HP's longevous EliteBook 6930p gets reviewed, liked

HP's ridiculously long lasting EliteBook 6930p just got done with a fresh round of torture testing from the savages over at PC Mag, and while their review unit didn't have the optimal processor for pulling an all-nighter (followed by an all-dayer) without even a lick of the AC outlet, critics did find the unit to be fairly impressive in most every other regard. It should be pointed out, however, that the review crew sure showed a lot of love to the ThinkPad T400, noting that Lenovo's machine deserved a "super-elite" status if the 6930p was worthy of being "elite." Comparisons aside, they were impressed with its performance in all-around computing and the "sleek yet rugged" design, but it still came up one red dot shy of a perfect score. Is it a fit for you? Depends on your needs, but chances are you'll have a much better idea after digesting the writeup in full down in the read link.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 8:50AM]

L33T

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 8:54AM]

beat me down all you want, but i like how this looks. its a nice notebook

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 9:17AM]

will it run Crysis ??? or Doom ?
holy ship or holy crab ?

[YodaEXE Posted Oct 17th 2008 9:23AM]

Looks interesting, but after the crap I just went through to try and get HP to fix my laptop after the wireless card and motherboard went out, I would NEVER buy another HP laptop. HP has a HUGE issue with poor designs and hardware causing major failure.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c01087277&dlc=en

That link should be soon getting the Pavilion tx1000 and tx2000 models added to it as well, according to an HP rep that I spoke with while getting them to fix my tx1220us after it went through those exact issues.

[tommychan123hotmailcom Posted Oct 17th 2008 9:32AM]

that's why HP was "elite", while the "super elite" title goes to thinkpad

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 11:08AM]

Zeta,

In my experience, HP is actually 2 companies: consumer & business. If the product includes the word "Pavillion", is sold in a store such as Best Buy, or includes a 1yr or less warranty, it is a "consumer" product & is probably craptacular. However, if the product is available via the web (99% of the time) and has the 3yr parts/labor warranty, it's a "business" product & should be muuuch more reliable. I manage a small network of 60 uses & we've always used HP... And I had to learn this the hard way! Anyone here ever heard of the Evo nx1000 laptop? Cruddy. But the nc6xxx series of business laptops were solid. The Elitebook 6930p is the successor to those nc6xxx & should be quite reliable.

[YodaEXE Posted Oct 17th 2008 12:46PM]

Matt,

While your comments make sense, it's not so much the quality of the products that I have an issue with (although the quality appears to be pretty horrendous), it's more the support that I received that turns me off to them more than anything. While contacting them about repairs (keeping in mind the fact that I had a 1 year Accidental Damage plan that should have allowed them to do this without hassle), I was run through all kinds of hoops just to get my motherboard replaced. It started off with support telling me that it was not possible for my laptop to have the problem I was describing, as it's not a model listed on that page that I linked previously, to them claiming that I was lying, followed by them claiming that I had no extended warranty (despite my supplying the ID number of it and various info which should have confirmed it), to being left on hold for 30 minutes while they supposedly found a supervisor for me to talk to. It eventually required me having to escalate all the way to a Case Manager just to get my issue resolved.

The simple fact that they refused to honor the warranty that I had purchased (which extends through the end of November, so there should have been zero problems using it), has driven me well away from HP. From now on I'm definitely making sure that I stick with building my own desktops (and offering that service to family and friends so they don't have to get pre-built junk), and IBM or Asus for laptops. I've never had a Thinkpad fail on me (and I have one that's 6 years old for crying out loud! My HP isn't even a year yet!), and anytime I've had a problem with an Asus product they've replaced it free of charge without any trouble for me.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 12:52PM]

I'm inclined to agree with Matt. While I've heard others complain about HP, my NX 7300 was a really solid machine. I miss how it looked too. Solid.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 17th 2008 2:39PM]

i think they meant '1337800k' 6930p

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 18th 2008 9:56PM]

So I think the moral of the story is get a T400.
I couldn't agree more myself...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 2:53PM]

I ordered this notebook through an authorized distributor in Hong Kong and has had nothing but problems with the 6930p. The power adapter and battery seems to make a high frequency buzzing sound, and I've only seen this happen to dying power adapters. It was loud enough that it gave me headaches and was still audible when placed on a table near a window mounted air-conditioner. They exchanged it for a second one, which had a lid that couldn't close properly and dust and fingerprints were on the LCD. My third had a dead pixel near the middle of the screen, and the lid (the metallic part with the HP logo on it) separated from the LCD inner frame which made a crack run along the side of the lid casing exposing the innards. There were also scratches here and there either in the hinge area or on the lid itself and this was present in all 3 notebooks I exchanged. It seems that the locking mechanism is poorly designed and it takes quite a lot of force to get the lid to shut correctly. The lid also bends a bit when its shut. My initial impression is that it's casing design was rushed and that I'm glad it came with a 3 year warranty as its much needed. The build quality of the 6930p is crap compared to my old nx6120 (nc in some countries) which survived multiple falls to the floor.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 3rd 2008 3:10PM]

WORST LAPTOP EVER

Read Zeta's post carefully, then google 6930 problems and you will see how bad this laptop is.

I am using it as I type and it locks up the moment you press a "quicklaunch" button which is anything to do with sound, muting, presentation display or even to enable wireless.

Worst purchase ever, there is NO support from HP, the forums do not have any info and good luck trying to diagnose this without HP.

Our company used to buy exclusively from HP - the good thing is, this laptop used to belong to our CEO who has terminated the HP relationship due to the fact he almost threw this laptop against the wall after it locked up for the 89th time (he actually kept track)