Envy 15 vs Elitebook 8540p

been comparing the differences in these two machines. look very similar. 8540 has the fingerprint reader and the numeric keyboard on the side. other than that, not seeing a big difference.

i plan on using primarily for business (software development). the elitebook would seem to make more sense for me. however, the biggest downside to the 8540p is that it is not yet available. hearing feb. but nothing definite.

any other key differences i may have missed?

thanks, rick..

 

the elitebook is heavier, thicker, but probably more sturdily built. it wont be as stylish but it seems the comp specs are quite similar. if you want thinner/lighter/stylish, go envy. if you want ruggedness and numpad then go 8540p. altho i dont know how much the 8540p is going to cost...

 

I just checked out the 8540p and I instantly fell in love with it, minus the video card, its just incredibly functional (which its meant to be duh). I think i'd prefer the firegl card in either one (8540p/w) and it will be close to double the price of the envy for a comparable product. You're definitely paying for a business standard quality. The tech support and the driver maturity will be far greater than the envy. If you're not concerned with that aspect of your purchase and don't need many i/o ports, then get the envy. It'll be cheaper. If you want the peace of mind and the functionality of having those ports and a mature base from which your laptop will come, then get the elitebook.

 

I love my Elitebook 8530p, It's the greatest laptop I've ever owned not just because it's new (my Thinkpad T500 was faster) but it's solid and the screen is fantastic (2 things the thinkpad lacked). also elitebooks come standard with a 3 year warranty, factor that in when you are doing the cost comparisons.

I personally would go with the older 8530p because of the 16:10 vs 16:9 issue. but If I had to buy a 16:9 it would be the 8540p/w.

 

I'm in a similar boat but in the 14" market. I would love to see an Envy 14 (rumored to be in the works according to Engadget) before the 8440p becomes availabe so that I can compare the two. I love the durakeys on HP business notebooks, and the 3 year standard warranty.

 

When is the 8440w coming out anyhow?

 

The Envy is not nearly as well made as the Elitebook. Also HP's business support is much better than their consumer report. The product quality and support between business and consumer is like two different companies. I wouldn't touch an HP consumer product but their Elitebooks are one of the few PC laptops I can stand for build quality as compared to Apple laptops. Especially now that Lenovo has downgrade the quality of Thinkpads. I usually run Linux on my HP 8540 so I don't have to deal with Windows.

 

Apple? really?

You must be on dope...

 

Ok, just to confuse things more, you should also be looking at the Probook 6540b, which is sort of halfway between the Envy and the Elitebook.

 

The specs on the HP aren't very complete for the 8540p but from the looks of it the notebook is heavier and has no option for a fullHD screen. The graphics card is more of a workstation GL card and is far less powerful than the ATI 5380 in the Envy. On the other hand the unit comes with a standard 8-cell battery which probably offers more uptime.

Then there is the 8540w which is more capable than the 8540p in terms of gfx but without pricing its going be tough to compare values.

 

There is a FHD screen for the 8540w, not sure about the 8540p though. The 8540w will use a FX 1800M 128-bit GDDR5 card which should definitely beat the Envy's 5830 128-bit GDDR3.

 

it's actually a 5830 not a 5380.

 

For your usage, software development, I dont think the NVIDIA FX1800 GDDR5 card is worth it, unless you do 3D...so the p version would be my pick.

Basically Elitebook>Envy

Better BQ, better support, warranty, drivers, more stable performance, faster in general, if workstation with ISV certifications (will work in other words), more durable and resistant, and reliable in general.

The Envy is superior than most consumer laptops, but the Elitebook as a business laptop is in a whole other league...much better.

 

Everyone's already commented on the build quality and there is consensus there.

But it looks like the Envy's 5830 has a good chance to be faster than the FX1800. Since both cards are so new its hard to tell honestly. The FX1800M is rumored to be based off the GT335M with 72 SP cores. Barring any efficiency increases per core, that's a little less powerful than the GTS 250m. The 5830 Mobility looks like a downclocked version of the 5850 which is pretty damn powerful. Both will be hampered by a 128-bit bus however.

