HP Elitebook 8560p review

HP Elitebook 8560p Review

* It is obvious I am not a professional reviewer. The intent of this review is to provide information to those interested in the HP 8560p from a real user. There is not a lot of information out for the new elitebook and unfortunately you can not view it in a store before purchasing so I will try to shed some light for those of you on the border. I will be doing some comparisons to the Macbook Pro 15 since most of you know and have seen one. Also sorry for the low quality pics they were taken with my iPhone

System Configuration
HP Elitebook 8560p
Intel Core i7 2620m 2.7GHz, 4MB L3 Cache
15.6-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD+ anti-glare (1600 x 900)
AMD Radeon™ HD 6470M (1 GB gDDR3)
8GB 1333MHz DDR
250GB Samsung SSD Series 470
6 cell battery

Build Quality/Design/Quality/Form Factor
The 8560p is definitely not a thin and light notebook. I would not recommend it for anyone who travels on a regular basis. It is about the same size as its main competitors from Dell and Lenovo (W520, T520). With that being said it is no larger or smaller than the standard 15 inch business notebook.

The build quality of the 8560p is where this notebook really shines. The majority of PC notebooks have flimsy plastic and are pieced together. Compared to a Thinkpad the Elitebook definitely feels more rigid and of higher quality. There is no flex anywhere and the notebook is very solid. The buttons are well built and provide a solid click when pushed. The hinge is also very solid and holds the screen solidly in place with no wobbling what so ever. However with that said part of this review is to compare this notebook with the Macbook Pro 15. Knock Apple all you want but they do know how to design and build high quality notebooks. While the Elitebook might feel solid compared to other PC notebooks out on the market it still does not compare to the Macbook Pro's in design and quality. Even though the 8560p is solid but it is still pieced together with various parts and materials (plastic, aluminum, magnesium). Even the non plastic parts feel a bit plastic like when you hold it next to the MBP.

On to design the 8560p as stated earlier is not a portable notebook. It is fairly thick at 1.3". You can clearly see just how much thicker it is compared to the MBP from the pictures below. I won't go into design too much since its very subjective. I personally like the clean retro look of the Elitebook. One of my main reasons for not getting a Thinkpad W520 or T520 is I personally find Thinkapds very ugly and unattractive. The Elitebook looks very elegant compared to a Thinkpad or a Dell.

One negative on the design is the DVD drive. The button to eject is very slim and small and is on the bottom half of the 8560p where it angles in. It is very hard to press and locate. Not a big deal since I rarely use the DVD drive.

One more thing since I see this question all the time on this forum. How much does it actually weigh? I popped both the MBP and 8560p on the scale. The MBP 15 is 5.4 pounds while the 8560p is 6.4 pounds

Overall Design, Quality, Form Factor Rating: 8/10 where I think the MBP is a 10

Here are some photos of the 8560p compared to the MBP 15







Keyboard
The keyboard is a macbook island style keyboard. The buttons feel a bit more rubbery compared to the MBP. Again the quality of the keyboard is excellent and pressing a key provides plenty of travel/feed back. This is definitely one of the nicer keyboards I have used and is pretty close in terms of quality to the MBP. However if I had a choice I would eliminate the numpad and center the keyboard. I think it will just take time to get use to it but I find myself hitting the numlock key a few times when trying to hit back space. Same thing for the "Enter" button. I have accidentally hit "4" instead of "enter". Another annoyance is the using the direction pad since I always default the bottom right corner of the keyboard which is replaced by the numpad. It's not a huge deal since I am sure it just takes time to get use to. This issue applies to all the key's that most users are use to having at the right edge of a keyboard. Still the keyboard quality is excellent and still one of the best I have used on a notebook

Keyboard Rating: 8/10

Touchpad
The touchpad is a huge improvement over my previous Dell D830. It's fairly large and very easy and accurate to navigate. The buttons are also large and the overall feel is excellent with the chemically strengthened glass touch pad. The functionality of the larger touch pad is to provide multi-gestures like the MBP (two finger scrolling, pinch to zoom, etc). I must say this is where the touch pad falls a bit short. The two finger scrolling is very irratic. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Even when it does work it does not feel as natural and smooth as the MBP. On my MBP it comes so natural that I do not even have to think about it. It just works! Same thing goes for the pinch to zoom. On the MBP it just works and zoom effect is very smooth where on the 8560p its more of a step effect. Think about it as frame per second. Where the MBP might zoom at 30fps the 8560p zoom at 5fps. You get the idea. I have only used it for less than a few hours so hopefully there
will be a software update that fixes this.

