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.
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oshogg - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
I would like to know more about the W series and IPS display possibility as well.oshogg - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
I wonder why HP doesn't provide an option similar to Thinkpad's bay battery. The amount of space used by a CD/DVD drive is a big waste for many business users. Pretty much all of file I/O is done via USB thumb drives. Most software installations are done via network (including the OS install in many corporate environments).Osho
peterfares - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
+1. Or just have some models which omit the drive to make the computer smaller, with the option of a slice battery which will make it the normal size while extending the battery life.This isn't 4 years ago where omitting the optical drive was a big deal. No one uses them anymore.
MrSpadge - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
"Sales of ultraportables out here are fairly low while the Asian markets tend to eat them up and forego the larger desktop replacement models."LOL - that's probably because the average US-citizen weights about twice as much as the average Asian. Well.. sorry, just kidding.
Actually I've recently been to Sydney and seen an absolutely amazing amount of huge cars with V6 and V8 engines. But apparently they're not driving them because they'd be so fat - no, it's because the city is built like one huge suburb with plenty of space everywhere.
MrS
YpoCaramel - Sunday, February 27, 2011 - link
Token Asian reporting in here: I in fact do use a 12" Asian Probook 5220, replaced an eeePC with it and it's a good machine, I welcome the extra power. That said, it's very slightly bigger and I would prefer something even more 'ultraportable' hahajah1subs - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
As a business user looking at these new notebook computers, my first consideration, assuming adequate specifications is: are the displays matte or glossy.I am using a Dell Vostro 1500 and the display bothers my eyes for reading almost anything.
Are these displays going to be easy on the eyes?
Or, do we even know enough to guess whether or not they have a chance of being easy on the eyes?
Since these are more expensive than consumer notebooks, I am hoping this is the case.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
Unless something changed since the last iteration, ProBook and EliteBook are all matte (thank goodness!) It baffles me how the whole business world generally goes with matte, but then somehow the consumer market is 99% glossy. Businesses - that actually use their systems for work - prefer glossy. And no one seems to think that some consumers would prefer matte as well? Of course, the latest matte LCDs are horrible on contrast and color (like 200:1 contrast at best), unless you get a really expensive display (Dell RGB LED, HP DreamColor, etc.)Justin Time - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
"somehow the consumer market is 99% glossy"Mfgs have done their homework, and they know that consumers prefer to buy glossy and shiny baubles over dull and practical.... New + Shiny = Better.
VJ - Sunday, February 27, 2011 - link
Consumers in a shop will typically always prefer the glossy item when it's been setup next to the matte item. I actually prefer less contrast and feel that many of these 'objective' measurements found in tests are misleading. My HP with it's 1680x1050 (purchased in 2008 for 710 euro incl. VAT) may not score as high in these tests but the screen looks like paper with colors which I prefer to many Mac Books and the likes I see around me. Then again, I used to turn down contrast and brightness on my TV, especially when viewing for longer periods of time.You may prefer high contrast air brushed paintings over a van Gogh, like many people prefer Adderall over a balanced life style. Laptop manufactures are like drug dealers.
darwinosx - Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - link
As an IT Architect I've had just about every laptop brand there is issued to me at one time or another. The HP W series are easily the best PC laptops I have ever used. I much prefer Macs but if you must use Windows these are the way to go. On the other hand I think HP's consumer series of laptops are cheap pieces of junk. There is also a huge difference between HP's business support and consumer support.