Advantages and Disadvantages of HP ProBook 5310m (Review)
Posted on | January 14, 2010 | No Comments
HP promises that the new ProBook 5310m is a “stylish” business notebook that packs performance, battery life, and value inside a thin-and-light 13-inch notebook. Is the ProBook 5310m truly a lust-worthy business laptop, or is it just another black box? Continue reading to find out.
Advantages:
* Excellent build quality and design
* A good price (when pre-configured)
* Nice keyboard and touchpad
Disadvantages:
* No optical drive
* Custom configurations are overpriced
* Limited configuration options
Build and Design
For those people who aren’t already familiar with HP’s ProBook laptops, the formula is very simple: Take HP’s popular EliteBook line of durable business-grade notebooks and make them more affordable so small and medium businesses can buy them. This is where the new ProBook 5310m comes to the table … and it’s why this is the first laptop with the “ProBook” name on it that we really, really like.
Screen and Speakers
The ProBook 5310m comes equipped with a 13.3″ anti-glare display with a 16:9 widescreen ratio. At 1366 x 768 pixels, this 720p high-definition display is perfectly usable and features good color and contrast. The LED-backlit panel offers excellent brightness and we typically left the brightness set to between 50% and 70% when using the notebook indoors. We know many people are concerned about the transition from 16:10 to 16:9 ratio screens (because this means less vertical resolution) but the difference between 1366 x 768 and 1280 x 800 is pretty minimal.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The full-size keyboard on the 5310m is a chiclet style design and provides fantastic spacing between keys for typing. Each key is relatively flat with a nice matte texture and the keys sit above a glossy black support frame. The support frame surrounding the keys is quite firm thanks to the design of the chassis which adds additional support for the keyboard. On the larger ProBook 4510s and 4710s we noticed some flex in the keyboard above the optical drive, but the keyboard on the 5310m is quite firm and a joy to use.
Performance and Benchmarks
Our ProBook 5310m came with the Intel Core 2 Duo P9300 processor, clocking in at 2.26GHz, and Intel integrated graphics. This gives the ProBook a fanstic level of performance without losing too much in the way of battery life. If battery life is a concern, you can also purchase the ProBook 5310m with the Intel Celeron CULV Processor SU2300 which will give you more tie on battery at the expense of speed thanks to the 1.2GHz low-voltage processor. A 320GB 7200RPM hard drive was also included, which helped applications load without much lag. This notebook didn’t really exceed our expectations in terms of performance, but the 5310m sits near the top of the pack in its class and has more than enough power to handle Microsoft Office or even very basic video work.
Heat and Noise
During normal use (browsing the web or working on a text document) the ProBook 5310m remained quite cool and very quiet. The exhaust fan wasn’t audible even when running performance benchmarks or stressing the CPU and graphics. You won’t have to worry about bothering coworkers or clients with unwanted noise coming from your laptop in a quiet office.
Battery
HP offers the ProBook 4310s with a 4-cell 41WHr Lithium-Ion battery. The battery life of the standard 4-cell battery is quite a bit better than the previous generation of ProBooks. During our timed tests, with the laptop set to “balanced” mode, wireless active, and 70% screen brightness, the 4310s lasted for 5 hours and 51 minutes. Battery life can also be extended using the “power saver” power profile in Windows 7 … or you can purchase the 5310m with the Intel Celeron CULV processor.
Conclusion
From the first moment I picked up the HP ProBook 5310m to the last minute while writing this review I kept thinking, “Why didn’t HP release this ProBook sooner?” Honestly, if HP had released this notebook at the beginning of 2009 then every other SMB notebook manufacturer would be running scared by now. Unfortunately, HP released several less-than-spectacular ProBooks before this one, and that will probably make some potential buyers overlook this excellent business laptop. The ProBook 5310m finally delivers on HP’s original goal to create a more affordable EliteBook. Sure, you have to buy the pre-configured models if you want that lower price, but if you can live without an optical drive then the ProBook 5310m makes a fantastic choice for small and medium businesses.
Comments
Leave a Reply
