HP EliteBook 8440w
For the several months preceding our review of the HP EliteBook 8440w here and in the months subsequent to our review, I have been using the EliteBook as my primary travel laptop, and I confess, I have been impressed.
The EliteBooks are HP’s entries into the rarefied field of laptop computers with enough power to perform tasks that would choke most other laptops. Dubbed ‘mobile workstations’, these systems proved up to the task. The 8440w is an elegant, well put together notebook computer with a sturdy, burnished steel case.
My review product came with a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 380 GB hard drive.
Runner Up
Apple MacBook Pro
In terms of elegance and power, the MacBook Pro is second to the EliteBook, beating it only in cost. That said, the MacBook Pro is the best alternative to the EliteBook. In fact, if it was possible to natively install Windows 7 on the MacBook Pro, i.e., without needing that infernal BootCamp, it might have been neck-and-neck with the EliteBook 8440w; that is, if the cost difference were disregarded.
