HP EliteBook 8760w short review

HP EliteBook 8760w short review

Build quality is fantastic, no flex whatsoever and very solidly built. However, the 8760w is very big and heavy, not something I want to move around too much, it's not a problem for me, as it mostly will be used in the same place.

I decided on the regular full HD screen, as my previous test of the Dreamcolor didn't impress me (read mini review here). In any case, I'm very satisfied with the screen, specially after calibrating it with my Spyder 3 Elite, I get very accurate colors, good contrast and the brightness is definately high, even a little too much when working at night. Overall the screen is much better than average, I would compare the quality to the MacBook Pro 17".

I also decided on the i5-2540M processor, as my graphic work doesn't need Quadcore, but combined with the Intel 510 SSD the system is blazing fast, Windows loads in about 15 seconds, 5 seconds later I'm online. Also, the i5-2540M combined with the AMD graphic card makes the system virtually silent during normal use, even when playing a full HD video, the fan is still at the lowest speed, which you have to be about 15 cm from the keyboard to be able to hear, that's a huge plus for me, as I'm extremely sensitive to fan noise.

Overall, it's the best notebook I have worked with, perfect for my needs, no real cons really, the Danish keyboard has a smallish enter button, and the page up and down buttons are a little small too. I do like the keyboard, but I would have prefered larger keys with even more space between instead of the numeric keypad. There's no flex whatsoever anywhere in the keyboard.

Any questions, just post it here.

Thanks

Main Specs:

Intel® Core™ i5-2540M (2.60 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Disc 1 Solid State Drive Intel 510 (120GB)
Disc 2 320GB (7200 rpm)
17.3" diagonal LED-backlit FHD WVA anti-glare (1920x1080 pixels)
AMD FirePro M5950 with 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8SpSV764YY

Picture gallery:

 

Did you see the same shimmering pearly effect on the 8760w dreamcolor display as well as you did with 8560w?

 

I didn't get the chance to see the 8760w with Dreamcolor, but I didn't want to take the chance, so I got the regular screen, which is great. Reports say that the 8760w with Dreamcolor doesn't have that problem. The regular full HD screen on the 8760w is also a little better than the regular full HD screen on the 8560w, viewing angles are a tad better and I get better color accuracy with the 8760w.

 

What is panel model?
Also, what panel is used in 8560w no dream color 2, you reviewed earlier?
Thanks

 

1. AUO159D (also called B173HW01 V5)

2. I didn't get to check the panel I reviewed earlier.

 

Apparently the AUO159D panel is very good ( I'm not surprised), here a review of a notebook with the same panel as mine:

Review Deviltech Fragbook DTX (Clevo P170HM) Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

How do you find the M5950 graphics card performance? How hot does it run? It there a lot of fan noise from the laptop itself cooling the system?

I'm asking as the M5950 when selected doesn't have an energy rating for the 8760W while the Nvidia cards do. I thought the M5950 ran cooler but maybe I'm wrong. Any info would be appreciated.

 

Haven't done much extensive graphic stuff yet, but as I wrote in my review, the notebook is very quiet, even when playing a full HD movie, the fan noise is barely there, it's so nice...

I don't think you should put much thought into the energy rating.

 

wii ... do you have 2 or 4 SODIMM slots ?

 

It's a dualcore, so I only have 2 slots.
The quadcore has 4, as far as I know

 

does your model has WWAN antennas pre installed .. so if you buy a mini PCI-e mobile broadband card you can connect ?

I think than eaven if you dont have, it will give signal but it will be weak ..

 

does your configuration have WWAN antennas pre installed ?

Can you post some more pictures ?

Can you make a photo comtarisson with 8560w

Thx

 

1. No WWAN, I would never carry this notebook around anyway...
2. More pictures of what exactly?
3. I don't have the 8560w anymore, it was just a demo.

 

I added a little video to the review.

HP EliteBook 8760w short review - YouTube

 

thanx, looks good

 

Yeah, it's pretty much perfect for my needs, so I'm very happy

 

Thank you for you short review. Could you do a 3DMark06 1280x1024, so that we can compare it performance wise to all the other configs that are out there?

I already know that an M5950 compared with an i7-2820QM scores slightly above 11k points.

It would be very interesting to see how much of an impact the i5-2540M has on that score.

I'm just deciding between an 8760w (your config) and an W520 (2000M). Right now I'm tending towards the 8760w because of the design and because I think that FHD is too much for a 15-inch screen.
I know that performance and battery-life-wise the W520 would be the logical choice.

 

I don't have that program installed, I prefer not to install more than I already have.

Battery life is about 3-4 hours depending on use with WIFI and full brightness at all times, I think it's ok for such a big notebook.

 

I have 2820QM, FirePro5950, 4x4GB, C300 SSD and WD Scorpio 500GB 7200RPM drive. Browsing alone with display on medium brightness gives me just under 2 hours. If I push it with lots of SQL transactions I get about 40 minutes. But hey, we're not buying these so they last us 10 hours, or do we .

 

WWAN Antennas should be installed by default unless you have the DC display. I have tried a Qualcomm Mini-PCIe card and at Post stage you just get an informational BIOS message that it's an unsupported non-HP WWAN card and that it has been disabled, so I would recommend that if you need it, spec it that way if you buy a configurable model.

