HP 8530W : A review

6 Oct 2008



A review of HP 8530W Notebook

We will start this review with the specifications. This is unusual, but when you are ready to fork out more than $1500 ( that too for the minimum configuration), you do need to check the specification first. For this price this notebook is not a Janata Notebook. This notebook is best classified as workstation business notebook.So, here goes the specifications...

* Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 Processor (2.53GHz, 6MB L2 cache)
* Microsoft Vista Business
* 15.4-inch WUXGA+ anti-glare (1920 x 1200)
* 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M Workstation GPU
* 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
* 160GB 7200RPM Toshiba 2.5" HDD
* Blu-Ray and DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
* WiFi, Ethernet, Modem, and Bluetooth Connectivity
* 8-Cell 73WHr Battery
* 3-Year on-site Warranty
* Dimensions: 1.1" x 14.0" x 10.4"
* Weight: 6.5lbs , 8lbs with power adapter


The HP8530W has a rugged design that will last adverse atmoshpheres. It cover is made up of hard plastic that helps it withstand advers mechanical and atmoshpheric conditins.According to HP this mobile workstation meets military standard MIL-STD 810F tests. We can therefore expect that the notebook has better chance of surviving adverse conditions. The 8530w has hard drive shock protection. This is a useful feature as the mechanical hard drive failure are most common and dangerous type of failures that a professional would like to avoid.

Processor, Graphics,Memory

The processor inside HP Elitebook 8530W is intel T9400 running at 2.26GHz with 6M L2 Cache. Pretty fast with any standard. The graphics is using Nvidia Quadro 770M series video card with 512MB of GDDR3 memory. The hard disk is 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive. Memory was 4 GB. This computer is very fast for all the applications and compilers.




Battery Life

Under normal surfing conditions, this notebook was found to last 3 hours and 40 minutes using 8 Cells Li Ion battry. If battery life is a concern you may like to have 12 cell battery in place of the 8 cell battery which will theoritically make the battery life one and a half times. The battery life can be further extended by using the power saver mode in the Vista Power profile.

Screen

The 15.4-inch (1920 x 1200-pixel resolution) display looks good. The enhanced resolution will mean better video quality, although it will be difficult to distinguish it with somewhat lower display resolution screen. We can of course enjoy the blue ray discs for enhanced performance.

The screen has stunning performance from most of the angles except the bottom angle.

Ports

The left side of the notebook has USB ports, GigE Ethernet, HDMI-out, eSATA port, Firewire 400, an ExpressCard/54 slot, smart card slot, and a multi-card reaader.

The right side has Audio-out jack, microphone/line-in jack, two USB ports, BluRay optical drive, modem port and security lock slot. Th rear side has the battery, AC power jack, and the VGA out jack. This has been a shift from current trends where most notebooks are coming with only left and right side ports. However, we must be happy with the HDMI out and rge eSATA ports which are very useful and do not come in all notebooks even now.







Pros

* High-resolution screen with great performance. Good for graphics designers.
* Comes with Blu Ray drive
* Battery life is great. It can be extended using 12 cell battery
* Attractive and sleek design.


Cons

* Very Expensive. Out of the pocket of common users.
* Costly.
* NOt cheap.


Final Thought In Overall, this laptop is definitely a bit expensive. It has a good battery life. It is powerful and full featured. With its rugged design corporates would like to go for it. I think users may also like to explore Sony line of notebooks to compare.