HP Launches the EliteBook 1030, a New Premium Business-Class Notebook

HP Launches the EliteBook 1030, a New Premium Business-Class Notebook

HP announced today that its new EliteBook 1030 ultra-portable notebook will ship later this month. Sitting between the EliteBook Folio 1020 I looked at last year and the EliteBook 1040 in HP’s premium business-class portfolio, this new model is just 15.7 mm thin and weighs only 2.55 pounds.

“The EliteBook 1030 is perfect for a customer who loves the versatility and mobility of a smaller notebook but could benefit from a larger screen,” an HP representative told me. “This device features a 12.5-inch CNC-machined aluminum body, and includes a 13.3-inch screen.”

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The act of fitting a large screen into a laptop body that would have traditionally held a smaller display is one recent tech trend I think we can all rally behind. But unlike the Dell XPS 13 that kicked things off, some of the newer devices to do this come with very little in the way of compromise.

Which means that while the EliteBook 1030 features a near edge-to-edge 13.3-inch screen, HP still found room for a web cam were God intended, at the top. And that screen can be configured as a Full HD non-touch or QHD+ 3200 x 1800 touch display.

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Like last year’s 1020, the EliteBook 1030 features Core M processors for silent, fanless computing, but of course the 1030 benefits from using the latest, 6th generation versions of those chipsets: HP says it sees performance improvements of about 20 percent overall. RAM can be configured up to 16 GB, and the SSD storage can be bumped to 512 GB (or to 256 GB with PCIe storage).

Unlike many other thin-and-light designs, the EliteBook 1030 comes with plenty of expansion, including two USB 3.0 ports (which can charge connected devices even when the laptop is off), a single USB-C charging port, and full-sized HDMI video out. As is the case with the EliteBook line, there is of course a (swipe-style) fingerprint reader. Networking is as expected: WLAN 802.11ac (with WiDi and Miracast support) and Bluetooth 4.2.

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Given the quality of the Folio 1020’s keyboard, I suspect that the larger 1030 lives up to HP’s premium keyboard claims, but I’m curious about the clickpad. The 1020 shipped with something called a ForcePad, which Apple later copied with its new MacBook. I found it to be excellent, but it looks like the 1030 has a more traditional clickpad. Which is fine, as HP generally does these right.

Battery life is rated at 13 hours, about 40 percent longer than the EliteBook 1020. It’s not clear yet if I’ll be reviewing this one—I’m behind on my hardware reviews, sorry—but I will consider it.

You can find out more about the HP EliteBook 1030 from the HP web site. Pricing starts at $1250.

 

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