Why my next laptop isn't a T series

I will try and be as objective as possible on this review. I manage over 100 computers in our organization. We probably have about 40 laptops, most of them ThinkPad T series. I have the advantage of being able to buy the newest one and pass my current laptop to someone else as a hand-me-down. I’ve personally had a T40,41,42,60p,61,400,400s,410 and 410s in the last 8 years or so. From the T42 onwards I was in a docking station 50/50. My newest laptop is an HP EliteBook 8440w workstation and here’s why:

Up until the T400, everything was great. The laptops were rock solid and reliable (for the most part). The T400 suffered from the usual issues of some physical quality control but the computer itself worked fine. As I was travelling more and more I wanted something slimmer so my next was a T400s. My unit suffered the random power-offs which plagued that model. I went through the nonsense of tech support denying it was a real problem, following the threads on the message boards and eventually got the main board replaced. We all love the Thinkpad keyboard but I really disliked the new textured touch pad. I know some people love it but I just never got into it and found it inaccurate and insensitive.

When the 410 series came out I jumped on one quickly and was disappointed in the screen quality and very squeaky wrist rest. It was fast, i7-620m, 8gb ram and intel ssd and worked well. Unfortunately this one got heavily damaged on a project (a golf cart setup with forward and rear facing web cams while streaming an event live. Let’s just say bouncing around on gravel / dirt roads for 4 hours in high heat and dust could kill any laptop.)

So this time I went with a T410s integrated graphics and intel ssd. This thing would over heat very easily and slow to a dead crawl when CPU usage spiked. I’m talking 1-2 frames per second on a handbrake transcode. Also battery life wasn’t great as we all know. Anytime I hooked a monitor to the display port I got lots of flicker, DVI was ok. Lest I mention the flexing keyboard!

Faced with the need for a new laptop and no concrete info on the T420 series, I started looking for alternatives. We actually have 2 Dell 6400 Latitudes and while they’re ok, they are subpar compared to the ThinkPad in many ways. I read all I could about the HP Elitebook Workstations. Most everything I read compared them very favorably to the Thinkpads so I took the plunge.

I knew going in the 14 inch model would suit me best. I take the laptop home every day and travel often. The 15 inch models, while they do have better screens have shorter battery life and were too big for me.

Screen: The HP 14.0 HD++ 1600x900 screen is, unfortunately, it’s greatest weakness. It’s not terrible but coming from the T410 and T410s screens, which many people complain about, it’s about the same.

Keyboard: Still getting used to some different key placement but it’s excellent. Great feedback, solid feel, doesn’t flex at all!

Touchpad: Even though it’s smaller, I’m SOOOO glad to have a smooth surface again. Also two finger scrolling seems to be much smoother than the T series.

Speed: I got the i7-640m, 8gb ram and intel ssd. It’s fast but I’m sure no faster than a comparable Thinkpad.

Keyboard light: On the ThinkPad you press a key combination to activate. On the HP you press the light itself and it pops open. End result is the same they both get the job done.

Software: I always do my own clean installs and install most OEM software but skip out on a few things like Access Connections. I really miss the ThinkPad power manager and the display of battery time remaining on the taskbar. I coworker has our only Optimus laptop. It doesn’t provide much battery improvement and if you have Adobe CS5 products, forget about it, doesn’t work correctly with Optimus enabled.

Volume buttons: Much better on the ThinkPad. The touch sensitive controls are a little slow to respond.

Battery: I’m getting 6-7 hours. Enough said compared to T410s.

Dock: Thinkpad dock feels more secure but the HP one has a media drive bay so I can put the DVD drive in it (I have a 500gb HD in the HP media bay).

Overall feel: Sorry to say, the HP simply feels way more solid. Nothing flexes, nothing creaks, it’s heavy.

