HP EliteBook 8730w Review

by Jerry Jackson

The HP EliteBook 8730w is the largest workstation in HP's current lineup of business notebooks. Featuring the latest Intel processors and Nvidia Quadro graphics and available with HP's exclusive 17-inch "DreamColor" display, the EliteBook 8730w might be a graphics artist's best friend. We took a closer look at this desktop replacement mobile workstation to see if the system performance and color quality of the screen are as good as HP wants you to believe. Read on to find out if the EliteBook 8730w deserves a place in your office.

Our review unit of the EliteBook 8730w features the following configuration:

• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 Processor (2.53GHz,12MB L2 cache,1066MHz FSB)
• Microsoft Windows XP (downgrade from Windows Vista Business)
• 17.0-inch WUXGA+anti-glare DreamColor display (1920 x 1200)
• 1GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M Workstation GPU
• 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM (2 x 2GB Configuration)
• 250GB 7200RPM HDD
• Blu-ray burner and DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi,Ethernet,Modem,and Bluetooth Connectivity
• 8-Cell 73WHr Battery
• 3-Year on-site Warranty
• Dimensions:1.3" x 15.5" x 11.1"
• Weight:7.5lbs
• MSRP:$4,958 ($4,065.56 at time of writing with 18% instant discount)

The 8730w starts out at $1,699 but more powerful configurations top out at $4,879.00 after instant discount.
Build and Design
The HP EliteBook 8730w is a business workstation notebook,which means the 8730w has to meet very specific requirements for performance,durability,power consumption and a host of other features. In every case the EliteBook line meets or exceeds those standards,so you can rest easy that the price you pay for this notebook is money well spent.
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The main body of the laptop is covered in the "HP DuraCase" and "HP DuraFinish" which is essentially a hard plastic and strong magnesium alloy inner shell much like its predecessor strengthened by a brushed aluminum outer shell that is scratch resistant (but not scratch proof). The entire chassis from the base to the screen lid feels exceptionally strong and resistant to flex when heavy pressure is applied. The keyboard is almost completely rock solid except for some minor flex on the dedicated number pad directly above the optical drive. Although I never recommend doing this,you could throw this notebook across the room and it would likely survive unharmed.
The outer shell of the screen casing is made of metal,but the inner screen bezel is plastic. HP says that this mobile workstation "has been tested and meets the military standard MIL-STD 810F tests" so this notebook is built to last.

Additionally,the 8730w also features hard drive shock protection in the form of the new HP 3D DriveGuard which will help to protect your hard drive in the event the laptop gets dropped or violently bumped ... or smacks into a desk because an editor wasn't paying enough attention. You can also configure the 8730w with a solid state drive (SSD) if you need extreme speed and resistance to vibration.
Despite the rugged durability built into the design the weight of the 8730w is perfectly reasonable compared to other 17-inch workstations. If you didn't already notice,the EliteBook 8730w tips the scales at seven and a half poundsbut a similarly equipped workstation such as the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 weighs in at more than eight pounds. In any case,this is clearly a desktop replacement system so most people won't be too concerned about the weight of this notebook.

Finally,in the same way that the gray and black exterior and smooth design suits a professional environment,so do the internals. The EliteBook 8730w uses two simple plastic covers on the bottom of the notebook (each held in place with standard Phillips head screws) so that the user or your IT department can easily access the hard drive,wireless cards or RAM for fast upgrades. The optical drive can also be removed and replaced with a second hard drive or SSD if you need more storage. The bottom of the notebook also features a dedicated docking station port,external battery port,and a convenient place to store your business card.

