Fear not mobile workstation lovers, it may have taken HP a bit more time to refresh its 17-inch
EliteBook 8740w, but it's officially here now and ready to champ at the bit with a combo of cutting edge features / specs. We'll start with the externals first -- the 7.8-pound, magnesium-alloy chassis is covered in the same gunmetal finish as the other
recently-announced Elitebooks, and the 17-inch HP Dreamcolor screen is nothing short of stunning. It has 64 times the colors of other displays and can be ordered with HP's Mobile Display Assistant color calibrator. Inside the workstation is rather frightful -- it can be configured with a choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and [either] ATI 's newest FirePro M7820 or NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs. While the 8740w starts at $1,999, the $3,899 spec'd version happens to be HP's most powerful mobile workstation
ever with a quad-core Core i7 processor, 7,200rpm 320GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadtro FX 3800M graphics with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. We were told that the 8740w would be shipping in early April, but it appears that you can order them up right now at the source link.
posted March 24th 2010 12:01AM
Hmm wonder if I can get me some Hackintosh lovin on there....
@CHICHIgetdaYAYO
From what I've heard, hackintoshing ain't pretty on a machine with workstation graphics due to Apple using mainstream laptop GPUs rather than Quadros or FirePros.
Absolutely LOVE the EliteBook series!
So nice and powerful, only thing weighting me down is the weight itself.
@Lando Calrissian
I'm not sure what goes in a mac pro, but don't those use quadros? Correct me if I'm wrong there.
@dez You can install Quadros, but you have to buy it seperately, it doesn't come with Apple Store certified customizing.
@CHICHIgetdaYAYO I cant believe this!
@CHICHIgetdaYAYO Possibilities to have this laptop is endless although I think the price is a bit pricey. Opinions: http://bit.ly/hp-elitebook-8740w-view
M6500 vs W701 vs 8740w
I am so making this my Linux Studio laptop.
Switch the gfx to hd5870/gtx 480 and we're talking.
@cdf74dc9 Why would you want a desktop graphics card in a notebook PC? The ATI FirePro M7280 should pull of DX11 just fine (though the Quadro FXs only do DX10). If it doesn't do DX11.... *shudders in disgust* DX10+DirectCompute isn't terrible, but I would much prefer working with the new Shader Model 5.0, tesselation and multithreading on board as well. I'm waiting to hear more about that card, though. Either way, this is a mobile workstation, not a mainstream notebook, hence the Nvidia Quadro FX and ATI FirePro workstation GPUs.
8 POUND? That seems heavy to move around everyday.
@DBx
Let's be honest... it is a 17" powerhouse. This isn't designed to go with you to your favorite coffee house. Dunce
@DBx
Most people here in the US lug around an extra 50, 8lbs shouldn't be a problem.
@daytripper +1
P90X will fix that right up =P The X stands for extreme, since you were wondering.
@DBx As someone once wrote... "If less than 10 pounds is too heavy to carry around, you need to find a gym, not a different computer."
@KungFuHamster It's not the10lbs of the laptop that's bad. It's the 3lb power adapter, the 22lb 17" backpack, the meeting files, the pens, keys, and random garbage that ends up tagging along and amount to about 35 extra pounds. It's a lot nicer when the laptop weighs less because you get a smaller bag and carry less stuff. I used to carry one of the early 17" laptops around. I'm very satisfied not carrying a 15.4" and a smaller backpack.
Ooh.. nice screen
1GB of DDR3 RAM? That must be a mistake!
@JW
Additionally, 320GB 7200RPM HDD... lol.
@JW Yup, it's 4GB of RAM for the high-end configuration Engadget mentions, and 2GB for the $1,999 version. Engadget did indeed mistype that one. :)
@JW
Pretty sure the 1GB is the video ram. The system itself has 4GB.
@JW
The system memory actually goes up to 16GB. This is not an Apple. This is for people with plenty of money AND those who need maximum power and a color critical screen. The kind of machine you get to do cad/graphics work on. Way beyond my budget. But in time...
On my 8710w right now and all I can think is "DO WANT."
It also has 2 USB 3.0 connects!! FTW
I have to say, I own a elite book, and they are awesome, only laptop I know of that has a dedicated calculator hotkey ;D
PS... NOTE (sorry for caps, necessary) ...
HP HAS BEEN TAKING MONEY FOR 2+ MONTHS AND STILL HAS NOT DELIVERED ONE SINGLE UNIT TO A PAYING CONSUMER. THEY JUST KEEP EXTENDING THE DELIVERY DATE WITH RHETORIC.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=457570&page=26
@TrumanHW - the thing is: all caps are NEVER necessary, unless you want people to NOT read your message.
@TrumanHW:
I hate all caps.
See how NewL did it? Using caps to PUNCTUATE certain words? That's how it SHOULD be done.
@TrumanHW
actually on that next page from where you linked, they moved up the ship day and refunded some shipping cost for someone.
Very powerful indeed but the price tag?
I'd be fine with an ASUS N61JQ, which I can actually afford.
Ordered my 8740w this morning. $3K for the CTO plus the 16GB RAM and SSD which I will buy separately. Expensive, but worth it for my main work machine.