8460w, 8560w, 8760w now available

Apology accepted. This NBR site has been very helpful to me in terms of learning many things about an important part of my life -- and I believe *many* other peoples' lives -- their laptops. Keeping things professional and respectful, especially toward fellow posters, seems like the best way to do things here. Again, I appreciate your taking the time to express your apologies.

Now, back to the issues at hand!! What's up with these EliteBook workstations??

 

As I was saying before...I still have reservations about an internal broadband chip...especially in the age where most people have smartphone that can tether to a laptop or a smartphone that is just as powerful as a small netbook (Atrix 4G, some others...)

 

That's a great point. The integrated broadband is not necessary; as far as I can tell the add-on version is just as good. Am I wrong? And tethering is yet another way to do it, though I'd like to keep my phone free to use, which, unless I am mistaken, it wouldn't be if using it for broadband.

 

I would think so...especially since the built-in module is only 3G capable whereas Verizon and all the others are selling 4G USB modems now...and see this... http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/phonesformobileworkers/f/what-is-tethering.htm...I think you may still be able to use voice if you are tethering with 4G, since that network only handles data, whereas 3G, especially with Verizon and Sprint, may be dicier...

 

What's wrong with just getting a broadband USB/other port dedicated dongle??

 

FYI guys -- I spoke to an HP Rep and with the 8760w, the Dreamcolor display and 2630 cpu and nvidia 5010 -- I was able to get a 30% quoted discount.

$5200 pre discount price down to $3600 (plus tax).

I just said I like the HP but am alos looking at the Dell. If you want the rep's specific info just PM me.

 

exactly that - you have to plug something in.
with my internal 3G I just activate it and that´s it.
couldn´t imagine using my laptop in daily business without internal broadband

 

I certainly have no interest in internal 3G...not when I have an HTC Thunderbolt that I can tether wirelessly for 4G when needed.

 

That's exactly what I meant...sorry if it wasn't clear...

 

The internal WAN card contains a GPS receiver. This can be used by GPS-capable software products.

 

How is the non dream color 1080P on the 8650W? Comparabel with the normal 1080p screen of the Dell 4600?

 

probably similar...but not as good as the W520's panel, which is only slightly worse than the Premiercolor and Dreamcolor...

 

I come from a T61P 1200p.

I do not need perfectly true colors. I want good brightness and good performance in videos and games.

Will the normal 1080p do a good job here?

 

It should be fine...but then again...it's a TN panel...

 

Whats the character of a PN Panel?


Short side question: does the CPU 2630QM support 4 Ram ports?

 

What is the disadvantwge of a TN panel?

 

Narrow viewing angle, low contrast, and not so ideal color reproduction for photo/video work.

 

All quad core models support 4 ram ports.

 

For monitor information, read:

Monitor Specifications

 

Well, Lenovo just 86'ed my X220t order, apparently it must not have been profitable enough for them. FU Lenovo, 8560w Dreamcolor, here I come!

 

Just talked to a sales rep. for a 8560w.

She offered me a 2720Qm, 8GB Ram, 500GB disk, Dream Color display, 6300 WLAN for 3000 USD...

. I get the almost same configuration from Lenovo and Dell for 1200 USD less.

Does anyone have a sales rep that can give me a offer that makes sense?

Thanks.

 

I think all the reps are high-balling right now. HP's laptop division might not be the strongest horse in the stable right now, so they're squeezing hard. Once a brand starts low-balling, then *everybody* wants the low-end price point. Naturally.

 

Can you show me where or how you got the that price for the Dell, 3000 - 1200 = 1800? Was it PremierColor (ips)??

 

I think that config costs about $2200 w/IPS iirc...they are still cheating you out of cash though...so ask them at least to match the price...prob what I'll do when it comes time to order mine...

 

these elitebook W's are damn expensive....

how come they cost so much more than the P series.. main thing I would liek is the dreamcolor display.. but im happy with my 1600x900 display..

 

Well tried that, but the girl said that she has no room for improvement at all.

Well lets see how many notebooks HP will (not) sell before they realize that their price is too high....

What a damn that I will not make it to buy one.

Will leave the country on he 20th for some time ... Damn it.

 

The CTO prices are pretty nuts. The pre-configs, especially through CostCentral or TechonWeb, are a bit more reasonable. I just hope they actually ship soon. I need a system, and I don't want to reward Lenovo for their X220t silliness.

 

And it begins... my original ship date of June 8th has slipped to June 18th for my CTO 8460w.

 

They'd sell a ton of them with the ips, the 2720 i7, and the quadroM if they made them into pre-configs. The Dell chassis looks better and seems stronger than the Thinkpad W520, imho.

EDIT: And so does the EliteBook chassis!!

 

Call a different rep. Someone got 30% off, if one rep can't move the price, dump them.

 

Not Quadro...FirePro...

 

Beware. HP almost surely ranks last in overall customer satisfaction. Great product ideas, lousy execution, horrific customer support. You can have a really bad experience with any of them when things go wrong. I used to find HP was the best at making amends for it's poor quality and shipment delays but recent experience does not bear this out. And I believe HP has always been the company quickest to ship products before they are ready, and the customer suffers through hours of phone calls, tech support visits, etc.

Other rule of thumb: don't by version 1.0 of any total makeover.

Key thing to determine (solely by asking around, such as here): when things go really badly, is their a reasonable chain of escalation, or does it stop at a relatively low level, low knowledge, low authority person? With HP, that point of no return is Case Management. If your case gets thrown into it, ask for your money back and go elsewhere with your hard-earned money.

