*HP EliteBook 8460p Owners Lounge!*

Aren't they made in China, like everything else ?

 

I doubt the delays have anything to do with Japan. If they did, HP would be sure to tell us that in the same way that airlines are quick to shirk blame when delays are weather related.

I'll probably wait a few days and then call to cancel my order if nothing changes. I'm not waiting two months for a laptop like some people have.

 

My initial impressions, from just opening it up and turning it on.

The laptop feels solid and well built.

There is another slot above the Wifi card that looks like it might take an Intel 310, but I don't have one to test. There are also antennas for a WWAN card sitting next to the Wifi card

The screen has the same annoying texture the 8440w has, I don't know how to describe it, but it looks kind of grainy or fuzzy. Horizontal viewing angles are ok, vertical angles are rubbish, I wouldn't say it's worse than most I've seen though. There is definitely a sweet spot and it's fairly narrow.

The keyboard is rock solid and has zero flex. I would say it's as good if not better than the Lenovo W520 I have here.

The screen hinges seem pretty solid, I can open the screen with one hand.

I have yet to install my Vertex 2 and a clean install. Once I do that I'll try to get more info and start taking some pictures.

The speakers are in a really weird spot. They're on one side of the laptop and there is one that points forward (towards user) and one that points down (to the ground).

 

Here are a few pics.

 

Here are some more.

My thoughts are that I'm going to be sending this back. I'm getting somewhat used to the screen, but from what I've seen of the Dell E6410 1440x900 screen and the W520 FHD screen, it's hard to adjust to this one. It just looks dull and doesn't get that bright. I also thought the fan does seem to get a bit noisy for no reason what so ever. It isn't obnoxious, but just doing some pretty basic stuff, it does kick on and seems like other models I've messed with don't suffer from this.

WEI Scores:
Processor - 7.1
Memory - 7.4
Graphics - 5.3
Gaming - 6.3
Hard Disk - 7.7 (aftermarket Vertex 2 240GB)

I was really hoping this would do the trick, I wanted a smaller laptop but I just can't seem to find one without compromising something. I think I may end up sticking with the W520, the battery life isn't as good, but I can at least throw a slice on it and still have a kick screen.

If you want me to do anything else to this let me know soon, I don't think I'll have it too long.

 

Can you give some more information about the fan? Is it running while idle? With other models, do you mean other 8460p?

 

The fan runs all the time when plugged into AC, I can barely hear it at low over other noises (central air). There is an option to disable "Run fan always on AC" in the BIOS, haven't messed with it. It does get louder without much use. The W520 and M6500 never got this loud, unless I pushed them pretty hard. Granted, larger laptops, better cooling, but this HP isn't cooling THAT much more hardware, and the W520 has a quad core CPU.

Also, battery life says about five hours with WiFi on and the screen at 50%. I'm not going to take the time to run it down though, I'll leave that to the pros.

 

Thanks for the info, especially about the fan noise and the screen. I can't seem to find a 14" laptop with a decent screen -- the 14" Lenovo I've had for a few years also has a terrible screen.

Since my order is delayed without any estimated shipping date, I just called HP and cancelled. I don't feel like waiting around for something that I might wind up sending back anyway.

 

Dell has the best 14" screen I've seen (at least on the E6410). I haven't seen the E6420 yet so I can't comment. But I would recommend to someone (if they don't need the absolute latest in technology) looking for a 14" would be to pickup a E6410 in the Dell outlet. Great deals, great laptop.

 

Hi 5150cd

thank you very much fro the info!
Could you please disable "fan always on" in the BIOS and see how it behaves at normal surfing, I would appreciate if you could say something to the temperature of the notebook at the same time. Can you compare it to other hp Laptops like a 8440p?
Next question: What kind of 8460p is that, what processor and HD3000???

Thanks,
Tom

 

That would be very interesting as hp told that the neither the 8460p nor the 8560p is supporting the intel 310. But it definitely looks as if it could fit in there.
It would be the same as with the Lenovo T520 where you have to decide wether to pop in a WAN OR a Intel 310.

