HP Fansite gets a new look

Whew, those months of absence surely didn’t go to waste… I’ve managed to sneak in time over fall thru winter to bring you… HP Fansite’s first ever ‘big’ redesign. The major changes are under the hood but you’ll also notice things are more polished on the front too. No drastic changes to the overall look of our lovable design though, because if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it (as we could learn from the love-hate redesign of the new EliteBooks)!

So what do you think? I’d love to hear feedback, comments, criticisms, any new features you readers would like to see, this year on HP Fansite (I do plan to implement a new commenting system, so that’s already on my list =)

Make mine a 3D capable EliteBook

Polarized 3D glass I'm going to try with my EliteBook 2530p

Not long ago, I was going all out to look for a multi-touch solution for my HP business notebook and less than a year after that, I finally found this magically HP-provided Synaptics universal multitouch driver; a driver which I continue to use to this day.

I’ve been enjoying chiral scrolling, two-finger left-right/up-down scrolling, pinch zooming, three finger swiping and three finger activated application launching, even to this day. So if you’re on a pre-2010 non-multitouch notebook, you should really go and download the driver above if you haven’t! Install at your own risk, but I’ve personally seen it work on an array of HP notebooks and all my friends love it! Multi-touch has become a part of life on my EliteBook 8740w and EliteBook 2530p, though I’m torn between the multi-touch touchpads on my EliteBooks and my new Logitech G700 hybrid wireless/wired gaming mouse these days (and I shall talk about the G700 another day).

Anyway, back to the topic on hand, now that I have multi-touch, I’m going in search for the next big thing to “pimp my EliteBook”: 3D output! And I’m sure 3D gaming and movie watching on the EliteBook 8740w’s 1 billion color DreamColor screen is gonna be pretty sweet… So I heard one can install a custom Nvidia driver for most modern Nvidia cards (3D capable or not), put on a pair of red/blue glasses and magically transform any non-3D display into one that pumps out and displays everything in 3D, and I’ve finally got down to ordering them colored 3D glasses. My colored glasses are being shipped to me as we speak and I’m looking for the most stable Nvidia graphics driver I can find for 3D; and I’ll have a review and tutorial up (if it works well!) in March!

Also, I’m going to take things a step further, by trying 3D on the EliteBook 2530p using a pair of Sony polarized Real-D glasses and a polarized privacy screen. I’m not sure if anyone’s tried something like this before… if not I’ll be the first one to do it and I’ll report my results here.

HP quietly launches new Envy 17/Envy 17 3D with Sandy Bridge and AMD 6000-series graphics

Next generation HP Envy 17 and Envy 17 3D with Intel's new quad core processors and new AMD graphics have showed up on some HP websites

HP has quietly brought out their next generation Envy 17 3D, updated with Intel’s Sandy Bridge Core i7 quad core processors and 1 GB of GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6850M graphics. You get to choose between the 2.0 GHz quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM or 2.3 GHz quad core Intel Core i7-2820QM processor. So far, those appear to be the only changes versus the first Envy 17 3D. And the good news is that you can actually configure and order one right now on the HP USA website, with a starting price of $1599!

Other not-new but noteworthy highlights of the Envy 17 3D include: two DDR3 RAM slots (HP allows you to configure up to 8 GB of RAM), dual hard disk bays (configurable up to 2 TB of storage total using two 1 TB hard disks, you can use SSDs too of course!) and the notebook comes standard with a 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080) 3D display and active shutter glasses needed to view the screen in 3D, backlit keyboard and Blu-ray drive.

If you live in Switzerland and know German, then you can check out HP Switzerland’s website which shows off das HP Envy 17 ohne 3D… HP Envy 17 (the non-3D version) with the Core i7-2630QM and 1 GB of GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6830M for 1899 Swiss francs. That also hints that the regular Envy 17 models might come with slightly less powerful AMD Radeon 6830M graphics, while the Envy 17 3D notebooks come with the higher clocked AMD Radeon 6850M series graphics cards.

Thanks to one of our readers who tipped us off =) .

Apple updates MacBook Pro models; I’ll still pick an EliteBook any day despite the looks

Apple released new MacBook Pro models today in three sizes

Apple has just announced a fairly significant refresh to their three MacBook Pro models (13 inch, 15 inch and 17 inch). And though this ain’t an Apple Fansite (It’s an HP Fansite in case you haven’t noticed our big fat banner at the top =) , I’m sure it isn’t blasphemy for us to talk a little about the new products from the Windows PC world’s fruity competitor. The changes in a nutshell on the new MacBook Pro models include:

