HP EliteBook 8760w: Color, So Dreamy
by Dustin Sklavos on August 25, 2011 2:30 AM ESTA Brief Gaming Interlude
As mentioned before, the HP EliteBook 8760w isn't a gaming notebook and the NVIDIA Quadro 5010M, while fast, is still largely intended for enterprise applications. That said, it certainly couldn't hurt to see how the GF110-based 5010M plays.
The Quadro 5010M certainly isn't slow, but in situations where it isn't CPU bound the GeForce GTX 485M and AMD Radeon HD 6970M both offer substantial performance improvements. In some cases the extra clocks and shader muscle over the previous gen 5000M earn you an extra step in resolution, but let's see what happens when we shift the bottleneck almost entirely to the GPU.
Things play out about how we'd expect. The Quadro 5010M can certainly hold its own in gaming, but it's not really a gaming GPU in the truest sense and that shows here, where the GTX 485M is able to provide better performance in the same power envelope. Let's also not forget cost here: Quadro GPUs are professional graphics cards and usually cost two or three times as much as their GeForce equivalents, so while it's possible to game on your paid-for-by-the-boss workstation, that's the only reason you'd want to game on Quadro.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
83 Comments
View All Comments
Belard - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Thought Apple sold the most expensive computers? A MacPro 17" notebook WITH 1920x1200, same quad CPU and 8GB RAM and 250GB SSD is $3500. It doesn't have internal Mobile Broadband options (why?)... but looks better and cheaper than HP... with the money saved, spend $1000 for the 27" 2550x1440 monitor.Dustin Sklavos - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Except the MacBook Pro doesn't have Quadro workstation graphics or the high gamut DreamColor monitor. If you have need of those (which is admittedly a large part of what this is for), a Mac isn't going to cut it.jecs - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
I agree in part, Apple doesn't sell the most expensive or cheap computers. And to my understanding and direct experience Apple provides an intermediate professional grade driver support (when the app is available on OSX). Apple wont get you 4X full screen antialiasing but some aliasing however, they don't provide full support or some fancy features as 3D stereo, but absolutely professional work is way better on Apple computers with consumer hardware than in a consumer grade equivalent on a PC. Again, an intermediate and limited solution not an advance one. Lets remember GPU consumer hardware is very similar and even equivalent to pro GPUs. But today not the same.But for this review my conclusion is this $6500 HP with the Dreamcolor and Quadro 5000 is only justifiable for critical content creation. Not even for demanding CAD/CAM visualizations because those fields wont require such color accuracy and could get away with a decent and way cheaper LCD. For industrial design the fast CPU and powerful GPU never is enough. But why the Dreamcolor? if any IPS monitor with way less accuracy will do?
And even for content creation not everybody needs a Dreamcolor as even most experienced users working in content creation does not require or even could distinguish critical color corrections.
As a matter of fact very few professionals need such color accuracy. Only for final color correction on video, video games, animation, or final product visualization as in the car industry, but this could be also be considered video pre or post production.
The Dreamcolor brand from HP was specifically created for Sony Pictures 3D animation (?) in 2008. Correct me if I am wrong.
For final color correction in video post processing using Scratch I can see this machine as a way to present the client the final product, and even for some critical last minute color correction.
Who else, please?
Death666Angel - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Where did you get a 1920x1600 monitor? That's 12:10 / 6:5 ratio, never heard of that. :-)As for the 27" vs. 30" argument, I agree that desktop monitor density has to pick up, because it's really not moving that fast compared to normal desktop computing hardware or mobile display densities. But I do wonder where you get your numbers from comparing 30" to 27" 2560*1xxx. Here in Germany the cheap consumer 30" options (Dell, HP, LG) start at 1050€ and go to 1200€ (Apple Cinema HD is an outrageous 1799,-€), while the 27" models come in at 600€ and go to 700€ (Dell, Fujitsu, Samsung) and there is even a new entry who used to only ship within the UK who sells one 2560x1440 monitor for 500€ and one for 580€, though I don't know if the quality is comparable to the others. :-)
So for you the 30" models are 20% more expensive than the 27" options (1200$ vs 1000$) while for me the 30" monitors are 75% more expensive than the 27" options (1050€ vs 600€). If that is the case, you guys are being ripped off!
DanNeely - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Checking Dell's website the 3011 is $1499, the 2711 is $1099 at list prices. Dells older 30" models were several hundred cheaper and the 3011 goes on sale at 25% off once or twice a year. I'm not aware of the 2711 ever having done the same.I think the only way to get prices that close $1200 vs $1000 are to compare current vs last generation models or sale vs not sale prices.
kallogan - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
I don't see the point in buying a premium priced Core i7-2820QM. The rather cheap core i7 2630QM performs almost as well in most cases.sjprg2 - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
The 8760W circle jerk was ordered directly from HP's SMB order desk. I ran into incomptence, buckpassing, and stonewalling at all levels I was able to contact. I have retained about 25 pages of documentation and emails pertaining to this order. Someday I might be able to reach someone in HP that has the cajones to solve the problem. I sure miss the days when Officers of HP were reachable.dagamer34 - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Why can trackpads be centered?!?!?EdShift - Thursday, September 22, 2011 - link
This is a great question.I guess the answer lies in the cost associated with having to produce left and right hand models. In the userspace this model targets there is likely to be higher than general population mean left handers given the creative nature of content creation and it's propensity to appeal to more right brain dominant thinkers.
For most laptops though it would probably be a winner to move the trackpad to favour the majority.
Interestingly if you look at the trackpad on 6740 it's central only to the qwerty keyboard and not the number pad. I guess it's to reduce the travel time between keys and trackpad.
Clever ergonomics.
I'm assuming English isn't your first language so if I've misunderstood your point I'm sorry.
sjprg2 - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
This portable workstation is a monster. I looked at Cleveos and decided the companies that supply them were too small and unknown to send them a $6000.00 wire transfer, and that HP would be safer, seeing as how HP also wanted the order prepaid. WRONG! My uses for this is usually in a small motel room at the end of a long day shooting landscapes with a high end DSLR and the raw images are initialy processed into TIFs with DXO and doing any finishing touches with Photoshop CS5.5. Battery life is unimportant in this case. 1 hour would be fine for me. Would I like a bigger screen? YES! but this one is liviable. I'm hoping that Ivy Bridge will be interchangable next year for an upgrade to the Ivy Bridge 2920 equivalente. I have to say I am happy with the unit so far other than the screwup on the SSDs. I only ordered 16 GB of memory as the 32 GB is extremely exorbinant. About the smallest prints I have made are 24X36 with most going to 36X48.