HP EliteBook 8570w Notebook Review: The Other Side of the Coin
by Dustin Sklavos on December 18, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Systems
- AMD
- HP
- Mobile Workstation
- Ivy Bridge
- GCN
- FirePro
Conclusion: Fifteen Inch DreamColor, But Is It Worth It?
As much as I adore the current aesthetic HP is employing with their enterprise class notebooks, their design may have run into a bit of a wall with the EliteBook 8570w. Build quality remains solid, the keyboard and touchpad are both excellent, and I still love how easy the access panel is to remove. There are a lot of really smart design cues included with the 8570w, and HP is the only company offering a 10-bit IPS panel in a 15.6" form factor.
Performance is for the most part there, and throttling doesn't seem to have really affected it in any of our benchmarks. Both SPEC workstation benchmarks take a long time to run, but they don't hit the CPU with quite the same sustained load as the AIDA64 stress test; in CPU bound situations, the results were pretty consistent with what we'd expect. Meanwhile, AMD's FirePro M4000 turns out to be an excellent budget alternative to the pricy mobile Quadro GPUs. Though AMD still has some work to do ekeing performance out of the GCN architecture, applications like Maya can benefit tremendously from it. The M4000 was able to perform as well as a Kepler GPU with more than twice its power budget in that test.
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Unfortunately, the EliteBook 8570w has two major problems: heat, and price. Thermally, the CPU can get so hot it throttles. You'll see varying opinions around here as to how much of an issue this is. When he reviewed the original Razer Blade, Vivek was willing to overlook that notebook's heat issues on the CPU since the CPU is capable of protecting itself from thermal damage; it runs as fast as it can, then cuts speed to keep from cooking. I'm not as willing to overlook that kind of problem, especially in an enterprise notebook. Out of the box, the 8570w runs as well as it ever will. If it's throttling now, it stands to reason that as dust starts invariably starting to collect inside the notebook, thermal issues will only increase over time. That may or may not be an issue depending on how often the fan is cleaned out, but I'm not big on it.
As for price, you're really paying to be able to get a 15.6" DreamColor display. That may very well not be worth it. If you're willing to go for a more conventional 1080p display, Dell's Precision M4700 comes in at $400 less for roughly the same performance, and ditches potential SSD caching in favor of just flat out offering mSATA SSDs for storage. Meanwhile, Lenovo's ThinkPad W530 is able to undercut HP's offering by a brutal $800, but you do have to sacrifice the FirePro, blu-ray, and some storage to get there.
Where mobile workstations are concerned, I'm not convinced the 8570w is the way to go. In my opinion, the primary reason to buy it would be because you absolutely must have DreamColor at 15.6" instead of 17.3". If you're in the market for a mobile workstation and need a quality panel, I'd seriously consider spending up on either the Dell Precision M6700 or HP's own EliteBook 8770w. This isn't a bad notebook, but it's not a homerun either, and I think it asks too many compromises.
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CobaltFire - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Before you have corrected the misinformation (Optimus on Quadro) pointed out in the last? Further, you have not addressed the very real concerns of your bias in these reviews as of yet.Maraque - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Yes, why? Personally, for me, his workstation reviews have lost a lot of credibility after his last farce of a review."Sir, you need to step away from the workstations, please, until you have been deemed not a threat."
Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
I didn't like the Precision M6700's design. I felt like the EliteBook 8760w I had reviewed was a better built workstation. I still do.I can recognize that I was needlessly harsh about the M6700, though, and indeed folded information and feedback into this review.
You can accept progress and try to see a concerted effort to move forward, or you can continue harping. It's up to you.
theeldest - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
This review was better than the last but I still take issue with two points:1. Aesthetics. It's OK to comment on it but you make it sound as if others should consider your opinion on this issue when purchasing. As you said above, you thought the 8760w was better built and that's what we need to hear. Quality of materials and build. But try to keep in mind that other people don't have the same appreciation for HPs design as you.
2. "Standard" keyboards. Why do you consider HPs the more 'standard' layout? The layout on the Dell is the same as they've been using in the Latitudes and Precisions since 2001. Literally more than 10 years.
HP on the other hand has switched during the EliteBook's short life. Interestingly, the first and second generation used the SAME keyboard layout as Dell. So I'd argue (and have evidence to support) that the current HPs are using a NON-standard layout.
This is why we have issue with these reviews. You're making sweeping statements that aren't backed up by fact and you're using these to support your position.
As soon as you do this, you lose credibility. This review was better than the last, but you've still got room for growth.
CobaltFire - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Have you addressed the lack of basic technical research regarding the Optimus system? This is critical in any informed discussion of these laptops.Optimus with an 8 bit screen makes for great battery life, but you do not get that wonderful IPS screen. Note that HP does not bother even giving you this choice due to their design.
If you want IPS, FirePro, or HP you lose ~60% runtime. This would have taken almost no research to find out, and nowhere in any publications I have seen does it state that Optimus does not work with Quadro.
This site has always seemed to be about having accurate information, even if the reviews were a little behind. Your reviews, and your unwillingness to acknowledge the errors in a timely manner (as Anand has done many times) are not in keeping with this sites reputation.
This is a long time readers opinion. I do not typically comment because so many others do such a good job of covering what I may be interested in.
ggathagan - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
What exactly are you asking for with regards to Optimus?From your statement, I suspect that you are already aware of the fact that Optimus is not supported on Quadro cards, just as it's not supported on desktop systems.
What else is there, then, to say about the matter?
The article clearly states that the use of the 10-bit panel precludes the use of Optimus.
Lastly, since a Quadro card was not used in this laptop, I don't understand how the lack of Optimus support for Quadro is germane to this review.
Goodstorybro - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Optimus does work with Quadro cards - as demonstrated with Dells M4700 and W530 Thinkpads.Personally, I think the hit on battery with using an IPS panel is too much. Most users will have an larger external monitor as their primary display to do real work, while the extended battery life will be much more useful on the road.
solipsism - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
I don't quite get why these higher end notebooks aren't compared to MBPs running Windows. Are they not an option one might make if looking for a $1200 or higher notebook?bobdole1997 - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
From the review, the MBP does not have a workstation-class GPU. So it was not compared.solipsism - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
I did not see that mentioned. Thank you.