring the contest and they are going to make sure a brand new HDX 9399sx is sent out to the winner of our contest.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
There is not a lot that I can add to what has been written above, the HDX series is a real winner and the HDX 9399sx is simply amazing. It is more than an entertainment notebook it is a power house of a workstation, a mobile render station, photo finishing system, gaming box in addition to being able to entertain you with movies, music and TV. Stunning and sharp video, spacious, rich and vibrant sound, amazing game play all go to make up this incredible notebook. Once you have spent any time with it the weight and size no longer matter, all that matters is the performance and functionality of the Dragon.
HP really outdid themselves with this one, I am already envious of our winner for this amazing book. I think that I may have to pick one up and replace my current desktop system with a Dragon of my own. In the words of Ferris Bueller – "It is so Choice, if you have the means I highly recommend picking one up"

For its simply jaw dropping performance we (and I) are proud to award the HP Pavilion HDX 9399sx "Dragon" our Best on the Planet award and are calling it a Must Have.

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Acknowledgments:
We would like to thank the folks at HP, Chris Aarons (Buzz Corps) and everyone who has entered our portion of the 31 days of the Dragon.