HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook Review: Ultrabooks in Enterprise
by Dustin Sklavos on March 29, 2013 12:01 AM ESTDisplay Quality
There are crappy, low resolution TN panel displays, and then there are panels that suck out loud. Jarred and I have been over this a million times, but sometimes you get a display that's bad even by bad standards. That's the stock display in the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m, and if you're interested in this notebook I sincerely urge you to consider buying a unit with the 1600x900 panel, which cannot possibly be as bad as the stock panel.
Don't believe me? See for yourself:
This is without a doubt one of the worst panels I've ever tested, and it's a testament to how obnoxiously cheap vendors behind the Windows PC market really are. It's difficult for me to be professional when I'm looking at a notebook that has a panel I would've judged poor even when I started writing reviews at AnandTech, before tablets with crisp IPS panels started proliferating in the marketplace. There's no excuse at all for this panel to even see the light of day except in a $300 budget junker, let alone in a notebook you're paying north of $1,300 for.
We bumped up our battery testing to start panel brightness at 200 nits instead of 100 nits; that means this notebook's battery life was tested with the backlight at its highest level. This is an ugly, ugly panel, and in 2013 there's simply no excuse for it. I've personally told reps at HP and other vendors that this isn't going to fly anymore, I know Jarred has as well, and Anand's even told manufacturers that this kind of penny-pinching will allow the burgeoning convertible tablet market to subsume the notebook market at large.
Battery Life
Speaking of battery testing, I was able to test the Folio 9470m with both its substantial 52Wh stock battery and its 60Wh extended slice battery. If ultrabooks can be relied upon for anything, it's producing excellent battery life, and that turned out to be true here despite the screen running effectively at maximum brightness.
As it turns out, the slice battery not only more than doubles the 9470m's already healthy battery running time, it actually improves the system's efficiency somewhat. For basic use, the 9470m can give you a healthy five hours at least. Add the slice battery, and suddenly you're good for roughly the whole day.
Heat and Noise
Battery life is good, but heat and noise are a bit less desirable.
The Folio 9470m's thermals are actually very good, but HP has clearly tuned the system to favor temperatures over acoustics. The result is that while it's impressively cool under load (sub-80C in an ultrabook is excellent), the fan spins up and produces a high-pitched whine. Under the circumstances I honestly favor tuning for silence over thermals; the XPS 13 proves that you can let the processor run a little toasty without that heat transferring too directly to the end user, and I'd prefer the 9470m took that tack.
That in mind, though, the cooling system is handled almost entirely through the side of the notebook as opposed to the bottom, which is greatly appreciated as it allows the 9470m to actually be used as a laptop.
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danbi - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
Do you suggest that those who work for "enterprises" should suffer from low screen resolution? So that they cannot see more on the screen and be more productive? Only "toys" should have quality screens?HP used to have better displays. My 8 years old 15" HP laptop has 1920x1200 display. Why this crap now? Why an "elite" business laptop has to have such mediocre display?
SteveLord - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
It could be $500 and people would still whine about the resolution. It happens everytime for every laptop or tablet. I have 20 of these issued and they have been a huge hit. Now I agree that except for the Dreamcolor series, HP screens could be better. And I agree these should be priced lower. But your average corporate/enterprise user won't notice or care about anything beyond the size of the screen itself and how heavy or light the laptop is.meacupla - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
for $500? 1366x768 is fine, as long as the viewing angles and colours are acceptable. This is the case with Asus X202E. X202E uses a semi decent TN panel, unlike this $1300 garbage from HP.Tams80 - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
I wish you could get 1920x1200 on ANY laptop now. As far as I know there aren't any newish ones with that resolution. =( The last were a 17" HP Elitebook with Dreamcolour display and the 17" MBP if I recall correctly.Grennum - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Lets take a piece of serious business software like MS Dynamics AX. I watch people all day fighting with low res screens constantly scrolling around instead of being productive. Then they see me using my high res screen(on a engineering laptop) and are amazed that I don't have to do that.Just because people have never known any different doesn't mean it's unimportant. It is the result of companies like HP pushing required IT features (like smart card readers) and low cost at the expense of productivity and the IT departments not caring. It is not the users, it is the IT department who should be pushing back on this.
The average user doesn't know or need to know the resolution spec, but they should know that the person who did spec the machine cared, which I find is often not the case.
hrrmph - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
The reviewer nailed it on this one.HP got credit where credit was due (SSD, USB 3.0, etc.). But, he rightly scorched them on the display and keyboard.
We shouldn't have to turn in our classics for equipment that is inferior, even if it is thinner.
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blazeoptimus - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
I was very disappointed in this article. It's obvious Dustin is reviewing this device from a consumer oriented device perspective. All of the objections mentioned are valid more for a laptop you'd find in best buy, the one your considering your corporation. Take for example the screen. I'm not a fan of the 1366x768 res, and I'd opt for a 1600x900 screen for myself if it were available. That being said, the primary reason you'd choose this laptop over a standard ultrabook would be its docking station (something only briefly touched on in the article). If your using a docking station, then your most likely using external monitors. Users will opt for larger, easier to read monitors, if available/practical. This means that the built in monitor really will only see light use, since users will use there docked displays most of the time. If you also include the fact that its not uncommon for corporate apps to be built to run in 1024x768, it becomes apparent that a 1366x768 screen is adequate for those few times a 'mobile' user will be away from his desk, but still need his laptop. The second point I take contention at is the 4 gig of ram. Again, it's fairly common for a corporate app to still be 32bit. Some major apps will still not run on 64bit windows. Even with the ones that are, it's very rare for an office worker or exec to need more than 4 gig to run there corporate apps. In these cases, the 4 gig is a waste. Also, by going with one chip, it's very easy to bump it to 8 if the need arises. As to the price, its competitive with other business class ultra books. Service and build quality are usually better on business class items, so there not priced in the same category.In short, again, your applying the rules we'd use when buying a personal laptop to a laptop that was never intended for that market. You should be looking at it from the perspective of laptop that could easily see deployments in the thousands for an organization. In this context your points of 'rage' hold less validity.
I'm a network admin and I use a 9470m as my primary machine.
MrSpadge - Sunday, April 7, 2013 - link
Being thin (as in Ultrabook-thin) does almost nothing for an "Enterprise". However, being expensive, having a screen unsuitable for real work and only a 17 W CPU do hurt. Looks like a really unbalanced product.sperho - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
I'm an enterprise user and I couldn't disagree more. I travel. A lot. I love the thinness and this alternative hit the spot. The screen is useable for mobile computing and when I'm in my office, I have two 22+" monitors that fit the bill. This computer is a mobile *option* within our company. More desk-bound employees do not and are not recommended to choose it; we have other options for those folks.Wolfehosue - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - link
The HD+ screen is released. This is the hold back for this form. The device is as thin as it can be while including VGA so if they drop that it can go thinner. Still limited with RJ45 but could be thinner than a Mac Air.