HP EliteBook 8460p: Everything But The Screen
by Dustin Sklavos on May 10, 2011 5:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- IT Computing
- Intel
- HP
- EliteBook
- Sandy Bridge
Battery, Noise, and Heat
One of the nicer things about business-class notebooks is that, frankly, they're too expensive and too important for the manufacturers to be cheap about their assembly, battery optimizations, and cooling. As a result, they often sport much better battery life than their consumer-oriented kin, and even without the benefit of a hybrid graphics solution the EliteBook 8460p still posts impressive numbers.
While relative battery life while surfing the internet isn't great, and HP's quoted eight hours of running time sounds fairly generous, the 8460p still manages to pull five hours of useful running time surfing the internet and an impressive four hours during our H.264 test. Even without Optimus, the EliteBook 8460p manages to be both moderately powerful and frugal with its power consumption. The K53E provides slightly better battery life with a slightly smaller battery (and a larger LCD as well), but in terms of overall styling and quality there's no question about which is the better laptop. Of course, it's also about $250 more expensive, but that's the price of quality these days.
Thermals
The 8460p does run a hair toasty on the processor. While the underpowered 6470M doesn't have too much trouble maintaining a reasonable temperature, core temperatures on the Core i5-2520M are on the warm side. Thankfully, you'll see that these hot internal temperatures don't translate to the rest of the notebook.
Peak temperatures of the 8460p's exterior are excellent. Neither palm rest gets particularly warm and the aluminum shell seems to do a fine job of dissipating the system's heat. What's more impressive is the fact that it just doesn't get that hot on your lap either. There's a single hot spot near the exhaust, but even that is reasonable. In fact, the usual problem spot in the center of the notebook remains fairly cool.
Of course, this does come at a cost. Under heavy load the fan definitely spins up audibly, though the notebook is as silent as it should be while idling. This isn't the worst fan noise we've heard but it's definitely loud enough to make its presence known.
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lefenzy - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
Looks like HP went with form instead of function with the chiclet keyboard, lack of useful function keys like volume adjustment, equally spaced apart F keys, and no middle button for the trackpoint. The notebook also looks pretty thick. Add to that list of flaws the exhaust on the right side. I'll stick with thinkpads.This laptop review needs more assessment of laptop build quality: fit and finish, flex, and so on. Benchmark performance merely reflects the intel processor on the inside.
sinansakic - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
I own 6930p notebook and all changes hp made seem to go for worse.- I would always trade chickelt for regular notebok keyboard. I hate small up/down arrows and could not care less for trends Apple is pushing. Pray we do not get one button touchpad in next generation.
- I am not crazy about touch buttons row above keyboard on my elitebook but it is better than no dedicated volume up/down,
- Exaust on the righ hand side???
- Mate display is one of the weak point of my notebook. It seems hp used even worse display on new one.
- Notebook obviously performs better but it is not because of hp.
darwinosx - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
These are about the only laptops other than MacBook Pros i can stand. Most of the rest are cheap and junky. Plus I have zero desire to run Windows. I have a W series laptop from work that I run Linux on as well as MBP. Still not the build quality of a MBP but close. Plus HP provides great business service and support. Their consumer support sucks tho.beginner99 - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
Well this one is off the table. non switchable graphics with something that's hardly better than intel igp? Makes no sense. BTW what's with the starcraft 2 Benchmark? Doesn't make any sense too HD 6470 being suddenly the fastes card by big margin...I recently saw a cheap HP notebook and the screen was really, really awful. Even problematic in a well lit room to use. And with well lit I do not mean direct sunlight...it's is really really bad. i would immediately return anything with such a screen.
DanaG - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
There are at least two cool things you lose by not having switchable graphics:vPro hardware VNC server (with discrete, you'll be mousing and keyboarding blind), and Intel Wireless Display
Penti - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
This looks like a great laptop, if bought with the 1600x900 screen, but is there any elitebook that has switchable graphics? I think vPro is a big feature in business laptops to begin with. I would love to see a decent 14" business notebook, Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu seems to have a few decent too. But I would love to see notebooks with switchable graphics in 14" too that has the complete feature set of vPro/iAMT. I know there is 15" models that does that though. But shouldn't Dell and Lenovo handle that in their 14inch notebooks too? But is a NVS 4200M worth anything? Probably not.Pneumothorax - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
WTF is wrong with PC manufacturers and their inability to put a decent screen? A decent screen should be STANDARD, not drek that belongs on a 14" $100 TV's at Walmart!VJ - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
I guess I'll never find a worthy upgrade for my 700 euro (incl. sales tax) 6715b with its 1680x1050 screen which I bought back in 2008. I'd gladly go with an elitebook in order to keep on using my docking stations and 12-cell batteries.Not too long ago you could still get elitebooks with 1920x 1080 or 1200 screens, but now, there's not a single model which goes over 1600x900 (unless somebody can show me otherwise) and the Concorde has been retired as well.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
Please mention the extended and super extended battery options that are available.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
P.s. Would love a review of the 13.3" model