HP EliteBook 8740w Review

HP EliteBook 8740w

Review Summary:

The EliteBook 8740w offers high performance and fantastic options for graphic artists.

Pros

• High performance
• Durable chassis
• Eyefinity multi-display option

Cons

• Flexible keyboard
• Weak battery life
• Thick and heavy

HP EliteBook 8740w Full Review

 

The HP EliteBook 8740w has been on the market for a while now, but it is still the largest and most powerful workstation in HP's current lineup of business notebooks. This massive workhorse features Intel processors, your choice of Nvidia or ATI workstation graphics and is available with HP's exclusive 17-inch "DreamColor" display. It's been a long time coming, but we finally took a closer look at this desktop replacement to see if it really is a graphic artist's best friend

Our review unit of the EliteBook 8740w features the following configuration:

• Intel Core i7-820QM Quad-core Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB cache, 3.06GHz Turbo Frequency)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
• 17.0-inch WUXGA+ anti-glare DreamColor display (1920 x 1200)
• 1GB (GDDR5) ATI FirePro M7820 Workstation GPU
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• 320GB 7200RPM HDD
• 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: 7.9lbs
• MSRP: $3,552 as configured (starting price: $1,999)

Build and Design
The HP EliteBook 8740w is a "mobile workstation" designed to meet very specific requirements for performance, durability, power consumption and a host of other features. In each case the EliteBook line meets or exceeds those standards, so before you even try to life this almost eight-pound notebook you know it's built to be tough.

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. HP uses a darker color on the outside of the mobile workstations and a lighter silver finish on the standard EliteBook series. The outer shell of the screen casing is made of metal, but the inner screen bezel is plastic. The entire chassis from the base to the screen lid feels exceptionally strong and resistant to flex. The keyboard is the only exception to that rule since it has a tendency to "bounce" under your fingertips when you type with heavy pressure.

HP says that this mobile workstation "has been tested and meets the military standard MIL-STD 810F tests" and we've seen HP demonstrations where this EliteBook was exposed to excessive heat, vibration and water and kept running. Additionally, the 8740w also features hard drive shock protection in the form of HP 3D DriveGuard which helps protect your hard drive in the event the laptop gets dropped or violently bumped. You can also configure the 8730w with a solid state drive (SSD) if you need extreme speed and resistance to vibration.

In terms of expansion, the EliteBook 8740w uses two simple plastic covers on the bottom of the notebook (each held in place with standard Phillips head screws) so that you 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.

Ports and Features
The 8740w features a good number of ports on all sides, so let us take a brief tour ...

Left side: Security lock slot, heat exhaust, power jack, DisplayPort, VGA port, USB 2.0, FireWire, an ExpressCard/54 slot and a smart card slot

Right side: eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, optical drive, Ethernet and modem port

Rear side: The battery and heat exhaust

Front side: Headphone jack, microphone jack and multi-card reader

Screen and Speakers
The 8740w comes equipped with your choice of a standard 17.0" anti-glare widescreen display or a "DreamColor" RGBLED backlit screen with a 10-bit panel that can display 1 billion colors. The screen brightness is rated at 300 nits (289 nits in our lab) and the contrast ratio of 800:1 (721:1 in our lab). This makes the screen 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.

The only complaint we have about the DreamColor display is that it isn't properly calibrated (or even close to it) from the factory using the default color settings. Every mobile workstation that we've reviewed with a DreamColor display shows extremely saturated colors by default that almost look "radioactive" compared to how the colors are supposed to appear. Most graphic artists know they have to use a colorimeter such as a Datacolor Spyder to calibrate the screen for color-critical work.

Viewing angles on the DreamColor display are simply fantastic. Colors and contrast remain consistent regardless of whether you're looking at the screen from straight ahead or extreme horizontal or vertical angles.

Our review unit also came equipped with ATI FirePro M7820 graphics, so when paired with the optional docking station you can connect multiple external displays. ATI's "Eyefinity" technology lets you use more screens than you ever thought possible with a notebook. The only reason you can't easily connect more monitors to the 8740w is the limited number of DisplayPort connections on the dock.

