A successful EliteBook 8460p to 8470p conversion!

Hey everyone, just wanted to share my experience with this conversion.

I had an 8460p that I wanted native USB 3.0 for macOS High Sierra and the biometric fingerprint reader, so I swapped out the board and other things so it's essentially an 8470p in an 8460p shell. Let me tell you...it was NOT a direct swap. You will NEED to buy a few extra things to get the swap to work correctly.

My new build is running as follows:

HP EliteBook 8470p
Intel Core i7-3820QM Quad Core CPU w/8MB L3 Cache 2.7Ghz-3.6Ghz (45W TDP)
16GB PNY DDR3 1600Mhz CL-11 RAM
2x 250GB Samsung Evo SATA III 2.5" drives (one in main caddy bay for Windows 10, second in Optical drive via ODD Drive caddy for macOS)
Broadcom BCM94352HMB Wireless-AC Mini PCI-E card (AC runs @ 867Mbps... BT will not work from the card since the machine already has built in adapter)
1600x900 HD+ 14" display (using available HD+ cable *for* the 8470p...standard cable for the 8470p or the HD+ cable from the 8460p will NOT work)

I had to purchase other parts to complete the swap. you would think that they would use the same layout between boards if they are using the same chassis...NOPE. What a pleasant surprise to me haha. Here are the things I had to swap to get it to work.:

Swapped the mainboard from the 8460p to 8470p. I used the Intel version (non AMD GPU version) of the board due to concerns of heat. I will be using the i7-3820QM so that sucker will generate a lot of heat. Don't need more coming from the GPU. I can always use an eGPU to get more horsepower, but this laptop is not purposed for gaming.

Swapped the original top bezel to get the ability to use the fingerprint reader. Doing this made me realize that the express card adapter from the 8460p is NOT compatible with the 8470P board. Which is why...

Swapped the express card card to get the touchpad, express card and the Power/HDD/AC/Wi-Fi LED's to work.

Swapped the HD+ cable from the 8460p version to the 8470p version. They are NOT the same apparently.

Swapped the old Broadcom BCM43224HMS Wi-Fi 801.11n wireless card (The only one compatible with macOS that is not blacklisted by the BIOS) to the BCM94352HMB 802.11AC version. The 8460p has a bios whitelist for Wireless cards, and the 8470p does not. (Good thing to have on macOS.)

I have Windows 10 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 running on dual boot perfectly fine. it was not an easy task but I don't see any other way of upgrading it unless I get larger capacity SSD's. It runs like a champ.

I still have some leftover parts from the 8460p, like the CPU, ram and mainboard/others. I would sell it on NBR, but I need to reach 100 post. Let me know if you have any questions, or if you would like some pictures, hope this helps.

 

Are there any instructions to do this?

 

Well done! I've just done a 6460b to 8460w switch. Fairly straightforward but there's no iso smart card slot on the 6460b lower case. If the mainboards are the same size, would it be daft to move now from 8460 to 8470? Thanks...

 

Are there any guides for these conversions?

 

First you need to buy a **fully functioning 8470p that you will dismantle to get the parts from...
HP has service manuals in the support section for each laptop. There are pictured instructions how to disassemble laptop part by part.

**this depends. It might be externally damaged like scratches on exterior, perhaps screen shattered but in general turns on, charges and everything works with external devices. No point trying to transplant dead parts.

Which brings the other point. Unless you can source these parts for cheap, consider just buying a working 8470p and transfer your drives/ram from the 8460p. Then sell the 8460p for the same price or little less.
Personally I jumped a few generations and have now Elitebook 840 G2 as my personal laptop. I used to have 8460p and after that 8470p. My main reason for the upgrade was IPS screen, rest of the goodies were nice extra.

 

If you don't use the Smart Card, you don't necessarily need it installed on the machine. The 8460p and the 8470p mainboard's are the same size and layout, with the exception of the express card/power LED connector and the display connector to the mainboard. If you already have a working 8460p, you would want to weigh out the differences. You would gain native Intel USB 3.0, an upgrade on CPU technology (and GPU a little...and a bit more if you pick the AMD GPU variant) a bump in memory speed to 1600Mhz and the removal of the WiFi Bios whitelist so that you can use any WiFi card you like.

A word to the wise though, if you are going to get a high end Core i7 Quad CPU, don't get the AMD Radeon mainboard variant. The heat that is generated from the high end Quad Core cpus will barely be cooled by the 8470P's single pipe cooling system. I also suggest using good TIM like MX-4. Last thing you want is thermal throttling or even shutdowns. Yes, it gets that hot. I myself use Liquid Metal and the temps are better than I thought,

 

If you do not have any experience with replacing parts or working on laptops, I do not suggest you try this. You will need to source the 8470p motherboard, a compatible i5/i7 Ivy Bridge (3rd Gen) cpu, an 8470p regular or HD display cable (for whichever display you have installed.), a compatible WiFi card if you would like to upgrade to WiFi AC and the expresscard connector for the 8470P. The 8470P supports DDR3 @1600Mhz, so if you have 1333, you can swap it to 1600 for a bit of speed boost. You will then use the remaining of your parts from the 8460P.

Once you have all of this it's all the matter of swapping out the parts.

 

I've now completed this and it's exactly like you say. Lord knows why some of these parts aren't a straight swap, but the right ones are readily available. Patience is all you need. Why is it that I can't track down a FirePro motherboard anywhere though?!

Surely if you use the heatsink for the 8470w with discrete graphics (which is a separate part number to the 8460) then you'll avoid the problem?

Also, Crucial do 16gb DDR3 SODIMM memory sticks... Would 2 of these work in these machines? I'm guessing maybe not as to get to 32gb in the 8740 machines, you need 4 x 8gb sticks...

Thanks...

 

You may not be able to find just the board but you can try looking for a parts 8470p with it already on. The heatsink for the 8740w may not be compatible with the 8740p. So be careful with it or at least be sure you can return the item if it's not compatible. Be sure to get the Dual heatpipe version, as the single pipe will run to the same issue. The high end Quad Core chips uses 45W TDP and the Radeon uses another 10-15W so it will get VERY hot with a single heatpipe. Single heatpipes were designed to cool 35W TDP CPU's.

Memory compatibility will depend on the BIOS and the Intel memory controller. Dual Core CPU's have a max of 16GB while some Quads like the 3820/3840QM support up to 32GB. I personally have not tried 32GB, but I have 16GB in mine now. You are more than welcome to try 2x16GB, but it may not work. Also make sure its 1600Mhz DDR3L ram. Ivy Bridge Cpu's are very picky with ram. Let us know how it goes.

 

Will do!

 

The 16GB DDR3L memory sticks are unsupported.

There is space for 3 wifi antennae behind the 6460 display bezel and I've installed an Azurewave BCM94360HMB 3x3 802.11 ac card successfully.

 

Hey! Much thanks for that incredibly helpful post. I also have a 8470P that I use and the machine is solid. However, the horrible 720p is very miserable to use in 2018 as I work with a ton of text document editing and editing. I once took it to a repair shop and asked for the panel to be replaced with the 1600x900 one. The tech there said the cable was not compatible, something that was also confirmed after I did a bit of research.

I'm quite interested in upgrading the display. Please let me know what parts I need. I can have them purchased from China so I think I have a reasonable chance of pulling this off.

Much thanks in advance!

 

Ok, just finished converting an HP6460b to an HP8470w. Hardest part was getting the right motherboard (686042-601). Other than that the guidelines in the opening post are spot on and all you need patience...