*HP EliteBook 8460p Owners Lounge!*

[Duffin]

It seems intuitive that the 14" HD screen (1366 x 768) is worse than the 14.0" HD+ screen (1600x900).

But are you guys saying that the 15.6" HD+ WVA screen is way better than the 14.0" HD+ screen (both being 1600x900)?

Yesterday, I compared a 8540w (1600x900) screen to my 5 year old laptop screen (Dell D820 15.4" WUXGA 1920x1200). The Dell was way better. The text under desktop icons was blurry on the 8540w and now I am reeling that the Elitebooks aren't shipping with good screens.

I got onto the who 8*60p kick because I wanted a Win laptop as close to the Macbook Pro 15" and still don't have an answer.

[BearLab]

Just ordered 8460p with i7-2720QM + HD3000 + 1600x900 HD+
P.S: You can get 25% Off from custom build if you chat with sell rep before placing your order.

This hardware will be a very good laptop if I will replace RAM with 8 Gb Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) and HD with Vertex 2 200Gb as system HD and Vertex 2 EX 100Gb as second (working) HD in option bay caddy.

Simple reasons:
1. Size 13.3 x 9.1 x 1.25 and just 4.5 Lb with i7-2720QM and 1600x900 display (no other options in this size/configuration category, they all heavier, or bigger, or less resolution displays, or QM CPU not an option)
2. Battery time expectations for this configuration = 7+ Hr (i7-2720QM CPU + HD3000 + SSD ) !!! WoW !!! In 4.5 Lb !!!
3. 2 x USB 3.0 ports + 1 USB 2.0 + eSATA/USB combo port
4. Second HD in option bay

I do have MacBook Pro 15.4" for Mac and iPhone software development - it's good, but it's VERY HOT, especially when running Windows 7 in BootCamp, and it's bigger in size (15 x 9.9 x 1 and 5.6 Lb).
NIT rating for current MacBook Pro 15.4" (1440x900) display = 180 , for HP 8460p 14" (1600x900) = 150, for Lenovo T420s 14" (1600x900) = 100.

P.S: MacBook Pro 13" not an option, It's too small with just 1280x800 resolution. I do have Sony Z (13.1" 1600x900) and it's better in all aspects, but too small for me to use as main laptop for software development.
P.S: Fan issue will be fixed in the next bios (UEFI) release.

[Yoshimeow]

It seems intuitive that the 14" HD screen (1366 x 768) is worse than the 14.0" HD+ screen (1600x900).

But are you guys saying that the 15.6" HD+ WVA screen is way better than the 14.0" HD+ screen (both being 1600x900)?

Yesterday, I compared a 8540w (1600x900) screen to my 5 year old laptop screen (Dell D820 15.4" WUXGA 1920x1200). The Dell was way better. The text under desktop icons was blurry on the 8540w and now I am reeling that the Elitebooks aren't shipping with good screens.

I got onto the who 8*60p kick because I wanted a Win laptop as close to the Macbook Pro 15" and still don't have an answer.

You definitely will be sad if you comparing the 14 inch screen to a macbook pro's screen.
The 15 inch model has a better screen. If screen quality is really what you after wait for the workbook series and get the IPS dreamcolor displays. They are only available on the 15 and 17 inch model though.

[Yoshimeow]

J

I do have MacBook Pro 15.4" for Mac and iPhone software development - it's good, but it's VERY HOT, especially when running Windows 7 in BootCamp, bigger size (15 x 9.9 x 1 and 5.6 Lb), 1440x900 resolution.
NIT rating for current MacBook Pro 15.4" (1440x900) display = 180 , for HP 8460p 14" (1600x900) = 150, for Lenovo T420s 14" (1600x900) = 100.

sorry, but trust me you are going to be disappointed if you are going to compare the 8460p to a macbook screen. Not sure where you got your NIT ratings but here is the screen rating from notebookcheck for the 8440p, I don't think brightness is an issue but the poor contrast/viewing angle are. In my opinion contrast makes the biggest difference on if a screen looks good or bad. Low contrast just makes everything washed out and gray and crappy looking which I cant stand to look at.