T

 

I disabled the "fan always on" option and let it sit idle for an hour and the fan never stopped. This 8460p has discrete graphics and the i7 processor. It's using 13 watts at idle. I can't say much about the 8440p, I didn't like that model either. I do LOVE the build and the styling of this laptop, but function trumps form every time for me.

 

Thanks for the test. I hoped the fan would stopp. I read about a setting in windows in the power options that says: passive cooling; but I don't know if this still needs to be enabled...

I assume you have the 1600x900 screen, right (because you said the quality was not what you expected)?

T.

 

Yes, I have the 1600 x 900. After going back and forth between my W520 and the 8460p, the 8460p looks like absolute garbage.

 

I disabled active cooling in Windows 7 power options, after 30 minutes, the fan still runs.

I'm removing my subscription to this thread, so if you want anything else checked, PM me by Monday, because I'm shipping it back then.

 

This isn't really news. HP fanatics has already reported the screen is much the same as the 8440, and that's no better or worse than it's ever been. If you want a desktop that's under 4.5#, then a lot of folks have trouble w/ the lcd's on the T420 or the HP elitebook.

There are other features to a notebook than the screen, and the HP has some considerable virtues. I don't fully understand ordering it and then being disappointed w/ the screen given it's obviously imperfect, especially compared to a 6# T520 w/ the lcd upgrade.

 

Damn is the screen really that bad?

 

I get mine early next week. Will file a report. But look at the reviews of the 8440p on laptopmag, notebookcheck, and here, expect a middling level lcd. It's not one of the few good screens (e.g., Apple) out there, so if you're buying it hoping for that, you're out of luck.

But, build quality, weight, power, the keyboard and trackpad, and battery life, should all be good.

For me, anyway, laptops are laptops. If I want a beautiful screen, I'll plug into a 23"+ desktop lcd and have something that's genuinely good.

 

Thanks storm. I am getting one for work but i think I might switch to the 15 inch since the 1600x900 display on that one got awesome reviews for the 8540p. I prefer the 14 but I need a decent display. I'll keep checking back here for info when u get your laptop. From the pics the screen looks decent. Not vibrant or awesome but looks okay.

 

If you want a good screen get the 8560p, it's common knowledge that most 14" screens are crap, so it's not fair to compare them with 15" screens.

 

Yea going to 8560p instead. Hopefully I can change it. I went thru our. It department. It's only been 4 business days so hopefully it's not too hard to cancel and change to the 15. It helps they are exactly the same price. Almost wished I waited for the 8560w since the 15 inch has a bigger difference. The 14 inch w and p series are almost exactly the same. Wonder why they can't make a nice 14 inch screen. I love the size oh well looks like I'll be lugging around 1.5 more pounds. But at least i have a iPad for email and browsing

 

Backlit keyboard on the 14" anyone?
And battery life?

 

So I was ready to pull the trigger on this system until I read this thread. I already have an EliteBook 8440p and actually like the system quite a bit. My wife needs a new computer, so I was going to give her that laptop and pick up an 8460p as a replacement.

Here's the question I have: For those have have used both the 8440p and 8460p, how to the latter stack up to the former? This thread has me wondering about bad screens (I don't find the 8440p that bad) and loud fans.

 

I think people that don't find the screen bad just havent used a good screen. My coworker has a Thinkpad T410 and that thing has the most horrible screen I have ever seen. The colors are all washed out. I told him I read reviews that the screen was really poor. "He was like really? It looks okay to me" and then he showed me. Gosh that screen has no contrast. From all the reviews I read the 8440p has really poor contrast also. I think notebook check rated it around 150:1 which is better than the T410 at 100:1 but still REALLY POOR.
The 15" screen on the 8540p for example had a contrast rating of 879:1

I just sent my 14 inch back. I didnt even receive yet but our vendor had already shipped it. He had no problem swapping it with the 15inch model at no charge. I'll carry the additional 1.5 pounds in weight if it means a much better screen. I just cant stand looking at a crappy screen.

 

no backlit keyboard..
that is only available as a option on the 15 and 17inch W series elitebook.

