Advice appreciated, HP 2740p or HP 2760p (On a budget)...

Hi Everyone,

I am a very regular reader of the forums and need advice on whether to get the HP 2740p (available with WWAN but with a normal hard disk) or the HP 2760P (available with WWAN and either normal hard drive or SSD (128 GB)...

There is roughly a 1000 dollar price difference.


I currently own an HP TM2 and have previously owned a Fujitsu T4210.

I would be using it for university education, primarily to take notes and also to use it perhaps on the daily bus commute.

I love my HP TM2 but am rather disappointed with the limited portrait viewing angles.


School commences in April but I do attend some revision classes in the meantime.
I am looking for a laptop that could tide me over in the coming months but one that could also "serve longer" when school officially starts. It should hopefully be able to be used then but I am worried whether the Intel HD Graphics would be able to handle engineering software (mechanical).


Here are my queries:

1. Are the 2740p and 2760p very different in terms of performance or would the enchancements of the 2760p be relatively minor...?

2. Coming from the HP TM2 (with both the ATI 4550 and the Intel 4500 MHD i think and the U7300 CPU) would there be a big difference in terms of the HD Graphics? I do play Star Trek Online occasionally and find the ATI much better than the Intel in the TM2.

3. My ideal purchase would be the Fujitsu T901 with Nvidia but in case I am unable to afford it even at the discounted educational price or if it becomes unavailable, how "future-proof" would the Intel HD Graphics (both 2000 and 3000 be...?)

4. Can laptops with hard drives be used on buses or should it be better to use those with SSDs? I mean would the knocks and bumps of the road "kill" the hard drive in the long run...?

5. is 128 GB sufficient for Win 7, the HP restore functions and daily use...?


6. With Windows 8 and ultrabooks coming out this year (hopefully, fingers crossed, convertible tablets as well), would Windows 7 and Core i5 and Intel HD 2000 / 3000 be severely supersceded...?

7. Noted that the 2740p uses a 1.8 inch drive bay while the 2760p uses a 2.5 inch drive bay. Just in case I would want to replace the drives with SSDs in future, is the 1.8 inch drive a "special" availability or would it be as widely available as the 2.5 inch version (with ultrabooks becoming more and more common...)

8. How long is support "guaranteed" for the 2740p and 2760p...? I mean since they are business machines, would HP be able to provide support for the 2740p for 3 years if I buy it now...?


I hope my queries are as complete and concise as possible.

Thank you for your time.


Warm regards,
Ebenezer

 

I've typed more than 10 characters.

 

@Ebenezer

With the 2740p you are looking for a 1.8" SATA SSD [sometimes called uSATA, it looks like a mini 2.5" SSD look here to see Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Hard Drives, SSD, Internal SSD, 1.8" ] not the newer mSATA [these look like Wi-Fi cards]. I would only recommend getting one from Intel, Crucial or Samsung as the rest often have severe issues that isn't worth the $20 in savings over those three (especially avoid OCZ like the plague); expect about $120-130 for 64GB, and $230-240 for 128GB [for 2.5" drives its around $100 for 64GB, and $200 for 128GB]... if you buy a SSD yourself you will need to do the OS instillation (needs a DVD/ CD drive, and instillation media), or maybe a cloning software [like Acronis] and a USB Hard drive housing/ adapter

For the difference between the systems, well there isn't a massive difference, they are basically the exact same units except the 2760p has the 2.5" slim [7mm s the standard 9.5mm] HDD/ SSD slot, and they have a newer motherboard with slightly newer chipset, processor, and graphics; but at that the difference isn't super massive, and it won't be good for gaming the newer one will be a bit better than the older one, but it will still only be able to do older games at low-medium settings... If you want games, then get a new or used gaming desktop or laptop [not the best of the best, but a sold performer] and a 2740p.


and unfortunately the eGPU is a bit expensive, bulky [not portable], and awakward and even buggy at times, it also doesn't give the full performance like you would see with that GPU in a powerful desktop. It needs a Expresscard 34 slot [the skinny one] on the computer, most business Tablet PC's have this.

 

Here is the fastest way to erase the 'price' differential between a 2740P and 2760P...find a 2760P for less!

PROVANTAGE: Hewlett Packard HP LJ539UT#ABA 2760P CI3/2.3 12.1 4GB-250GB Camera BT W7P 64 Sby

I have actually seen them as low as $990 which is unbelevable when you consider that the new Z690 Q550 is now that much. Search and find the deals, they are out there!

 

And on the HD2000/3000-Videocards - it does make a difference. The HD3000 is really not so bad considering it is a embedded-GPU. Will definitely have enough guts for StarTrek-Online, especially taking the low resolution of the laptop into account (1280x800) - just check youtube for gameplay-videos from the various graphicscards with various games. I have the 2760p and I am quite convenient with the graphics. I can play Battlefield Bad Company 2 for instance very well, just as the Source-Engine-Games of stuff like Command and Conquer.
And the best thing is have some additional batterylife over the dedicated graphicscards (at least when you don't have switchable graphics)

edit:
on the 2.5"-slot in the notebook: there is a workaround to use 9.5mm-drives (I don't know about the 12.5mm) - you have to remove a spacer in the slot (black-plastic-thing) - I saw a guide on exactly that issue somewhere.

 

Hi Everyone,

Here's an update: I've finally purchased an Elitebook 2760p, the decision of which was greatly influenced by your advice.

in4mer, Agent 9, dceggert, 2.0, GreenStorm, thank you for your valuable inputs and sharing of experiences!


Warm regards,
Ebenezer

(P.S. There are some issues encountered during the "shakedown cruise" but I'll be posting them seperately...)

 

This one only has 1 year warranty. My warranty calls usually come in during year 2 and year 3.