Facebook Pixel Code

HP EliteBook Revolve 810: Enterprise friendly

EliteBook Revolve is a light, durable machine, but is it worth Rs 90,000?

Having launched a slew of laptops, all-in-ones and hybrid devices for the consumer segment, Hewlett-Packard (HP) recently brought enterprise-oriented products to the market. Its newest products are the HP ProBook 430, a durable business laptop for Rs 39,000, and EliteBook Revolve 810, a convertible laptop for Rs 90,000. The EliteBook Revolve derives its name from its 11.6-inch touchscreen, which rotates 180 degrees and can be folded flat. This makes it useful as a tablet and as a full-fledged laptop. Targeted at business users, HP says this laptop is durable, portable and has good battery life. Let?s see if those claims are true.

The EliteBook series is known to be sturdy and the Revolve is another good example in the range. The Revolve has a durable magnesium-alloy chassis and has a rubbery scratch-resistant finish that gives a nice grip. This is good for those who have to keep moving from one conference room to another as the laptop is easy to carry. The machine weighs 1.3 kg, which is lighter than most laptops in the market. When folded, the thickness is less than 0.87 inches, so most users will have no trouble packing it in backpacks or shoulder bags.

The touchscreen is made of Gorilla Glass, which is scratch-resistant and does not break easily. The hinges of the rotating screen are made of stainless steel and seemed fairly strong during tests. Although this may be a problem with the review unit, sometimes the hinges failed to keep hold the screen in place. For instance, the screen was open at a 135-degree angle when I had to move to another room. When I picked up the laptop, the screen fell to 180 degrees. Again, this may be because the review unit had loose hinges, but units with such flaws should not be making it out of HP?s quality control centres.

The keyboard is backlit and spill-resistant. So you can type in the dark and not worry about accidentally spilling liquids on the keyboard?they won?t seep in. The display is decent, with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Apart from a reflective screen, this laptop should present no problems to business users. As long as you ensure that a source of light is not facing the screen, there should be no problems using the display. The touchscreen is responsive and executing Windows 8 gestures is a breeze. This screen is among the best for Windows 8 laptops.

Business users are likely to use this laptop to show videos to a small crowd. For instance, a promotional video for an upcoming product or venture is seen in many presentations. This means that the speaker output has to be good. During tests, the EliteBook Revolve?s speakers fell short of expectations in this regard. They weren?t loud enough and neither could they reproduce bass well. It?s best to carry a pair of portable speakers if audio is an essential part of your usage.

The real strength of the Revolve as a business machine is in its connectivity options. It supports wireless options usually seen in smartphones and tablets. It supports Bluetooth, NFC (near-field communication), accelerometer (sensor for tilt and motion), gyroscope etc. It supports a 3G SIM card, microSD card, USB 3.0, and has a DisplayPort (to connect to projectors, TVs etc).

The only disappointment in terms of hardware is the processor. Intel launched fourth-generation Core-series processors a couple of months ago, but this machine has the older third-generation Core i5 processor. This means that it misses out on major battery life improvements. But it supports Intel vPro, which lets IT departments prevent misuse if a laptop is lost or stolen. So from an enterprise perspective, this machine is fully loaded.

This machine comes with 128 GB storage on a solid state drive (SSD). SSDs are faster than conventional hard disks, but they are expensive, which means that most laptop makers bundle the machines with limited internal storage. Windows 8 and pre-loaded HP software leave users with around 55 GB. On a tablet, 55 GB is a lot of space, but on a laptop it is less than adequate. Users will either have to invest in a reliable portable hard disk or if they have fast Internet, a good cloud storage service like Dropbox or SkyDrive.

Performance-wise, there were no issues with the Revolve. It might have Intel?s older processor, but it works without freezing while using multiple applications at once. One major disappointment is battery life. The review machine did not last longer than five hours on a single charge on moderate usage (Wi-Fi, YouTube videos, browsing, documents, a few downloads, and a few Windows 8 apps).

If you are looking for a portable, durable business laptop and need Windows 8, the EliteBook Revolve is a good choice. However, at this price range, it is competing with MacBook Pro, which remains a superior alternative for business use despite its lack of a touchscreen and greater weight (2 kg).

Get live Share Market updates, Stock Market Quotes, and the latest India News and business news on Financial Express. Download the Financial Express App for the latest finance news.

First published on: 12-09-2013 at 19:54 IST
Market Data
Market Data
Today’s Most Popular Stories ×