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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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 != elitedan0512 - 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 lappyCutControl - 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 crazyMuhammadIbrahim - Monday, April 6, 2020 - link
helloI 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?