Screen and Speakers
The 8730w comes equipped with your choice of a standard 17.0" anti-glare widescreen display or a "DreamColor" RGBLED backlit screen with an 8-bit panel that can display 16.7 million colors ... quite a bit different than the desktop DreamColor displays that support over one billion active colors—64 times the colors supported by traditional LCDs. The screen brightness is rated at 300 nits and the contrast ratio of 800:1 make this screen extremely viewable under direct sunlight. At 1920 x 1200 resolution,this high-definition display is capable of displaying the finest details in workstation applications like Maya,CAD,3dsMax,and more. Or course,you can also enjoy this extra resolution for 1080p movies when you use the Blu-ray optical drive.
When viewing the screen from straight ahead,colors are rich and the contrast is excellent. High-definition movies (compliments of the Blu-ray drive) are absolutely stunning. Horizontal viewing angles are almost as impressive,and the vertical viewing angle from above is likewise impressive. The only time the screen starts to disappoint is when you view it from below ... but the overwhelming majority of users will never view the screen in this way.
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The speakers on the 8730w are pretty impressive for a business notebook,but consumer-oriented 17-inch notebooks with dedicated subwoofers produce better sound quality that what comes out of the speakers in this mobile workstation. Since the speakers are located on the front edge of the notebook the sound isn't being directed up and toward the user when the EliteBook is used as a laptop. In fact,our staff usually refers to laptop speakers with this type of placement as "crotch speakers" because the speakers are directing sound to your waist rather than your ears. If you're using the 8730w on your desk this isn't a problem,but if you've got this massive notebook on your lap then the audio will be muffled because of poor speaker placement.
The headphone jack on the 8730w works well with the two different brands of earphones I used during the test. No static or other noise was noticed through the jack besides imperfections in the audio source itself.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The full-size keyboard on the 8730w is nice and large and features the new "HP DuraKeys" which is a highly durable textured finish applied to each key have a nice matte appearance and prevents the "shine" that appears on old keyboards after the buildup of dirt and oils from your fingertips.
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The layout of the keyboard is just slightly different than what you might find on the HP consumer notebooks. The individual key presses are quiet without loud clicking sounds as you type. Keys are flatter and have less space in between them. Overall the keyboard layout is extremely nice for a 17-inch desktop replacement.
Above the keyboard also rests a series of touch-sensitive media buttons similar to what you find on HP consumer notebooks. There is an Info,Wi-Fi Toggle,Presentation Mode,and Mute touch buttons on this glossy strip. Additionally,next to the Mute button is a volume control slider that enables the user to raise and lower the volume by sliding their finger across that area.

The touchpad also features the DuraFinish so that oils from your fingertip don't build up on the surface and make the touchpad look weathered after just a few months. The Synaptics touchpad is very responsive to my touch,and the three rubber mouse buttons are quiet and about the right size. There is also a secondary set of mouse buttons above the touchpad to work with the pointstick that comes with all 8730w's. The pointstick is amazingly accurate and comfortable to use.
The only negative we experienced with the touchpad interface on our review unit is that the arrangement of the rubber touchpad buttons made it easy for me to press the wrong buttons. Since there is a third touchpad button I often found myself pressing the middle button rather than the left or right buttons I was trying to press. This isn't a major problem,but it was frustrating enough to make me use an external mouse while I was finishing this review.
Speaking of which,I would have also liked to see a dedicated touchpad disable button (like the ones HP uses on their consumer notebooks) so that you can disable the touchpad if you're using the pointstick or an external mouse.
Ports and Features

The 8730w features a good number of ports on all sides,so let us take a brief tour ...
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Left side:Here we see the security lock slot,heat exhaust,power jack,HDMI port,VGA port,USB,FireWire,an ExpressCard/54 slot and a smart card slot.
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Right side:eSATA port,three USB ports,Blu-ray optical drive,Ethernet and modem port.
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Rear side:The battery and heat exhaust.

Front side:The only ports on the front are the headphone jack,microphone jack and multi-card reader.
Bottom side:

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Also,on the underside there is a docking connector and the second battery port. Both RAM slots are accessible from the bottom under the RAM access cover.
Performance and Benchmarks
Our EliteBook 8730w came with the Intel quad core QX9300 processor,clocking in at 2.53GHz,and jammed packed with 12MB of cache. For graphics,HP included an Nvidia Quadro 3700M series video card with a full 1GB of GDDR3 memory. A fast 250GB 7200 RPM hard drive was also included,which helped applications load without much lag. This workstation consistently exceeded our expectations,thanks in large part to the workstation-class GPU. Serious users will find this machine packs plenty of power for even the most demanding tasks,and "normal" users who are only concerned with working in Microsoft Office and encoding the occasional video for work will have more power than they know what to do with it.
With that said,let's jump into the performance benchmarks.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32Mtime
HP EliteBook 8530w (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53GHz)	15.701s
Lenovo W700 (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53GHz)	15.771s
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 @ 2.8GHz)	29.477s
HP EliteBook 8530w (Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)	30.919s
Dell Studio 17 (Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz)	31.574s
Dell Precision M6300 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	46.797s

