Costco Members: HP 14" Laptop: i3-1005G1, 4GB DDR4, 128GB SSD, Win 10 S Expired

Sale ENDED Nov 21, 2019

Some of the units came with an Intel Core i5-1035G4 instead of the i3. Please see page 3-5 for more details.

Positives
* Nice IPS screen, ~57% srgb coverage, 6-bit panel, NON-dithered, it's not dithered to 8 bit, Output is 262 thousand colors vs 16.7 million on 8bit types -- This doesn't matter except maybe for photoshop

* Relatively easy to upgrade

* Average CPU PassMark = 9322 (if you get the i5)
Average CPU PassMark = 5929 (if you get the i3)

Both of these are quite fast for a budget laptop, and likely to be an upgrade for most who aren't running current-gen i5-8xxx-series desktops or newer.

The display model in Costco is typically an i5; check about this computer . Some have received orders from UPS and booted up showing i5-1035G4 CPU, even though online order says i3. However given that more of i3 version is now shipped, it's probably best to visit the store and ask them to check through all the boxes they have rather than risking order online if you really want the i5 version.

The i5 in these may have been due to intel not being able deliver enough i3's... Some reports now of new shipments of i3's arriving in stores. YMMV.

* USB-C does NOT have PD (power delivery) or DP (DisplayPort) functions, data only.

* Both i3 and i5 version have HDMI 2.0; good for 4K 60hz 4:4:4 output.


Last years version was on FRONT PAGE with a HUGE amount of info here https://slickdeals.net/f/12270274-costco-members-hp-14-laptop-i3-8130u-4gb-ddr4-128gb-ssd-315?src=frontpage

Compared to last year's deal this one lacks the Ethernet port. The processor is a 10th gen i5 vs an 8th gen i3, and is about twice as fast on multithreaded tasks when benchmarked.
Also, see review on intel 10th generation CPU at https://www.trustedreviews.com/ne...ce-3642152


UPGRADES & COSTS
Below are the upgrades that will make this a $450 laptop that will maximize the value of the 10th Gen i5 (that IS THE DEAL of this post!). Just make sure to remove the crapware and only run Windows Defender.

Average cost of DIY upgrades
- add single stick 8GB RAM ($35); 16GB RAM ($55)
- add m.2 SSD (256GB: $40; 512GB: $60; or 1TB: $99)

Best memory upgrade, this will get you to the sweet spot of this machine:
https://www.newegg.com/crucial-16...-_-Product
$50 (2x8; expired): https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16...-_-Product
$55 (1x16): https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16...6820232168

Best SSD upgrade factoring reliability, capacity, speed and cost:
https://www.samsung.com/us/comput...7s500b-am/
$60 (same 3x4; 2280; Phison controller): https://www.microcenter.com/produ...tate-drive
(Newegg BF deal - not live yet) - $83: 1 TB Intel 660p


https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Si...B07ZLC7VNH
You could invest in it now now, keep your 4GB chip the laptop comes in with, and 3-4 years down the road, transfer that 32GB dual channel RAM kit to the next Laptop you buy.
Don't spend money unnecessarily. 32 GB ( 2x16 GB) of Crucial 2666 MHz ram was installed and runs at 2400 MHz according to the task manager. It didn't boot at first. It took 2 or 3 attempts at booting after installing the 32 GB.

Wifi 6 upgrades
The laptop comes with a Realtek RTL8822CE 2x2 WiFi AC + BT 5 module. They're used in a lot of laptops, including models that are much more expensive than this one. However, there are definitely more complaints about problems with the Realtek wireless cards compared to the Intel cards on the HP support forums, so I decided to switch to an Intel card since I had the laptop opened up anyway. This laptop will work with an Intel WiFi AX200 or AX201 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5 module. You're going to need to have the AX200 or AX201 driver before you install the WiFi module, as you won't be able to connect to the internet to download the new drivers after you replace the Realtek module that came with the laptop. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/...Fi-6-AX200. Download the new drivers (one for WiFi, one for Bluetooth) before swapping the modules.

The AX201 (Intel 10th Gen specific CNVi) does work on this computer. This is a wireless card with the latest "m.2 CNVio" interface; AX201NGW is the latest with wifi 6 and BT 5. The next latest is a 9560NGW which is the 9260 with that interface. These models use a direct CNVi pipe to the CPU rather than PCIe with a processor on the wifi card so these models don't work with older CPUs. Symptoms of having the wrong wireless card installed is that the computer will refuse to turn on. In theory there are battery life advantages to the CNVi models but no speed difference between the AX200/201 or 9560/9260.


