Hi!
I want to sharing my experience during my usage with hp elite X3 lap dock I just bought. If anyone (and sometime later) bought another kind of lap-dock (mirabook?, nextbook?), I'll be very pleased if you share your experience here as well.
Well, sadly, these kinds of lap docks are not dex-supported out of the box (at least during the time writing this).
So, we'll need to UBL and flash kernel that have "universal dex" mod inside.
I found some things that are really amusing, and I posted this thread under the "Accessory" sub instead of Q&A because I hoped this thread to help everyone deciding buying this lap dock.
First and foremost, Pros and Cons..
Pros:
- Amazing build quality. Sleek, sturdy, and also amazing finish.
- Tactile keyboard. It's not a cheap one you'll find on cheap laptops. Very comfortable for long session typing (for me at least).
- Amazing display. I compared it to my colleagues windows 10 laptop that have 2 times the price, and imo, the display wins hands down.
- Wireless connectivity (with another bugged feature I'll tell below, and if you don't use it, won't hinder you as well).
- Amazing speaker (note, there is a bug on it, gonna tell you below as well).
- Cheap. Well, actually it is very pricey, but there are refurbished models with 150$ price tag when I bought it on ebay.
- Boots amazingly fast. At first I thought it only boots when I press and hold the power button for a long time (which, makes the booting actually longer). Turns out a single press at the power button turns on the device almost instantly.
Cons:
- The trackpad is not that comfortable. You can't click and drag. Right click register is tapping with two fingers (MacBook style). Scrolling up and down using two fingers is a disaster, since it often registers as a right click instead of scrolling. I ended up buying a Bluetooth mouse to solve this problem.
* Update (9 July 2018): This problem is fixed with oreo 8.0 update! Scrolling up and down is no longer a gassle, and two fingers tap easily registers as a right-click!
- No driver update from Android. Actually, the mouse problem is solved on a driver update. But sadly, the only way to update those drivers is using a HP Elite X3 smart phone.
- As far as I know, it is hard to search for a 45 W, USB C charger for the replacement (just in case something goes wrong with it).. I found that mostly USB - PD devices only shoots up to 30W, and I haven't found one that shows 45W.
Bugs:
- Related to audio:
I found that using a USB C connection (Samsung dex - mode), the audio produced is often crackled. When playing using the wireless mode (smart display by Samsung), it doesn't happen - even when playing the same audio files. So, it is either a driver problem, or a connection problem (I think it's related to the USB C provided, gonna buy another one soon to test).
* Update (9 July 2018): On oreo ROM, the audio no longer outputs to the lapdock... Very sad about it.. For now, I'm using a bluetooth headset to accomodate. If anyone finds out a Oreo Rom with audio output on lapdock, please share
- Related to wireless mode:
> Heck, I don't know the magic beyond it, but actually you can TYPE using the lap-dock keyboard when the phone is paired wirelessly! I thought the wireless mode only enables screen mirroring without input?
> That said, there is a problem though. Not all keys are working (windows key to trigger opening apps and other function keys don't work). Secondly, when we typed, it is registered twice. And sadly, I still don't know what to do with it.
- Related to charging the device:
> Somehow, charging the devices sometimes become quite a pain. At times, when the lap dock is turned off, it won't charge (at least, the battery indicator doesn't blinking to show it charges). It doesn't always happen as well, so I really don't know what caused it. Well, you can remedy it by plugging the charger cable when the lap dock is turned on and turn it off while still connecting to the charger.
* Update (9 July 2018): Never encountered this problem anymore. Weird since I don't get any software update for the lap dock itself.
Related to lap dock input (track pad, keyboard, and audio):
> When you plug in (or out) the charger, for a brief moment, the trackpad, keyboard, and audio is disconnected and reconnected again. Well, mostly this won't become a problem, but sometimes, when I am listening to a Bluetooth headphone, the audio suddenly rerouted to my lap dock instead of my phone.
> Sometimes, when you plug the phone using USB - C to the lap dock, it doesn't recognize the input devices (except for the monitor). Re-connecting the device solves the problem, but since Dex "rebooting" takes some time, sometimes it is just annoying.
* Update (9 July 2018): There are some Oreo ROM that doesn't recognize the keyboard and touchpad input. Currently, I'm using Alexis ROM 4.4 and it is working. Several days ago, update the ROM to v 5.3 but turns out it have the said problems, so I return back to 4.4.
That is all of my HP elite X3 lap dock review. Hope this helps you decide whether you want to buy one or not. Personally, it is a great buy for me, since the cons and the bugs doesn't affect me too much.
EDIT - 22 Jan 2018: Editing several things after using the lap dock for around two weeks.
EDIT - 9 July 2018: Updating it with oreo ROM experience.
