*HP EliteBook 8540w Owners Lounge!*

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/09/dell-brings-next-gen-precision-performance-to-m4500-15-6-incher/

Does HP deserve your money?

 

Based on my 8510W they do.
But that looks good.

 

If I can get the equivilently spec'd Dell for $1000 less I'll take it.

 

The m4500 doesn't have usb 3.0 (at least no news about it and that would be something dell would want to showoff) if that's a big deal to some.. and I'm not sure but I thought I read it being able to do a second SSD without removing the optical. I found the info here.

 

like another poster said, based of a 8530p yes, I'd buy another Elitebook without thinking about it.

 

It also doesn't state that they're USB 2.0, either. I agree they [should] market that feature if it is present, but it's not a certainty that it's not.

Here are my counterarguments with the link you posted:

1. It doesn't say that it doesn't have a 10-key, don't assume.
2. 100% gamut vs. dreamcolor at additional cost - Dell wins for economy.
3. I prefer backlit keyboard to a light that doesn't illuminate all the keys - and if you change the angle of the LCD it doesn't light the keys at all.
4. Saying the 8540w is available now is a joke, and if anything, might reflect better on dell -- for not selling a product that NEITHER company has.

Not siding with the dell, just stating my arguments with that link you provided.. and Im sure there are arguments I've missed, and that my preferences aren't indicative of everyone's.

 

Hi all!

I am following this thread since a while and still waiting that my new 8540w will be shipped.

I think that such articles are written for and from "fanboys" mostly. And the linked one isn't very interesting to me. I'm more interested in facts tested on real machines. I'm waiting hard that some of you will write a first review.

But there are two points in your counterarguments, which I want to answer at.

We have to recognise, that 100% gamut of sRGB is less than 100% gamut of Adobe RGB. The dreamcolor panels are still exceeding aRGB. IMHO the 100% gamut is a nice marketing gag done by Dell. If you need a color space greater than sRGB you will have the option if you buy a 8540w.

I am unhappy, that apparently there is no 8540w outside. When I ordered mine I were told that I won't get it before end of march 'cause of some reasons (are still mentioned in this thread). In the article they said, that the HP is out for sale but the Dell isn't. I know the 8530w quite well. This and the offer from my university in austria were the main reason for ordering the 8540w.

 

ugh. my estimated shipping date is back at 3/30. it was 3/19.

 

how come you get updates on your shipping status? I have to call in and poke around...if mine doesn't ship tomorrow, I believe it will be time to cancel.

 

I'm glad that they announced the new EliteBook lineup too early. This way it became eligable for the student offers and I doubt that I could get a compareable notebook for 1400€ anywhere else. For me, the wating is worth it.

But the claimed shipping dates are a bad joke.

 

Yup, same for me. And I don't think HP really wanted that delays to happen, considering how bad it always is for their reputation... They just must have been way too optimistic.
Someone still have today as a shipping date?

 

Well I checked my details and they have been updated and so I'm optimistic it is shipping today though there is no tracking number, of course this was at 430am, perhaps by this evening there will be an update.

 

Called in, they said it had been delayed til the 30th I told them to cancel some bullsh*t about china being really far away and I can return it if it can't be canceled so I interpretted that as "not gunna cancel your order, as a matter of fact I won't even pull up the screen to begin the process but I'll tell you I'll try..." gunna go buy a w510 and see if that doesn't take a damn month and a half to even think about shipping.

edit: well slap me silly and call me daisy...w510 isnt shipping either it seems....no need to get my money tied up in two places....rawr i wish hp had a face so i could kick it.

 

Thank you for the update. Really, they are pissing me off :/

 

I wouldve gotten the w510 but chances are they'd both be delivered on the same day lol

 

Actually that link wasn't me typing that stuff... it's just what I read and I passed the info here. Yes you have very valid points... I'm stuck in rut trying to decide between this 8540w, gt660 and the m4500. Just waiting and waiting.. and waiting.

 

Why does the MSI HAVE to be SO ugly? :-( I hate caring what the plastic surrounding the internals look like. I feel so... superficial. lol. But really.. I could definitely design prettier stuff. They should stick to knockoffs.

 

Seriously. If you designed a laptop uglier than a ThinkPad, you made a mistake.

 

I actually QUITE like how thinkpad's (minus the W series) look. Never to be confused with IdeaPads, which are fugly.

 

I don't know if I missed this or not, but does anyone know what is causing the delay and if it is expected to be rectified in the near future? Also, is it correct that the main difference between the 8540w and the8540p is the graphics ability? Thanks.

 

Yes, the 8540w uses workstation certified CAD grafics and has a darker outer shell.