====== TECH UPGRADES & TIPS =====

* Look for JackT's post on the 4th page for detailed info on upgrades, case open pics, how to open the case, etc.
Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/13524451-costco-members-hp-14-laptop-i3-1005g1-4gb-ddr4-128gb-ssd-win-10-s-280-free-shipping?v=1&p=131670541#post131670541


HP product page - Drivers and Disassembly manual:-
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/prod...13/manuals


T0 Enter BIOS: On Boot, hit F10 key


Update your Bios from F.04 to F.07 (now F.09).
Start Menu > Device Manager > System Firmware > Update Driver
Change log listed as "support for new processors"


Touchpad driver issues
For those encountering issues with the touchpad driver and 1909 on a fresh install its a SUPER easy fix:
- download the latest touchpad driver from here:
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/driv...l/31046513

- Then attempt to install the driver (it will eventually fail saying something about it not being compatible with the OS.
- Close the prompt and then go into C:\swsetup\SP99388
- Then right click edit the Install.cmd (may only show up as Install) file located in that directory

- Once you have that file open change This:
https://imgur.com/a/Jhj4Bvv to this: https://imgur.com/a/CH3r894
All you do is edit the "19H1" to say "19H2" and the two locations where it says "10.0.18362" to "10.0.18363"

- Save your changes and launch HPSetup.exe, once that is done reboot and bam no more errors in the device manager.


Battery Report:
1. Open CommandPrompt
2. Type in: powercfg /batteryreport
3. Copy link where report is located. (or find the location in file explorer)
4. Open HTML report

Battery Replacement:
Replacement batteries are about $40. Replacement is quick and easy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product...UTF8&psc=1

Removing Bottom Cover
Youtube video of removing the bottom cover. Found on RedFlagDeals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?tim...e=emb_logo

Internal pictures: https://imgur.com/a/zXufcNv

Directions for removing the bottom screws
1. Review Screw locations in JackT's images above.
2. Have the following tools ready:
- a guitar pick (thin but firm);
- credit card/gift card;
- precision phillips screwdriver;
- hair dryer (for mildly heating the rubber feet)
- clean hands/fingers
3. Remove the exposed screws (4)
NOTE: the adhesive under the strip (especially the thinner rubber strip farthest from the hinges) is on some plastic, so if that plastic stays on the laptop, you'll need to pry that plastic from over the screw. Happened to me only on the thinner rubber strip, so YMMV.
4. (2 screws) Rubber strip top (near hinges) - left side when hinges are farthest away from you
- Using hair dryer about 1" overtop, heat the left edge to about 4" in (~10 sec)
- using credit card corner edge, push strip edge (horizontally) down to dislodge from base
- pry up corner of strip with credit card once strip dislodged.
- DO NOT TOUCH the Bottom with fingers; stick the bottom of the strip (1/2" worth) on the credit card and peel away slowly exposing both screws on the left side.
- using the screwdriver, unscrew both slowly with adequate pressure down but avoiding stripping screws as best as possible.
- grasping the side of the strip, place it back down with the end first - align strip end back to where it was originally and then smooth out the rest of the strip.
- reheat the strip to re-soften the adhesive to stick the strip.
5. (1 screw) Rubber strip top (near hinges) - right side when hinges are farthest away from you
- Using hair dryer about 1" overtop, heat the right edge to about 2" in (~10 sec)
- using credit card corner edge, push strip edge (horizontally) down to dislodge from base
- pry up the corner of the strip with a credit card once strip dislodged.
- DO NOT TOUCH the Bottom with fingers; stick the bottom of the strip (1/2" worth) on the credit card and peel away slowly exposing both screws on the left side.
- using the screwdriver, unscrew the screw with adequate pressure down but avoiding stripping screw as best as possible.
- grasping the side of the strip, place it back down with the end first - align strip end back to where it was originally and then smooth out the rest of the strip.
- reheat the strip to re-soften the adhesive to stick the strip.
6. (1 screw) Bottom strip - only LEFT side needed when hinges are farthest from you.
- Using hair dryer about 1" overtop, heat the left edge to about 5" in (~10 sec)
- using credit card corner edge, push strip edge (horizontally) up or down to dislodge from base
- pry up the corner of the strip with a credit card once strip dislodged.
- DO NOT TOUCH the Bottom with fingers; stick the bottom of the strip (1/2" worth) on the credit card and peel away slowly exposing the screw on the left side (~3-4" from the left). see the note above about plastic adhesive.
- using the screwdriver, unscrew the screw with adequate pressure down but avoiding stripping screw as best as possible.
- grasping the side of the strip, place it back down with the end first - align strip end back to where it was originally and then smooth out the rest of the strip.
- reheat the strip to re-soften the adhesive to stick the strip.

Once all 8 screws are removed, open the laptop and work the gap in between the bottom cover and keyboard edges. I did the right side and it popped free well. Work your down and around the bottom corner slightly. From there try prying the bottom away a little with fingers. If you get a larger gap, a credit card/gift card can be used. Keep working the edge with the pick until 2 of the 4 sides are free. Then, close the laptop and peel back the plastic bottom to see if the clips become free.
(Slight marring of the silver-painted plastic visible, so maybe fold a paper towel over the guitar pick.)

Replacing the cover and screws is just reverse of the above with following the same steps for rubber strip removal. If fixing trackpad, do the fix below before rescrewing.


Trackpad Metal Strip fix:
Remove (4) screws holding battery.
Remove (3) screws holding bottom trackpad rail.
Bend the rail SLIGHTLY concave (viewed from screw tops). Too much will result in nonresponse by buttons. No need to put any crease in the rail.
Before rescrewing everything,
- place the bottom cover on loosely and check the trackpad for feel/rattle/etc.
- place the bottom cover on fully and boot up to check the functionality of trackpad.
- if all is good, re-screw bottom cover on.


