T440s up on Lenovo website (IPS Screen, 1080p)

Something can always break, but I don't think there's been an inordinate amount of memory failures in Ultrabooks.

 

The main problem with soldered memory is that you can't (easily) upgrade it.

If the computer is covered by a warranty, and the soldered memory breaks, then its the manufacturer's problem. After the warranty expires, then its your problem, but its pretty rare, by that time the computer might have lost a fair amount of value in any case. Personally, I usually get a 3 year warranty when I get a laptop for work, and then aim to replace it. With one for home use, I'll get a shorter warranty, a cheaper laptop and take the risk.

If you plan to own an expensive computer for longer than the warranty cover, then replaceable memory would be worth looking out for.

 

Here's a new competitor to the T440s:

Acer Travelmate P645

Unlike the HP ZBook 14, it DOESN'T have a TrackPoint.

Up to 12 GB RAM
Up to 14" matte FHD IPS 16:9
Intel 4400, 5000, or AMD Radeon HD 8750M 2 GB
Supposedly SSD+HDD (dual drive)!
1.55 kg

Ethernet
VGA
HDMI
3xUSB3, one always-on
mic
headphone
memory card reader

status LEDs for power, charge, HDD
fingerprint reader
WiFi on/off button
docking port
802.11ac

Available in Europe in October starting at EUR 1350.

Source: Acer Travelmate P645: Leichtes Notebook mit mattem Display, Dock und Gigabit-WLAN - Golem.de (German)

 

greatest competitor to t440s is latitude e7440 which is even better than t440s because it doesen't have integrated battery, 2 RAM slots and easier accesibility to the inside

 

The P645 looks a bit expensive to me. And no info on battery capacity.
The e7440 has a 47Wh battery maximum. Come on, that's crap!

 

t440s have 2x 23.5 Wh batteries whis is 47 wh..is that a crap too ?

 

Imho, yes. Luckily, you can get the bigger battery (72Wh iirc) which boosts the capacity to 95Wh. Which is good for me.

Yes, the battery protrudes from the bottom and no, I don't care. I've been using a M735T for 4 years with the huge 65Wh battery ( http://www.itbatteria.it/images/large/laptop-battery/1001887-b_1_2.jpg) and I actually like the fact that it stays tilted while on a flat surface. Moreover, the tilting lets me use the notebook even on soft surfaces (eg on the bed) without risking to overheat it. For me, it's a feature, not a problem.

 

well I have a cooling pad so I can use it on bed whitout the risk of overheating and I like it more when it's not tilted.

 

The research suggests that RAM failure is an order of magnitude less likely than CPU failure. See the Microsoft study here. Of course after a couple of failures the probabilities of further failures converge.

 

The intregrated battery allows you to switch battery without powering down the computer, a useful feature in long distance flight.

 

I think there is no competition between ZBook and T440s, shame lenovo.
For me it will be either Thinkpad Yoga (if I decide I can live with 8GB RAM, integrated battery and hdmi on a dock can output 1444p) or ZBook if I just go with reliability and power. I don't think Acer is in the same league of business laptops as HP, Dell and Lenovo but wouldn't mind if they prove me wrong

 

I don't agree. For me, a mobility unit must have at least 10h of battery life. The zbook is said to come with a 50Wh battery maximum, which is way too little. On top of that you can add a 60Wh slice battery but it will be too big and heavy imho.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/pdf/zbook14_datasheet_tcm_245_1490468.pdf

To be honest the t440/t440s are right now the only Haswell business laptops that offer decent portability, competitive price and a 70+Wh not-slice battery. I'd be glad to be wrong tho.

If just they did the trackpoint buttons the right way I would have ordered one already, now I have to find one to try myself before being convinced.

 

The review is up! Google translate Notebookcheck review

 

Sadly, only the HD+ model available that it is available in Germany... I was hoping they would test the FHD screen...

 

Both German reviews of the FHD model love the screen, so don't worry about it!

 

Quick summary in English:

Build quality is top notch.

802.11n WiFi works at normal speeds.

Excellent keyboard, backlight works fine.

Touchpad is fine, Trackpoint hard to use due to buttons integrated into touchpad.

HD+ TN panel has the usual TN defects.

The CPU gets throttled to roughly 1/2 speed when the GPU is loaded, more so than on the Dell E7240.

The test model suffered in some benchmarks due to the HDD (instead of SSD) and single-channel 4 GB onboard RAM.

VERY quiet, even under load.

VERY cool-running.

Speakers are too crummy for presentations, movies, and games.

6 h battery life for web surfing, 109 minutes under full load.


They mention the 6-cell 72 Wh battery weighs ~150 g more.