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05Score
HP EliteBook 8730w (2.53GHz Intel QX9300,Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M 1GB)	8,672 PCMarks
Lenovo W700 (2.53GHz Intel QX9300,NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 1GB)	8,207 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz,Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	7,148 PCMarks
Dell Precision M6300 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250,NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M)	7.070 PCMarks
HP EliteBook 8530w (2.53GHz Intel T9400,Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB)	6,287 PCMarks
Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300,ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650)	5,982 PCMarks

3DMark06 graphics comparison against notebooks @ 1280 x 800 resolution (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	3DMark06Score
HP EliteBook 8730w (2.53GHz Intel QX9300,Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M 1GB)	14,271 3DMarks
Lenovo W700 (2.53GHz Intel QX9300,NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 1GB)	11,214 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz,Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	8,536 3DMarks
Dell Precision M6300 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250,NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M)	5,335 3DMarks
HP EliteBook 8530w (2.53GHz Intel T9400,Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB)	5,230 3DMarks
Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300,ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650)	2,974 3DMarks

HDTune storage drive performance test:




Heat and Noise
During normal use (browsing the Web or working on a text document) the EliteBook 8730w remained nice and quiet. However,after watching some streaming video online and after stressing the graphics the cooling fan inside the laptop gets quite loud. When doing tasks that stress the processor and graphics card,the laptop's fan works hard to keep this laptop cool. This is something of a mixed blessing in that while noisy,it helps to lower the internal temperatures and helps extend the life of your notebook components.
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Finally,we recorded the following external temperatures using an IR thermometer after running two consecutive PCMark05 benchmarks. This should serve as an indicator of how hot the notebook will get after about 30 minutes of serious use. All temperatures are listed in degrees Fahrenheit. The system gets pretty hot above and below the RAM,but these temperature ranges should be perfectly fine for a desktop replacement.
Battery
The battery life is basically unchanged from the last refresh in which HP claims that the laptop will achieve more than 4 hours of life when unplugged. During our timed tests,the laptop was set with screen brightness at about 60%,Wi-Fi on,and accessing the hard drive while listening to music files. The laptop shut down after exactly 3 hours and 21 minutes with 3% of the battery left,which is reasonable for a laptop with so much power. If your configuration of the 8730w is running Windows Vista then battery life can also be extended via using the "power saver" power profile in Vista or by simply lowering the brightness of the display.


Conclusion
The HP EliteBook 8730w is probably the most balanced workstation-class 17" notebooks we've seen. This notebook is designed more for desktop replacement than it is for mobility, but the 8730w is thinner and lighter than other 17-inch workstations. That said, HP didn't sacrifice durability when making this machine thinner and lighter.
In terms of overall value, the EliteBook 8730w strikes an excellent balance between price and performance. If you just need a basic configuration for your office then the starting price of $1,699 is pretty impressive ... particularly since a ThinkPad W700 costs several hundred dollars more and is bigger and heavier to boot. Of course, for those professionals who need to absolute best performance, the 8730w is available in configurations costing more than $4,000 ... so there's something for almost every budget.
Bottom line, if you're looking for a 17-inch mobile workstation notebook the HP EliteBook 8730w probably belongs at the top of your list.

Pros:

• Extreme processor and graphics performance
• DreamColor display is bright with vivid colors
• Reasonably thin and light for a 17-inch workstation
• Attractive and sleek design

Cons:

• DreamColor display is pricey, but still reasonable
• Third touchpad button sometimes gets in the way
• Less than ideal location for speakers
• Fan can run loud and push out a lot of hot air

 

The Elitebook series are really very good laptops. I used an 8530w at my current job until replacing it with a MacBook Pro but these HP's are built to last. Far better than the equivalent Dells for example which I have had a lot of terrible experiences with. No problem traveling with the Elite books since they can take a lot of punishment. HP corporate service is also top notch according to our desktop support people who were only too glad to switch from Dells to HP. HP also puts a lot of emphasis on using the same components over time so images etc. remain consistent. Good stuff.