HP services running in the background
To turn off the HP services running in the background (these are not programs to uninstall) do is this:
1. Click on start Menu and navigate to "Windows System" folder
2. Expand it and click on "Run" program
3. Type "msconfig" (without the " ") and hit Enter
4. A new window will open, navigate to "Services" Tab
5. Click on the "Status" tab of that window and sort it by Running
6. There you will see the 4 HP Services running, uncheck the boxes:
-HP Analytics service
-HP App Helper HSA Service
-HP Network HSA Service
-HP System Info HSA Service
7. Hit "Apply"
8. Restart


Fixing Fan Noise:
First of all, this is i5 and powerful, even that is only 15W CPU it will produce heat, that's due to the 4 cores - 8 threads - double the i3. Also, HP did a poor job with the heatsink as it is too small to draw heat, only 1 fan, most likely pretty bad quality and shallow, good enough for i3 was supposed to ship with I suppose.

That been said, if you really want to make a little bit of temperature drop, google some repaste youtube videos and do that, should drop temps 5°-6° and somehow reduce the need of the fans to run, next:

Obviously debloating will help, because CPU will have to work less, so uninstall programs you won't be using, especially HP stuff and Antivirus.. anything that isn't Microsoft, Windows, Drivers & Updates need to go as a clean start, then:

Quoted kubavance:
I think the general consensus regarding the fan is a little off the mark. We perceive the fan to be loud and obnoxious because of its "whistling" quality, but I'm 99% sure the whistling is not caused by the fan, but rather the design of the exhaust vent. If you take a look at the exhaust vent, you can see that two of the ports are constricted by additional plastic material (see attached). I would bet money that the two smaller exhaust holes are responsible for the whistling. When I cover them up with a credit card, the whistling goes away. I haven't disassembled my laptop yet, but when I do, I'm going to find some way to plug/block the undersized ports. I expect this will take care of the whistling.

I've also successfully applied a -100mv under-voltage and capped the turbo speeds on battery. This seems to have helped with the fans a little bit, but I think whatever algorithm controls the fans isn't allowing them to ramp down fully when the CPU idles again after a heavy load. Then again, I am still running the stock OS image, so there could just be a bunch of crap running in the background. I'll do a clean install after I (hopefully) pick up a larger SSD during BF sales.

Quoted Qubavance:
I'm not going to make assumptions about how much you know about modern processors, so I'll just mention some basics. Ever since the invention of turbo boosting, pretty much all processors "throttle" under load. The CPU uses a complicated algorithm to determine which frequency each core should run at in any given moment. The algorithm takes into account power limits and temperature sensor data and the duration of heavy workloads, among other things.

Intel and to a lesser extent the device manufacturer can set power limits for the processor to make sure the processor can run safely in a given chassis. These are known as PL1 and PL2. The CPU can only run in PL2 for a limited time (we're talking seconds or minutes) before it has to throttle back to PL1 to maintain reasonable temperatures. From my very limited testing, it would appear that PL2 for this laptop is set at around 26W, and PL1 is around 18W. Remember, this is a 15W processor.

The new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 has the Core i7 version of the same Ice Lake processor found in this HP, only its configured for 25W. This means that the Dell chassis has theoretically been designed to dissipate at least 10W more of heat. It's also an $1,800 laptop with 16GB of memory. It should have a huge advantage. According to notebookcheck's review (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Del...573.0.html), the Dell XPS 13 achieves a high score of ~830 the first several times you run Cinebench R15 before thermal soak sets in (meaning it gets capped to PL1), after which it scores about 660 consistently.

I just ran Cinebench R15 about 10 times in a row on my HP 14 and got about 580 consistently (first run was about 600). CPU power held steady at 18W and temperatures hovered around 75 degrees Celsius. That's not throttling--that's working as designed.

Are you really that disappointed that your $280 laptop (with a HUGE RAM disadvantage) only scores within 10-15% of an $1800 Dell?

All and all, it does run a bit hot, and the fan is mostly on in any moderate to heavy work or gaming. I play some WoW on it, and runs it at 60 frames 1080p on minimal setting with just the 4GB RAM it came with, but does get hot.

For the price of $280+tax it can't be beaten, with normal daily task the fans shouldn't be on much at all. there won't be a better deal this BF season, this was like price mistake by $150+
If you using it on a desk, not burning your lap, and don't mind the fans when the CPU is under load its great !!!

GAMING benchmarks on this same laptop.....
https://www.youtube.com/channel/U...ery=1035g4

SCREEN REPLACEMENT
If your screen cracks or you just feel like spending the money for a matte screen, you can buy this from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/SCREENARAM...B087K2JZSS

The matte screen looks great. It took about an hour to replace it. These instructions from a similar HP laptop are close enough for you to have success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWvQdJGvmZY I did not replace the adhesive. The bezel snapped back in place just fine without adhesive or double sided tape.

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