"Nibby" (nibby68)
09/29/2015 at 17:35 • Filed to: None
1
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"Nibby" (nibby68)
09/29/2015 at 17:35 • Filed to: None | 1
| 29 |
So I snagged an HP Elitebook 8470p for $230 on eBay. Before you go all “LOL HP” on me, note this is an EliteBook, which is their business class line. It competes with Dell’s Latitudes and Lenovo’s ThinkPads.
They’re built to military standards and are known for their durability and high quality inside and out.
Before I go on, I should specify the hardware of this machine.
i5 3340M Ivy Bridge Dual Core 2.6GHz (performs similarly to the latest Broadwell ULV i7s)
4GB RAM (ordered 16GB, it’s on its way)
128GB Samsung SSD + 320GB 7200RPM HD in 2nd bay using a 2nd bay SATA enclosure to replace the DVD drive (thanks again to Galileo for that drive)
Windows 10 64
14” 1600x900 matte screen
AMD RADEON HD7570M 1GB dedicated gfx
2xUSB 3.0 ports
USB 2.0
USB 2.0/eSATA combo
Modem
Ethernet
Intel Centrino 6205 wifi
Webcam
Firewire
VGA out
Displayport
Line in/out jacks
Expresscard slot
SD card reader
Smartcard reader
Durability - It is rock solid. No flex anywhere in the chassis. One of the best built laptops I’ve had. Oh and the keyboard is supposedly spill proof. I learned it the hard way on an 8460p I had last year.
Maintenance - Super easy. Two latches on the bottom to remove the battery (either 6 or 9 cell) and the metal cover slides right off. You can easily change wifi cards, install a 3/4G modem, upgrade the RAM, swap out the HD, remove the DVD drive, change the CMOS battery, upgrade the processor from here. There is also a SIM card reader near the battery compartment.
Input devices - Keyboard layout takes some getting used to, but it is a decent keyboard. Four dedicated buttons and an eraser head... the button feel is good. Touchpad is excellent and has a glass surface, similar to MacBooks. Supports gestures as well and they, unlike many other Windows laptops, work like a charm. There is a fingerprint reader as well.
Display - This is the lackluster part of the machine. You get two options, 1366x768 or 1600x900. The sane people go for the higher one. The resolution is livable but the contrast is not very good and neither are the viewing angles. Still, should be suitable for most people. Brightness is adequate. Webcam is 720p and is acceptable. Oh and there is a reading light next to the camera. Not very useful.
Speakers - They work and they are more towards the tinny side, but there are plenty worse laptop speakers out there. Bonus is that this machine has stereo mix for recording your speaker output.
Performance - I don’t really have any real # benchmarks but the i5 3340M is more than decent. Once I have more RAM in this thing it’ll be even better. It does pretty much everything I throw at it, from video editing to game design in Unity 3D. Obviously I get more FPS and such on my desktop, but most games I play (SkiFree, Dolphin emulator, Unity 3D development) are playable on my 8470p. The 7570M isn’t much of a gaming card if you’re planning to play the latest games. Also works fine for 3D modeling in Maya. The machine runs quietly unless you stress it.
I get around 500MB/s read and 450MB/s write for my SSD. Can’t really complain about that at all. I keep my documents, music, videos, etc. on the 320GB 7200RPM HD which is actually a pretty fast drive for a laptop HD. Because I am evil, I have XP on that drive as well.
Portability - Due to its durability and expansion capabilities, this isn’t the thinnest and lightest machine around. It still weighs in under 5 pounds but it is a bit thicker than many laptops. Not a big deal for me though. The battery life is not that great. You can expect 2-5 hours (depending on usage) from the default 6 cell or 4-7 on the 9 cell.
Overall - Yeah, fucking buy this thing. I love it. It’s built better than most new laptops, recent enough to support SATA III and USB 3.0, and is very upgrade-friendly. Performance wise, it bests those new Core Ms and in par with the latest ULV processors (if you have an Ultrabook, chances are it has an ULV i3/i5/i7 processor in it). They can be had for $180-300 depending on condition and specs. Mine’s very clean inside and out.
lone_liberal
> Nibby
09/29/2015 at 17:45 |
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I always recommend people buy business computers if they can. The support is much better than for the consumer stuff and they’re built better to start with.
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Nibby
> lone_liberal
09/29/2015 at 17:47 |
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Agreed. They’re great.
I forgot to mention that my machine is still under warranty until July 2016 :o
CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> Nibby
09/29/2015 at 20:28 |
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Nibby, if you find another Thinkpad T60, keep me posted. I kinda need a beater laptop. My spare (CR-48) is lethargic.
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Nibby
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
09/29/2015 at 20:39 |
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Unfortunately I do not have anything except for a Dell Precision M4800 (which I’m selling for around $1050) and a couple of HP EliteBooks. One of those I am selling but it’s not in very good shape.