 

Very complete review, good job!

 

i love the elitebooks myself. having a 2710p, i have the other end of the line but this one is on my list of dreams, espencially with the dreamcolor. and, if nothing else, just because of the great ad: on youtube

if i get better at djing (means making real money) i probably switch to one of those + the 2730p (or two of them).

 

??? how does that thing get 14,000 points in 3dMark06, where as a I7 Quad, GTX 280m, and 12gb ram on the Sager 9280 only score around 13k

 

Ah, was wondering when this review would come out. Awesome stuff. I may get one tomorrow, if everything goes well (I've been planning on buying one for a long time).

The touchpad buttons are terrible though. I was setting up an 8530p for a friend, and it was aggravating how often I pressed the button with no result.

 

All I can say is video card drivers make a HUGE difference. With the stock XP drivers I couldn't get the 3DMark06 score to top 2,812 3DMarks. With some hacked drivers I found online the score jumped above 10,000 ... but the real winner was the latest XP drivers for the Quadro FX 3700M card that I found on the Nvidia website.

 

I guess so lol, thanks for the info... I guess it really does, I guess the 9280 was also pre-production and thus had stock drivers... Let's hope Nvidia can keep up lol

 

How come the one card of the W700 doesn't give the same score?

 

Fantastic review. It's great to see the Elitebooks getting the credit they deserve. I used to have a Lenovo T400, and I was sorely disappointed. My previous professional laptop was a T41p, which scored high in my book--the T400 didn't deliver. When I read about the Elitebook 8530w (on this site!) I was psyched. A week later, I picked up a used one from Ebay and I've been extremely satisfied.

The middle mouse button is something to get used to, so not a permanent annoyance by any means. I wish the middle click was more "universal" with applications as a middle click for smooth intellipoint-style scrolling (doesn't happen in all apps. Does work in firefox though.)

Another small gripe I have is that the "mute" touch button doesn't affect the volume output with external speakers or headphones. Not a huge deal, just strange.

JerryJ, thank you for the tip about the drivers. I just downloaded the latest drivers for my 8530w, psyched to try them.

If I needed to get a 17incher, I'd easily jump on the 8730, because when HP named these computers elitebooks, they weren't kidding around. They were serious.

 

Too bad it's that big ... but impressive laptop.

 

Sure. Sorry I don't mean to offend but over 14,000? At 1280x800 resolution? C'mon, you're testing a WUXGA screen. The default (and recognized default) test res. for 3DMark06 is 1280x1024.

And, "hacked" drivers made a score go from 2800 to more than 10,000?

I think more realistically, there was another issue causing a low score rather than "hacked" drivers providing a 7200 point jump ( more than 300% increase) in 3DMark06.

Somebody should send a link of this to CNET, Max PC, and Engadget cause getting a 7200 point jump with just different drivers in 3DMark06 is huge news.

Otherwise, nice review.

 

1280 x 800 explains it, and the CPU will go into overdrive at low res. You'd probably get 18k at 1024 x 768.

Looks like a very nice, well built, albeit expensive notebook. Surprisingly thin and light for a 17" with a freaking quad and quadro 3700, and amazing battery life. I'm actually shocked... how did they do it!? Puts the macbook 17 to shame

If there's one drawback, I'm assuming it's the thermal capacity and noise. It's a pretty tight package for those components, and it's not like they're advertising 2 or 3 fans underneath like a thick gaming notebook.

Can we get an internal shot pleeease?

 

Wow, this is an amazing laptop. Had I not chosen a Thinkpad, I would likely have gone with one of the Elitebooks - only 2 things put me off:
1.- price, it's more expensive than Thinkpads, in general,
2.- most reviews say a fault is the loud fan, and fan noise is really bothersome to me

But in general, the Elitebooks seem like great laptops!

And great review, as usual

 

Geez HP, the 17 incher is the thinner and lighter than it's competitors, but the 15 and 14 incher are heavier than their competitors? Go figure.