I want to sharing my experience during my usage with hp elite X3 lap dock I just bought. If anyone (and sometime later) bought another kind of lap-dock (mirabook?, nextbook?), I'll be very pleased if you share your experience here as well.
Well, sadly, these kinds of lap docks are not dex-supported out of the box (at least during the time writing this).
So, we'll need to UBL and flash kernel that have "universal dex" mod inside.
I found some things that are really amusing, and I posted this thread under the "Accessory" sub instead of Q&A because I hoped this thread to help everyone deciding buying this lap dock.
First and foremost, Pros and Cons..
Pros:
- Amazing build quality. Sleek, sturdy, and also amazing finish.
- Tactile keyboard. It's not a cheap one you'll find on cheap laptops. Very comfortable for long session typing (for me at least).
- Amazing display. I compared it to my colleagues windows 10 laptop that have 2 times the price, and imo, the display wins hands down.
- Wireless connectivity (with another bugged feature I'll tell below, and if you don't use it, won't hinder you as well).
- Amazing speaker (note, there is a bug on it, gonna tell you below as well).
- Cheap. Well, actually it is very pricey, but there are refurbished models with 150$ price tag when I bought it on ebay.
- Boots amazingly fast. At first I thought it only boots when I press and hold the power button for a long time (which, makes the booting actually longer). Turns out a single press at the power button turns on the device almost instantly.
Cons:
- The trackpad is not that comfortable. You can't click and drag. Right click register is tapping with two fingers (MacBook style). Scrolling up and down using two fingers is a disaster, since it often registers as a right click instead of scrolling. I ended up buying a Bluetooth mouse to solve this problem.
* Update (9 July 2018): This problem is fixed with oreo 8.0 update! Scrolling up and down is no longer a gassle, and two fingers tap easily registers as a right-click!
- No driver update from Android. Actually, the mouse problem is solved on a driver update. But sadly, the only way to update those drivers is using a HP Elite X3 smart phone.
- As far as I know, it is hard to search for a 45 W, USB C charger for the replacement (just in case something goes wrong with it).. I found that mostly USB - PD devices only shoots up to 30W, and I haven't found one that shows 45W.
Bugs:
- Related to audio:
I found that using a USB C connection (Samsung dex - mode), the audio produced is often crackled. When playing using the wireless mode (smart display by Samsung), it doesn't happen - even when playing the same audio files. So, it is either a driver problem, or a connection problem (I think it's related to the USB C provided, gonna buy another one soon to test).
* Update (9 July 2018): On oreo ROM, the audio no longer outputs to the lapdock... Very sad about it.. For now, I'm using a bluetooth headset to accomodate. If anyone finds out a Oreo Rom with audio output on lapdock, please share
- Related to wireless mode:
> Heck, I don't know the magic beyond it, but actually you can TYPE using the lap-dock keyboard when the phone is paired wirelessly! I thought the wireless mode only enables screen mirroring without input?
> That said, there is a problem though. Not all keys are working (windows key to trigger opening apps and other function keys don't work). Secondly, when we typed, it is registered twice. And sadly, I still don't know what to do with it.
- Related to charging the device:
> Somehow, charging the devices sometimes become quite a pain. At times, when the lap dock is turned off, it won't charge (at least, the battery indicator doesn't blinking to show it charges). It doesn't always happen as well, so I really don't know what caused it. Well, you can remedy it by plugging the charger cable when the lap dock is turned on and turn it off while still connecting to the charger.
* Update (9 July 2018): Never encountered this problem anymore. Weird since I don't get any software update for the lap dock itself.
Related to lap dock input (track pad, keyboard, and audio):
> When you plug in (or out) the charger, for a brief moment, the trackpad, keyboard, and audio is disconnected and reconnected again. Well, mostly this won't become a problem, but sometimes, when I am listening to a Bluetooth headphone, the audio suddenly rerouted to my lap dock instead of my phone.
> Sometimes, when you plug the phone using USB - C to the lap dock, it doesn't recognize the input devices (except for the monitor). Re-connecting the device solves the problem, but since Dex "rebooting" takes some time, sometimes it is just annoying.
* Update (9 July 2018): There are some Oreo ROM that doesn't recognize the keyboard and touchpad input. Currently, I'm using Alexis ROM 4.4 and it is working. Several days ago, update the ROM to v 5.3 but turns out it have the said problems, so I return back to 4.4.
That is all of my HP elite X3 lap dock review. Hope this helps you decide whether you want to buy one or not. Personally, it is a great buy for me, since the cons and the bugs doesn't affect me too much.
EDIT - 22 Jan 2018: Editing several things after using the lap dock for around two weeks.
EDIT - 9 July 2018: Updating it with oreo ROM experience.
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