 

I googled "labor shortage lcd". The answer is, that labor shortage in china is the bottleneck for LCD products.

Here some interesting links I found:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2360719,00.asp
http://www.displaysearchblog.com/2010/02/labor-shortage-in-china-impacting-the-supply-chain/

 

Isn't the 8540w getting DreamColor2 alongside an updated ATI graphics card?

http://hpfansite.com/category/hp-elitebook/

That being said, I'm betting I won't be able to afford those options anyway ... All I can afford really is a preconfigured model. No way I'm paying those prices for those options I probably won't notice.

 

Not that this makes the CTO cheap by ANY standard, but, you can call and ask for a discount, and I believe the threshold is 28%. However, Im on a quest to look in to college offerings of said notebook which seem to have more like 40% discount!!! If only I can find one state-side.

 

I see, well I haven't been as lucky with finding these offers. That aside, it's the 8440w I'm interested in and the pre-configured models are actually not bad for me. I am getting this primarily for it's build quality after all.

One last question, it appears HP is having some serious delay on the shipping of these computers. Does anyone know if this has been resolved? I am not a fan of waiting a month to receive a computer.

 

still unresolved. i still have an estimated shipping date of 3/30. been waiting since 2/8.

rick..

 

And it's just an estimated shipping date right? I guess we'll have to wait even longer until the pipeline gets filled and machines are sent to Europe...
/me waiting since feb.16...
This wait is even harder because there's a lot of blurry things about this computer (in particular its screen quality) so I don't know yet if I'll keep it, and meanwhile it's losing value :/

 

if it's anything like the 8530p it will be worth it!

 

Thanks. I've seen the screen of the 8530p and I found the vertical angles to be a little short (and the tones were really blueish, also the surface is quite grainy when viewed from above), but it should be okay if it's comparable still. I just hope it's not worse...

 

my shipping date was changed to 3/25. that's at least better than 3/30.

rick..

 

I find it funny that every day my delivery date changes to the current day...
Do you guys check your status on-line/call/chat?

 

i email our hp rep every other day or so. my company ordered three machines that we really need from a productivity standpoint.

 

And what do they tell you? Do they think you should have your machine by the end of this month?

 

Last email I received said mine would be shipped on 3/19. Web order confirmation has said 4/3 for some time, although they said it would be delivered sooner since they were going to assemble it rather than wait to have it shipped in.

 

I 've just found this reviews:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9171299/Review_3_laptops_powered_by_Intel_s_Core_i7_processor?taxonomyId=12&pageNumber=1

 

Interesting how the 820QM doesn't bench much faster than the 620M in that review. I might be in the market for a 920XM instead now.

 

If you are concerning only to the processors I can't follow you.
Passmark CPUMark in this review says

i7-620m: 2,254.0​

i7-820qm: 3,681.0​

i7-920xm: 4,131.7 ​

If you are speaking about the geekbench - I'm a little bit confused about this scores. Why is the memory score of the hp so bad?

 

thanks for the review. is this W510 actually available yet? or is it vaporware like the elitebook?

my ship date was just changed to 4/1 for the 8540w. i'm going to check with Lenovo..

rick..

 

I am not sure if the w510 is available, but when I tried to configure one this morning, it said shipping in 19 business days - so it will be later than your 4/1 "estimated" ship date.

edit - I just did a quick search on google shopping - no one has it in stock nor does anyone show and estimated ship date.

 

My order cancellation went through. Kind of unexpected to tell you the truth so I'll wait this out and see what happens between this the w510 and the m6500. I wouldn't mind if a firepro/DC2 display 8540 became available...hint hint

 

I ordered from this school project in Switzerland and they told me that they will get the 8540w in a few days so I can expect it late next week.

 

\o/
I just hope they didn't get a wrong date again from HP...

 

Just received another update. Ship date is now April 2. Also heard that the missing part of the LCD screen is due at HP on 3/31.

 

Every day the shipping date is postponed -_-
(Btw thanks for the update )

 

I finally got my shipping notice email last night with a tracking number, should arrive by Friday. I originally ordered on February 1, about two hours after it showed up on the web site as available.

 

Mine was shipped on Friday. Should be here on Wednesday.

 

Mine was ordered 2/9. No tracking # yet.

 

mine was ordered 2/8. rep still says 4/1 ship date for me.

 

Just ordered today. Couldn't pass up the pre-config deal with free docking station, even though the W is overkill for me. No free dock with the P model for some reason.

Rep said it would be at least two weeks before shipping, to clear out the backlog of all of your February orders.

 

If it's a FX 1800M please run a well known generic benchmark and post the results when you get it.