 

Yeah, I got a configurable model, to be honest I don't care about battery life and WWAN, a notebook this big is a desktop replacement, I just need to move it around the house, I got it for the screen, keyboard and build quality, it's really nice. The reason I got the 8760w instead of 8560w is that full HD on a 17" is much more pleasant than on a 15", and besides, the screen is actually a little better on the 8760w.

 

Hi wii,

Can I ask where you purchased your 8760w model with those specs and for how much?

• Intel® Core™ i5-2540M (2.60 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
• 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• Disc 1 Solid State Drive Intel 510 (120GB)
• Disc 2 320GB (7200 rpm)
• 17.3" diagonal LED-backlit FHD WVA anti-glare (1920x1080 pixels)
• AMD FirePro M5950 with 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory

I cannot seem to find one in Canada... the only 8760w model I found that is similar to yours is with the following specs:

• Intel® Core™ i7-2620M (2.70 GHz, 4 MB Cache)
• 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• Disc 1 500GB (7200 rpm)
• 17.3" diagonal LED-backlit FHD WVA anti-glare (1920x1080 pixels)
• NVidia Quadro 3000M with 2 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory

I'm mostly interested to have FirePro instead of Quadro. However, does anyone know if I'd be better off with the Quadro 3000M 2GB instead? For Creative Suite applications and 3dsmax.

Thanks for your advice!

 

Creative Suite GPU acceleration only works with nVidia Quadro.

 

I can't discuss pricing sorry, but I ordered via the HP business to business portal. The SSD has been purchased separately (not via HP).

 

Not completely true... GPU acceleration works fine for everything but Adobe Premier. Premier can take advantage of nivida CUDA while rendering video. If your a graphic designer the AMD card should be fine.

 

Hi wii

Thank you for your valuable review which helped me to decide and buy the 8760w in similar specs as yours.

HP EliteBook 8760w Mobile Workstation (LY534EA)
Original Windows® 7 Professional 64
Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM (2,20 GHz, 6 MB L3-Cache)
RAM 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (upgraded to 16GB after purchase)
HDD 500 GB 7200 U/min SATA II (Samsung 830 128GB SSD added after purchase)
GPU AMD FirePro M5950
DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL
1920x1080 FHD WVA Display (Type AUO159D)


You mentionned that after calibrating the monitor with your Spyder 3 Elite, you got very accurate colors. Would you mind to share the ICC monitor profile?

My EliteBook is used for photoediting including HDR and panoramas and accurate colors are most important for me (I could not justify the ++extra cash for the DreamColor display...).

Thank you very much and greetings from Switzerland
Schorsch

 

If you really need accurate colors, chances are that his ICC profile won't help. Every screen is slightly different even if it's the same model. Your best bet is to grab a Spyder 3 or Eye1 from someone and do it yourself.

 

Hi Aikimox

Thanks for your advise. This would be my second step if the result (comparing print vs screen) with wii's ICC profile would not be acceptable for me.

Regards
Schorsch

 

Sure I can, it makes a huge difference - I will upload it right here tonight

Of course every screen is different, but you can give it a try...

 

Hello Wii and others,

How much difference will I see between the dreamcolor display of my
8730W and a new 8760W with a FHD WVA Display?
I ordered the dreamcolor but my dealer claims the ONLY sku he can get right now (Canada) is QZ845US#ABA. Which from what I've read does not have the dreamcolor. I have LOVED my 8730W display and am starting to worry. However I see you are very happy with the non-dreamcolor display.

Thanks for your time

 

Well, I can only tell from own experience, we have an older 8730w in the office with the 1440x900 screen, and for sure my 8760w with full HD screen looks much much better, so the screen quality is much higher, of course a calibration also helps a lot, specially the colors and contrast improve.

 

Very Helpful.
Thanks for such a quick reply - I pickup the 8760W in a few hours!

Cheers

 

I have a very similar config - does the eSata/USB port work OK with USB devices?

 

Yeah, works just fine

 

Hi wii

I might have missed it but did you upload the ICC profile?

Thank you and regards
Schorsch

 

Here you go, let me know how it looks, just remember - the result is always best if you have your own hardware and do the calibration on your own screen.

As mentioned in the review I use Datacolor Spyder3 Elite, it's not cheap, but worth every penny

 

Hi wii

Thank you very much. I'll try the profile tomorrow and will let you know.
Right now I have no access to the 8760w.

Regards
Schorsch

 

I've tried wii's ICC monitor profile and for my monitor (FHD WVA Display; Panel Type AUO159D) it is too yellow to my eyes. Where as the standard ICC profile is too blue.

I'll try to find someone with a calibration tool or buy one myself.

Regards
Schorsch

 

It's most always like that, you need to calibrate it yourself.

 

As far as I know the Spyder also measures the color temp in the room and adjusts accordingly. You really can't just use a profile someone has made unless they made it in the exact same lighting situation.

 

Yeah, as I said, my calibration probably won't suit anyone else.

Colors are great on my screen

 

cold you please tell your model has sata3 slot for hard drive or sata2 (3gbps)

 

SATA 3 for both drives.

 

Update: I just purchased a used (only two months old) X-Rite Colormunki Display (check review) and calibrated the monitor of my 8760w. The resulting profile is almost identical to wii's profile. A little bit too yellow at first glance but after a while I got used to it and found it more realistic than the "cool" default setting.

Another ICC profile for the AUO159D panel (in a Deviltech Fragbook DTX however) can be found here (in the information grid under the "display" section of the review).

Regards
Schorsch68