R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> Nibby
09/30/2015 at 00:09 |
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Nibby what do you know about putting m.2 data ssd’s in the place m2 wireless cards in current and recent gen laptops?
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
09/30/2015 at 00:10 |
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I’ve got several T60’s one a t60p 15.6” screen and the others are the old style 15”.
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Nibby
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
09/30/2015 at 00:21 |
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Check with the laptop manual/Google around to see if that model supports booting from M.2 SSDs. Also ENSURE that it is an M.2 slot and not an mSATA.
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CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
09/30/2015 at 01:03 |
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I'm trying to find something with the high res screen as well as the 2 ghz Intel processors....you have anything like that?
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
09/30/2015 at 09:53 |
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I’ve got a bunch of T400 - core 2 duo’s that are DDR3 memory chipset
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> Nibby
09/30/2015 at 10:01 |
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it can be done in T500 and W500 series lenovos with mSATA ssds
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Nibby
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
09/30/2015 at 10:09 |
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No it cannot. They don’t have the physical electrical connections to support mSATA SSDs. They’re only meant for wifi cards.
If you want an SSD in your T/W500, put it in the main drive bay and ditch that DVD drive for a 2.5” hard drive enclosure. Stuff your data drive in that thing.
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> Nibby
09/30/2015 at 10:23 |
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already done, just dicking around with more stuff.
\previous comment created because “lenovo forums guy said it would work”
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CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
09/30/2015 at 23:36 |
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I'm interested. Can send me the specs of your T400?
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CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
10/01/2015 at 00:03 |
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I’m looking for the T400s with the T9600 processor....preferrably with ATI Radeon Switchable graphics
Rico
> Nibby
10/02/2015 at 21:58 |
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You got a great deal on this. Can I get a recommendation from you? I want to upgrade my girls setup. She’s using a Lenovo from 2007 that’s running XP. She actually has it permanently plugged in at a desk in her house and it is the “family PC”.
Thought about building or buying her a small PC. The family only browses the Internet and use MS Office, nothing too strenuous. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance
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Nibby
> Rico
10/02/2015 at 22:02 |
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Thanks. The first thing is how much do you want to spend?
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Rico
> Nibby
10/02/2015 at 22:11 |
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Around $300-$400. I foolishly thought I could build one for less.
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Nibby
> Rico
10/02/2015 at 22:19 |
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Build her an HP Z400 workstation (find them on ebay). Look for one with at least W3520, feel free to add SSD, bump up RAM, etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z400-Wo…
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Rico
> Nibby
10/02/2015 at 23:34 |
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Hmm never thought of going Xeon, do you feel that particular chipset is better then the Core i5 or i7?
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Nibby
> Rico
10/02/2015 at 23:40 |
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It’s an older system but it’ll perform better than newer Celerons and i3s... but not as good as current i5s/i7s. For web browsing and email it’s great though.
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Rico
> Nibby
10/02/2015 at 23:51 |
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What are your thoughts on having a laptop permanently plugged in acting as a desktop? I’m not a fan of it but if I were to get my hands on a 2011 Lenovo laptop that has an older Core i7 for free should I go that route and just upgrade the ram or replace the HDD with an SSD?
A part of me thinks a desktop should be a desktop, not a laptop on a dock 24/7.
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Nibby
> Rico
10/02/2015 at 23:55 |
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You can dock a laptop 24/7... if you go that route, I would advise to clean out the fan and rid any dust + redo thermal paste as a safe measure.
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Rico
> Nibby
10/03/2015 at 00:27 |
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Will do, I gotta see what I do but your idea sounds good as well. I appreciate the input man
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Nibby
> Rico
10/03/2015 at 00:30 |
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Sure thing. Good night
David Schmittler
> Nibby
05/14/2016 at 04:24 |
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I’m about to showcase a 8470p I raid 0 with dual Intel 480gb ssd’s and 16gb of ram and swapped the centrino with an Intel 802.11ac 7260 card if anyone wants to get drown lol
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Nibby
> David Schmittler
05/14/2016 at 08:49 |
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sweet!
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8470pdude
> Nibby
01/27/2017 at 00:55 |
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Do you find that the 1600x900 resolution makes windows 10 too tiny on the 14" screen?
I have to utilize windows zoom settings at 125% to avoid a headache. What about you?
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Nibby
> 8470pdude
01/27/2017 at 08:39 |
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No, it’s fine
Amr
> Nibby
03/15/2017 at 15:53 |
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I got same configuration but without the ssd(regular dvd) & without the amd card but with 8gb ram for 195$ from Egyptian used laptops market
note:
- the amd 7570 does not has that much improvement on intel HD 4000... i prefer the intel for better power consumption+ price savings
- the ssd really matters...but one has to sacrifice the dvd or storage space...which is not an option for me.. still the 7200 HDD is good and an ssd upgrade is easy for about 27$ for a 120GB Kingston S3 V300 SSDNow
-8GB dual channel is really great and it matters