My test unit had a four-core 2.3 GHz i7-2820QM CPU with 16GB of RAM running 64-bit Windows 7, with the top-of-the-line NVIDIA Quadro 5010M GPU. Probably because of the RAM, the unit made a strong first impression by booting in 18 seconds, compared with 1:55 (minutes:seconds) on my older HP 8710w running the same OS, but with only 2GB of RAM. HP sent the EliteBook with only a 250GB hard drive, but you can configure up to 2TB of internal storage. Ports include an ExpressCard/54 slot and the eSATA port that I used to connect to the Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S LCM drive used in my testing.

Though the EliteBook configuration I used costs about $5,500, the 1920x1080 DreamColor display lives up to its name, proving clearer and brighter than all the desktop LCDs in my office and making my older notebooks look dingy in comparison. If you’re producing color-sensitive productions on-the-go, you simply have to have it.

To assess performance, I ran three sets of tests, one rendering in the Adobe Media Encoder, one encoding with Sorenson Squeeze, and the third producing live streams with the Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder. I compared the results to HP’s own Z400 desktop workstation powered by a 2.67 GHz W3520 four-core Intel Xeon CPU and 24GB of RAM, running 64-bit Windows 7 with a $1,700 NVIDIA Quadro 5000 graphics card. With these options, the Z400 comes in at a little more than $5,000, without an LCD monitor, about the same price as the 8760w.  read more...