Maximum: 225 cd/m²
Average: 212.4 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 187 cd/m²
Black: 1.49 cd/m²
Contrast: 140:1


compare this to the macbook pro 15

Maximum: 321 cd/m²
Average: 271 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 76 %
Center on Battery: 321 cd/m²
Black: 0.47 cd/m²
Contrast: 683:1

[on3eighteen]

P.S: Fan issue will be fixed in the next bios (UEFI) release.

Are you sure about the fan fix? Because as a long time owner of HPs that is probably the only thing that annoys me. The fan always runs & the setting in the BIOS ("Run fan always on AC power") has no effect whatsoever. If you know for certain (maybe from an HP rep) that they are going to finally fix this fan issue, then I may just hold onto my 8460p. Yeah, the screen isn't great but the way I see it there are probably 10 things you want in a laptop & you'll never find all 10.

[BearLab]

Yoshimeow,
Completely agree, display on 8460p will be not good compare to MacBook Pro 15.4”, but HP 8460p – business laptop in different 14” formfactor with different objectives in design. 4.5 Lb with 7+ Hr battery life and i7-2720QM CPU looks like almost “dream machine” for business (software development) traveler.
And for 14” formfactor it’s probably one of the best display. Plus you always can connect it to external display if you not on the road.

If Apple will release Business laptop in 14” form factor with great display in the future, I will buy it… but Apple need to add a lot of other things in design and software support to call it a business laptop.
(for example right now, if I need just simple update firmware on my MacBook Pro SSD, I need to unscrew and disassemble a lot of staff and use different windows comp with SATA connection to do the trick).

[Yoshimeow]

Yoshimeow,
Completely agree, display on 8460p will be not good compare to MacBook Pro 15.4”, but HP 8460p – business laptop in different 14” formfactor with different objectives in design. 4.5 Lb with 7+ Hr battery life and i7-2720QM CPU looks like almost “dream machine” for business (software development) traveler.
And for 14” formfactor it’s probably one of the best display. Plus you always can connect it to external display if you not on the road.

If Apple will release Business laptop in 14” form factor with great display in the future, I will buy it… but Apple need to add a lot of other things in design and software support to call it a business laptop.
(for example right now, if I need just simple update firmware on my MacBook Pro SSD, I need to unscrew and disassemble a lot of staff and use different windows comp with SATA connection to do the trick).

agree with everything you said. I also think 14" is the best size and I much prefer it over 15inch. I also love how the 14" is symmetrical since it doesn't have the useless numpad like the 15inch. I just think it comes down to a individual person's needs. I do not travel much just to and from the office on most days. In the office i dock to two larger screens so it wont be a issue but at home I mainly just use the laptop screen. Screen quality is pretty important to me so I weighed the pluses and minuses and decided I can deal with an extra 1.5 pounds for a better screen. I really wish the 14" model had a better screen but oh well.

[BearLab]

agree with everything you said. I also think 14" is the best size and I much prefer it over 15inch. I also love how the 14" is symmetrical since it doesn't have the useless numpad like the 15inch. I just think it comes down to a individual person's needs. I do not travel much just to and from the office on most days. In the office i dock to two larger screens so it wont be a issue but at home I mainly just use the laptop screen. Screen quality is pretty important to me so I weighed the pluses and minuses and decided I can deal with an extra 1.5 pounds for a better screen. I really wish the 14" model had a better screen but oh well.

With current mass production process at HP you will never know 100% what you will get in display quality, they probably using displays from more than one supplier with “little bit” different quality.
I hope, for 8460p, just because expectations is low for display quality from the beginning, “surprise” in quality can be only in a good way.

[BearLab]

What’s the reason for current delayed in 8460p production ?
Maybe Lenovo bot all cheapest 14” 1600x900 panels for new T420 / T420s and HP forced to order better quality and more expensive panels for 8460p ? (I’m just joking )

[Yoshimeow]

lol bear,
you are dreaming. Yes I have had experiences with my coworkers where on the same model laptop some displays are better than others. However it is true there are not many nice 14" panels out there. I do not understand why that is. Most of the quality panels seem to be 15" or even 12" or 13" (macair, macbook, even HP's own 12 inch model has a IPs display)