HP ProBook 4510s
The debut of the HP ProBook 4510s marks the beginning of the end for the “Compaq” brand name HP has been using on its business laptops since acquiring the company in 2001. But who are we kidding? The Compaq moniker often connoted bland notebooks that always seemed slightly costlier than they should have been. The ProBook 4510s, on the other hand, looks sharp and delivers some surprising features given its $529 starting price, including a large LED-backlit display and a hard drive with active protection. Our configuration came in at a still-reasonable $749 (which includes an eight-cell battery, a Core 2 Duo CPU, and Bluetooth connectivity—features you don’t get at the starting price). Some extras have been trimmed to achieve the low price point—dedicated multimedia controls and a fingerprint reader come to mind—but there’s nothing missing that you can’t do without.
The ProBook line will deliver what HP calls “business essentials”: what you need to get the job done. It slots below the EliteBook series, which represents the super-sleek cutting edge. A ProBook with an “s” at the end of the model name is designed for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), as opposed to corporate enterprise buyers. The series includes some impressive standard features, including a 15.6-inch LED-backlit display, active hard drive protection to guard against data loss, a spill-resistant keyboard, HDMI connectivity, and a 2-megapixel Webcam. Just as impressive for a budget platform are the available options, which include a Blu-ray (read-only) drive, discrete graphics, and built-in Gobi wireless broadband.
The ProBook line will deliver what HP calls “business essentials”: what you need to get the job done. It slots below the EliteBook series, which represents the super-sleek cutting edge. A ProBook with an “s” at the end of the model name is designed for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), as opposed to corporate enterprise buyers. The series includes some impressive standard features, including a 15.6-inch LED-backlit display, active hard drive protection to guard against data loss, a spill-resistant keyboard, HDMI connectivity, and a 2-megapixel Webcam. Just as impressive for a budget platform are the available options, which include a Blu-ray (read-only) drive, discrete graphics, and built-in Gobi wireless broadband.