| Business Laptops |
HP Compaq 8510p
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The HP Compaq 8510P is a laptop designed for business professionals who want a nice light-weight laptop that can perform. The 8510 satisfies this need with its fast processor, small weight and good battery life.
This laptop like many other laptops made by HP can be tailored to your liking, if you want more memory and a faster processor it costs extra. The model we are looking at has costs $1,479.
The specs for the model of this laptop are below followed by a review of all the aspects you will need to make a decision on buying this laptop. |
Specifications on the HP Compaq 8510P
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7300 2GHz 4MB L2 cache 800MHz front side bus
- Chipset: Mobile Intel PM965
- Memory: 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- Hard drive: SATA 160GB 5400rpm, HP 3D DriveGuard
- Removable media: DVD+/-RW
- Display: 15.4" in WSXGA+
- Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600, 256MB of video memory (512MB Hypermemory)
- Audio: High Definition Audio, stereo speakers, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, integrated microphone
- Wireless: Intel 802.11a/b/g (4965AG), Bluetooth 2.0
- Communications: Intel Gigabit Network Connection (10/100/1000 NIC),9 56K v.92 modem
- Expansion slots" One Type I/II PC Card slot supports 32-bit CardBus and 16-bit cards, Secure Digital slot
- Ports and connectors: Four USB 2.0 ports, VGA, HDMI, stereo microphone in, stereo headphone/line out, 1394a, power connector, RJ-11/modem, RJ-45/ethernet, docking connector, secondary battery connector
- Dimensions: (h × w × d) 1.1" (at front) x 14.0" x 10.24"
- Weight: 6.1 lbs (weight will vary by configuration)
- Power: 8-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (73WHr) with HP Fast Charge, 90W HP Smart AC Adapter
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The Build and Design
The 8510p has a solid feel to it, its made of plastic but it not that cheap stuff you find on some laptops. There is very little bend or flex with this device unless your putting a lot of pressure on it for example if you were pushing from the back of the laptop there will be some ripples on the screen but when will you ever be doing that. All of the parts like the disk drive are pretty solid, you can tell just by looking at this laptop that HP didn't want to just whip together any old parts for this laptop.
The design is similar to the Macbook pro laptop with how its has a larger width than it does high, when measured. The case is smooth like the Macbook and has a slim profile like the Macbook. However it isn't as slim as the Macbook pro but then again very few laptops are its thicker by maybe a half an inch. The corners aren't as rounder as the Macbook, really only the lid is rounded the base has a more boxy look too it. The laptop is 1.1'' thick and weighs 6.1 pounds, the weight will vary by configuration. |
 
Screen Quality
The 8510p laptop features a WSXGA+ screen with 1680x1050 resolution. The picture quality produced by this screen is good you can see what your doing and things aren't to bright. The laptop has a ambient light sensor so the screen brightness changes by itself when the feature is enabled. I've never been a fan of screen where the brightness changed by itself I like to set up my own presets.
The screen is 15.4 inches so its a fair size watching videos is enjoyable with this laptop. The wide display is great for watching a movie in between work if you can squeeze it in. If you work in a office that has excessive light this laptop shouldn't give you to much trouble. The viewing angles aren't to great though if you sitting diagonal or vertical to the screen the colors get washed out and picture quality isn't to good. |
The Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard is pretty interesting on this laptop. If you've ever used a IBM business laptop you know they have a red button in the middle of the laptop.On the 8510p the keyboard has a little blue button. The button is basically an alternative to using the touchpad, the functionality of it doesn't touch the IBM one though.
The keys are great on this laptop if your a good at typing already you'll love it and if your not this is a good keyboard to learn how to touch type. The keys have a texture to them which helps you in touch typing. They only thing that is weird or at least not usual is how they added the Fn key right in between the Windows Key and the CTRL key its awkward because I you can easily press that button instead of the CTRL key. The top of the keyboard on this laptop has a touch panel that are one touch media buttons they work well but you have to really touch the button you want to make it work for you.
The touchpad on this laptop is good, its definitely better than using the blue button. The blue button and the touchpad both have three mouse button that are programmable. On the bottom right-corner there is a fingerprint reader, now I've never really been a fan of these because of how unreliable they can be. The fingerprint reader on this laptop didn't exactly change my mind either. The reader works but then it doesn't work but I'm used to seeing that with fingerprint readers. |
Speaker Quality
The speakers were placed perfectly on this laptop. They are found in the front panel as opposed to being on top of the keyboard. Speakers should be placed in the front of the laptop more often unless they are some really premium speakers and if that's the case it won't really matter where they go.
The sound quality on the 8510p is good the bass is lacking but this is a business laptop. The sound quality is good enough if your only using them for simple things not playing demanding games or watching a action movies.
The Performance
With the 8510p being powered by a Intel Core 2 Duo processor and using the Windows XP Business operating system you can imagine this thing can go. Well it can the processor isn't the fastest Core 2 Duo but when your using the operating system the 8510p is using you don't need the fastest processor.
The only thing I would recommend upgrading is the memory it doesn't cost to much and it will allow you to multi-task much easier. The 8510 comes with 1GB of DDR2 RAM it sufficient but when you add another GB the computer moves quicker.
The laptop uses a ATI Radeon Mobility HD 2600 video card which uses 256MB dedicated memory. The video card allows you to play some 3-D games which is great just don't try and use this as a gaming station. The video card is running using the ATI Catalyst software which has some bugs sometimes but not that often only when your going overboard do you get the blue screen of death. |
 
The Ports
The port selection on the 8510p is pretty good you get (4) USB 2.0 ports, VGA, HDMI, stereo microphone in, stereo headphone/line out, 1394a, power connector, RJ-11/modem, RJ-45/ethernet, docking connector, secondary battery connector.
The Wireless
HP went with 4965AG wireless when they designed the 8510p. The 4965AG performs better than the very common 802.11g that is found on almost every laptop. The difference in performance is the service drops, the 4965AG doesn't lose signals as easily as the popular 802.11g does. Bluetooth is included with this new setup and the configuring of the wireless connections is very easy.
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The Battery
The HP 8510p comes with a 8-cell battery which gives you adequate battery life at more than 3 hours with regular use. The people at HP thought if you needed more battery power why not make it easy to add an extra onto the laptop. So they made it so you have the option of adding an additional battery onto the 8510p, HP sells both 8-cell and 12-cell batteries. That really means you can actually have a laptop with a total of 16-cell or 20-cell's of battery power. This design addition really puts this laptop above much of the competition.
The Heat and Noise
The hard drive fan in this laptop is very very quiet when your just doing normal things, you almost forget there is a fan. The fan only starts to run when your playing games which is to be expected. Other than that its really quiet. Since the fan doesn't run constantly at a high level heat does kind of gather inside the laptop. The heat is mainly centered under the palmrests it isn't going to burn you but you will notice the warmth in that area.
The Conclusion
This laptop is a success in both the design and power department. The laptop is well powered and doesn't weigh a ton and is a nice size. The expandability of this laptop is something I really like about this laptop. The ability to add on batteries is great for travelers so you can just add on more batteries for longer trips.
Pros
- Powerful
- Quiet
- Upgradable
- Well built and designed
- Only pre-installed program was Norton Security
Cons
- Buggy fingerprint reader and software
- Key placement for the CTRL key
- Buggy video card software when overused
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