Elite Book 8460 vs Pro Book 4540?

Hi Everyone,

My old Dell Latitude laptop is slowly dying on me as we speak and I’m down to 2 different HP laptops now.

8460 Elite Book:

Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 14" Display, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (LJ540UT) for $549


HP EliteBook 8460p Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 14 Display, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (LJ540UT) at TigerDirect.com

OR

HP ProBook 4540s

Intel Core i5-3320M 2.6GHz, 8GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M, 15.6" Display, Windows 7 Pro 64-bit / Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (C9K41UT) for $679

HP ProBook 4540s Notebook PC - 3rd generation Intel Core i5-3320M 2.6GHz, 8GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Pro 64-bit / Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (C9K41UT) at TigerDirect.com

For the record I am buying one of these to AVOID switching to Windows 8 so even though the Probook has the option I will not be upgrading. I gather that some drivers, like the fingerprint scanner, have had issues with windows 8 as I have read in reviews.

I have a few questions for you all to help me decide.

In general, have HP laptops had any trouble in recent years in terms of reliability or hardware?

Have either of these models had known problems?

Is the build quality that much better in the Elite book vs the Pro Book?

I realize that Elite Book is supposed to have better shock proofing, etc.

Has there ever been any documented static electricity issues with the Elite Book casing?

This sounds like a silly question but an old Toshiba Sattelite laptop I had ended up in a class action lawsuit judgement because the metal mesh speaker grills on the bottom corners of the top were conductive to static electricity shock and it could (and on mine DID) fry the motherboard!

Could the finger print reader ever permanently "lock you out" of your own computer?

If it were to fail are there other ways to log back in?

Has anyone directly compared the integrated Intel 3000 Graphics Cards to the AMD Radeon HD 7650M?

I’m catching the impression from the 8460 thread I started reading that the Radeon is bad on battery life?

If the Radeon has a noticeable difference in image quality and performance that may be a deciding factor to me. I do a bunch of Photoshop and Illustrator work, and if the computer is up to snuff I may occasionally be using it to VPN to work and use 3D modeling software like Solidworks remotely. I realize that anything short of an approved Graphics Card will NOT run Solidworks or other 3D software optimally, but I guess I’m looking for something that it will generally work with to some degree.

How is the battery life for these 2?

Is the monitor REALLY that bad? Are you guys expecting Mac Book or Retina display STUNNING HD out of this thing and not something on par with the rest of the market?

Based on the 75 pages of the 8460 owners thread I'm concerned about the monitor quality but leaning towards the idea of getting it anyway and pairing it with a decent IPS panel monitor anyway. For the cost of the laptop vs.a brand new one with a potentially better screen I'm still coming out ahead if I get one of these.

Assuming that I can add another 4 GB stick of RAM to the Elite Book I will go up to 8 on that so figure that the Elite Book will cost me $590 or $600 in total.

Is the dedicated Graphics Card, 15.6” screen, and slightly upgraded processing speed of the Pro Book worth the extra money?

Is the build quality of the Elite Book that much better to justify the lesser specs?

Which would you chose?