I work for an HP reseller in the UK. It seems the 8440w isn’t sold into the UK / EU by HP.

I asked HP CTO and the reply from Germany was:

“I am sorry but the 8440w is not a part of the EMEA Top Config program so it is not configurable.”

Hence I’ve ended up going for the 8440p. I liked the higher screen resolution on the 8540w but I’ve been lugging around a 3kg+ FSC Lifebook for a for a few years, so wanted a nice drop in weight/size. I’m very pleased with the 8440p to date.

Tim – are you running W7 x64? HP have a utility called Quick Launch Buttons which is meant to let you tweak the buttons. However, it seems it doesn’t let you change tbe buttons on x64 (the tab in the utility is missing for me) and I’m not reinstalling x86 to try (though I might build a virtual machine to try it).

Cheers,
Chris.

Have you tried visiting a business reseller? Most resellers cater to the consumer/home office market only. You’ll have better luck with the ones that sell to large enterprises; they sometimes carry ProLiants too.

It’s pretty rare even over here for individuals to order commercial notebooks. They can be quite challenging to get outside of normal retail channels but with luck you can find an enterprise reseller who can order the notebook for you. Happy hunting!

Regards,

Carl

It’s not available as a standard build or CTO from HP’s UK distributors (eg Ingram Micro).

http://h41111.www4.hp.com/notebooks/uk/en/ doesn’t even mention it – it’s 8440p, then 8540p/w.

Thanks,
Chris.

The Product Number for all items depends on your region. Please visit http://www.hp.com, select your region, and navigate to:

Products and Services > Small and Medium Business > Notebooks

Select the Elitebooks and look for the 8440w. The code in parentheses is the Prosuct Number for your region, e.g. Elitebook 8440w Mobile Workstation (AB123XY).

Cheers,

Carl

The only quirk I can find fault with is that we could have done a better job with the drivers. I was puzzled to not find a driver package for the 56k modem (which I special-ordered because of the occasional trip to places with neither a cell signal or broadband). Turns out a quick Windows Update fixed that. The Nvidia sound driver should also NOT be installed as it conflicts with the IDT HD audio driver. And my existing docking station doesn’t fit the 2010 Elitebooks! The decision to change the connector is an odd one… if anyone wants a 3-month old 135W docking station for 4:3 and 16:10 notebooks mine’s for sale! :p

That aside, this laptop is simply awesome. I have it running a custom Vista x64 image and the Nvidia 197 driver package. I primarily use my computer for photography, which makes full use of the Quadro’s OpenGL acceleration. Performance is blazing fast – Photoshop CS4 x64 with 64-bit Imagenomic plugins render previews in real-time, apply filters almost instantly – even the compute-intensive Noiseware Pro filter, show every GUI widget with zero lag, and chew through my Pentax K-7′s 14.5Mpx DNG RAW images with aplomb. Games are no problem for the mighty FX380M either – I play L4D2 at 1600×900 with 4xAA, 4xAF, Trilinear, Very High Everything. A friend with a Penryn+8800GTX-based desktop rig says it rivals the performance of much larger systems – not bad at all for something that fits nicely on your lap or an airplane tray table!

Mobility-wise, it doesn’t get warm, even here in the tropics – very lap-friendly but do remember I have a 35W CPU. The 6-cell battery lasts two hours with moderate use (20mins of which was L4D2), so I’ll be picking up an 8-cell secondary. Bluetooth works great, with multiple intuitive profiles that successfully pair with my BlackBerry Bold 9700 and two Bluetooth headsets – no hiccups be it data transfer, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra over A2DP, or long Skype sessions. The Qualcomm un2420 GSM/EVDO+GPS module works great too, reception is solid thanks to the triple-mast antenna array, the connection is reliable, and the client software even detects your carrier and sets it up for you – sweet. The webcam and Nightlight work quite nicely too. Finally, you won’t feel bad at the local Starbucks; the gunmetal gray aircraft aluminum chassis elicits envious glances from Macbook Pro users.

Bottom line, it doesn’t get any better than this. The 15″ models may have twice the RAM, but for a go-anywhere, do-anything system this is hard to beat.

Brad, being welcomed is welcome. This is an awesome site and I’m glad to be here!

Domiel, I’m not sure if there will be other graphics options for this box; you may as well go ahead and buy it now. Personally I doubt there will be because there’s only so much oomph you can stuff into a 14″ chassis, but since the FX380 can run Left 4 Dead 2 and Modern Warfare 2 quite well I think you’ll be happy. I certainly am, and I haven’t even switched it on yet! I’ll take you up on that coffee should I ever visit AU; I work somewhere in APJ unfortunately!

Thanks for your feedback.

As for the CPU if they can add it in at the staff price I’ll opt for the 820QM otherwise I’ll stick with the 720QM – I run lots of VMs so more cores is more important than more MHz for me.

You said that the nVidia was the only _current_ graphics option – do you know if that will change. I’ve waited 6 months already another month won’t kill me. As for the ATI driver issue, I don’t run windoze so that’s not an issue.

Also, I have a funny feeling that we may actually work in the same building

Drop me a line and I’ll buy you a coffee next time I’m in… email me on domiel42 yahoo com au