Gaming Performance

Thankfully 3DMark isn't always an accurate representation of how graphics hardware performs when faced with an actual game, so hopefully the Radeon HD 6470M beating at the heart of the EliteBook 8460p can vindicate itself somewhat in our actual gaming testing.

In real world situations the HD 6470M is able to produce a solid lead over the Intel HD 3000 along with much better gains over the anemic HD 5470. Every game but our two heavy hitters, Mafia II and Metro 2033, posts better-than-playable framerates using the 6470M, so at least it's good for some light gaming. The margin of victory is now 8-170%, depending on the title, with the average increase over the K53E being around 20%. So what happens when we bump the settings to "Medium"?

The 6470M definitely makes a difference in playability for a couple of games against the HD 3000, but on the whole the anemic memory bus is likely keeping performance from getting much higher. If any manufacturers ever opt to use the 6470M with GDDR5, we imagine it would probably be a fairly solid entry-level mobile gaming option, but as it stands even the low-end still can't handle every game on the market, much less at decent settings. At our medium detail settings, roughly half of the games fail to break 30FPS, so this is more of a casual GPU than anything you'd want for regular gaming.

Application and Futuremark Performance Battery, Noise, and Heat
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  • Robberbaron12 - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link

    I own a 8440p with the 1600x900 screen. It was the only decent notebook on the market with a high res. screen smaller than 15 in. It is very bright and clear, but the contrast and viewing angles are only fair, not great. Having said that they are so much better than the screen reviewed here.
  • MonkeySnax - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link

    In regards to the default screen have you disabled the ambient light sensor? I don't personally own the laptop but I'm in the market and have been looking at the HP 8460 (along with the Sony Vaio SB) for a few weeks now. I did read somewhere that a user turned off the sensor which improved screen brightness. Might be worth a try, also found some pictures of the 1600 x 900 screen, owner seems to like it:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-business-class-...
  • Pessimism - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link

    plastic internal chassis != elite
  • dan0512 - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link

    As long as they don't make the Elitebooks with 16:10 screens again.
  • ebolamonkey3 - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link

    When will Anandtech do a review on the Thinkpad x220??
  • ahmed25 - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link

    Hi...Any chance of a review ofr the sandy bridge envy 17 3d from you?It seems like a wonderful all in one multimedia lappy
  • CutControl - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link

    With all the sandy bridge going around I think it's time for another buyer guide! =)
  • Belard - Saturday, May 14, 2011 - link

    Considering the ThinkPad X100 is a pretty low-end ThinkPad... and the screen shots makes the Elite notebook appear to be pretty much useless! Worse than my OLD ThinkPad R61 (almost 4 years old).

    The ThinkPad T420 can be had with a 1600x900 and similar config for around $1100. The screens are still matte, but are bright and look pretty good (not as much as glossy - for obvious reasons). To get it up to $2000 is top end with a T420... maybe the 1" think T420s.
    (A full load out with SSD 160GB, i7-2620, 8GB, WifiMax, GPS & WAN is $2100)

    Both Dell and HP copy ThinkPad with the tracking-stick as well as two sets of mouse buttons.

    So for $1100, might as well get a ThinkPad with the roll-cage (Its not plastic under the case), spill protection for the keyboard and easily a FAR FAR better keyboard than the crap they put on that "professional HP" notebook.

    Here is the standard ThinkPad keyboard (not on the lower end Edge or L series): http://www.studentbuyingguide.com/wp-content/uploa...
    The extra large DELETE key is handy. With only thing that degrades the keyboard is the fn & CTRL keys are still OLD-Style backwards. :( At least it can be switched in BIOS.

    The T420s is a thinner version of the T420, looks even slicker - but I don't think its worth the extra $300 and loss of a USB port and drive options. http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/img_li...

    For the most part the body of the HP Elite does look very nice... a cross between an MacBook Pro and thinkpad with s goldish color.
  • wigglz - Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - link

    I just got a 8440p and love it. Upgraded to 4gb of ram, seems stable enough to run a few vms.. I just need to get xoskins to make me a <a href="http://xoskins.com">screen protector</a> for it and ill be set. I tried a privacy one, but it drives my eyes crazy
  • MuhammadIbrahim - Monday, April 6, 2020 - link

    hello
    I have one ddr3 4GB, can I add another one 12GB in the other slot or I should have the same memory size on both slots?

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