Review of hp elitebook folio 9470m

Review of hp elitebook folio 9470m

The Design of HP EliteBook Folio 9470M
The Hp EliteBook Folio 9470m isn’t the lightest Ultrabook around, but it is one of the most attractive. The top surface is made from lightweight magnesium that’s been coated in a luxurious silver soft-touch paint that makes it a pleasure to grip. The bottom is coated in the same material, but is painted black while the deck sports a classy brushed-aluminum surface.

According to HP, the Folio 9470m’s frame is as sturdy as it is good looking. The company says its notebook passed seven MIL-SPEC tests including those for dust, vibrations, shock and extreme temperatures.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M keyboard, touchpad and pointing stick

At first glance, the Elitebook Folio 9470m’s spill-resistant keyboard has everything going for it, including large island-style keys, a cool aluminum palmrest and a two-setting backlight.

However, as with some other Ultrabooks, the 9470m’s keys have too little vertical travel and don’t provide enough tactile feedback for fast touch typing.

Because we had to be more deliberate with our keystrokes, we scored 76 words per minute with a 3 percent error rate on the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor Test, lower than our typical 80 to 86 wpm / 1 percent rate. On the bright side, the Elitebook Folio 9470m’s keyboard backlight was more than bright enough at its low setting and really vibrant at its full setting.

In addition to its touchpad, the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m has a pointing stick located in the area between the G, H and B keys. We liked the accuracy of the 9470m’s stick, but found the rubberized cap a little uncomfortable because of its concave shape and sharp dimples. Unlike Lenovo and Dell, HP fails to include a scroll button to go with its pointing stick.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M heat

The HP Elitebook Folio 9470m stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. After streaming a video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured just 75 degrees, the keyboard was a mere 78 degrees and the underside just a cool 82 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees comfortable.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M display

Compared to its competitors’ screens, the HP Elitebook Folio 9470m’s default 14-inch display disappoints with its limited screen real estate, unimpressive color and mediocre brightness.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M audio

The Elitebook Folio 13 won’t replace your stereo. Just loud enough to fill a small room, the notebook’s two bottom-facing speakers produced flat, unpleasant audio. When we played the bass-heavy “Forget Me Nots,” the music was as shallow as on an old-fashioned clock radio. Guitar and drum-heavy tunes like “Ace of Spades” and “Oh No! Not You Again” suffered from noticeable tininess.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M ports

Where competitors such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon lack important connection options, HP’s enterprise Ultrabook has just about any port a business user could want, including an Ethernet port for connecting to wired networks and a VGA port for attaching to older projectors and monitors.

The left side has a Kensington lock slot, a smart card reader, a headphone jack and a USB 3.0 connector while the right side of the notebook houses two USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort, VGA, Ethernet, an SD/MMC card reader and a side docking connector.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M webcam

The HP Elitebook Folio 9470m’s 720p webcam captured low-quality images in both low and normal indoor light.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M performance

With its 1.8-GHz Intel Core i-5 3427U CPU, 180GB Intel SSD, 4GB of RAM and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m provides solid but not spectacular performance.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M graphics

With its integrated Intel HD graphics 4000 chip, the Folio 9470m is capable of playing HD movies, but fails to make even mid-range games playable. On 3DMark11, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall graphics prowess, the notebook scored a lackluster 594, well short of the 740 ultraportable category average, but a little higher than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s 517.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M battery life

With its default battery, the HP EliteBook Folio 9740m lasted a strong 7 hours and 4 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 40 percent brightness. That time is nearly an hour longer than the ultraportable notebook average (6:10) , but more than a half hour behind the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (7:45) and the MacBook Pro with Retina Display (7:38).

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M software

HP bundles the Windows 8 version of the EliteBook Folio 9470m with a bare minimum of preloaded software and not even one piece of crapware. The notebook does not even have trial antivirus software installed, instead relying on Windows 8’s built-in Microsoft Security Essentials package.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M security features

While the Windows 7 version of ProtectTools has a wide variety of features including File Sanitzer for performing secure erases and Privacy Manager for protecting your identity, the Windows 8 package comes with only two utilities: Password Manager, which stores individual logins, and Credential Manager, which sets up the fingerprint reader.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M warranty

HP backs the EliteBook 9470m with a standard one-year limited warranty. A three-year warranty is available at additional cost. See how HP fared in our latest tech support showdown and brand ratings.

HP EliteBook Folio 9470M configurations

Our review configuration of the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m carries an MSRP of $1,349. For that price, you get the notebook with a 1.8-GHz Core i5-3427U CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 180GB Intel SSD.

In summery

Business users bying for an enterprise-friendly Ultrabook will find plenty to like in the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m, including its many connectivity options, strong battery life, TPM security and MIL-SPEC tested chassis.