HP Smartbuy EliteBook 8540w 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

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(More customer reviews)I use this model of EliteBook at work and like it so much I purchased one for family use too. You can read the technical specs, so I'll just comment on some design points:
The unit is solidly built. The shell is a mixture of metal and metallic looking hard plastic. It's not heavy, but exudes a sturdy quality that feels like it's designed to last. With most laptops today feeling like they'll break after a couple of years, this is one of the exceptions.
The display is vibrant and sharp. Picture quality is excellent when looking straight on up to about 40 degrees. Brightness dims as the viewing angle changes (characteristic of these type of displays), but even at extreme angles the picture is clear.
The keyboard includes a numerical keypad on the right. This means that you won't be typing dead center of the screen. It's worth pointing out because it bothers some people. If you think that's you, you might want to go to a place like Best Buy and try a unit with this style of keyboard before you buy. It also features both a pointer stick and a trackpad, each with it's own set of buttons.
There is also a popup LED at the top of the display that shines a bright directional light onto the keyboard. You can open this in the dark to illuminate the keyboard. It works great, illuminating just the keyboard without providing any other distraction.
Also, it's not mentioned in Amazon's product description, but this unit comes with HP's "ProtectTools" suite of security software featuring:
- A whole-disk hard drive encyption utility providing 256-bit encryption that will prevent anyone from reading the drive if the laptop is stolen. It takes about 4 hours to do the initial encryption. There is no performance penalty afterwards, so it's a great idea.
- A preboot password utility that requires authentication before it starts the operating system. In conjunction with whole-disk encryption no one is getting to your files without authenticating.
- A biometric security utility that uses the embedded (just below the keypad) fingerprint reader. Nice if you want to use fingerprint scans to increase or ease logon security.
- A LowJack Pro agent that can aid in tracking and identifying the laptop if it's stolen. Even if the hard drive is reformatted.
EliteBooks are a little pricier than other laptops with similar specs, but if you're willing to pay a little extra for quality they should be on your short list. Recommended.

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HP EliteBook 8540w XT903UT Notebook - Core i5 i5-560M 2.66GHz - 15.6" XT903UT#ABA 41

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