 

I have the Core i5 8460p & was thinking of upgrading to the 1600x900 screen w/ the ATI card. Can someone comment on how "fine" the resolution is (DPI) & if the discrete card significantly adds noise and a reduction in battery life. The screen, to me, is fine so that aside I really think this is an amazing laptop w/ its redesign.

 

Folks:

I'm coming from a long list of different thinkpads; this is my first elitebook. Just got the 8460p w/ the i7, radeon card, and 1600x900 screen.

Likes:

Keyboard is great. Really solid, good feel, even compared to a thinkpad. I've tried the portege 835 and the macbook pro and my pref ordering is 8460p > macbook > 835.

Construction is way solid, though it's a bit heavy for me (it's 5#; I'm coming from a t410s and an x201s, so that's not surprising).

Trackpad is great. Personally, I like being able to "click" the trackpad like on the Apples (this has mouse buttons instead). But, the feel is spectacular. I haven't tried any gestures yet; just old school. I also like the thinkpad style eraser head; not sure what I'll end up using.

So far, the system seems fast / responsive. Installing starcraft 2 as I write this, so more on that later.

Heat is ok -- been watching videos, running the dvd, and typing this for an hour, and nothing so far.


Dislikes:

I'll admit it -- I'm not used to a matte screen. I have an ipad, and holding up the ESPN front page w/ a picture of Tim Duncan, there's no comparison. The iPad makes me feel warm inside, and I don't care if there's glare from the lamp behind me and it hurts my eyes. It's just so ... pretty. I watched some youtube trailers in 1080p, and they were gray on the 8460p. Text in word is great, but everything is a bit washed out. And last, it could stand to be a bit brighter -- I'm typing now on max brightness and would turn it up a notch if I could.

Fan is on and is staying on. I found an option in bios to turn it off instead of being auto-on when plugged in, but the is on and is staying on. I can hear it when I think about it, and that can be mildly annoying. I saw in another thread someone did an app to turn off fans, but it doesn't apply to all models, so... In general, though, it's about as loud as when your home central air is one. Whoosh!

So that's it. I bought it from Amazon w/ the 30 days return policy, and so far, I'm on the fence. Quality is as good as a lenovo. It's a very nice, solid, machine. I am confident someone will fix the fan issue, so that leaves the screen. I refuse to buy a 15" laptop weighing almost 7#; that's just stupid big. So if I trade it in, I could either get an x220 w/ the IPS screen, or get a mac book pro and use it only for windows (though this seems like a pain in the waiting to happen).
More to follow and some of this is bound to change -- I haven't even figured out how to switch from discrete to hd 3000 graphics yet.

 

Just fired up starcraft.

Had it at 1600x900 on medium settings. Played 1v1 vs computer and never dropped below 41fps.

So, that's good.

Screen though and fan remain as issues.

 

OK. This is humiliating. Turning off the ambient light sensor makes a world of difference. The screen is plenty bright, text clarity is good, none of the pixelation issues being reported with the T420.

So no, it's still not a macbook pro. But it's quite decent. Stupid ambient light sensor.

Fan? Still running.

 

Are you sure about no pixelation? Privious reviewer reported that it is a kind of grainy http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-business-class-notebooks/563845-hp-elitebook-8460p-owners-lounge-16.html#post7405459
I was going to buy 8460p 58UT with i5 and hd 3000, hoping that fan wouldn't work constantly and better battery life, then upgrading the screen to 1600x900. But now I'm reading the thread and hesitating, whether 1600x900 worth it... I need it for text work outside, brightness and text clarity are the main issues..Would you reccomend it for my purpuses?

 

screen quality is very objective. my coworker thinks the t410 screen is okay while i think it is one of the worst screens ive ever seen in my life. What you have to go off is facts. 1600 x 900 should not be grainy due to the pixel density. Glad to hear stormslayer think the brightness is okay with the sensor off. Does it not go up to max brightness with the ambient light sensor on?
Anyways another fact u cant get away from is the poor contrast. Almost all reviews show the screen having very poor contrast and i think that is what stormslayer saw too when he pulled up youtube and the videos look grayish.

