HP's Business Notebook Hat Trick
by Dustin Sklavos on February 23, 2011 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- IT Computing
- AMD
- Intel
- HP
- ProBook
- Radeon
- EliteBook
- Sandy Bridge
- 6000M
Conclusion: Back, in Style
If this preview seems like a bit of a puff piece, I apologize. Having had the chance to sit down and actually see and play with these notebooks in person was a treat, if for no other reason than seeing what might hopefully become a minor sea change in enterprise hardware.
Simply put, HP's new EliteBook and ProBook machines are the kinds of smart, appealing designs that consumers even outside of the business world may want, and HP seems to have achieved to an extent the kind of crossover success in styling that Apple's MacBook Pro enjoys. They're so nice, in fact, that they make me wonder why anyone would bother with HP's warmed over consumer models—that is until I realize that for many users, the price tag is the bottom line. To each their own, but it looks like you'll get what you pay for if you spend up on one of these.
It would be remiss not to mention that all of these notebooks come equipped with USB 3.0 and Sandy Bridge processors, and the EliteBook and ProBook b-series also support integrated WAN. When HP first told me they had chosen to go with AMD Radeons for the line, I was confused: at this juncture, NVIDIA's 500M series with Optimus technology seemed like a clear win and a no-brainer. But AMD seems to have an ace up their sleeve with Power Express switchable graphics, a feature you can actually find on notebooks on retail shelves right now. It's perplexing as to why AMD isn't promoting this more since it puts them back on parity with NVIDIA in the mobile sector, but we'll have to get a Power Express-equipped notebook in house before we can say more.
HP is expecting to have their new lines available on March 15 and we've been told to expect to have review hardware in hand. Hopefully it won't be long until we can give one of these notebooks a more thorough investigation.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
46 Comments
View All Comments
misuspita - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Thank you sir, I didn't knew that function until now (close tab with middle button) :))Ben90 - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
I use the middle mouse button on my laptops religiously.I hate where new laptops are heading. 16:10 and 16:9 are absolutely horrible laptop form factors. 4:3 is insanely better. Are there any business class 4:3 laptops anymore?
Also touch sensitives buttons suck balls. There are NO tangible advantages to having those over tactile switches.
I honestly think the T60 is the best laptop ever created. Sandy Bridge notebooks can suck my 4:3 nuts.
Taft12 - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
I'm a Linux user, but I've been clicking left+right mouse button simultaneously to middle click for 15 years now.Does Windows STILL not behave the same way??
peterfares - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
It's up to the mousepad drivers to support the feature.I don't know why, but the Synaptics (the best touch pad manufacture) disables the feature in most of their drivers. None of the laptops I have owned after 2006 support the feature. It remains in the drivers though, and all that you need to do to enable it is add one registry entry.
DWORD 'HasBothButtonFeature' and set to 1 in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Synaptics\SynTP\Defaults\
Then log out and back in. Clicking both buttons for middle will with then work.
Hallucinogen775 - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
"The bottom panel of the notebook is a single large piece that can be removed by simply squeezing a latch and sliding it off, allowing for easy access to all of the internals. It's such a smart idea that one wonders why it hasn't been seen before."Well, it has been seen before. With the introduction of the DELL Latitude E-Series they implemented pretty much the same thing. Remove one scre only and pull off the entire bottom panel.
Official removal instructions:
# Close the display and turn the computer upside down.
# Loosen the captive screw.
# Slide the bottom of the base assembly away from the hinge covers, and lift to remove the bottom of the base assembly.
So... this is nothing new... it's a pity that the review says it would be (kind of).
JarredWalton - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
Thanks for the comment. We're aware that similar designs have been around, but they're rare. I've edited the text to reflect the intended meaning.davepermen - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
the 2550p and 2750p.. I hope the 2750p is out soon, I'm eager to replace my 2730p.flashbacck - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
any info on the dimensions of these laptops?John Smith - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
No W series? No IPS?mackintire - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
No class 2 graphics? Radeon 6750 mobility or Geforce 540M?Then I am not upgrading from my older Elitebook with its Radeon 2600XT
At least consider giving it a a Raedon 6500 or something equalivent