A few months ago we posted our review of the HP ProBook 6360b, the latest addition to HP's "b" series notebooks and their first in a 13.iii" form factor. Today we'll be looking at another business-form notebook from HP, the EliteBook 8460p. Every bit its name suggests, this system is a step higher up the standard business-minded 6360b and as such, it'southward billed every bit a Large Enterprise Concern product. The "professional person" EliteBook retails for about $300 more than the ProBook, but is that premium worthwhile?

Our review unit is armed with an Intel Core i5-2520M operating at 2.50GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Boost), 4GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 retentiveness, a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, Intel Centrino 802.11 a/b/one thousand/due north, Bluetooth ii.1 + EDR, a removable 6-cell (62WHr) Li-Ion bombardment, a DVD +/-RW SuperMulti DL optical drive with LightScribe and a 14.0" LED-backlit HD anti-glare display with a native resolution of 1366 x 768. Graphics are candy using an AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 1GB of dedicated DDR3 memory.

As configured today, our sample machine retails for $1,061.99 at Newegg.

The arrangement measures 13.31" x 9.11" x 1.25" (W/D/H) and weighs 4.56lbs, making information technology slightly thinner than the 6360b only at the aforementioned time, near half a pound heavier. Even with the decreased thickness, the system is all the same a little bit fatter than near other contempo notebooks we've looked at.

At get-go glance the two business notebooks appear very similar, but there are some pretty obvious differences. Much like the ProBook, the EliteBook features an HP DuraFinish smudge, wearable and scratch-resistant blanket on the outer shell that will keep the system looking newer for longer.

The colour is unlike as the EliteBook features a platinum pigment scheme while the ProBook had a tungsten tint. The same stylized HP logo can be constitute on the lid. This unit featured an enhanced HP DuraCase which is designed to run into military standards (MIL-STD 810G for drop, vibration, dust, temperature, shock, altitude and high temperature).

On the front end of the EliteBook is a button-button style lid latch on the bottom base of operations. The left side has 4 pivot-hole sized LED activity indicators. From left to right: wireless, power, charging and disk activeness.

The correct side has accommodations for headphones and a microphone, an eSATA/USB philharmonic port, powered USB port, a DisplayPort connector, cooling vents and a Kensington lock slot. On the back of the notebook is a modem jack, VGA-out and a network jack. The aluminum hinge and removable battery are too hands viewable from this vantage point.

The left side shows the power connector, 1394a connector, 2 USB iii.0 connectors, an SD/MMC card reader, a 54mm ExpressCard slot and the optical bulldoze.

The bottom of the notebook is virtually identical to what nosotros saw on the ProBook, which was pleasing. There are several safe feet that provide stability and lift, a docking port and secondary battery connector. This notebook also uses the aforementioned quick-release access panel, making information technology easy to get inside for maintenance or upgrades.

Under the access panel, nosotros find that in that location is an additional RAM expansion bay and it looks like the optical drive can be taken out by removing a screw.

We institute the speaker placement a bit odd. This EliteBook uses two speakers: one is left of the chapeau latch near the front of the system while the other is farther left of this, near the side of the organisation by the optical drive tray. We will explore the effects of this later in the review.

The half-dozen-row chiclet-mode keyboard is virtually identical to what's used on the ProBook. Again, this is a expert thing every bit we really liked the layout and experience of that board. There is no backlight, although HP has included a tiny pop-out keyboard light abreast the webcam at the top of the display. Information technology'due south a dainty gesture but virtually useless.

Ane fundamental difference, all the same, is that HP has included a Pointstick and two option buttons -- very similar to Lenovo's TrackPoint pointing device. Additionally, the touchpad is 0.v" wider than the ProBook's and the mouse click buttons retain the same great feel.

In a conference call to hash out the notebook's features, HP claimed the touchpad was constructed of chemically strengthened drinking glass, but when I pressed for more details, the HP team declined to comment further on the blazon of chemical or anything else about information technology.

A fingerprint reader is situated on the right side of the palm rest just under the arrow keys. The 14.0" LED-backlit HD anti-glare brandish is surrounded by a blackness bezel that looks plumbing equipment. An integrated webcam is centered above the display with dual microphones on either side of the lens. While we weren't sent one for testing, in that location are optional external batteries available that attach to the lesser of the ProBook for extended battery life, including the BB09 Ultra Extended Life battery that claims up to 32 hours of runtime.