zbook 14 vs elitebook 1040

Whats the difference between these laptops, all i see if that the zbook has a discrete card however it adds another $300 on the price tag

 

Think of the Elitebook as a business version of the Spectre 13. It has a matte display instead of glossy, docking capabilities, better build quality and a better warranty.

The Zbook on the other hand is a mobile workstation, which means best build quality, even better warranty (onsite by default), and firepro/quadro professional graphics.

If you don't need the dedicated graphics, and can live with a maximum of 8gb of ram, then you will probably like the Elitebook better. It is the lighter and thinner of the two.

 

Doesn't the Zbook also have the better display? Dreamcolor and what-not.

The Folio is a very nice ultrabook, by itself. Very sturdy and you won't believe how convenient the forcepad is until you've used it for a week or two. I can never go back from this now! Whatever next ultrabook I buy, it'll have to be rocking a forcepad.

 

I don't think the Z14 has a DreamColor option - at least it wasn't offered as such on the configuration page. I would certainly put the build quality of the Folio at the same level as the Workstations - it is incredibly solid.

The Z14 will be bigger, allows a 2.5" drive (vs. the M.2-only Folio), has 2 RAM slots that can take 8GB modules right now (vs. 1 RAM slot that seems to only have a 4GB module by HP that fits) and has discrete graphics. I'm going to assume that has a cost in weight and battery life. It also has a cost in cost, as the Z14 seems quite a bit more expensive than the Folio.

Seems to me that the Z14 is good if you mostly use it docked to a nice big IPS monitor, but also need some portability, whereas the Folio is great if you are mostly away from your desk but still want to be able to dock it to your big IPS monitor when you are there.

I agree on the forcepad - I haven't once felt the urge to break out a mouse or trackball, and every other laptop I've used ends up with the trackpad mostly unused in favor of a "real" pointing device.

 

Well, there you go, OP. You won't get a more objective response than this

 

Was in the same situation and went for the Folio. Don't get fooled by "slimmer" and "ultrabook" - it's built like a tank. Kind of what the thinkpads used to be like.

 

Indeed, I am finding the HP Business Class models much more to be like the good old ThinkPads of yore. I like HP EliteBooks a lot, been replacing older laptops at work with EliteBooks and Panasonic ToughBooks. I love them a lot.

 

Have any of you 1040 owners tried Linux on it? In particular I'm trying to find out if the new forcepad works with linux. I've posed this question in a few different threads but haven't gotten an answer yet.
I'd love to pick up this notebook but this one unknown is keeping me from pulling the trigger.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Sorry, no idea. I've only ever loaded Linux on a VM.

 

Thanks, anyway. I've found one link that seems to indicate that the forcepad works under linux, HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1 [Linux Laptop Wiki] but I'm wondering to what extent, i.e. would the pressure-sensitive aspects of the touchpad work, or would the touchpad just function as a normal touchpad without any of the force feedback.