HP EliteBook vs Lenovo ThinkPad T Series

scottl-gai

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Apr 4, 2011
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In general, which is the better family of notebooks?

I know I couldn't be (much) more vague with configurations, but I really just want a good hard discussion on EliteBook vs T Series.

More specifically, which model from either of these lines will best suit my specific small business needs (as described below), without going much over $1,000; preferably < $1,000?

I will be using this new notebook for two primary tasks:
1) Website Development - writing XHTML code with CSS, and will eventually be getting into JavaScript, PHP, MySQL and AJAX.
This will include Photoshop design work / image manipulation, various browsers for testing, etc.

2) Revit Architecture - I will be building Product Manufacturer specific Revit Content Libraries - primarily creating parametric Family Files as opposed to large building model Project Files. This will also need to handle AutoCAD Architecture well (but not 3ds max - at least, not on the notebook)

Right now my strongest considerations are all Core i5 variants (primarily 560M) with Windows 7 Professional - Thoughts?

I am open to comments / suggestions concerning 14" vs 15.6" (is wide screen ratio a blessing or a curse?)

I am also interested in comments related to 32-bit op (seems popular among EliteBooks) vs. 64-bit op.

Finally - are these "Higher-End Business" machines overkill for my needs (any comments about HP ProBooks)?


I appreciate any positive insight that you can offer.
 
Hello scottl-gai;

In general, Thinkpad over Elitebook in quality and reliability and Elitebook for a bit better price/performance ratio.

15.6" with the dedicated numberpad vs 14" for extra mobility if you travel a lot.

32bit OS for legacy applications/programs vs 64bit OS for modern programs and support for over 4GB of RAM.
 
I still prefer 1280x800 or 1440x900 over 1366x768.
But I'd also take 1600x900 or 1920x1080 in a heart beat.

Everything else being equal and if it fits in your budget I'd say get the T510.
 

overclockingrocks

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Oct 9, 2006
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I'd say just between those 2. Go for the Thinkpad. HP has had reliability issues the last few years with some of their cheaper machines and I've no reason to doubt that the more high end stuff would suffer from the same issues. TONS of the DV series stuff from a few years back was having motherboards die literally a month out of warranty. A friend of mine had his DV2202 motherboard die 13 months in (thankfully he had purchased an extended warranty) point being Thinkpads have ALWAYS been known for reliability even if they aren't using the latest components I'd still go for one over just about anything else unless I was gaming or using CPU intensive stuff as a primary use.
 

scottl-gai

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Totally agreed. I had a DV6119US and that's what happened. Motherboard took a dump, though it was about 21 months or so after I bought it (still way too short of a lifespan). I have had other HP laptops also, and while I do like the brand, reliability has not been a strong point. I just figured their "business class" machines would get better attention in this respect, but I certainly appreciate your view on it. I'm going to break from my HP mould and go with the ThinkPad! Now I just need to find a sweet deal on a T510.
 

scottl-gai

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Apr 4, 2011
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I certainly don't mind researching these things on my own, but I was figuring someone would push me to a site with exceptional deals. I always like being introduced to new "deal sites". Thanks for the link and the recommendations!