1st-gen i7 HP Elitebook Laptops worth it?

JustABlueJay · Apr 7, 2015

Hi, recently I've been thinking to get a new laptop, as I have a pretty old/slow one. an NV78 with a core 2 duo and 4gb of RAM.
I've been looking at HP Elitebooks as I heard they're durable, being a business-model and all. I want to keep my budget approximately $400 or below, and so I usually find laptops with 1st gen i7's.
Something like this (HP Elitebook 8740w) is one of my first choices i'd consider: http

/www.ebay.com/itm/201310329867?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I want to use it mainly for good browsing, maybe play some games (not too intensive) and schoolwork such as MS Office. Do you think the one I listed is a fine one to buy, even if it's a 1st-gen i7 from 2009?

C12Friedman · Apr 7, 2015

IMO, that laptop, although dated a bit is still a viable machine (especially considering the Quadro FX 3800m graphics) and the price seems good for the hardware. The only cons I noticed are that the webcam has been removed and it still sports a rather "small" 320GB HDD. I might look into an SSD to put in there which should make the whole system feel snappier.
The biggest drawback is that during any intensive tasks, you'll need to use the power adapter since the graphics alone can eat up to 100W (that's a lot of power and heat for a laptop!). I'll recommend looking over this article http

/www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376739,00.asp to see if it mentions anything you find particularly undesirable.
Considering it cost ~$2000 when new, and I feel the hardware is still viable, I'd say that seems to be a pretty good deal

velo3100 · Apr 7, 2015

I wouldn't get this laptop as it is not really suited for you. i7 are generally used for people that needs a lot of cpu power which you don't. I personally would get a laptop with an i3 or i5 ulv cpu, 4 gigs of ram and an igpu. You could look into the dell insperon range as they are cheap and will last you a long time.

JustABlueJay · Apr 7, 2015

C12Friedman :

Thanks for your input. Yeah I'll most likely being buying this model, I usually like laptops with the keypad on the side, and an i7 that overclocks at any time (according to what i've read) when heat isn't a problem is a definite win for me.
I don't really need a webcam though, I have one for my main custom-desktop PC.
320gb is small, but I was thinking of just transferring my old HDD to this new laptop, they're the same size anyway with the same OS, different RPM tho. I'll think of an SSD later when my budget increases for it.

Overall, I really just want something better than a Core 2 Duo T6600. It's way too slow for my tastes now. Also the graphics chipset the old laptop uses is very bad for gaming, even in 3-D flash games.

Do you think those laptop cooling pads or whatever would be beneficial for this laptop, since i7's are supposed to increase clockspeed when heat is not a problem?

C12Friedman · Apr 8, 2015

The heat the GPU is capable of putting out is somewhat worrying to me which is one of the reasons why I recommend the cooling pad. A cooling pad can only help temperatures which should help prolong the life of the laptop. The boost for both the GPU and CPU will attempt to kick in when the processing load is high such as while gaming - that seems to be a bad time to have your PC start throttling instead
Other than the initial cost, there's really no downside to a cooling pad that I'm aware of

JustABlueJay · Apr 8, 2015

velo3100 :

Meh, I think it's okay. I might be using it more often when I get it, and probably might try things like 3-d modeling or video editing outside of home. Probably not as good as an AMD FX8350 with 16gb of RAM (and perhaps eventually a decent graphics card), but I think it should be suited for me.
I also do not hear good things about Dell in general, so i'm doing my best to stay away from them.

JustABlueJay · Apr 8, 2015

C12Friedman :

Neat, is there any specific brands that make pretty quality cooling pads? I'd assume Cooler Master as I used their Hyper EVO 212 heatsink for my main computer, but this is a slightly different case so maybe there are others?

C12Friedman · Apr 9, 2015

My current personal preference for laptop cooling pads is the CoolerMaster NotePal Series, the U2 and U3 models (one has two fans, the other three) are nice since the laptop can tuck into them for travel to reduce bulk somewhat. The X models feature a larger fan which may operate quieter if that's a concern
Cooler Master NotePal U2
Cooler Master NotePal X2
https

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBZFLHUmROE video about CM Notepal U2

JustABlueJay · Apr 12, 2015

C12Friedman :

Alright thanks, I'll look into getting one of those then. 5C-7C seems to make a difference for CPU temps.

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