Review: HP EliteBook 2730P
There is no shortage of ultra-light convertibles on the market, including Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 Tablet and Dell’s Latitude XT, but the HP EliteBook 2730p (an update to the HP Compaq 2710p) can run with the best of them. Unlike many in its sub-five-pound class, it lasts more than five hours on a charge, has a semi-rugged build and includes unique business-travel features such as business card–reading software and a night light. It may lack an optical drive and the ability to manipulate the screen with a finger, but it’s still one of the best business tablets on the market.
Road-Ready, Professional Design
With its silver, brushed-metal design, the 2730p looks like its EliteBook brethren. Its DuraCase anodized aluminum lid combined with a magnesium alloy chassis lets it take a beating. In fact, it meets military standards (MIL-STD-810F) for altitude, high temperature, vibration, and dust. According to HP, it can operate at temperatures of up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and withstand 10 grams of dust per cubic meter blown at about 20 miles per hour for 6 hours.
One thing you won’t overlook with the HP EliteBook 2730p is its light weight and thin stature. With the six-cell battery (which is flush with the system) the 11.4 x 8.4 x 1.1-inch notebook weighs in at a mere 3.8 pounds (the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet is 4.2 pounds). However, a sacrifice was made for its thin and light build: no optical drive. HP does, however, offer a dock for $279 that contains an external DVD drive.
Nevertheless, a biometric fingerprint reader and night light located next to the screen is part of the package, and the system has a nice assortment of connectivity options, including two USB ports, FireWire, VGA, Ethernet, modem, headphone, and microphone. It also has an ExpressCard/54 on the left edge and a SD Card slot on the right. A convenient rocker switch for scrolling resides on the screen’s edge along with dedicated Esc and screen-rotate buttons.
Keyboard and Touchpad
One of the 2730p’s strongest features is its keyboard. Similar to that of the keyboard on the HP Mini 2140, the EliteBook 2730p’s full-size, spill-resistant keyboard is coated with HP’s DuraKey finish, which makes the highly responsive keys comfortable to type on. Above the keyboard is a responsive touch-sensitive strip containing shortcuts for raising, lowering, and muting audio, and a button that launches HP’s presentation settings menu.
Similar to many Dell Latitudes, the 2730p opts for a trackpoint-and-touchpad combination. While we like the choice of the two navigation methods, we preferred using the trackpoint and the mouse buttons below the space bar; the 2.7 x 1.0-inch touchpad is incredibly cramped and the second set of mouse buttons, carved out of the deck below it, require too hard of a press to make selections. While the concave trackpoint is more recessed than those found on Lenovo’s ThinkPad line, it was comfortable and allowed us to navigate the desktop smoothly.
- Good tablet performance
- Spacious, comfortable keyboard
- Good viewing angles
- Decent battery life
- Uncomfortable mouse buttons
- Sluggish hard drive
- No optical drive
- No finger-touch input
CPU: 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition
RAM/Expandable to: 3GB/8GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed: 120GB/5,400 rpm
Display/Resolution: 12.1 inches/1280 x 800
Price as Reviewed: $1599.00