Touchpad Rating: 6/10 would get a 9 if they fix the multi-gestures
I don't use the pointing eraser thing so no comment there. It works as well as any I suppose.



Display:
On to every one's favorite topic and what a lot of users are concerned about. The display quality. Again I am not a professional reviewer and I do not have any tools to measure the actual quality. Everything is my opinion and from my personal experience. The main reason I canceled my order for the 8460p is the display quality. For the most part my notebook is a secondary display to my 24inch HP IPS display so I do not need a the top of the line Dreamcolor displays. But when I am not at work I also do not want to work and look at display that makes my eyes hurt. I am happy to say the 1600 x 900 display will not do the later.

The manufacturer of my particular display is LG. (I believe HP uses several suppliers so your experience may vary) The display when viewed on its own looks beautiful. It is plenty bright, color and contrast looks good and sharp. I have taken several pictures below to compare it to the MBP screen which is one of the best displays (not counting IPS screens). It is very hard to take accurate pictures of a display so I'll add some commentary. The MBP dispaly is absolutely superior to the the 8560p. This should be no surprise since if you go to your local Best Buy the Mac screens look better than 99% of the PC notebooks out on the market. I was just hoping the screen would be 80% as good as the MBP and I happy to state that in my opinion it is.

When not viewed side by side to the MBP the display looks wonderful. The brightness and color is a step up from my previous Dell and the display looks more vibrant than a lot of the Dells and Thinkpads in the office (not counting the FHD high gamut Thinkpad display because that thing is gorgeous).

Viewing angles are also acceptable. Again no better or worse than most displays. It is definitely not plagued by the problem on the 8460p of the poor vertical viewing angles.

So overall I am very happy with this display. It's not going to make you go WOW and blow you socks off but at the same time it is not going to make you want to stab your eyes out by looking at it. It's a very pretty display actually but the colors just doesn't pop and look as vibrant when compared next to a MBP. Also I prefer the aspect ratio of the MBP. If you look at the pics the MBP 15 actually has a larger screen due to the aspect ratio.

Display Rating: 7/10

*Another member on this forum mentioned the displayed look "dirty" when running on battery power. I have confirmed this that the quality degrades when the notebook is unplugged. This is due to a ATI power saver function. I would recommend disabling this.

Here are some pics of the display using the MBP as a reference. The pictures do not show the differences between the MBP and 8560p screen as clearly in person.












Performance:
I am not going to spend time and run benchmarks but just wanted to give a quick comment on performance. This thing is blazing fast!!!! I definitely recommend a high quality SSD for anyone looking for a extra performance gain. I hit the power button and within a few seconds windows has completey booted and I am ready to go. While I was updating my drivers and windows prompted me to restart within a few seconds I am back in windows again. Restarting windows is faster than restarting outlook or word on my old Dell!! I definitely noticed a difference with the SSD. This is where I am defintiely the most excited about my new notebook. The SSD I installed is the 250GB Samsung series 470. It has a lot better reviews and is faster and more stable than the intel SSD as a HP option. My windows harddrive performance score went from 5.9 to 7.8!

Performance Rating: 10/10!

