W520 competitors specs revealed

HP has now published the specs for their competitor to the ThinkPad W520. The EliteBook 8560w specs are at HP EliteBook 8560w Mobile Workstation specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products.

Notice it has four RAM slots and 32GB of RAM listed as the max. Notice is has several power bricks mentioned and I bet they are all huge.

Looks like a MacBook Pro.

 

Well, this option is noteworthy: 15.6" diagonal LED-backlit FHD UWVA anti-glare DreamColor (1920 x 1080).

"Looks like a MacBook Pro"? No way: there's a red "nipple" in the middle of the keyboard!

 

Can't wait to see the price for a well configured DreamColor 8560w. Bet it isn't close to $2000.

 

They're saying they won't be out until May!

New HP Elitebook workstations feature FORGE design

 

IPS on 15-17" screens

 

They'll also be priced a lot higher.

This post says we'll have to wait until May to get our hands on one: HP EliteBook 8760w pleasing on the eyes, works great to increase mobile productivity

By May, Dell's Precision Workstation laptops based on Sandy Bridge will be out. They, too, will have great screen options. People will have plenty of options by then. I doubt I'll get the deal I just secured on a W520 so I'll give them all a skip. Maybe in a year or two I'll get back in the market for a 17"+ workstation laptop. Until then we can drool over pictures:

HP Elitebook 8460w, 8560w and 8760w photo 1/ - Ubergizmo

 

I absolutely love the fact that the button panel of the new laptop could be taken of with two latch.

 

Elitebook is just getting uglier with every new iteration. I am not sure why they want to use this all silver colour on their system, and make it look like a consumer grade laptop.

 

Red trackpoint? (or point stick)

 

-
Horrible arrow keys.
Horrible point stick buttons.
Uglier than the previous generation.
Heavy.
Consumer optics when opened (nice display cover on the outside)

+
Awesome displays.
Easy to remove bottom plate.
What else?

 

Agreed. I looked at the newest 14" Elitebook this past week (prior to ordering a T420) and it was a combination of ugly and pricy.

Silver makes me think of their consumer grade laptops. Their consumer grade laptops make me think of overheating, crashing, loud fans, and poor repair records. While I know the Elitebooks are built better, it's not appealing to me.

P.S. Their designs like the older NC6230 looked great to me, and functioned well. Why they can't stick with that, I don't know.

 

i think HP is confused.

 

Carly Fiorina and Mark Hurd would do that to anyone; I'm not sure I can blame them.

 

At this rate, HP will soon be overtaken by Acer... and Lenovo might have a chance at the number 3 or 2 spot.

 

For our sake I hope that will not be the case. Talking about quality here.
Every company that tastes the success like that, will want to stay there no matter the price their customers must pay and will become even more greedy (of course, it's not the company per se, but the people who actually are in charge and want their huge bonuses).

 

I didn't really like the look of the Elitebooks from the early pictures, but these recent actual pictures have changed my mind. They look quite clean and definitely durable, and the indicator lights have certainly become slightly more discrete, which I like (and, it seems like they're finally actually using just buttons). The construction looks pretty solid, with attention to detail including the border of each port. Of course, the IPS displays are great as well.

To me, the only issues with the Elitebooks are price, weight, and (although not sure whether this will be the case with the latest generation) heat/noise.

 

The big issue will be how they feel. If it actually feels like a brick of magnesium and aluminum when I hold it, and not just a shell of plastic that looks like one, I am all for the design.

 

Agree... I don't mind what a notebook looks like as long as it doesn't have 10,000 LEDs, alien faces, wild paint jobs, etc. I prefer boring, black-colored, and solid notebooks.

 

I agree the recently released pics look better than the previous pics but they're still no lookers.

 

HP Elitebook will soon have a LED back-lite HP logo on the top casing.

 

If you think Elitebooks are ugly, take a peak at the Latitudes. (Or rather, don't. )

 

At my office I've worked with business line computers from HP, Dell and Lenovo. I would say each has their pros and cons. I really believe if the Thinkpad didn't have the IBM legacy it wouldn't be viewed as favorable as it is today. We might be underwhelmed with the dull styling and oh so old fashion looking keyboards. I mean the keyboards aren't even back lit!

Of course that isn't the case because the design of the Thinkpad may be a throwback but it's a throw back to a legacy of very high quality and inovative designs. No mater how good or bad the Dell or HP competition they don't have that look that has come to be associated with quality.

Still, having used the soon to be replaced line of Latitudes (the 16:10 14" and the 15.4" models) and the 14" Elitebook as well as the T400, T410 and W510 each has pros and cons. The Dells absolutely win on customer service. Sadly my personal M4400 has really needed it. The Dell keyboards on the latitudes have generally been very good though the trackpad on my M4400 wasn't as large as it should have been and was quick to detect a palm. This wasn't a problem on my older D610. The pointstick on the D610 and my M4400 weren't that good but ironically seemed to work well on the computers in between. The Dells seem to offer the best selection of options and price. That makes them hard to beat. When my M4400 was purchased the price to performance ratio simply could not be beat.

The HP was bought in part because it offered a 1600x900 screen in a 14". The T410's best resolution was 1440x900. While I prefer the 15.4 vs 15.6 screens in the 14" range the move to 16:9 seems to have increased rather than dropped the best available resolution... though I still miss my old 1400x1050. The HP offered a better 14" workstation in the 8440W so that was purchased vs the Lenovo. With the W510 and now W520 is seems that Lenovo once again has the upper hand in the 15" range.

I'll hold out judgement on the newest HP and Dell models. I don't care for the newest keyboard layouts. I like the block of page up, down, insert, delete home and end together. HP was the first to drop what I might consider the compressed AT layout. Dell seems to be dropping it now. Lenovo has dropped it on some but not the T and Ws. I like that HP and Dell are including number pads. I really think that should be standard on 15.6" models.

Anyway, at this point I don't see any of these models as clear winners nor clear losers.

 

It's always interesting to hear another point of view on the number pads. I can't stand them, as they throw the 'main' part of the input area (keyboard and trackpad) off to the left. I am much happier with an external USB number pad for those rare occasions that I need one. However, I can see that if you're inputting numbers all day then it's the other way around.

The trouble with the number pad issue as I see it is that the chassis has to be configured around it - it can't be an option in the same way as most of the rest of it. I would absolutely not get a 8560w because of the number pad.

Funny old game. Cheers. Dave.

 

I'd personally think that if you're inputting numbers all day, a USB pad would still be better. The key-throw is a lot better on a quality USB number pad than a laptop keyboard, and I'd think adding a number pad to a laptop keyboard just increases keyboard flex.