Nice review though.

 

Resolution?

 

Seems that QX9300+FX3700 has became highend config for 17" workstation laptops.

I'm actually surprised, 8730w is still uses DDR2. Where as competition like Dell's M6400 supported DDR3 for a while now. And that has 4 memory slots, making upgrades much cheaper.

13288@1280x1024

http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?t=4034

That's using [email protected] Ghz, 12Gb DDR3 Ram. As well as a 280m GTX, which happened to be overclocked FX3700.

 

Too bad some things like weight, dimensions etc were compared to Lenovo W700 but not to Dell M6400.

 

their configuration tool sucks...

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think it has to do with the new Nvidia drivers.

The stock XP drivers that HP included with our review unit had a SERIOUS negative impact on performance and the 3DMark06 score was barely above 2,800 points. I found some hacked drivers online that made the score jump to more than 10,000 points, but when I installed the latest official drivers from the Nvidia website the score went through the roof.

Since the drivers I installed on the 8730w (version 185.85) are newer than the drivers on the W700 we reviewed I suspect that is why the benchmarks are so different.

I'm willing to bet the W700 benchmarks would be virtually identical with the same drivers since they have the same processor and GPU ... assuming no other issues with hard drive(s) or RAM.

 

Because you missed the fact that NBR's default 3dmark06 resolution for reviews is 1280 x 800?

 

Man, these HP Business notebooks just keep getting better and better with each new generation. Once again, HP has made a phenomenal business notebook, this time the 8730w. Why can't their consumer 17" pavilions be that powerful? 14,000 3DMark06? I'm lucky to get over 1,400 with my old HP Compaq nw8440!! It does seem to be a little hot and noisy, however. Unfortunately, this seems to be a very common trait with HP notebooks. (My nw8440 is the same way).

I'm glad that the build quality seems to be improving, too. With my nw8440 (the predecessor to the predecessor to the 15.4" 8530w) the plastic is much too thin around the CD drive, and the case has chipped in cracked a little bit in the rear corners, especially where the CD drive is. It's also warped a bit in some areas, too. It's got a mag alloy chassis (with a mag alloy lid), but it seems to be too thin. But considering I've used and traveled with my nw8440 almost every day for the past 2.5 years, it's held up quite well. And with the improved build quality of the EliteBooks, I can only expect them to last even longer.

When I'm ready for one, my next notebook will most definitely be an HP EliteBook. My nw8440 has already impressed me quite a bit over the past 2.5 years, so an EliteBook will be the next logical choice for me.

Oh, and about having the third mouse button: I got used to having 3 buttons on my nw8440 quite quickly. And having that third button really helps in certain applications. I don't think I can really go back to a 2-button setup now, go figure!

 

Why would NBR have "it's own" default resolution for 3DMark06 when the rest of the world recogizes 1280x1024 as the default resolution for that bench?

In fact, Future Mark, the makers of 3DMark06, don't even accept anything but 1280x1024 resolutions in their Orb listing.

1280x1024 is the resolution to which a given score can be easily compared to other scores.

Oh well, 3DMark is quite out dated with the current crop of technology so you might as well diminish it's usefulness even more.

 

Well I'd imagine it's because WXGA is the lowest resolution that was commonly found in a laptop. Though now it's closest 16:9 brother, 1366x768 loses quite a few pixels vertically from 1280x800.

 

It really is unfortunate. The 3DMark06 scores are meaningless without a standard frame of reference.

Do you know what the score is at 1280x1024? I don't either. There isn't a formula to convert the scores to another (the default) resolution.

Anyway, I'm sur it's a mute point.

 

For at least the last 18 months the screen resolution used for all 3DMark tests done by the team at NotebookReview.com has been 1280x800. The one exception to that rule is "netbooks" because we have to test those with an external display because 3DMark06 requires a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768.

We may change our resolution standard at some point, particularly since the aspect ratio of notebook screens is changing to 16:9 on almost all notebooks, but there is method to our madness.

The reason our editorial team chose 1280x800 is because it has been the standard resolution on most notebook screens that are 12" or larger. This allows us to directly compare the GPU performance of all notebooks from a 12" notebook to a 15" notebook and a 17" notebook regardless of the resolution of the LCD.