 

Thanks for the link and summary.
I find it VERY strange that it throttles when under (integrated!) GPU load, while keeping very low temperatures and noise levels. A firmware update could solve this but as it is it seems a poor choice.

Battery runtime for only 48Wh is good. With the optional 72Wh battery (total ~96Wh) this means 12h of REAL battery runtime. Very good.

The chassis is good as we know, good noise levels and temps... with the FHD screen it's still pretty cheap and it looks to me it's almost a dream notebook... if it wasn't for the touchpad buttons. Why oh why did they have to ruin it so!
However, I guess one should try it before saying the buttons don't work well. IbmThink had no big problems with them.

 

So when they say "actual availability in November" is that worldwide... or a certain market?

 

by the way, if anyone is interested in the prices in europe, there is already one model with pricing in czech. 20AQ000S++ i5-4200U 4GB 14.0" FHD 500G 7200 7260 a/b/g/n 24GB SSD Win8 Pro64 NO backlight keyboard costs 1300 - 1350EU. So should be almost the same price in other EU countries.

and

20AQ0014++ i5-4200U 4+4GB 14.0" FHD MT 256G SSD eDrive 7260 a/b/g/n Ericsson Win8 Pro64 NO backlight --- 1630EU

and these are with the slowest processor 4200U, better processors will be 80-100Eu at least I think, so a pretty costly machine

 

The NBC review states a lower price, about 1000€, that is with the HD+ screen, but the difference should not be 300€!

 

The Notebookcheck review was of the student model without SSD cache and without Windows. The price isn't available to non-students.

 

Thanks for the puntualization.

 

New HP Elitebooks look nice, the dell e7440 looks nice, the t440 series is looking nice, a great time to be looking at 14inch business laptops with good screens =)

 

is there an official release date yet??

 

I would be interested to know when available in Australia with prices if any one knows

 

Yes, it is official at the end of October.

 

The Dell e7440 has been mentioned a few times in this thread as an alternative, but from what I can find it only has a 1366x768 resolution: pretty underwhelming for a 14".

Or is there an improved version coming with a better screen?

 

FHD 1920x1080 is also available.

 

It should have a 1080P screen based on one of the spec sheets I saw.

 

HP just released their new corporate Elitebook 800 series ultrabooks today.

The Elitebook 840 is a direct competitor to the T440s.

HP seems to have left the trackpoint and trackpad buttons intact.

16GB ram in 2 full SODIMM DUAL CHANNEL Memory slots (nothing soldered like the T440s)
3-cell (50 WHr) HP Long Life Battery 12hrs
6-cell (60 WHr) additional Slice Battery for up to 33hrs
14" diagonal LED-backlit FHD anti-glare UWVA slim (1920 x 1080)
AMD Radeon HD 8750M (1 GB GDDR5 dedicated)
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac (2x2) WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 Combo
Core i7, i5, i3 CPUs with Intel vPro
3 USB 3.0
1 USB 3.0 charging
1 DisplayPort
1 VGA
1 combo stereo headphone/mic jack
1 AC power
1 RJ-45
1 docking connector
1 secondary battery connector
3.48lbs
13.34 x 9.33 x 0.83 in
Magnesium Alloy Graphite Black Chasis

Full specs here

Elitebook 840 infosheet here

Lineup is already up for sale on HP's site









pics courtesy of Hardware.Info



More pics here

 

I really like how HP has simplify removing the back cover without screws! So nice! Every laptop brand should do this!

But I don't like how there is no intermediate battery option between the 3 cell and the slice battery (I guess they can't since their battery can't be removed without removing the back cover.) If someone can explain the different model names and how they fit into their business line that would be great (e.g. difference between Elitebook and Folio etc)

 

The Elitebook 840's 3 cell battery has a larger 50Wh capacity than the T440s' 2 batteries (3 + 3 cell) 47Wh total.

You might notice from the internal pic that the 840's internal battery has a quick release and is easily swapped out by the user.
Elitebooks have quick release bottom covers

So with the Elitebook you can either go with adding the optional 60wh slice battery or just as easily swap out the internal 50Wh battery.

 

That HP... makes me very disappointed in Lenovo.

 

Meh... I don't want to buy a third HP laptop in a row, but this is actually the first competitor that seems completely better than the T440s in every way. Only unknown is battery life. I don't really like the HP styling though, and the keyboard looks worse. (actually, it looks pretty much like my Envy 14 in the pictures). Though I think at the end of the day, all I care about are input and output devices and I think the T440s is still better overall minus the lack of trackpoint buttons.

 

Looks like the HP 840 has the same 42mm NGFF slot too.

So the main benefits of the HP 840 are 16GB options, dedicated GPU (8750) in the US, cheaper, and possibly better battery life?

