HP EliteBook 2170p

If you spend more time on the road than in the office and prefer to pack lightly, the HP EliteBook 2170p ($1099 list) may be your ideal travel companion. It's a Windows 8-equipped business ultraportable that packs a solid punch into a tiny yet surprisingly resilient chassis.Between its enterprise-friendly hardware, classy design, and well-rounded feature set, this little machine can play a big role in your business affairs.

Design and Features
Think of the EliteBook 2170p as the smaller counterpart of the HP Elitebook 8460p. It employs the latter's design cues but does so in a much smaller chassis.Consequently, the Elitebook 2170p's compact frame deftly blends solid construction with classy looks. Its sturdy body was designed to withstand the rigors of business travel, so you can jam it into a stuffed suitcase without worry. Moreover, it need not even be a large suitcase since theElitebook 2170p's magnesium alloy chassis measures 0.04 by 11.5 by 7.6 inches (HWD). At 2.39 pounds is imperceptibly heavier than some slate tablets but slightly lighter than the the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2.93 pounds), though that system packs a larger 14-inch display.

An elegant silver finish on the chassis adds panache to what could have otherwise been a drab, purely business affair. Although the utilitarian black plastic finish on the underside isn't as handsome as the rest of the Elitebook 2170p's exterior, it conveniently features a socket that can readily be attached to most of HP's docking stations.

The Elitebook 2170p's 11.6-inch display has a maximum resolution of 1,366 by 768, which is sufficient for watching videos at 720p. It's a small screen?smaller than the Lenovo ThinkPad X230t's 12.5-inch screen?and that may turn off those who prefer more expansive screen real estate for, say, opening multiple windows. However, the X230 is over a pound heavier and is an inch larger in all dimensions. At any rate, text and images alike look crisp on the Elitebook 2170p's matte-finished screen. Conversely, the system's pair of front-firing speakers don't have too much oomph, so those planning on listening attentively on a conference call will need to choose between a finding quiet room or a pair of headphones.

The Elitebook 2170p's raised tiled keyboard sports black matte-finish keys. Like the rest of the system, the keyboard is wonderfully constructed, feeling appropriately sturdy but not excessively rigid. Typing is a breeze and makes for a pleasantly comfortable endeavor. In addition to being brightly backlit, its spill-resistant lets liquids ooze out through a drain built into the underside.

The touchpad sports a smooth, friction-free finish that allows your fingers to effortlessly scroll and pinch-zoom through Windows 8's tiled interface. Two sets of right- and left- click buttons abut the top and bottom edges of the trackpad, with the top pair designed to be used in conjunction with a pointstick lodged in the keyboard's center. At the same time, though, the inclusion of four buttons on an already tiny trackpad makes it even more cramped.

For such a compact system, the Elitebook 2170pfeatures decent port selection, although both of its USB 3.0 ports don't sport the blue marking that typically distinguishes USB 3.0 ports from their slower USB 2.0 counterparts. The right side also sports an fullsize Ethernet port, a VGA output, and a five-in-one card reader (SD/MMC). The left side, meanwhile, houses another USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, and a DisplayPort input.The Elitebook 2170 p does not feature an HDMI port. This isn't necessarily a fatal flaw, though, since DisplayPort is more prevalent on business displays.

The Elitebook 2170p 7,200rpm 500GB HDD comes with a light amount of preloaded software, most of which is useful like the CyberLink Media Suite. The Elitebook 2170p is covered by a three-year warranty on parts and labor.

Performance
Armed with a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor and 4GB RAM, the Elitebook 2170p's performance landed in the middle of the business-class pack.While its PCMark 7 score of 2,759 points edged past the ThinkPad X230t (2,627 points) and the Asus X46CA-XH51 (2,628 points), SSD-equipped systems like the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m (4,669 points) had no trouble breezing by. Similarly, its Cinebench R11.5 score of 2.32 points trumped the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon($1,499 list) (2.25 points) and came within striking distance of the Asus S46CA-XH51 (2.36 points) while falling short of the EliteBook Folio 9470m (2.62 points) and, to a greater extent, the ThinkPad X230t (3.09 points).

Since its focus is more on productivity than on media creation, the Elitebook 2170p unsurprisingly displayed a modest capacity in this area. It completed our Handbrake video-encoding test in 1 minute 30 seconds, eight seconds shy of the Editor's Choice Dell Latitude 6430u (1:22) but nonetheless significantly quicker than the HP 9470m (2:45). The amount of time it took to complete our Photoshop CS6 test (6 minutes 19 seconds), on the other hand, was conspicuously overshadowed by both the HP 9470m (5:51) and Dell 6430u (5:08).

You don't typically purchase a business-class system with high-end gaming in mind (sadly), so it came as no surprise that the Elitebook 2170p joined the rest of the group in failing to crack the 30 frames-per-second (fps) playability barrier in our gaming benchmark test. This is a system more concerned with spreadsheets than 3D rendering, so its muted performance in our 3DMark11 test (1,091 points in Entry-level settings, 199 points in Extreme settings) was understandable, and roughly on par with the HP 9470m (1,083 and 211 points, respectively).

The Elitebook 2170p's extended 6-cell 48WHr battery protrudes from the rear of the system by half an inch. Despite its "extended" designation, however, it lasted an unremarkable 4 hours 47 minutes on our battery rundown test, falling short of both the HP 9470m (5:36) and even more so of the Dell 6430u's excellent battery life (7:40). While it won't last an entire workday, it's a removable battery, so bring an extra battery along if you plan on working for long periods of time on the road.

The HP EliteBook 2170p is a well-designed business ultraportable with a terrific keyboard and a solidly resilient chassis. Battery life is a little short for a system designed for portability, but 2170p has the computing power to serve as your primary PC plugged in. It's a reasonably priced ultraportable whose compact size and good feature set make it worthy of consideration.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
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