• Intel 2011 “Sandy Bridge” second generation Core i-series processors
  13 inch MacBook Pro gives you a choice between the lowly dual core 2.3 GHz Core i5-2410M or higher end dual core 2.7 GHz Core i7-2620M
  15 and 17 inch MacBook Pros let you choose from two quad-core processors, the 2.2 GHz Core i7-2720QM and 2.3 GHz Core i7-2820QM, with the 15 inch MacBook Pro adding a third “lower tier” quad core option: the 2.0 GHz Core i7-2630QM
• Change in graphics: Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics and AMD Radeon 6000M series discrete graphics (I can hear the ooh’s and ahh’s now)
  13 inch MacBook Pro does away with the switchable graphics option of its predecessor, giving you just Intel integrated graphics
  15 and 17 inch MacBook Pro models continue to have switchable graphics (Intel integrated + AMD discrete combo)
  15 inch MacBook Pro lets you choose between having a 256 MB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6490M or 1 GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6750M card
  17 inch MacBook Pro only has the 1 GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6750M available, no choosing here!
• FaceTime HD webcam (they do 720p standard HD video, like other HD webcams out there)
• New “Thunderbolt” port (well, it isn’t a port by itself, it doubles as the Display Port too)

Well, hate to rain on the Apple party, but here’s why yesterday’s new EliteBook 8460p and EliteBook 8560p will be a better choice for those looking to do actual work on a Windows system and is not an Apple fanatic/not buying a notebook solely for its looks/isn’t already locked into the Apple ecosystem. Here’s why:

• Lower starting price (though we won’t be able to do a head-to-head comparison until both HP and Apple get their configurable notebook pages online!) and 3 year standard warranty with the EliteBooks
• Almost every Intel Sandy Bridge processor available as an option, from the super basic dual core Core i3-2310M to the quad core Core i7-2820QM, on both the 14 and 15 inch EliteBook models. This allows you to save if you don’t think you’ll need such a powerful processor; while on the 13 inch MacBook Pro, quad core isn’t even an option!
• More ports and easy multi-monitor Eyefinity. The EliteBook models have 4 or 5 USB ports, depending if you look at the 8460p or 8560p, eSATA and out of the box support for AMD Eyefinity, AKA a multi-monitor setup, with its built-in VGA port and Display Port. You can add on another two monitors through the optional notebook dock for a total of four external displays. Meanwhile Apple hasn’t uttered a word about Eyefinity support on the new MacBook Pro models.
• Higher resolution screen and matte displays are standard.
  The EliteBook 8460p is configurable with a 1600 x 900, 14 inch screen while the 13 inch MacBook Pro’s glossy screen has a resolution of 1280 x 800 with no matte option available. The 15 inch MacBook Pro gives you a matte screen option (which costs extra) but resolution still tops out at a whopping 1440 x 900, compared to the EliteBook 8560p’s maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080.
• Optical drive bay flexibility. The EliteBooks let you choose what you want in your optical drive bay: a regular CD/DVD reading+writing optical drive, Blu-ray drive, secondary hard disk or blank weight saver. You can also swap these around at will.
• Chassis accessibility, user-replaceable primary battery and optional secondary battery. The base of the new EliteBooks can now be popped out via a simple latch so you can easily access the primary drive, optical drive bay, RAM slots and heatsink/fan… to do that with the MacBook Pro, you’ll need to undo a bunch of screws, a WHOLE bunch of screws! Also, if you’re gonna be away from the power outlet for quite a while, good luck getting that MacBook Pro charged (yes even 6 to 10 hours of battery life isn’t enough for some people, and heavy applications will drain juice at an even quicker rate) while you can simply bring a bag full of batteries if you have an EliteBook.
• Pointing stick and secondary set of mouse buttons: for pointing stick fans!

However, yes the new MacBook Pros do triumph over the two EliteBooks of yesterday, somewhat, in some aspects:

• Design. Despite sporting the exact same design as the MacBook Pros of previous years, one has to acknowledge that an old design is better than the new but unattractive design of the EliteBook 8460p and 8560p. Of course, this is highly subjective and depends on your personal taste; you may have some sentiment towards laptop designs from 1855 or something.
• Slightly better graphics card in the 15 inch MacBook Pro versus the 15 inch EliteBook 8560p. Despite having the same amount of memory (1 GB), the MacBook Pro 15′s GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6750M is probably clocked faster than the EliteBook 8560p’s DDR3 AMD Radeon 6470M. However, do remember the EliteBook 8560p’s lower price tag… that, and we’ll see what the upcoming EliteBook 8560w with AMD FirePro and Nvidia Quadro workstation-class graphics has to say.
• No direct competitor to the 17 inch MacBook Pro… for now. But wait till the 17 inch monster EliteBook 8760w arrives this summer…

Is the new “Thunderbolt” port an advantage on the MacBook Pro? It’s too early to judge. But right now as it seems, USB 3.0 is the obvious winner since there are no Thunderbolt port supporting devices while there’s a ton of USB 3.0 peripherals out there. This production-level Thunderbolt is also nowhere as lightning fast as the Light Peak concept Intel and Apple showed off a while back. Also, the fact that it shares the same port as where you’ll connect an external monitor, using a Thunderbolt device and an external monitor might be difficult or impossible without… you’ve guessed it, an optional adapter accessory of sorts!

