HP EliteBook 8460p: Everything But The Screen
by Dustin Sklavos on May 10, 2011 5:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- IT Computing
- Intel
- HP
- EliteBook
- Sandy Bridge
Battery, Noise, and Heat
One of the nicer things about business-class notebooks is that, frankly, they're too expensive and too important for the manufacturers to be cheap about their assembly, battery optimizations, and cooling. As a result, they often sport much better battery life than their consumer-oriented kin, and even without the benefit of a hybrid graphics solution the EliteBook 8460p still posts impressive numbers.
While relative battery life while surfing the internet isn't great, and HP's quoted eight hours of running time sounds fairly generous, the 8460p still manages to pull five hours of useful running time surfing the internet and an impressive four hours during our H.264 test. Even without Optimus, the EliteBook 8460p manages to be both moderately powerful and frugal with its power consumption. The K53E provides slightly better battery life with a slightly smaller battery (and a larger LCD as well), but in terms of overall styling and quality there's no question about which is the better laptop. Of course, it's also about $250 more expensive, but that's the price of quality these days.
Thermals
The 8460p does run a hair toasty on the processor. While the underpowered 6470M doesn't have too much trouble maintaining a reasonable temperature, core temperatures on the Core i5-2520M are on the warm side. Thankfully, you'll see that these hot internal temperatures don't translate to the rest of the notebook.
Peak temperatures of the 8460p's exterior are excellent. Neither palm rest gets particularly warm and the aluminum shell seems to do a fine job of dissipating the system's heat. What's more impressive is the fact that it just doesn't get that hot on your lap either. There's a single hot spot near the exhaust, but even that is reasonable. In fact, the usual problem spot in the center of the notebook remains fairly cool.
Of course, this does come at a cost. Under heavy load the fan definitely spins up audibly, though the notebook is as silent as it should be while idling. This isn't the worst fan noise we've heard but it's definitely loud enough to make its presence known.
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XiZeL - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
For an extra 15€ you can get the 1600x900 screen and for an other extra that theres is a fullDH optionbji - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
When I go to the HP web site and try to configure the model, it immediately bumps the price up to ~$2,000. Is it possible to configure this laptop for less than 2 grand?Also, even when doing so, there is no display option bigger than 1600x900, which is lame.
And, talk about a weird configuration system. They have all of these strange configuration options like the stickers that will be put on the laptop and if you upgrade the processor, you get a big red error until you go and change the sticker to match. That is just about retarded.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
Unfortunately, we don't know what quality of screen you get with the upgrade, but given it's a $75 upgrade I wouldn't expect a lot (and even less if it's only 15€). I've seen a lot of poor "upgraded" LCDs over the years, so there's no guarantee unless HP/whoever makes a point of stating the the LCD upgrade is a DreamColor or RGB LED or high-gamut or what have you.As far as the configurable models go, HP always charges a lot, but usually there are "instant rebate" codes floating around. I'm not aware of any for the 8460p right now, but if you can wait I would expect one to turn up. I've also heard you can get much better pricing if you call to place an order and ask for a lower price (though I've never tried that).
Ytterbium - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link
the 1600x900 screen is reported to be not that good either.The best screen HP do on the p serise is the 1600x900 WVA screen on the 8560p.
If you want dreamcolor you have to go to the 8560w or 8570w, the 8460w doesn't have dreamcolor :(
Penti - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link
Those dreamcolor screens are also rated to 15 W so I wouldn't run any of those portable. Which defeats the point of the screen to begin with.Souka - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
But is the fullHD screen better? or just higer rez?My co-worker has the 8440p... and I absolutely agree that the LCD is HORRIBLE.
but hey, who uses the LCD on a laptop right? Oh wait a minute....
smalM - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
One docking station at the office, one at home, and never using the built in screen does help alot...secretmanofagent - Monday, May 16, 2011 - link
I think HP tends to use crap screens. My work laptop is a 8530w Mobile Workstation, and it's easily one of the worst displays I've seen.bhima - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
Lets put it this way, I've never seen a 1600x900 14" screen that looked horrible. But I've seen PLENTY of 1366x768 screens that are utter garbage. It seems when pixel density increases on these screens so do view angles, color and contrast.fordry - Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - link
I have a slightly older elitebook 6930p with the upgrade 1440x900 screen over the 1280x800 screen that was the base and I have seen both screens in action as well as the newer 1366x768 on an 8440w. The 2 lower end ones, 1280x800 and 1366x768 aren't good, particularly the 1280x800 one, its atrocious. My 1440x900 screen though is very nice. Looks clear, colors are good. Its not the best screen ever but its definitely not something that would go in a cons list and I imagine that the 1600x900 screens they offer with these would be similar.