T440s' benefits are a better keyboard, trackpoint, and build quality/aesthetics.

How is the pointerstick on the HP?

 

Where is the IPS display? My laptop must have an IPS display. Where is the backlight keyboard also? Does the dock even support two DisplayPort monitor?
The lid looks beautiful but the inside looks plastic. They should have kept it all black IMO.

 

Any indication of a release date on these? For me, it's either this or the new Surface Pro.

 

The 1920x1080 screen is IPS. Backlit keyboard is an option. You can order them now.

PS Why do the configurable Elitebooks cost so much more than the prebuilt ones?
PPS Why is the only real discussion about this new model on the Lenovo forum? That's messed up.

 

Note that HP appears to have killed of their full-powered 14" line. There is no full-powered 14" modell in the HP Elitebook lineup anymore. HP seems to have no competitor to the T440p, which beats the Elitebook 840 G1 in performance very easily. Funny how some seem to don´t want to see that...and also funny to see HP follow the same way as Lenovo.

The 840 G1 has maybe 16 GB of RAM, but it has no hot-swappable battery, so on the go, you can´t switch the battery as easy as with the T440s. With the T440s, the focus is on the dual-battery aspect (so, mobility). With the T440p, it is on performance. HP only has one machine for both aspects.

Also very funny to claim an "intact TrackPoint experince" with a machine that only has 2 TrackPoint-buttons with no middle-button.

 

Looks like all of the configurable Elitebooks are ~$800-1000 more than they should be. Something wrong with the base price I think. 18% off with the coupon, but still way too much.

The upgrade to the 1920x1080 display is $105

 

I don't like the styling of the 840 but at least it has the i7-4600U available (anything under 2GHz base clock is not enough for me) and 16GB RAM.
Shame that 50WH battery is not sufficient for full day work. And don't talk about slice battery, it kills the purpose of a thin and light machine. Still waiting for the perfect T440s CTO version...

 

Indeed you're right. That means the ZBook 14 is the same.

I was interested in the ZBook 14 (and now EliteBook 840) mainly because I thought it would fit a larger M.2 SSD.

It looks like one could grind away (or remove?) the retention screw and fit a 60 mm drive...

 

i7-4600U
Radeon 8750M
16 GB RAM
1920x1080
256 GB SSD

For $1100? Is this real life?

BTW, according to the cart, the backlit keyboard is included in the base price. Not sure about a touchscreen though. Also can't tell what they mean on the operating system. "Windows 7 Professional 64 (available through downgrade rights from Windows 8 Pro)." So does that mean it comes with Windows 8 installed, and you can downgrade to Windows 7 if you choose?

The only things stopping me from buying this right now are 1) It's HP, and 2) No HDMI.

 

Ah now that looks very interesting!

No UK availability shown on the HP site yet though! and no UK CTO yet.

Not sure I understand the battery options, listed as:

Battery type
Primary: 3-cell (24 WHr) HP Long Life
3-cell (50 WHr) HP Long Life
Secondary: 6-cell (60 WHr) HP Long Life slice (optional)

S

 

Not a touch screen. Also, I think the one you're referring to is a price mistake. It's way better than the option next to it which costs hundreds of dollars more.

 

wow! I've been reading through the thread and I'm totally torn now!

What should I buy ? Or should I wait ...

Dell e7440 ( which I can get for ~1100eur with fhd screen )
Acer p645 ( specs are really good! )
T440s ( i just love thinkpads, I have an old edge 15 which needs retiring ... )
New hp 14" lineup

 

Many thanks MiB for your post about the HP EliteBook 840 G1.

Since I'm frustrated about the reduced screen size coming from a T410s with 16:10 I had a look at the HP EliteBook 850 G1.

The 850 is one of the lightest 15.6" PCs I've ever come across at 1.88 kg / 4.15 lbs.

HP hides the info, but the FHD panel seems to be IPS/AHVA because it says UWA (and not just WVA) on some pages. It also has panel self refresh to improve battery life.

Problem is the 15.6" chassis is totally wasted. There's no larger battery, no extra ports, no room for more/larger drives, no extra keys on the keyboard, nothing!

 

Definitely a price error!

Both 3-cell batteries fit entirely inside the chassis. The 24 Wh is useless. The slice battery is external and connects to the bottom of the laptop.

It comes with a Win8 license but Win7 installed.
Buy a DP to HDMI adapter on Monoprice for a couple of dollars, or a DP to HDMI cable.

 

50Wh still doesn't cut it for me. And slice battery is too much. That's why I said I like an immediate battery option which they can't do. And no, I don't want to remove the cover just replace the battery. But I do like the removal cover. But hey if you like this HP, cool for you.

 

LOL