All you need to know about the EliteBook 8460p and EliteBook 8560p

HP EliteBook 8460p vs HP EliteBook 8560p: A summary

Hey, remember those new EliteBooks released yesterday? Sure you do! I think it’s interesting that the EliteBook 8460p and EliteBook 8560p are even closer together than the previous pair (EliteBook 8440p and EliteBook 8540p), with the only differences being:

• Larger screen (obviously) on the EliteBook 8560p
• EliteBook 8560p’s 15.6 inch display has three resolution options, which top out at 1920 x 1080 (Full HD), while the EliteBook 8460p’s 14 inch screen size gives you a choice between 1366 x 768 and 1600 x 900 panels only.
  From what I’m told, these are the same LED backlit, matte displays used on their respective predecessors. Also, do note the lack of a DreamColor screen for the EliteBook 8560p; I’m also told DreamColor is still reserved for HP’s Mobile Workstation notebooks, so expect to see it make a comeback on the EliteBook 8560w
• EliteBook 8560p has a serial port (8460p doesn’t have one) and an additional USB port over the Elitebook 8460p

I think many are going to be hard-pressed trying to justify the bigger EliteBook 8560p over the EliteBook 8460p, seeing they now are so similar. While the old 8540p had an upper hand in the graphics department over the 8440p, the two descendants launched last night now share the same AMD Radeon 6470M graphics card.

Also, I’ve got some even BIGGER news: The EliteBook 8560p now shares the same battery type as the EliteBook 8460p (which is the same battery used by HP’s 14 inch business notebooks for the past several years). Big-time HP fans (me, for instance) will know that HP’s 15 inch business notebooks have always used the same battery type as the larger 17 inch models; so you got an 8-cell battery that was flush with the notebook. Now that there’s been a change, you’ll only get a flush battery on the EliteBook 8560p if you go with the 6-cell option; a 9-cell battery is available, but it sticks out the back quite a bit.

Here’s a run down of what’s available for the EliteBook 8460p and EliteBook 8560p:

• Intel’s 2nd generation “Sandy Bridge” Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 mobile processors (choices range from the really basic 2.1 GHz dual core Core i3-2310M, to the beefy 2.3 GHz quad core Core i7-2820QM processors)
• Two DDR3 RAM slots for up to 16 GB of memory (using two 8 GB sticks)
• Choice of discrete graphics (1 GB DDR3 AMD Radeon 6470M graphics card) or integrated graphics (Intel HD 3000 built-in graphics)
  The discrete graphics card supports AMD Eyefinity, which allows you to connect up to 4 (yes, four) external displays to the notebook. Neither EliteBook has switchable graphics: You either go with discrete graphics or you don’t, so pick wisely when purchasing your notebook!
• 5 USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0) on the EliteBook 8560p, 4 USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0) EliteBook 8460p
• VGA and Display Port built-in, so you can connect two external displays. To connect the maximum number of screens possible (4), you’ll need to have AMD graphics mentioned above, and HP’s optional docking station
• As expected, the usual connectivity options: WiFi, mobile broadband and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• SD/SDHC/MMC card reader, no word about SDXC card support so far, and my contacts are mum about this too
• 2.5 inch built-in hard disk bay (HP will officially be offering hard disks from 250 GB to 750 GB sizes, 7200 RPM standard, and 128 GB/160 GB solid state drives)
  Optical drive bay takes conventional DVD drives, Blu-ray drives, a secondary 2.5 inch drive or HP’s “weight saver” (a blank filler which slots in the bay)
• Stereo microphones and stereo speakers; speakers have “SRS Premium Sound” branding
• Choose between having no webcam, a ‘standard’ webcam or a HD webcam. The latter is a new option, where the HD webcam can do 720p video at up to 30 frames per second and promises improved low-light image quality and dynamic range
• HP QuickWeb and Day Starter ‘instant boot’ modes for quick access to internet browser and your email client respectively
• Fingerprint sensor

I’m finding it weird that HP is offering a “3 cell battery” for both notebooks, seeing the 6 cell battery already sits flush in the notebook… would a 3 cell battery be undersized and sit recessed in the battery bay?

If you’re into diagrams, labels and full blown technical details, HP has published a data sheet on the EliteBook 8460p and EliteBook 8560p. I think HP is indirectly acknowledging the similarity and closeness of both these notebooks, since they share a single data sheet PDF.