HP EliteBook 8770w 17.3" Mobile Workstation Notebook PC - C6Y85UT

I've had my HP EliteBook 8770w 17.3 for almost 6 months now. I ordered it as a customized unit directly from HP they shipped it from the plant in China right to my door (which made FedEx tracker watching pretty interesting). I bought this as a backup to my home-office tower primarily because of Superstorm Sandy that knocked out power and cable internet for 10 days and I had no way of working. For that reason, I did include of couple of options that the off-the-shelf versions don't have, such as a 56K modem since I still have a copper POTS line that usually works in power failures, and in addition to the longer-life battery directly installed, I also ordered a pair of HP BB09 Notebook BatterySmart Buy (QK640UT) - these batteries are rated at up to 10 hours each when fully charged. This gives me a total of up to 25 hours of battery life... three 8-hour workdays... before a recharge is necessary.

As for the laptop itself, it's built to the same MIL-STD 810G that rugged cell phones meet, and is certified to remain functional after a 30-inch drop from a table/desk to a hard floor. The screen is matte-finish non-glare, and the keyboard (with a full numpad) is almost the size of a normal desktop keyboard, making it very comfortable to use. I don't need excessive disk space, so I went with a 120GB SSD, and 8GB of PC3-1600 RAM, along with a quad-core Intel i7-3720QM processor and AMD FirePro M4000 GDDR5 video. I ordered it with Windows 8 Pro 64-bit, same as my tower, and have the two units configured as identically as possible. I sync the key folders several times each month and keep the laptop updated, but thankfully haven't had the need to use it as a frontline unit much at all... just for a 2-week period of time earlier this year while I was waiting for a new tower that allowed me to get used to the laptop and Windows 8.

In addition to the regular AC charger, I purchased the HP 90W Smart Auto/truck Adapte so I can charge in my vehicle when needed. I also have the Kensington K62567US SP17 17-Inch Classic Sleeve Notebook Case (Black) which holds this laptop, all the batteries and chargers, a mouse, and a spare Cat5 cable with no stress.

To be fair, this is a large heavy-duty laptop that weighs a lot and is expected to see business use. It's not what you want for only occasional home use, or hardcore gaming. But it will most certainly fit the bill as a tower replacement or tower backup, and properly configured, can handle just about any business use you can dish out.

This machine is built to withstand almost anything you through at it. The build quality and materials are exceptional. From a industrial design and manufacturing perspective, it is even nicer than a MacBook Pro.

I really like this machine, except for one issue, screen resolution. Apple has proven how beautiful and productive higher resolution displays can make even a laptop. Spending the extra money, weight, and bulk to get a 17.3 inch display should result in more room to work. Because the resolution on this machine is no higher than it is on 15 inch machines, you get a display that isn't as attractive and doesn't fit nearly as much content on it as it could with a higher resolution. This is especially important for content creators and for people that work in spreadsheets, but really it is an issue for all professional users. Apple gets this with their Retina displays, Google gets it with their Pixel laptop, and Dell gets it with their Ultra high resolution series of displays. Hopefully HP will make a higher resolution display available soon on their workstation class laptops.

The only excuse for the screen resolution on this machine is that most people are going to use it in a docking station with external monitors. I have mine attached to 2 Dell U2713HM Ultra High resolution displays. The screen resolution only bothers me when I am using this machine on the road, but then again, that is the whole reason I bought the 17.3 inch workstation.

When you are deciding on which machine to buy, I recommend you consider the screen resolution issue. A 15 inch or even 13 inch machine with similar specs and the same resolution display might save your back and shoulder some pain from lugging this heavy machine around.

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