HP EliteBook 8460p

HP EliteBook 8460p – review

::Since end of February, I have eagerly waiting for the new series of HP EliteBooks. From my point of view, 14 incher is ideal for me. Not too small, not too big. When hooked up to external screen with keyboard and mouse, then it can become a real workstation. I have quite a lot of experiences with different laptops, so hopefully my objective view on this particular model will help you as much as possible to make a good decision.
Main comparison is made with previous 14 inch EliteBook, model 8440p which I use in company.
Some pictures were taken with mobile phone (others with digital camera), so because of that they are not so good quality. But hopefully good enough to see my new toy in action.
Also, I would like to apologize for any grammar errors. English is not my native language.
Let’s begin.


SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

Detailed configuration of my system is as follows:
- CPU Core I5-2540 Sandy Bridge 2,6GHz
- Genuine Windows 7 PRO 64-bit
- Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (1 slot free)
- Hard drive 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA II
- Optical drive DVD+/-RW SuperMulti LightScribe
- Graphic card AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 1gb dedicated ddr3 memory
- Screen 14 inch LED HD+ Antiglare – resolution 1600x900
- Webcamera 720p
- 6 cell battery 55Wh
- Displayport, Vga
- 2 times usb 3.0
- 2 times usb 2.0 (one e-sata combo)

Product number is: LG743EA








DESIGN and QUALITY

Thumbs up for design. Very nice update from previous model. Design is much more clean, with sharp edges and sleek lines.
But beauty is very subjective thing. Everyone has his own opinion on that…

But when talking about quality, there is a clear message. Fantastic build quality, very sturdy. Made from magnesium and aluminum materials, which are durable and resistant. HP say it is made by military standards. Screen hinges are also redesigned from model 8440p, and on the first look even sturdier. When notebook closed, pressing on the top of the screen, there is almost no flex. Really nice. At this point I would like to mention also the bottom side, where we have one big aluminum cover for very easy access to hard drive, memory, fan, etc. This cover can be easily detached with one button.

I would put some negative comments on quality of optical drive (it gives cheap plastic filling), and also latches, which holds screen when closed, feels cheap.

Elitebook dimensions are not so impressive. It is a little bit bulky, but neck to neck you can see the same height as 8440p. A good side to this is that 8460p is running very cool.
I throw it also on my kitchen scale, and it shows: Laptop with inserted battery weights 2480g; charger itself weights 515g. So the whole package in your backpack will be almost 3 kilograms.
Not the best in class, but for me it is not an issue.









































KEYBOARD and TOUCHPAD
HP made keyboard more MacBook chicklet style, where there is more space between keys. I must say that this type of keyboard is very pleasant to type for me. It is solid, with no flex, and also water resistant. I owned last year model of MacBook Pro 13 inch, and this keyboard on EliteBook brings back the good memories. It would be perfect if would be backlight. Known HP solution to that is small LED light at top of the screen near the Webcamera. But the visibility is very bad.

Touchpad was also completely redesigned from the previous EliteBook, and it is now much bigger and smoother (glass touchpad) with good support for gestures. Navigation stick in the middle of the keyboard is still there. Gestures are working ok, nothing special, it could be much better (two fingers scrolling, pinch to zoom, three fingers flick and rotation ). Macbook is still years ahead with gestures. With preinstalled Synaptics touchpad drivers, I had some small issues (touchpad freezes), so I need to reinstall them.














DISPLAY and AUDIO
This is the part, where EliteBook gets a lot of attention. Of course, screen is no match to MacBook, but I must say it is now my second favorite. It is noticeable improvement compared to 8440p (8440p has Nvidia graphics with HD+ 1600x900). In the last year, I also owned 14 inch Sony Vaio EA series, with Sony X-black screen which didn’t impressed me. For me, it was too glossy, and the viewing angles were bad. I like this one on EliteBook more (because of the antiglare coating).
When on full brightness it is very bright (even too strong in the dark), and also with reduced brightness to 50% is still more than decent. Contrast is average, again better as it is on 8440p. Colors are more realistic on 8460p. When doing office work, text remains very clear and crisp. (Note: I have immediately disable HP ambient light sensor)
Viewing angles are also improved; I must say they are very decent, 8440p is no match. I would complain only a view from top, which is the weakest angle. Looking from bottom, left or right screen is much better.

I extracted some info about lcd panels on my models:
- ELITEBOOK 8460p: lcd panel AUO223E (AU Optronics)
- ELITEBOOK 8440p: lcd panel AUO123E (AU Optronics)


Regarding audio quality there is not much to say. Speakers are very decent and quite loud. Sound remains clear at full volume. Of course some multimedia laptops have better speakers, no doubt.



















PORTS and ACCESSORIES
I was very pleased to see HP decided to put 2 usb 3.0 ports. My short test with WD external drive which support usb 3.0 shows very good speed. When copying a movie, I reached 100MB per second, which is around three times faster than usb 2.0. For externals screens we can use DisplayPort (it can transfer video+audio – even with hdmi adapter) or VGA port. There is also E-sata port, which is combined with one usb 2.0, and other usb 2.0 is capable of charging gadgets when laptop is off.
Of course SD card reader and Smart card reader are there.


HEAT and FAN NOISE
As I mentioned, EliteBook 8460p remains very cool, even after 8 hours of normal use. I think main reasons for that are good quality materials and a little bit bulkier design.

