•Manufacturer: HP
•Pros: Compact design, Fast CPU, Upto 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, Useful bundled software, Discrete graphics is an option, 3 year Battery warranty available
•Cons: Laptop audio, All models ship with only 4 GB RAM
•Summary: With the price, design, and all the security extras this laptop offers you a lot of bang for your buck.
•Overall Rating: 9 / 10
•Price: $999; $1199 as tested
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When it comes to business machines no one makes them like HP. Combining form and function in the most elegant ways possible the HP EliteBook 8460p is no exception. Under the beautiful brushed aluminum case is a rigid magnesium-aluminum chassis. Designed to withstand impacts and pressure seen in a multitude of business environments while still weighing less than 5lbs. HP also added what they call the “FitTight” battery lock to prevent jostling or ejecting of the HP Laptop Battery due to any type of impact. Even the screen has an extra layer of protection in the DisplaySafe frame. This double-shot rubber frame prevents scratches and scuffs on the screen by buffering it from the base of the laptop while closed. This feature also prevents accidental keystrokes while reducing the gap between the top and bottom of the machine.
HP didn’t stop at physical features when considering safety for this laptop. The EliteBook series all sport a Fingerprint reader and can use the built-in webcam for facial recognition. Adding that extra layer of protection HP is known for. Concerned you will not know how to configure these features? The built in HP ProtectTools software, included with all HP Elite PCs, allows for easy setup and prompts a new user to configure them on first start-up.
The finger print reader only seems to have issues reading your prints if you stop and start during your finger swipe. As long as you use a smooth swipe it should not have any issues recognizing you, and only you. However, facial recognition was a lot more of a headache to setup. First you must create a “scene”. Essentially this is just seven pictures of your face at different angles. The tutorial video shows you how to position your head for each of the pictures it needs, but during the picture taking process it is not completely clear when you are at the right angle. I had to restart the scene a few times before it worked the way it should. Once the scene was created it had no issues recognizing my face to sign in. Being Bluetooth enabled the HP ProtectTools also offers Bluetooth security. When near your laptop with your cell phone or other Bluetooth enabled device it will connect to the laptop as a security verification. HP does recommend you add multiple authentication methods to the PC and require at least two before login is successful. That way if your cell phone dies you can use another login method to access your machine.
Once the EliteBook is running, the 14” LED-backlit HD display has an anti-glare coating to keep you working in all lighting conditions. Available in 4 models so you can find one that works for your application. The model we tested, the XU059UT, runs at a screen resolution of 1366 x 768. It runs on a Core i5 2520M 2.50GHz, and has a Radeon HD 6470M as its graphics engine. While a 1GB video card is not the most impressive put into a laptop it is a nice change from many of the other PCs in the HP Business Elite line. They, like the lower 2 models of this EliteBook, only run off of the integrated Intel UMA Graphics built onto the CPU. If you need even more of a graphics boost then the next model up may be what you are looking for. Running at a resolution of 1600 x 900, sporting a larger hard drive and running the Core i7 processor gives this small laptop an even bigger punch and is only $300 more. All models of the 8460p ship with only 4 GB of RAM. It is expandable to 16 GB, but you would either have to do that after the fact or building your own from the ground up. This is always an option with all HP computers, but it does take longer to ship the machine and costs more.
If you are a night owl like me, or even if you travel often, it is possible you do a lot of your work in the dark. Knowing we live in such a world HP has included a light just above the top of the screen aptly named the “night light”. At the push of a button the little light pops out and casts enough light to illuminate the full size keyboard. Another great accessibility feature HP added is having both an HP PointStick and a touchpad, so you have the option of using whichever you want. The PointStick is low profile and it sits between the G, H and B keys so it will not disrupt your typing. Along the sides of the laptop you will find your ports, jacks, the DVD+/-RW Lightscribe drive and an ExpressCard/54 slot. Included are the standard headphone and microphone ports, two USB 2.0 jacks and 2 USB 3.0 jacks. As with most laptops there is a VGA output, and while HDMI is absent there is a DisplayPort available for High-Def video output.
Beyond the form and function the pricing on the line is on par with laptops at the same level, our test model will set you back only $1199. So, why buy HP when other laptops have the similar features? HP’s Long Life Batteries are the icing on the cake here. The standard 6-Cell (62 Whr) Li-Ion battery can run for over 8 hours on a full charge, and unlike other batteries that need replacement after 12 to 18 months, the HP batteries have a 3 year expected lifespan that HP backs up with an available 3 or 4 year warranty for battery replacement.
