*HP EliteBook 8760w Owners Lounge*

Just placed my order. These are the key configuration items:

- 8760w Mobile Workstation Quad Core
- FreeDOS
- i7-2920XM
- 17.3 LED FHD UWVA anti-glare DreamColor w/camera (1920x1080)
- integrated 720p HD webcam
- NVIDIA 5010M with 4GB GDDR5 video memory
- Blu-ray R/RE DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL drive
- dualpoint (touchpad + pointstick)
- backlit keyboard
- Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300

Using HP's online chat I got a 28% discount which brought the sticker price of $6486.- down to $4668.69.

The estimated ship date is 9-Jun-2011.

Will post more info when I get my new "toy".


cheers,
Werner

 

Info: The Maintenance and Service Guide can be found under:
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02847569/c02847569.pdf

 

Are the internal drive interfaces really only SATA II (vs III) or am I misreading something?

ANSWER: YES

(answering my own q)

 

Anyone know which of the dock options is the one that supports the most external monitors?

 

Planning to toss FreeDOS and use your own copy of Windows? Cause that price tag is insane...

 

Thanks CyberBeach - I've been wondering about this as well (SATA II vs. III).
This means that the 8760w can't take full advantage of the new generation SSD's.

 

Just curious where you found this answer. I've been comparing the 8760w with the Dell M6600, which does have two SATA III ports. But both systems use the QM67 chip set. Why would HP not use the two SATA III ports provided by the QM67?

 

@trenobus, I am probably in the same situation as you. I was originally planning on purchasing an HP Elitebook 8760w but when their availability was delayed by a month or so, I started to look at the Dell Precision M6600. To my surprise, I think I actually prefer the Dell!

I have had many HP laptops over the years, both professionally and personally, and all of them have been good, reliable computers. Nothing "fancy" for the most part -- although some have been "monsters" in their day -- but I've never had any real problems with them. So obviously, I was looking at HP for my next one.

But when the new, Sandy Bridge-based HP portable workstations were delayed, I started to look at the Dells. With just a couple of exception, the Dells seem to have everything the HPs have and more. Advantages of the Dells over the HPs include:

(1) Bluetooth 3.0 on the Dells vs. 2.1+EDR on the HPs
(2) Optimus is supported with the Nvidia cards on the Dells but not on the HPs
(3) SATA-3 is supported on the Dells but not on the HPs
(4) The Dells are slightly smaller and lighter than the corresponding HPs.

Except for the Optimus support, most people probably don't think most of the Dell advantages are that significant but still. As for the advantages of the HP over the Dells, the only things I could find are:

(1) A slightly larger extended battery available with the HP (100Wh) than with the Dells (97Wh).
(2) An additional battery slice is available with the HP (100Wh) while one is not currently available with the Dell yet.

Basically, the possible advantages of the HP over the Dell comes down to potential battery life but I am thinking that the use of Optimus with the Dell may partially ameliorate this advantage.

The only reason I have not pulled the trigger on the Dell yet is because of my fears about the build quality. To anyone who has had both a Dell Precision workstation-class laptop and an HP Elitebook workstation laptop, how would you compare the quality of each and what would you get now and why?

 

Don't forget that the Dell M6600 offers AMD M8900 which is much better than HP's AMD option. If your workstation requirements don't include CUDA, it puts the Dell at a significant advantage.

 

@knight427, that is another advantage for the Dell but I would go for the Nvidia 3000M on the Dell because of Optimus. I need a laptop that can last on a four or more hour flight. Hopefully, Optimus would help.