We connected four HP ZR24w external monitors to the 8740w; three of the screens ran at the native 1920 x 1200 resolution while the fourth screen was limited to 1440 x 900 because it was connected via VGA and the hardware couldn't support a higher resolution. Still, it's impressive to be able to connect this many high-resolution screens to a notebook. If you want more than five screens running at once you really should be looking at a desktop.

The speakers on the 8740w 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. If you using the 8740w 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 8740w is nice and large and features the "HP DuraKeys" finish which gives each key a nice matte appearance and prevents the "shine" that appears on old keyboards after the buildup of dirt and oils from your fingertips.

The layout of the keyboard is similar to the older 8730w but the keys are thinner with LED backlighting on our review unit to help you see the keyboard in a dark room. 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.

Unfortunately, the keyboard doesn feel as nice as it looks when you type. As previously mentioned, the keyboard suffers from quite a bit of flex and "bounces" under your fingertips as you type. This isn't the end of the world for a notebook, but when you purchase a high-performance, durable mobile workstation and spend $2,000 or more on the purchase you don't want a bouncy keyboard.

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 8740w's.  The pointing stick is amazingly accurate and comfortable to use.

Performance and Benchmarks
Our EliteBook 8740w came with the Intel Core i7-820QM quad-core processor. Like all the other Core-series processor options, it has a standard clock speed and a "turbo" clock speed. In this case, you get a standard 1.73GHz processor speed when you're typing a Word document or browsing the Web, but the processor quickly jumps up to 3.06GHz when you run intense applications likeMaya or Adobe Premiere.

For graphics, HP offers both Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro workstation video cards. We were impressed with the performance of the ATI FirePro M7820 graphics with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Sure, you can buy a gaming notebook with better graphics performance for the same money, but a gaming notebook isn't tested for 100 percent compatibility with 3D-rendering apps and CAD programs like the graphics in a mobile workstation.

The 320GB 7200 RPM hard drive in our review unit wasn't the fastest we've seen, but it's quick enough for most work and you can always upgrade to a high-performance SSD if you need the fastest storage available.

With that said, let's jump into the performance benchmarks.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

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

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures graphics performance  (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark Vantage measures graphics performance (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
During normal use (browsing the Web or working on a text document) the EliteBook 8740w remained nice and quiet. However, the cooling fan quickly became quite loud when we stressed the CPU and graphics during our benchmark tests. This means the 8740w might be loud enough to annoy the person working in the cubicle next to you. On the bright side, the fan works hard to keep the 8740w cool.

Finally, we recorded the following external temperatures using an IR thermometer after running two consecutive PCMark05 and 3DMark06 benchmarks. This should serve as an indicator of how hot the notebook will get after some serious use. All temperatures are listed in degrees Fahrenheit. The system gets pretty hot near the RAM, but these temperature ranges should be perfectly fine for a desktop replacement.

Battery
The battery life of the 8740w with standard 8-cell, 73WHr battery was rather disappointing. Our standard battery life test sets the screen to 70% brightness, wireless active and continuously refreshing a website on a 60-second interval, and Windows 7 set to the "balanced" power profile. The laptop shut down after exactly 1 hour and 52 minutes. This isn't completely unreasonable for a 17-inch notebook with a quad-core processors and high-performance graphics, but when the latest business notebooks can deliver almost 9 hours of battery life with a standard battery it's tough to balance between the need for mobility and the need for workstation performance.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
At the end of the day the HP EliteBook 8740w is a powerful 17-inch mobile workstation that genuinely bridges the gap between desktop workstations and mobile workstations. The ATI Eyefinity technology comes in handy when you want to use multiple displays and the combination of quad-core processor and high-performance graphics really deliver the goods.

I was more than a little disappointed by the flex in the keyboard and the limited battery life, but neither of these issues are "guaranteed" deal breakers if you plan to use this notebook as a true "desktop replacement" that says plugged in to a power outlet and you use an external keyboard.

In short, the HP EliteBook 8740w delivers serious power but it needs some work before it can reach "perfection."

Pros:

• High performance
• Durable chassis
• Eyefinity multi-display option

Cons:

• Flexible keyboard
• Weak battery life
• Thick and heavy

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 


* Ratings averaged to produce final score