Portable Laptop Review: HP EliteBook 2530P

June 2009
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Monday, June 1st, 2009 @ 10:11 pm | Laptop, Review

With a tight little setup, this ultra-portable laptop meets then exceeds expectations (but with a slightly high price point). With 3 gigs of RAM and a 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, it has a solid amount of speed. The basic package also comes with an 80 gig solid state drive, which can be upgraded to 120 or 160. This is a little small in my opinion, but of course adds to the speed and general durability. Just don’t try to do anything 3D with this laptop – it is an ultra portable laptop after all. The sound is also somewhat weak. The package also comes with a DVD, not Blu-ray, drive.

Of course like my other HP notebook, the power pack comes off the back about half an inch, which isn’t my favorite design. Thankfully it isn’t too unweildly, and at least the power lasted a good six and a half hours. A feature I love is the external power gauge – I don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to just check the remaining battery in one of my machines. Unfortunately, at 3.8 lbs this is a little heavy for an ultra-portable, but at least with that kind of battery life, you can throw it in a bag and carry it around all day without the need for recharging.

The screen is great, with 12.1″ 1280×800 pixels. It’s glossy enough to be bright but not terribly reflective – great quality, but not super for outdoor use. The keyboard is great – it’s spaced well, plus it comes with two ways to use your mouse. You have the option of using either a touchpad or an eraserhead, and both have their own set of mouse buttons. There’s even a button to light up the keyboard. This ultra portable laptop also comes with Bluetooth, a SD card slot, a ExpressCard/54 slot, 2 USB ports (1 powered), and a fingerprint reader in addition to the regular stuff.

It also has a sturdy design for an ultra portable laptop – it can probably survive a small drop, but down’t run it over with your mower or anything drastic please. It also comes with a little bloatware, but most of it is business-minded and relevant to the laptop’s design as a corporate device. You might even use some of it.

I do have to mention my prior experience with HP now – good customer service and tech support, but somewhat unreliable devices (I’ve had 2 hard disk failures in a year, sent it in for repairs, and they found nothing wrong aside from the hard disk. I also have a mystery problem that they can’t reproduce). Based on this experience, I personally lean away from this particular ultra-portable laptop. Then again, if your needs lie in the corporate sector, this may just be a fit for you.