My samsung SSD. I wonder why they made it so pretty since no one will ever see it once its installed



Ports, connections, etc..
This laptop has just about every port you could need except for HDMI. Why HP decided to use display port instead of a HDMI connector is beyond me. None of the TV's, projectors, etc have a display port connector. Another thing is the inclusion of a VGA, Serial port and a MODEM!?. Come on HP! Who uses those anymore? A modem? really? Are we back to the 90's? Would have been nice if they just got rid of these ports if it meant making the laptop thinner or replaced them with a HDMI port. I am just complaining here and I am sure the 1% of the population that actually uses these ports will appreciate it but it seems like some of the technology behind the ports is dated and very few people will ever use them. I guess I am just happy they didnt include a parallel port. Other than that and the missing HDMI port it has everything you need with plenty of USB ports.


Overall:
So overall I am very happy with my new notebook. I highly recommend this to anyone in the market for a 15inch notebook. The only notebook I would get over this one is the MBP 15. Otherwise I think overall the Elitebook is a better product than comparable offerings from Dell or Lenovo. It is definitely the most attractive in my opinion over the boring Thinkpads and the cheaper feeling Dells. The display is adequate and actually quite nice. If you are expecting something awesome that will blow you away and you have really high standards then I recommend you wait for the Dreamcolor displays but otherwise this display is perfectly fine. Overall build quality is excellent and the performance so far is amazing. I have only used it for a few hours so I can't comment on long term use. The fan is always running but its fairly quiet. So far it seems to run pretty cool and actually a lot cooler than the MBP on my lap. I guess overall I just wish it was a bit thinner otherwise I highly recommend the 8560p and if you are on the fence get off because I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Overall Rating 8/10

 

You get an 9.8/10 for your review! Kudos!

Couple of questions:
1) how would you characterize the Windows/Office performance difference between the 8560p and MBP running Bootcamp? Would an SSD in the MBP help make it on par with your 8560p?
2) Can you describe in more detail about what you meant by the heat difference between 8560p and MBP?
3) why is your company not allowing you to use MBP/Bootcamp to use the superior notebook?

 

Great job on that review. Thank you very much for very usefull information...
Please tell more about screen when running on battery... If you disable power saving option, then you drain battery faster?
Also, I am a bit worried about the fan which is running all the time...

 

1) It's not a fair comparisson since this notebook is a lot more powerful than my MBP 15 specwise. But in terms of functionality boot camp runs windows perfectly on the MBP.

2) I meant how hot the laptop runs. Using the MBP the bottom gets pretty hot at times. So far the 8560p has only gotten slightly warm. It's a lot thicker so it probably has better heat dissipation.

3) Well our company usually buys its notebooks through a vendor we have a relationship with already. It's not that they wont allow it but I would have to talk to my boss and they would have to make an exception which I just didnt want to deal with. I believe two people in the company were able to get Macook pros. One is in market for video and media editing purposes. Plus I already have a MBP as my personal laptop so I just decided to try something new for work.

 

I agree you can't compare specs. But, I think you answered my question that Window boot time, snappiness of running Windows and Office apps appears the same, correct?

So hot that you can't have it on bare thighs?

Two things that I've read on other forums that stopped me from getting MBP were a) bootcamp is buggy and quirky and b) heat is too hot in the all metal case and c) the Apple tax of $350 for 3-year support.

Can you comment on your experience?

I may try the MBP for 14 days and take it back if unhappy with Bootcamp.

Things that push me towards MBP are better apps for home stuff (pics, videos, etc.), better hardware, better phone support.

 

Did not purchase apple care since I feel it's a ripoff. Love my mbp and had nothing but good experienced. The wireless is a bit flaky though. Just do a search there are a looot of users with wifi issues on their apple computers. Dont want to get off topic and discuss the MacBook here though. I'm sure u can find all the info you need in apple forums

Yes the mbp can get pretty warm. Not hot enough where it's going to burn you but warm enough where it might be a bit uncomfortable.

 

Can you comment on Bootcamp Windows experience in Office vs 8560p?