Additionally, since most notebooks are available with low-resolution screens (usually starting at 1280x800) and high resolution screen options we felt it was important to use a resolution that any of our readers could use for comparison on their own notebook ... even if they didn't spend extra money on a high resolution notebook panel or an external display.

From time to time we do perform 3DMark benchmarks at different resolutions, but we make a point of listing those resolutions if we use something different than 1280x800.

Anyway, my point is that 1280x800 is our current standard for notebook benchmarks. I'm not exactly sure why you believe it to be "meaningless."

 

Hi Jerry,

Maybe my use of the word "meaningless" was too strong. I should have said the results would be more useful at a resolution for which people can easily interpret the data.

As a prospective buyer I'm not sure I would be comparing test results between a 12" notebook and a 17" notebook though.

Would be nice if you also included the accepted 1280x1024 resolution on the notebooks that can handle it in addition to your 1280x800.

At any rate, I don't want to take up any more of your time on this issue, thanks for posting the reason for using a lower resolution.

 

Anyone tried the newest drivers on the W700 to confirm? A 27% increase for the same processor and CPU (and slower system RAM) is enormous.

 

Sounds like big $$$ from HP...

Can you guys re-do the benchmark?

 

I don't really see any advantage that makes this one better than the Thinkpad W700, besides the eSATA port. It doesn't even support dual hard drives. The lid inner shell made of plastic is a disappointment.

I'm surprised that you just believe what HP advertises and make a statement of fact like that.

 

The 8730w supports dual hard drives using the UltraBay and since it is a SATA port, you can get them RAIDed too so the compromise isn't that much (how often do you need a DVD drive). The reason HP did not enable dual hard drives while still allowing for a DVD drive is to reduce the size and weight of the notebook. The W700 is a much bigger, heavier and uglier laptop.

 

The 8730w is thinner, lighter, and (in my opinion), more beautiful, while still staying discrete enough to be called a business notebook. Really, there's a point where your notebook is SO ugly where it'd start attracting attention where a notebook with 50,000 LEDs would do the same.

As for the inner lid being plastic... What about the W700? Does it have metal on the exterior at all? And like the Thinkpad, the EliteBook will still have the magnesium alloy reinforcement, regardless of the metal exterior.

HP does advertise that it does meet MIL-STD-180F, but it's not like they can falsely advertise. However, in your favor, HP IS misleading about it. Only some of the tests were performed, and not ALL of the laptops meet all of the standards. Particularly, larger notebooks like the 8730w did NOT meet the drop test! More info on what notebooks did (and didn't) make the cut are available here.. In short, the 8730w met all the tests that HP put it through except for dropping from 30 inches (therefore, it passed the test for humidity, sand and dust, vibration during use, shock, high temperature, and altitude). Only the 2530p and 6530p met drop test requirements. Otherwise, all of the notebooks meet the same requirements as the 8730w, at minimum.

Of course, just because it doesn't meet the standard doesn't mean it will break when dropping from that height.

The W700 still has features that HP doesn't have though. Optional dual screen, Wacom tablet built in... An equivalent W700 with a 3 year warranty (which all EliteBooks come with) costs $4193-15% (which Lenovo often has), which makes for $3564.05, which makes it considerably more affordable than this EliteBook, which is a little over $4000 with the 18% off coupon that HP always has.

That's the problem with HP business notebooks in general... CTO is so much more expensive that you're essentially restricted to the preconfigured "Smart Buy" models. HP's CTO business notebook options are far behind those of Dell and Lenovo.

 

The 8730w does support dual hard drives if you replace the optical drive with a second hard drive. HP is a big fan of modular drive bays. Even some of the Pavilion laptops have modular bays so you can use either an optical drive or a second storage drive.

I use two hard drives in my 14" HP Pavilion dv4t at home.

 

Thinner, lighter or beautiful is personal preference. I would trade all that things for the toughness of my laptop. I pack ~40 lbs in my backpack everyday, so a little 1-2 lbs more doesn't mean anything.

Thinkpad has the magnesium allow roll-cage on both the lid and chassis for some time now. I have an HP too and I have tried the W700 in person. Big difference.

