Is the 8440p a replacement for the 6930p?

I was looking at the new Elitebooks today and saw that there are now 8xxx series machines with 14" screens and that there is not a 6940p. Is the 8440 intended to replace the 6930? Also, why is the screen on the 8440x 14.0" rather than the 14.1" size that appears to be the norm? Another change in aspect ratio?

 

Yes that is the direct replacement.16:10 to 16:9.

 

What's the point of 16:9? It's even less useful for productivity than 16:10. When will the manufacturers get it through their heads that not everyone uses their notebooks for watching movies? Widescreen has always been a worthless excercise in cost-cutting. Guess I'll either grab a 6930 before they're gone or just keep buying warranty extensions for my 4:3 Compaq Evo N620c until they refuse to sell them to me (it's currently in its 6th year of warranty coverage).

 

You can actually get the higher resolution 1600x900 option with the 8440p. Which is higher resolution that any option that was available with the 6930p.

 

True, but you still lose vertical screen space by going to 16:9. And honestly, who cares about "HD" on a notebook designed for productivity? If I want to watch movies, I'll use my Blu-ray player and 37" LCD HDTV. I'm going to be very interested to see what the Dell E6410 looks like...manufacturers are blurring the lines between commercial and consumer systems, and that probably isn't a good thing.

 

Curious, does it matter if you were you hook up your laptop to an HD tv? a 16:10 laptop full screen movie playing through HDMI on a 16:9 tv would it be skewed or is that a function of the media application and not ratios?

 

How are you losing any screen space with the 8440p? The max vertical resolution of the 6910/6930p was 900 pixels, and so is the 8440p. And no they are not blurring the line between the two, it's the screen manufacturers that are the issue. Don't get me wrong I don't like the 16:9 screen anymore than you do, I use a 1920x1200 screen (15.4'') myself and I don't really fancy losing 120 pixels for my next notebook. But unfortunately thats the way it is. It's only a matter of time before the Thinkpads switch to 16:9 too.

It's all software/drivers/GPU, the notebook's LCD physical resolution/aspec ratio will not affect it's output.

 

I'm no happier about the shift from 16:10 to 16:9 displays, especially on business notebooks! In most cases, there are fewer vertical pixels- basic 1366x768 is a loss of 32 vertical pixels (-4%) and 1920x1080 is 120 less (-10%). But the one exception is comparing 1600x900 (16:9) to 1440x900 (16:10). Same number of vertical pixels and an increase of 160 horizontal ones.

I was surprised to see that the width of the 8440p is only 0.18" more than the 6930p, and the depth is 0.27" less. The thickness remains the same.

They 15.4" (16:10) T500 and W500 models were just replaced with the 15.6" (16:9) T510 and W510! The entry level SL400/SL500 (16:10) were replaced by the 14.0" SL410 and 15.6" SL510 several months ago. The 14.1" T400/T400s replacements (T410 & T410s) are the only ones who kept the 16:10 aspect ratio...for now.

Toshiba also just replaced their 15.4"' Tecra A10 (16:10) with the 15.6" Tecra A11 (16:9). And Dell's updated Latitude and Precision models are due out any day now and I'd be willing to bet that some/all of them will be 16:9....so HP isn't the only one making the switch all the way to the top the of the product line!

 

Yeah I know about the new Thinkpads, and no, the SL line don't count as Thinkpads. I can't see the next generation Thinkpads being 16:10 without a higher price tag. Or, well, they cut corners on everything else.

 

The SL models are definitely the proverbial "step-children" of the ThinkPad lineup. No Roll Cage, no ThinkLight, Glossy exterior and they're the first ThinkPads to be available with a 'glossy' (VibrantView) display! I only included them because the R-series is on borrowed time and they have traditionally been the entry-level/value-oriented models....but there will be no R410/R510.

And don't even get me started on the ThinkPad "Edge" and the X100e...

 

The R series is really good value for money. Especially the 14'' ones.

And yeah those netbook things............about that........