HP Elitebook 8440p review

HP’s EliteBook 8440p is a powerful business laptop, which squeezes every ounce of performance out of its 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 520M processor. It has only 2GB of RAM, though, and has the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Professional installed. It also comes with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and Windows XP on CDs.

Build quality is superb and we love the smooth brushed-metal chassis. The same brushed metal covers the slightly curved wrist rest, making this laptop comfortable to use. The keyboard is almost full sized, with broad, flat keys that are easy to strike accurately. There’s no numeric keypad, but there are cursor and page navigation keys to the far right of the keyboard.

The 8440p has both a touchpad and a touchstick for pointer control, which will be appreciated by everyone who prefers the faster mouse cursor response that touchsticks provide. However, the stick isn’t clickable and the only buttons are located below the touchpad, so touchstick users will have to make a bit of a reach to click.

There are three USB ports, a combined USB/eSATA port and a FireWire port, which provides plenty of scope for connecting peripherals like printers, audio devices and external storage drives. An ExpressCard/54 provides further upgrade potential.

There are 3.5mm audio in- and outputs, while the built in speakers are what you’d expect from a laptop: clear enough, but a bit weedy and lacking in both volume and bass. There’s a modem connection next to the Gigabit Ethernet port; on top of that there’s dual-band 802.11n WiFi. Unlike most laptops, the EliteBook has no webcam but there’s a tiny LED light built into the lid, which you can pop open to illuminate your keyboard when working in the dark.