Of course I know they are ,misleading. What I was saying is that Jerry just drew a conclusion right from their advertisement without saying anything else. That surprising for a review.
Of course, just because it doesn't meet the standard doesn't mean it will break when dropping from that height.

I chose to get the HP over Dell Precision at the time, just because HP Customer support is top-notch, and I can vow for that.

That's not the same, Dell Precision and W700 can support dual hard drives and the modular bay. Based on your analogy I can add another HDD into the bay in the W700, which still beats the HP in that area.
The one feature that I love about HP, however, is that their business-laptops can support up to 2 batteries.

 

I doubt you have tried an Elitebook in person. The lid quality is far better than that on Thinkpads (very rigid) and it doesn't peel off like the rubber coating on Thinkpads do.

 

yeah yeah sure!
I doubt you've tried the W700 in person! Plastic is nowhere near as rugged as magnesium allow roll-cage.
And I know you're an HP fanboy, so I don't need to argue with you.
Also, for the record, I have tried the HP in person.

 

Have you tested the durability of both the 8730w and W700 lids? The 8730w is just as rigid. I know the 8710w will flex more because it doesn't have similar construction, but the 8730w is as rigid as the W700. The 8730w's lid is not plastic by any measure. It only has a small strip of plastic where the antennas are.

 

Well, for your info, the lid of the 8730w has plastic contrucstion which produces ripples when I pushed hard (Yes! I pushed hard, not the like the push on these reviews.) The aluminum cover is not thick enough. Also, the 8710w lid is just as tough compared to the 8730w.
The thinkpad as I said, has magnesium alloy roll-cage for the skeleton, one more thing to say that the W700's screen is thicker.

 

Per http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc...ovations/hp-military-grade-specifications.pdf
the 8730w also has a "rollcage" in its lid.

Where exactly does the 8730w have plastic that the W700 does not ?

 

Seeing that it did not pass the 30inch drop test, I would doubt that it could handle being thrown across the room

 

He said "would likely", but that doesn't mean that anyone should believe him.

the HP's screen didn't feel as strong when I handled it, both the 15.4'' and 17'' models. I could make ripples on the screen. The W700 has magnesium alloy cover and it's also thicker.
and I'm not being a fan boy here, as I own an HP myself. Both has their pros and cons.
I don't want to mention the Precision M6300 here, but its screen to me is stronger than the HP's as well.
All I want to say is that ruggedness doesn't go well with thinness. How do you expect a skinny guy to be a weight-lifting champion?

 

Now this is interesting. I thought the HP8730w/8530w would be much more rugged than the M6300 (I have the M90 which has the exact same design). Jerry J posted a review of the 8530w in which he wacked the lid really hard against the desk without any side effects. I doubt my M90 could take that.

So you could make ripples on the screen on the HPs ? How bad are the ripples ? How about the W700 ?
On my M90, I cannot produce ripples with reasonable force, on my M6400, I can. But it requires some force.

Also, ruggedness has two components. Impacts/pressure from outside forces which a heavier beefier laptop will handle better; and impacts due to falls which a lean laptop will handle better as the weight is less (using your analogy, a heavy set guy will break his bones if jumping from a high, but a skinny guy will surive fine)

 

14,271 3DMarks is really dam high! Does anyone know how this competes with other workstations like the Dell M6400?

 

Both of them can be equipped to have the same specifications, so then performance would be identical. Personally, I like the HP Elitebooks more, though.

 

M6400 can take 16GB of ram, elitebook can only have 8gb

 

It can also have dual hard drives, Elitebook can't.

 

On the other hand, the 8730w can take battery packs at the bottom (in addtion to the normal battery), so that you can get essentially unlimited battert life (by swapping out the bottom batteries)

 

Dang, revived old thread.
Yes, the two batteries is a plus. Hence my "20-cell" battery. Though thinkpad has switchable graphics which gives it longer battery life, I wish it can support 2 batteries beside the ultra-bay.

 

I really like the look of the elitebook series! If only the dv-series used the same design.

 

Elitebook laptops are business laptops, completely different from the dv series which are consumer laptops.