Help Please: If you could have any HP Elitebook, which one would you get?

I moved this post to the "What should I buy" thread. Thanks.

 

well, i can't say i didn't tell you so, i mentioned a while ago the DC2 delay, but no-one believed me...

as this is about replacing your envy with the old but cool screen, you are going to be having a delay on anything DreamColour based for the foreseeable future. I would therefore advise against the dc2, unless you must have the screen. (the eta on my DC2 panel order (4 of) is delayed until june 24th now)

However, i despise the new design of the 2nd gen series, but you could very easily pick one of the new gen ones up and grow to like it. The 8560 series is quite powerful, although it looks like a dog, someone will be happy to take it off your hands eh.

The issue for me is i use a very specific setup on my 3d apps and video editing tools, (as we have custom user interfaces) which rely on 1920x1200 resolutions, hence my negativity for 1080p, because our R&D will need to redo the user interfaces to the new resolutions you see.

but the 86xx series will have better battery life, more performance and yea, if i wasn't stuck to 1200p due to working, i'd probably buy one myself.

go second gen, as they will have better resale prices.

Sio

 

For resale value, it would be silly to pass up 8x60. At this point the 8540w with DC is going to have a hard time competing with a well-appointed 8560w even without DC. The 8540w is already 1080p, so there is not even the minor 1200p factor (minor b/c only a minority of potential buyers would settle for last years model in exchange for 1200p). If you can really have any, you might as well get 8760w especially if you can get Nvidia graphics (the AMD GPU is a downgrade from what the 8740w has).

 

If I had the money to get any Elitebook, I'd grab the new Precision

 

I agree that the M6600 is more compelling than the 8760w, but I'm pretty sure HP isn't going to send him an M6600 no matter how many letters he writes.

 

i'd get a macbook pro.. hehe okay in all seriousness I personally like the new elitebooks over the older ones. The design is much cleaner if you see one in person and the build quality is superior. I know because my coworker has the older elitebook and i have the newer 8560p. The build quality on mine just feels tighter and more solid.
Not sure how much longer you want to wait but the P series are out already. If you want a stronger graphics card I would wait for the W series which should be out by the end of this month so you should be looking at a delivery date sometime in June.
8560W is what I would recommend if you can wait.

 

yay for keyboards which degrade over 3-4 months of use. thats what chiclet do on you.

I have a mbp, i hate it. keyboard going.
I have an asus G73JH chicklet keyboard, hate it. mainly cos it's had its issues and needs yet another RMA, but the keyboard is going.

1997 Toshiba Tecra 8000. with a Pentium II, 233Mhz processor. Keyboard still working as it was then.

1993 RISC Laptop keyboard still working today.

going a bit extreme, i know. but i'm sick of the ever more 'throw away and make things look good' culture we're having forced down our throats.

I don't care if it's more 'sleek' it is a rip off of the mbp, just own it. because it is.

it's a shame, because if it didn't look as bad, i might have tolerated the 1080p screen. the keyboard is the kicker for me though sigh.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. 8560 with best non-DC2 it is! I appreciate all the advice, but I think some of the latter posters forgot I am dealing with HP getting a replacement computer, so the other models are only things I can consider after I get something HP and sell it.

This is all madness, really. A big part of me wants to tell them to forget about it and just give me my original purchase price back, but since they offered me a $2,400 notebook it's hard to pass it up, whether I sell or keep it.

 

What is your current comptuer? I'd just keep it

 

He returned the Envy 14 for the 8540w with DC 2. He doesn't have any computer that is related to this case in his possession right now. Also, I would go for a Precision in this current generation over the Elitebook, but I guess you can go for the 8560w if you want. I am sure they will have 16:9 DC2 screens for it shortly if you want to wait just a little longer. However, it is ridiculous that they took this long to even make one more 8540w with DC2 for you. I am sure they still got a few more in stock of the panels.

 

Actually, the HP isn't even taking orders for the 8560w for weeks, and then there will only be limited configurations available. For me to get the equivalent configuration on an 8560w, I'm probably looking at late June, early July.

But, I did receive some very good news; a request from the company and superstition prevent me from saying what just yet. Let's just say two things held true:

1) squeaky wheel gets the grease
2) Most of the people at HP really do want to take care of customers

Watch this space...

 

Post needed to come down, per OP.

 

Note that when I suggest 8x60, I was thinking w-series.

The 8560p doesn't offer up many valuable upgrades. The biggest jump in config cost come from RAM and SSD...both of which are super easy to upgrade on your own and way cheaper even after assuming a nice 28% discount. Basically anyone wanting to max out an 8560p would spend about $1500 on a CTO version and do those 2 upgrades on their own (this again assumes HP is offering 28% CTO discounts).

I think the 8740w w/o DC2 would be a mistake. There are plenty of deals in the outlet for anyone who has waiting this long to get the last-chance 1200p screen. That is unless you can them to give you FX5000M GPU...then you would have something not very common in the outlet (though your market will be small since the M7820 is miles better in value if you don't use programs that take advantage of CUDA). Or if they would give you 940xm/256GB SSD/16GB ram with the M7820 and 1200p screen, you could make a good price with that too. It really comes down to how crazy they will let you get with configuration.

I think the Envy17 might be the best choice barring a shopping spree on the CTO-8740w. You should have a larger market since it is a consumer laptop and there don't appear to be any steep discounts available for it at this time (I didn't look too hard though).

I certainly think the Envy17 is a better bet than 8560p for resale value while the 8740w is a wildcard depending on how much you can squeeze out of them (though considering a smaller market).

 

Just thought you all might like an update. After an intense letter writing campaign I got a new case manager who couldn't have been nicer and was willing to assist me changing the 8540w for something different, but then elsewhere my letter writing campaign got the production engines flaring and before she had a chance to process a change order request, the 8540w - with Dreamcolor 2 screen (you know, the one that was entirely unavailable for months!) - was delivered at my door!

Request: if anyone on this thread knows more about my personal situation with this order than I've said publicly, I appreciate your not "outing" that information, as I've been asked not to put it in public forums. Thanks.

And thank you all for the support in this ordeal which lasted from January 15 (when I ordered the Envy 14/Radiance!) through today - 16 weeks!!

 

Are you happy with your 8540w? Was it worth it?

I think you've no regrets about the looong waiting (and I'm in the same boat with my replacement) and now you have a screen 10 times better than your previous Envy Radiance. The DC2 is a real 10-bit screen, which is able to render up to 1,073M colors (yes, you read right). Under normal operation, it renders up to 16.7M (8-bit mode). In comparison, a normal screen only can render up to 262,144 colors. Also you'll be delighted with a contrasty image (800:1 real), extreme viewing angles and very good blacks.

Remember to run Mobile Display Assistant and set the sRGB color space if you want to see natural colors in most applications and games. Welcome to the club

 

So, did you just get yours as well? I can't recall, were you waiting on a repair/replacement, or just a new order that kept being delayed? I'm wondering if the logjam suddenly broke on the DC screens, which is why we both got ours last week. Did you try anything extraordinary to get yours to finally be shipped to you?

 

Not exactly. I agreed with HP to keep my old unit until the new one is shipped (full replacement with a little enhancement - with 8G of RAM in total).

I'm on the same boat like you because I'm waiting since more than 3 months ago. It seems may 18 might be the ship date (preliminary), but not guaranteed.

Also I've not received any news from Sam K So I'm still waiting... (I hope the wait is over soon).

But tell me what do you think about your new 8540w. Are you happy? Are you impressed with the screen?