HP EliteBook 8760w: Color, So Dreamy
by Dustin Sklavos on August 25, 2011 2:30 AM ESTBattery, Noise, and Heat
Unfortunately, one place where the HP EliteBook 8760w falls majorly short is battery life. The NVIDIA Quadro 5010M is fast, but it also sucks down a lot of power and HP doesn't support Optimus switching technology with this particular unit. That means you're on the dedicated GPU all of the time, and the Quadro 5010M appears to use around 15 to 20W minimum—about double the rest of the notebook!
Between the bigger battery and Sandy Bridge's improved power consumption, the 8760w is at least able to put in a decent showing compared to its predecessor, but it absolutely languishes behind the other notebooks tested, with only the X7200 and its 300 watts worth of CPU and GPU horsepower performing worse. HP is probably betting most users aren't liable to run the 8760w off the mains, but even a muxed graphics switching system wouldn't go unappreciated.
Thermals and noise on the EliteBook 8760w aren't great, but they aren't terrible either. Temperature-wise, the Quadro 5010M actually remains remarkably cool under load, but the i7-2820QM creeps over 90C, suggesting the potential for turbo to throttle the cores somewhat due to heat.
Under heavy load you'll definitely hear the fan spin up, though. It's a low whoosh as opposed to a high whine, but the high performance components of the 8760w definitely make their presence known when the system is being stressed.
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prophet001 - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
lolClevo is like a laptop pressure cooker. They basically build out a desktop into a laptop and the one that you see toping the charts has Cross Fire GPUs.
Make sure you carry a generator with you if you get one.
Stuka87 - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
That no mention was made of HP exiting the PC business? Its a very nice machine (if not cheap exactly), but why buy a machine from a company that is no longer going to be in the business?mbetter - Saturday, August 27, 2011 - link
Why not?Tuffrabbit - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
Way to go HP, by going to a 16:9 aspect ratio vs. 16:10, you've just lost another customer...prophet001 - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
I don't know why 1920 x 1200 is going by the wayside. That's a phenomenal resolution. I'm not a graphic artist but I do take advantage of that resolution by being able to have 2 windows side by side as well as being able to run games at that resolution.teng029 - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
possibly cost? i remember when i was working for an OEM, we were told that LCD sizes depended largely on how much can be cut out of a single sheet of glass. something to the effect of you can get more by cutting a piece for a 17 inch panel compared to an 18 inch panel. don't know how true any of that is though.Jedi2155 - Saturday, August 27, 2011 - link
It is cheaper to manufacture just like teng029 said. You get less wasted glass, because the glass is usually circular meaning the bigger rectangle from 16:10, you'll get more wasted material and fewer panels from a single piece.jecs - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
I think, these high-end laptops are the best option only if you really need to travel or move too frequently and even a dedicated carry on would be a pain. I understand the need for this machines but they offer a reduced performance or some critical size compromises. I would go with the HP if the Dreamcolor and a decent performance are required. But the Clevo is the monster option on specific apps.A consideration I would do is having a SFF PC as it would be "easy" to transport on a carry on and it will cost you 2 or 3K less. I builded one Shuttle PC with a Quad-core and a single slot Quadro a few years ago. Today there are more options and very powerful too as the same 990x and a dual slot Quadro are real options on SFF PCs. I know the monitor needs to fit inside the carry on and in my case a Wacom tablet too. But I did it and it is a good choice if you need to move for maybe a few days or more on one location. Also I included a Mac Book Pro.
Finally, if I ever do need a laptop in this class I guess I would also consider a tablet to read the internet.
sjprg2 - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
On May 13th I ordered the 8760W with all the goodies and specified dual Intel 510 240GB SSDs installed in raid 0. (Note these are 6GB sata). Delivery estimate was approx three weeks. About 3 months later I finally get delivery (August 10 th) and on inspection I find that Instead of the Intel 510 SSDs I ordered it had obselete Micron (no longer in Microns database) 3 GB SSDs.After severel days of going round and around the support chain from the Philipines to Mexico and talking to at least 6 Managers the bottom line from HP is TOUGH. You can send it back to us and we will evaluate it or live with it. After a three month delay in shipping with new shipping dates every other day which really screwed up my client scheduling they wanted it back. They flatout refused to send me the correct drives and accept the wrong ones in return. They all quoted "policy", and not one of them would move me up the chain of command to authorise any change.
Bottom line is that while the 8760W is a beautiful piece of machinery and does Panoramics as fast as my I920 OC desktop I still feel that they did a bait and switch on the SSDs.
After the dozens of HP laptops I have recommend to my clients this is the last. NO MORE!
HMTK - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - link
Where did you buy that laptop? If our dealers deliver something wrong we just send it back and do not pay. If there is no delivery date we look somewhere else. We have several dealers and they know we have the option of switching so they do their best if something goes wrong.