All of the above, IMHO of course.

 

I hear ya. But choices for good quality screens in a laptop are few and far between. I have had enough miserable experiences with Dell products in the past (not that I purchased, but those owned by friends, relatives, clients, etc) that I would never want to buy anything associated with Dell. Lenovo looks like their quality is slipping, and they've already gotten under my skin with the X220t debacle. And Apple is a no sale...not worth discussing.

So what other options are there for as close to a desktop-IPS-monitor-in-a-laptop experience as possible?

 

@Iron Dreamer...none

and @lovelaptops...we hear ya...we know about your bad experience with HP...

 

Elaborate, please. As much detail as you can. My understanding is that the FirePro is more of a "gaming" type gpu, while the Quadro is more static graphics oriented. Wrong?

 

Sounds like a waste of time. I've had nothing but excellent support on the two Thinkpads I've owned. Fast, total service, no charges under warranty, and even fixed me a couple of times for free when out of warranty. If the W520 or T520 came with an IPS screen, I wouldn't be looking anywhere else.

Are you saying that HP's support even for high-end machines, like EliteBooks, is just as dismal as you have experienced??? If so, I may stop looking at HP.

 

No Out of the Maelstrom he's talking about his personal experience with ordering a product (in his case an Envy 15), having a part (an important part, a Radiance screen) run out, and HP giving him the runaround with laptops that were all going out of stock (Elitebook 8540w)...you can read about his experience...but most have not had such bad luck with HP

 

You have it mostly right...there are a couple of things...

1.Yes the Firepro has better scores in games than the Quadro...because of GDDR5 memory and inherently faster memory clock speeds...vs bandwidth limited (G?)DDR3

2. FWIW, the Quadro does have CUDA, which allows for acceleration on some programs, especially those in CS5 (Premiere Pro most of all)

3. Never said that Quadros are for static graphics only...hey all workstation cards are focused on quality of frames and not on quantity of frames...even the FirePro will have lower performance in games than an equivalent Radeon, because Radeon's drivers deliver more frames in less time...its just that Firepro has advantage mentioned at #1, and it drops the laptop's price by about $400...

4. And there's Optimus, which is probably not being enabled on the Elitebooks, which basically clones the dedicated GPU onto the IGP...causing stability problems if you don't shut the feature off when performing GPU intensive tasks...

 

OK, good to know.

 

Thanks for these insights, dsrini9000. I'd like to know more about cuda cores. On my homework list. You framed the point about "quality vs. quantity" very well, though.

 

Sata III and Order Status

I've seen a lot of questions about whether the internal ports support SATA III / 6 Gbps. Looks like the answer is yes. See BearLab's post #312 in the 8460p owner's lounge. Thanks BearLab. If someone could confirm for a w-series machine that would be great. (I'm considering whether to order a SATA III SSD)

I ordered a 8560W last week. HP's website is still saying: "Your order is approved and being sent to order management." I called support. They said everything's fine. Does anyone have guidance on this?

 

My 8460w says the same thing, it's not just you. My ship date is June 15th which seems to be the same date all the pre-configured models say they are available from.

 

Talking about the different graphic cards and displays, do you think it would be reasonable to buy a 8560w instead of a 8560p for an additional 400$ to get the FirePro 5950 and the 1920x1080 display (non-DreamColor, as the DreamColor displays are way too expensive in Switzerland) instead of the Radeon 6470 and the 1600x900 display?

 

There aren't any benchmarks on the M5950 yet, but it is very clear there will be a huge difference in performance.

AMD FirePro M5950 - Notebookcheck.net Tech
AMD Radeon HD 6470M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

But the bigger issue is if it is worth the extra cost to you. That depends on what your uses are, and your personal tolerance for $/performance. For me, yeah the added cost would be worth it (note that 8560w will also take up to 32GB RAM if you get a quad core model)

 

Or just buy a dv6tqe with an equivalent Radeon 6770m and FHD display for so much less...

 

Do you guys happen to know when/if the 8760w will be available for ordering in Canada? Are there any reputable resellers of these systems?

 

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, there are no 15.6" Pavilion notebooks with FHD screens available in Switzerland where HP only sells business notebooks and 17.3" notebooks with high resolution screens.

 

I just realized that may have been the case when I posted...since they do have FHD screens as a CTO option in the US...FAIL on my part...

 

Never mind. In Switzerland, the customer can't configure the laptops themselves and the guys at HP seem to have made it their goal to only sell sub par pre-configured models unless you buy business notebooks.

Small explanation of the original question:
I planned on buying the 8650p/w for me and for my girlfriend. I would have bought the 8560p (LQ589AW) with a 1600x900 display, a Radeon 6470, 4 GB RAM and an Intel i5 core processor for her. For me, I was wondering whether I should buy the same model or buy an 8650w with the better screen and a better graphics card.

However, I just realized that HP raised the price on all 8560p models with 1600x900 display (including the LQ589AW model). Therefore, my original question is answered as the price difference between the LQ589AW and the LG660EA is now only 200$ which I am willing to pay giving that the latter has the FHD display and the Firepro card, unless, of course, the prices on the 8560w models will increase as well.

 

Is the costcentral.com a trusted website? I checked the product discreption on the site for 8560w, it said the display was Display 15.6" LED backlight HD anti-glare TFT 1920 x 1080 ( Full HD ) , not dreamcolor included, while on HP site, the item #XU086UTABA is definitively with DC display.