 

as i stated earlier this is a 8560p thread not a macbook pro thread so I will not comment further on the MBP. There is no magic to bootcamp it simply is a set of drivers that allows windows to run on mac hardware. As I stated earlier it runs windows flawlessly in my opinion. Everything works including office. However your best bet as I stated earlier is to check out the apple and mac forums for information not here. You can learn a lot more with a quick google search than from me. It sounds like you set on the macbook so do your research for the MBP.

 

@Yoshimeow, could you please give me some feedback on my reply?
thnx

 

what scares me most is how similar it looks to the MBP.

that really isn't how i see a business workstation.

give me a proper keyboard

Good review though mate, well done!

 

Thank you very much for this great review! Well written and helpful.

 

Looks good, too bad that's it's so thick.

 

yeah but you really cant find any business not book out that isnt this thick. It apparently is the standard. Look at dell and lenovo they are also equally thick if not thicker in the Lenovo case. It looks fine on its own. It's only when you put it next to the MBP that makes it look so incredibly thick. Apple realyl made a awesome piece of technology with the MBP's.

 

Yes I assume the battery will drain faster with the power saving option off but I didnt have that feature on my old notebook and the feature is part of ATI's software/driver suite so I don't really miss it when it's turned off. Plus I can manage my own brightness settings if I am away from a outlet for a extended period of time. Haven't used the notebook enough to comment on battery life.

For the most part the fan is very quiet and I don't hear it in a office environment with my laptop docked. It's only at night when its quiet and I am working in bed where it might be a bit annoying. Otherwise doesnt bother me but everyone is different so it might bother you if you are sensitive to noise. But it is no louder than other laptops and in fact a lot quieter than my Dell D830.

 

Great hands-on review Yoshimeow, it really can help the folks that are still on the fence.

If I may, I would like one additional semi-objective stat which is quite easy to look up, as You already mentioned the windows (experience) harddrive performance score (good heavens, 7.8! that sammy SSD is a beast!).

Would you be so kind and please look up the other stats in the Win Experience Index, namely the cpu / RAM / graphics / gaming gfx numbers? I'm especially excited about the gfx score, ever since new Photoshops have the fancy hardware acceleration support thingie.

 

how is possible that a premier notebook from a "leading" manufacturer in the world can be soooo THICK? it's 2011! what a fail...
would buy immediately it if it would be half the thick it is... so I guess thinkpad t420(s) is the only way to go...

 

It really doesn't look that thick on my desktop docked in right now. It's 1.3" which is the standard in the business market for a 15". In fact 1.3" is about the thickness of most laptops you would find at Frys or Best Buy for consumers. It's just anything looks a bit thick compared next to the Macbook. The T410s and T420s are the only exceptions and those machines you are sacrificing performance. Last I checked they dont have hte i7 processor available. In addition like I stated in the other thread I ruled those out because of the hideous display. Just do a quick google search and you will see the complaints about that display. If you want the ugliest display you have ever seen go pick one up.

Your statement could read like this for the T420s

how is possible that the screen on a premier notebook from a "leading" manufacturer in the world can be soooo CRAPPY? it's 2011! what a fail...

 

don't treat me like i'm some lenovo fanboy.... i really don't care about brands
I'm just looking for the best possible portable machine right now. I've been really looking forward to new elitebooks, but they failed. I just don't know how it's possible for Apple to pack i7, 300 nit display + discreet radeon into a package that's HALF as thick as this elitebook. How can PC manufacturers lag so much behinde Apple (Samsung, Lenovo and maybe Asus are the only ones trying to catch Apple here...). I really admire Apple on how they pull it off, it's just that I totally disagree with their philosophy and will never own an Apple product...

 

how am i treating you like a lenovo fan boy? You are a bit sensitive there arn't you? I am here to provide and contribute useful information. You on the other hand just posted a random rant and ended it with "fail". What a fail Again I agree if you are looking for a portable machine you are looking in the wrong place. These notebooks are marketed as workstation/desktop replacement machines.

Yes it is amazing what Apple has done. Can you name another machine that gives you the performance/power of elitebook in a small thin package like the MBP's? NOPE you cant! it just doesnt exsist. So if you don't care about brands and want the best possible notebook that is portable I am sorry to say you have to get a Apple. I would just swallow whatever lame reason why you have to hate Apple and get a MBP. Trust me you wont be dissapointed. It's a amazing piece of engineering.