 

I would like to hear a final say from you too Storm. How happy are you overall now that you are used to it?

 

I agree with you, but I'm pretty much satisfied with colour accuracy on pictures http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/hp-business-class-notebooks/64370d1303494023-hp-elitebook-8460p-owners-lounge-img_0078-large-.jpg. I prefer to watch videos on my plasma, and I'm not working with photos or videos at all. So if 8460p is bright and no grainy, and the text clarity is fine, I can handle it, cause I'm not ready to carry 15.6 inch with addotional 1.5 pounds just for colours.

 

Does the fan work constantly on your 8460p? Well, that's good that you're satisfied with screen.. Can you make some photos like these http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-business-class-notebooks/563845-hp-elitebook-8460p-owners-lounge-16.html#post7405850.. And, maybe, some photos outside? How is the text quality Is it bright enough? Thanks a lot!

 

Some partial answers -- gotta travel the next couple days so no pictures yet.

1. The text clarity / pixel density is good. Whoever said there you could see pixels like on the T420 is cracked.

2. The horizontal viewing angles are also good, but vertical angles kinda blow. There's a sweet spot and if you're off by a bit it degrades quickly.

3. Brightness w/ the sensor off is fine -- the sensor actually limits the range on the brightness dramatically. I don't understand why it functions the way it does, but if anyone gets this and doesn't know to turn it off, they'll be disappointed.

4. Colors are ok but not great. If I'm indoors, I'd rather use my ipad screen for browsing (assuming it had flash and a keyboard).

5. It's cloudy here so using it outside is fine now; I don't know if direct sunlight would work (probably not).

Some questions:

1. anyone have a way to turn off the fan? I turned it on first thing this morning and the fan was instantly on.

2. anyone know how to switch between discrete and integrated graphics? There's no switch I can find...

 

Thank you for your answers!
There's no way you can switch the graphic card, because this option is only available for probooks s-series, that's what I've found out in a chat with hp tech specialist. That's quite disappointing and the reason for my decision to take HD 3000 only.

 

Was able to look at a 8440w 1600x900 screen yesterday. I believe this is most likely the same screen as the 8460p. Here is my opinion on the screen.

The resolution/sharpness is decent. It's not great but not horrible. I believe the poor contrast does make the screen not as sharp as it should be but someone using this for work for word, power pt, web, etc should be fine.

As for the contrast/color it really is poor and makes the screen overall seem poor and cheap. Most cheap notebooks in the $500 range at Walmart, BestBuy, etc have better contrast/color reproduction. However its also not the worst I've seen. The Thinkpad T410 definitely has the worst screen I have seen. Agree with stormslayer on the viewing angle. From side to side its fine but vertical viewing angle is horrible. If you tilt the screen slightly off the screen will fade out. This can be annoying if you are working on your laptop or on the bed since you will need to constantly find the sweet spot. So yeah overall its a usable screen. Again this is for the 8440w not the 8460p but I believe they have the same screen. I returned my 8460p before it even got to me and swapped it for the 8560p.

 

AIGGHHHHHH. Any chance you can do some quick Starcraft 2 benches?

I can't believe you can't switch. I was hoping to use the hd 3000 for econo battery mode, and the radeon for gaming. That said, I've been plunking away and battery life is quite good so far. I'm doing typing and watching some youtube, and some internet stuff, and we're over the 3 hour mark and half a battery left.

 

If those 500$ models weren't glare I would take one of them, but I need matte screen and have to deal with 14'..So I'm choosin the best of the worst screens, I guess) HP seems quite acceptable for my needs.
I really hope that somewhen there will be a perfect laptop, non apple, but now I have to sacrifice with smth to get what I need.

 

I think the HP dream color displays are matte screens. I could be wrong but I believe they are. But they are only available on the workstation models. And only on the 15 and 17 inch model so still doesn't help the lowly 14 inch model. BUMMER

Yeah I agree, the macbooks are as close to perfect as you can get to a laptop. Perfect build quality, nice keyboard, nice size, thin, and awesome displays for the 13, 15, and 17.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 )

 

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)