 

The FX1800 is spec'd as using GDDR5, enough to double the 128bit bus, and surpass by a fair margin the 5830 with DDR3 and 128bit.

 

now that hp revealed the specs of the elitebooks which turned out to be very disappointing in the case of the 8540p (although i already got the confirmation of a hp product manager that they would get nvidia graphics exclusively somewhen in nov-dec 09) - nvidia nvs 5100 - i thought about the envy 15, mainly because of the great gpu upgrade to the mobility radeon 5830.

but after having had a look at the envy in a shop recently i turned away from it again. the almost minimalistic (apple-like :/) look and placement of function keys like the volume, wireless etc. keys doesnt really look premium, as an envy actually should be.

i also think there are far too less ports (usb etc.), no fingerprint reader, card reader, optical drive (ok, thats not essential if available as an accessory, but still) and the fact that usb 3.0 is only available with an i7 cpu also only speak against the envy.

regarding the cpu - why offer two different i7 quads for a consumer notebook instead of the best mobile dual core cpu at present, the i7 620??? who needs really a quad (if its not a desktop quad constantly running at 2,8ghz at least..) inside a notebook, except if its a high-end workstation?

and the display is lacking a very important option as well - a 1600x900 HD+ display! where is it???
also, where is a dream color 2 display??? considering envy should be premium!?

IMO envy is a fail... i mean, its great as it is, but it could be far better (and prettier, but thats just my personal taste).


so i definitely prefer the elitebooks over any consumer model (since premium isnt really premium for hp, as envy used to be and eg. alienware is for dell.. fail), which i have always been doing. mainly because of the customer support, warranty, build quality, hardware reliability and the raw specs as well.
however, even there HP has failed gravely, namely in terms of the 8540p's gpu.

putting in a yet unmentioned (and according to the specs quite poor) nvidia nvs 5100 and not offering anything else, although this is the -p professional model, formerly equipped with performance ATI mobility gpus, is just dumb, looking at the other specs and the amazing build quality and the giant potential this notebook actually has.

since they are offering a quadro fx 1800m and a fire pro 5800 inside the 8540w (hence the cooling is enough for a HIGH-END gpu), they really could also put a ATI mobility radeon 5830 or 5770 (GDDR5!!!) inside the 8540p, and theyd be stunned about the positive feedback and sales this would yield...

 

The 8540p should be configurable with integrated GPUs only as an option (if it isn't already), most business users do not need a GPU. If you want a powerful GPU, the 8540w's FirePro 5800 will be basically the 5770 - there is no need to have the consumer version of the card in the 8540p.

 

look at the class and pricing of the 8-series business notebooks - theres no place for an igp (except as a switchable igp/high-end gpu). maybe among the lower elitebooks and all of the probooks and less, but not these.

the mobility 5830 is basically the desktop 5770 with GDDR3, the fire pro 5800 is probably based on the mobility 5850.

and why no need for a consumer gpu? of course!
fire pro & quadro fx inside the -w models and mobility radeon (and maybe nvidia gtx 300/400m when available) inside the -p models!

i mean, were talking about the top-end notebooks.. those who dont need such a powerful gpu can get a lower elitebook with still powerful enough cpus, but the 8-models must have everything maxed out, at least as an option.

 

The 5830 is capable of getting 3dmark06 scores ~10k (through overclocking) according to the Envy 15 benchmark thread, so theoretically can the FX1800 be expected to get even higher scores if overclocked as well. For a ballpark estimate, what 3dmark06 scores can we hope the FX1800 can achieve?

 

It is based on the GT335M, but with faster memory...so my guess is to expect a performance around a 256bit GDDR3 GPU such as the 9800M GT...this is a rough guess...as I can't honestly tell you out of my head the numbers...but in cases the power is needed it will be faster than the 5830.

Remember the 4860HD how it could keep up with the 48x0HD? It should apply the same for the FX1800...

 

If it matters any notebookcheck.net ranks the FX1800 as a class 2 card. I suspect if GDDR5 is used the performance will be in the Mobility 5850 range. With faster RAM the power increases markedly. Its specified at 45 watts on the nVidia site.