I can tell you will definitely be dissapointed in the Lenovo T420 screen. It's worse than the Elitebook 8460p.

 

I have not been a fan of Apple simply because it's a chore to learn how to navigate a new OS. I went to pick up a 15" MBP last night at a local Apple Store assuming I will return it in 14 days after living with it for a while. Very cool piece of technology!

I've also ordered the Henge doc under a 30 day trial program.

Now I am questioning if I can live with Mid-2010 model (duo core) performance or need to spend the extra bucks on the 2011 model when it is rumored Apple is going to use carbon fiber in the 2012 model.

My challenge tonight is to figure out how to use Dropbox across the two OS's without using up double the disk space. Fun tinkering.

If all goes well, I can leave behind the Windows 1.3" tall laptops forever - an it is a huge difference on the table next to each other as well as on the lap.

And I am stating all of this after looking at every laptop in the 8560p range and listening closely to Yoshimeow who actually has the 8560p and MBP side by side.

 

Cool congrats on the MBP. It's a awesome piece of technology! I love my macbook. I was like you prior to going with Apple. I have always been a PC/windows person till I saw the new MBP's. I decided to buy one and now I have become a Apple fan. They make great laptops and there is no denying that. THe OS really isnt that hard to learn and you will get use to it very quickly. Switching between OSX and Windows is like 2nd nature to me now. I can work in either equally well. Also check out parallels and bootcamp for windows.

Good luck

 

here is a professional review on the notebook
New Zealand PC World Magazine > Business laptops: HP EliteBook 8560p

review sucks and doesnt tell you anymore than the press release info. But they do give it 4.5 stars out of 5 .

 

@ yoshimeow: MBP is not an option for me cause I disagree with a closed system where everything is pretty much pre-defined and will be even more in the future. They dictate too much on how to use the system. You cannot customize it as much as you can customize a windows system. Then there are programs for windows that aren't available for osX. Then there is that big shinning logo on the back, you pay loads of money to advertise the brand for free (i know every laptop brand has a logo in the back, but not in that kind of way..., I mean if I play a Dj set in the club I would just hate that Apple logo to shine, it's lame...). And I just can't relate to all the Apple hype, "lifestyle" or whatever, it's so stupid. But yes, they make beautiful great hardware. No doubt about that.

btw. new LGs are interesting: LG P430 and P530 Blade laptops bedazzle with slim bezels, aluminum bodies, and Core i7 -- Engadget

but back to 8560p, HP EliteBook 8560P Review

 

I'd like to re-state my question about the Windows experience index numbers (besides HDD performance number which you already mentioned), they are so easy to find and yet no review had posted them yet.

What are the fresh-after-reinstall cpu / RAM / graphics / gaming gfx numbers?

 

hmm I see it a bit differently.. you can isntall windows on a mac now..
also HP's consumer line notebooks also have the big logo that glows now. Infact the 8560W version has a glowing logo

The LG's look nice but i again i doubt the build quality is anywhere near apples.

Best of luck to you in finding your next notebook

 

didnt see your questions earlier.

All the numbers are pretty high except the graphix. You can look other computers with the same Radeon HD chip to see performance/benchmarks to get an idea.
here are the WEI numbers

Processor - 7.1
RAM - 7.6
Graphics 5.3
Gaming Grpahics 6.4
Primary Harddisk 7.8

Perhaps the firepro card will work a lot better in terms of graphics in the 8560w or my drivers for my Radeon HD is dated. Or my numbers are normal. i havent had time to tweak and trobleshoot.

 

Thanks for the great review I ordered my Elitebook yesterday I guess the 8560p has as other (all?) HP notebooks a bios black list that refuses to use other wifi cards?

