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HP Revamps Business Laptop Line

A 14-inch ultrabook and 11.6-inch ultraportable join a slew of 14- and 15-inch models as HP takes advantage of Intel's "Ivy Bridge" to make over its corporate mobile lineup.

May 9, 2012

A 3.6-pound compact that combines the company's Folio ultrabook and EliteBook enterprise laptop brands is the highlight of a new makeover of HP's business laptop offerings.

The EliteBook Folio 9470m, shipping in October at a price to be announced, features a 14-inch (1,366-by-768) screen, touchpad and pointing stick cursor control, and corporate-class docking capabilities. There's also three USB 3.0 ports and Ethernet, DisplayPort, and VGA ports. It'll be available with a choice of hard drives, with or without mSATA flash cache, or solid-state drives.

Unlike ultrabooks, the Intel "Ivy Bridge"-powered EliteBook Folio offers a user-removable or -swappable battery pack that can be supplanted by a secondary slice battery for, HP claims, up to 20 hours of unplugged life. A TPM security chip and smart card reader are standard; 3G or 4G LTE mobile broadband is optional.

HP's EliteBook line will get its smallest and lightest laptop on June 22, when the 11.6-inch EliteBook 2170p ships for $999. The 2.9-pound, business-rugged portable promises 9 hours of battery life; a full-sized, optionally backlit keyboard; and compatibility with most docking stations used across HP's w, p, and b series. Like the EliteBook Folio, the 2170p uses a third-generation Intel Core "Ivy Bridge" processor and supports optional mobile broadband.

Moving up a size, the 12.5-inch EliteBook 2570p ($1,099) will also ship on June 22. This 3.6-pound, platinum-finish ultraportable integrates a DVD±RW drive and a standard- rather than ultra-low-voltage "Ivy Bridge" CPU. It's available with a choice of 3-, 6-, or 9-cell batteries depending on users' lust for lightness versus longevity. The 14-inch EliteBook 8470p and 15.6-inch 8570p, shipping June 4 starting at $899, are "Ivy Bridge" refreshes with SRS Premium Sound Pro enhanced audio; the 8470p with primary plus extended battery boasts a whopping 36 hours of battery life.

HP's mid-market ProBook b series, available with Intel (14-inch ProBook 6470b or 15-inch 6570b) or AMD (14-inch ProBook 6475b) under the hood, are the company's most configurable business laptops. Options for the aluminum-lidded and -decked portables range from a choice of integrated or discrete graphics for the Intel models to three battery sizes, pointing sticks, and mobile broadband. The 6470b and 6570b will start at $769 and the 6475b at $669 when they ship on June 4.

Finally, small and medium businesses can check out the 14- and 15.6-inch ProBook s series, which let buyers mix and match Intel (ProBook 4440/1s and 4540s) and AMD (ProBook 4445/6s and 4545s) power while taking advantage of a brushed aluminum lid and keyboard deck, spill-resistant keyboard, an HDMI port and SRS Premium sound, and two bundled software suites—HP's ProtectTools for security and ArcSoft's TotalMedia Suite for video and audio authoring. The s series starts at $589 and will ship June 4. HP also announced Pro or business versions, equipped with Windows 7 Professional, of the Envy Spectre XT and Envy Ultrabook unveiled at its , and refreshed versions of its EliteBook 8470w (14-inch), 8570w (15.6-inch), and 8770w (17.3-inch) mobile workstations.

As always, PCMag is on the case and will be bringing you hands-on reviews of the new HP laptops.