Conclusion: I’m not totally 100% sold yet but there is NOTHING wrong with this unit compared to the little and sometimes big things with some of our recent thinkpads. So if you are looking for an alternative, this is certainly a great one. I would however, always choose a Thinkpad (and now HP Elitebook) over anything else out there!

 

HP EliteBook 8440w <> Lenovo Thinkpad T410s

HP EliteBook 8440w = Lenovo Thinkpad T410

T410s - compromise in size, weight, battery and power.

 

I wish HP redesigned EliteBooks exterior around keyboard as well as looks of their keyboard as well, otherwise it all looks rather cheap to me, compared to ThinkPads or even Latitudes.
And what about noise - arent EliteBooks all quite louder than ThinkPads which are well known for their silent CPU cooling systems?

Other than that, Id love to try out 2540p.
I wonder if you can swap internal DVD drive for secondary HDD, thus getting yourself 12" laptop with two full sized HDD's, one main 1.8" and one 2.5" instead of DVD drive?

 

I love my T410s, no keyboard flex either. You must of gotten a lemon, but I have to admit I rarely push the CPU, hence maybe why heat is barely noticeable.

 

OP: Did you have the smart card reader installed? I have this and it squeaks on the wrist rest. Think they don't add the correct padding/support when that is installed.

 

Having owned MANY of the elitebooks including the 2530p, just sold it a few weeks ago, still own one 8440p
They are in no way louder than our older now gone T400 or current T410 and x200t
Yes you can install a second 2.5" hard drive within the optical drive bay, buy the HP part or aftermarket adapter just like you can for the thinkpads

 

It does have the smartcard reader, it was the pre-configured model on newegg. No squeak here.

I added an intel 160gb SSD, 500gb hard drive in newmodeus caddy and another 4gb of ram. It's great that the laptop comes with only 1 4GB dimm installed unlike most laptops that do 2x2.

I wish the T410s had been better, I really do.

Heat and noise: The T410s was a furnace at the exhaust vent on a good day and crazy hot on CPU load. The HP air vent is almost cool and just as quiet.

 

Just read your @ the thinkpad forum as well
forum.thinkpads.com &bull; View topic - Switching from T series to HP Elitebook Series...

We enjoy the thinkpad T line very much, yet I don't think they offer anything superior to the elitebook line.
Indeed the HP does feel sturdier, HP business service support is second to NONE, Lenovo could learn a little here.
I am not comparing Lenovo to the HP consumer support..
They are crap on a good day.

We enjoy both lines, You just learn to live with the short comings of each as there is no perfect laptop just yet.
Hence the reason we also own several MBPs

Enjoy the 8440p

 

Did the T410s you are referring to have the integrated Intel GPU?

 

Yes, integrated intel graphics.

 

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Osiris Development - BatteryBar, the most accurate battery meter for Windows

 

I'm not sure what the issue is, but it seems there's a bug with that GPU. I noticed with my Optimus T410s is runs much hotter when the Intel GPU is used. So I have the BIOS set to only use the NVIDIA discrete GPU. Runs cool and quiet that way.

And this isn't the first report of those machines with the integrated Intel GPU running warm.

 

My t400s has integrated (obviously) and under continuous load (1+ hrs), It'll get toasty to the mid 80's. But for general usage I stay in the 40-50's.

The palmrest is horribly creaky though. I bought a new one (the old one was cracked and misaligned) and had to put shims under either side to get rid of the play and make it feel more solid. Shouldn't have to do that on a thinkpad.

 

I put some shims on my T410 as well, as palmrest was cracking badly. Now it's dead quiet.

Even with all those problems, I just can't imagine using HP or Dell.....I tried but there is always come back to ThinkPads....

 

When you say the HP service is second to none, can I buy a laptop in germany (as a private person) and get it repaired in Denmark like I can with Lenovo?

 

Yes the HP business laptop has GLOBAL service
HP does not discriminate, the global service is on the product
not the owner, enterprise or private party

 

Thanks for this! A perfect replacement.