 

I have to say, I concur with you here - on all points. I think the answer to your question as to how PC mfrs can stay so far behind - up til now - is price/competition. Until the SB models were released, MBPs were just not competitive with Windows machines for half the price, so only OSX/Apple fanboys (not a criticism, just and observation ) bought them. But as the Apple price/performance ratios have come down and they are not penalizing performance running Bootcamp as much (or so I have read), particularly the pricey "workstation" makers are now looking pretty sorry by comparison. And I agree with your choice of mfrs that seem to be trying to innovate with design (Samsung, Asus) and-or price/performance (Lenovo, Asus).

Finally, (I'm not being paid by Mique - we don't even know each other!) I also would never by an Apple product, even if it was a better product and/or value. I find their corporate culture to be despicable, worse than Microsoft or even IBM were in their worst pre-anti trust litigation days. They arm-twist all their suppliers (who they "own" because of the absurd volumes of certain components they buy) and even buy up more inventory than they need because: a) they have more cash than China and, b) it keeps competitors from getting components - RIM had to delay the launch of their Playbook because Assple hogged bought up the whole market for certain components (it was widely reported). And there is no other company I know of - in any business, but certainly not in technology - that publicly disses its competition by name, as Jobs and other Apple execs do.

Fortunately, Apple has made themselves more of a target and that gives the hope that lazy PC mfrs will be forced to belly up with better design, screen quality and now even performance - but they will end up with better products because they will offer choice and user upgradeable components, which clearly Aphole never will.

BTW, I really, really admire pretty much all of Apple's products and if ethics didn't matter, they would also stack up as about the most successful business - ever. Fortunately, there are plenty of good and a few better products out there and I think the gap will only narrow. But even if it didn't, I would sooner own slightly dowdier looking product than to patronize "that company." Just my opinion, mind. And I know this is supposed to be an Elitebook 8560 thread, but once HP decided to make it a look-alike, they invited the comparison.

 

what about that paypal transfer i transfered yesterday?

 

Thanks!

The graphics score is predictable as the specific Radeon is more of an entry-level discrete chip, but I'm sure it can handle all business apps and 2D content creation just fine. The firepro (and other options, 2 nvidia cards if I recall) will be a lot stronger.

 

The low display rating is killing me with this machine. The machine is fast but when scrolling web pages with graphics it's killing me how it lags. There has to be something driver related wrong, not sure how a newer chip can run worse graphically than my 8530 does..... ughg. and no HDMI port pisses me off, went to plug it into my TV the other day cause I thought it had Audio over HDMI and no port found......

Anyway, still love the machine overall except for that, and the crap layout of the keyboard.

 

Ahhhh, wait found a 5 dollar DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. That will due I guess, Would of preferred a direct plugin but this is better than nothing. Anyone know if it does audio through display port to HDMI?

 

what are you talking about the low display rating? I havent noticed any lag in my machine when scrolling webpages with graphics. THe machine is blazing fast. Are you talking about the refresh rate of the screen?

Yes the no HDMI port sucks. A vga port I understand but a serial port and modem port and no HDMI??!??!

I am getting use to the keyboard layout and I am okay with it now. The more and more I used the machine the more I like it. The display is actually pretty damn nice and bright. Battery performance seems to be pretty good I was working on a project last night for quite sometime and my battery is still at 50%.

Out of curiousity what display do you have???
Go into Device Manager > monitors > select your notebook display > right click on properties > click on details tab and use the drop down to look up hardware ID. and let us know the hardware ID.

Thanks

 

I believe display port does have audio signals unlike DVI. So theorteically it should just work. Try it out and see.

 

MONITOR\LGD0258 *edit* noobed and put my external LCD id on first post.
- Generic Driver

Na, it just seems like it's laggy framerate. If i Take a window and drag it around the screen doesn't seem smooth. Same with scrolling pages. I was refering to the Windows Performance Rating for display. It's rated low because of the 2d performance.

I tried updating to latest ATI drivers but still doesn't seem as fluid as it should be. =

I'm getting used to the keyboard myself, but I still would like to have my old layout back, maybe they will offer a replacement keyboard to stick on there (dreaming) lol.