I would criticize fan. Fan is always on, true it is not that noisy (normally is very silent), but it doesn’t go off (even if we disable that option in bios). I assume that HP will solve this issue in the future bios updates. With normal use, cpu temperature is only around 40-43 degrees. On 8440p fan is off most of the time with normal use. Sandy bridge cpu’s should run even cooler.


BATTERY and PERFORMANCE
Previous 8440p has very decent battery, so I expected even better results with the new one. My EliteBook has 6 cell battery with 55Wh. With 50% screen brightnes, wlan on, some web browsing, youtube movies, office applications, you should get 5 - 5,5 hours without problems. Probably models with Intel integrated graphics should get a couple of minutes more. When writing this review with editing images, HP Power assistant showed 13-18W of usage (battery was full).
I am more than satisfied with battery life.

From the performance point of view, 8460p is fast and responsive. No glitches or freezes, when a lot of applications are opened (Visual Studio, Sql apps, Office apps…). Only SSD is missing now (maybe later).

Here you can see results in Windows Performance Assessment, compared to 8440p.

8460p


8440p



I didn’t run any special benchmarks, only SuperPI calculation for example:
- 15,6 sec SUPER PI to 1M - elitebook 8440p (cpu core i5-520)
- 12,6 sec SUPER PI to 1M - elitebook 8460p


CONCLUSION
The new EliteBook 8460p is everything as I expected. Of course it has some small issues, but the whole package is very good. Superb build quality, nice design, very good battery, nice screen, usb 3.0 ports, this are the main points why this laptop is worth buying. My particular model cost me bellow 1100€ with some discounts. I was choosing between 8460p and the Lenovo T420, and I am confident that I have made a good decision.


All images from this thread can be accessed here: Index of /8460p_images

 

Wow ... this is a fantastic review. Thank you very much for your detailled report!

 

Was fan noise problem been solved by bios update? It is main disadvantage of this laptop in my opinion. T420 or 8460p...? Help

 

Of course. I think that threshold, when fan kicks in, is set too high. Air coming out of the fan, is barely warm...
I would go with 8460p. Better desing, better screen, and usb 3.0...

 

Nice review and great images thank u very much

 

Awesome review, thanks for sharing !

I wish it had third trackpoint button and was slightly slimmer, other than that Ive gotten used to the new design and find it attractive. I dont own one tho
Also, I wonder how good the Elitebook keyboard is compared to ThinkPad Edge laptops?
I tried one that they had on ProBook 4520s and found it terrible, too small keys, too shallow throw and too big gaps between keys.
Anyone can compare them, used one vs another?

 

I had a 4720s(I think the keyboard on 4720s and 4520s are almost the same other than the overall size) before. But I ended up with trading it with a Elitebook 8530p with docking station plus a iPad 64GB.

I would say the keyboard of the Elitebook I have is much better than the one on 4720s. There are minor flex arround num pad area on 4720s, while 8530p has no flex at all. Also for the keyboard on 8530p, those keys are sitting on one piece of metal plate, but those keys on 4720s/4520s are sitting on is a piece of plastic. I also have Thinkpad T60p and T400 at work but not the Edge series.I still think T60p's keyboard is the best. The 8530p's keyboard is better than T400 as well as the overall build quality and for the new 8x60 series, I think their keyboard must be even better

 

Excuse me but I didn't understand (my English is really poor). Is fan noise ok or not (in comparison to t420)? You said "of course" but next you used simple present tense and I don't know if it was fixed or not...

I hope you'll understand me...

 

Sorry... I wanted to answer your question, if it is possible that it will be solved via bios update. For now, HP didn't release it yet...

At the moment, fan is almost always on, it is not too loud, but it could be definitely more quiet...

 

Hi,

just a quick question - can you notice a buzzing sound comming out from power adapter when plugged in? I have the exact same configuration/model (i am from slovakia) as you , and I have just noticed that I hear a buzzing sound comming out of power adapter. Strange

 

Hi,

thanks for your interesting review. I've got a question about the weight. You wrote the weight is 2480g. Shouldn't it about 2.070g? The weight is an important point for me.

Thanks

 

I didn't noticed it before, but when I put my ear on the power adapter I can hear some buzzing sound...

 

Hi.
Weight of 2,48kg is with inserted battery. Laptop without battery is arround 2,1kg as you wrote...

 

Any news on fan noise BIOS update ??

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=5056943&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=5056942&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4059#120
BIOS version: F.06 (28 Jul 2011)
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=5056943&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=5056942&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4059#120

hvala,
po slikah predvidevam da si iz slovenije

 

The first bios update which HP post it few months ago, I think helped a little bit with fan noise... but it is not ideal yet...

tako je, sem iz Slovenije.
Pozdrav tudi tebi

 

I <3 my 8460p. I know this is an old thread; but that I would sound off... Mine is fitted with 16GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, and I shelved the CD in favor of a modular bay to accommodate the included 500GB SATA. My only complaint is that the CD drive and Hard Drive are hot swappable in a sense; but not like a lot of enterprise lappers that actually have a button. Your only choice is not to screw them down. CD is dead anyway. I just use YUMI with a USB stick to hold any bootable image I need instead of fussing with burning disks at client sites.