 

For example, if I scroll up and down this screen with my browser full screen, it is jumpy not smooth, do you not experience that?

 

Well I just turned off Accelerated Graphics in IE9 and it's normal now... wonder if something is wrong with my GPU....

 

Wow, holy smoothness. OK Found the issue *DO NOT turn off PowerPlay lol. I turned it off and it made my performance crap! Just Enable it and put it to max performance and now it's SUPER smooth. Thank god, so much nicer! OMG what a difference!!!

 

glad you figured out what was wrong!! yes dont turn off power play but be sure to turn off enable vari-bright. That makes you screen look like crap and not clear when its on battery.

Looks like you have the same LG display as I do. It's a decent enough display. I know the AUO display was better than the LG on the 8440p but I read somewhere they discontinued those displays or they are in very short supply.

 

Can you check type of the SATA connections you have for main drive and option bay drive ? SATA 3 Gb or SATA 6 Gb ?

 

It seems my 8560p LG732EA has a AUO display:

MONITOR\AUO01EE

 

interesting.. got any pics of your display?

 

I will make some as soon as possible, may you link or send me the pictures you used? So we could compare them better.

 

you can see the pictures I took on the first page of my review.

I did a quick google search so your display has one of the best contrasts of any display out there with a contrast ratio of near 800-1000:1

The LG display by comparison is around 600:1

The vertical viewing angle according to notebook check is a bit poor. Not sure if you notice this ??? The horizontal is fine.

Brightness seems to be a bit dimmer on the AUO vs the LG also. What is your overall feeling of the display?? What do you think about the contrast and brightness? Do you feel it can be brighter?

 

I hope the images are somewhat acceptable and useful, I'm a very bad photographer
















@Yoshimeow Actually I'm very satisfied with the display, In my opinion its very bright and sharp, the only thing that I noticed is that you have to keep the brightness level at maximum, at a level of 50% its kinda dark, I would say the brightness at 75% is the lower limit that I would accept to work with on a daily basis.

 

Hi redlcow. Looks like a beautiful display. It's one if the higher contrast displays and the pics look good. auo has higher contrast 900:1 vs 600:1 Lg has higher brightness 220nits vs 190Nits

Viewing angles look about the same. Maybe lg is slightly better.

 

Great review 2 questions:

1, Is the black bottom cover and the bottom access door plastic ?
2, The palm rest cover is aluminum, but is the silver keyboard deck holding each black key also aluminum or plastic?

Thank u very much

 

Its all aluminum. Only plastic is the edge around the screen. Bottom black half is all metal including the cover

 

1. How about fan noise in idle, is there any to speak of?
2. Any flex anywhere?

Thanks

 

Not to be rude but..
1) the fan issue has been brought up several times already on here and the other owners thread and discussed to death

2) Your answer is already posted in my review under build quality.

Build Quality/Design/Quality/Form Factor
The 8560p is definitely not a thin and light notebook. I would not recommend it for anyone who travels on a regular basis. It is about the same size as its main competitors from Dell and Lenovo (W520, T520). With that being said it is no larger or smaller than the standard 15 inch business notebook.

The build quality of the 8560p is where this notebook really shines. The majority of PC notebooks have flimsy plastic and are pieced together. Compared to a Thinkpad the Elitebook definitely feels more rigid and of higher quality. There is no flex anywhere and the notebook is very solid. The buttons are well built and provide a solid click when pushed. The hinge is also very solid and holds the screen solidly in place with no wobbling what so ever. However with that said part of this review is to compare this notebook with the Macbook Pro 15. Knock Apple all you want but they do know how to design and build high quality notebooks. While the Elitebook might feel solid compared to other PC notebooks out on the market it still does not compare to the Macbook Pro's in design and quality. Even though the 8560p is solid but it is still pieced together with various parts and materials (plastic, aluminum, magnesium). Even the non plastic parts feel a bit plastic like when you hold it next to the MBP.