Are EliteBooks really Elite, a HP EliteBook laptop review

This blog post has been waiting in edit state for a few months now, so lets finish and publish it.

So this is a short and compact HP EliteBook laptop review summarizing my experience of two HP EliteBooks, 8540p and 8440p.

HP EliteBook 8540p 15.6"
- Too small CR key
- Too small dash symbol (visually)
- Arrow keys too tight

+ Matte display
+ Good, clear screen
+ USB3
+ fast processor

The machine is really fast (Intel Core i7 and SSD) so compiling code is a joy, but in my opinion the keyboard is completely unusable for both programming and using the command line, and for me that is a show stopper.

HP EliteBook 8440p 14"
- Only 2 mouse buttons
- really bad black reproduction
- strange contrast
- poor viewing angle

+ Better keyboard than 15.6" model. Home, PgUp, PgDn and End keys still awkwardly placed.
+ Matte display

Even if the machine is a bit thick, the size is otherwise really OK for mobile work. However the display panel is the worst I have seen in 20 years. It really reminds me of laptop monitors from the late eighties/early ninetieths. The eye strain produced bu the display is absolutely staggering.

Both:
- Surprisingly sharp lid metal locks, watch your fingers.
- cheap matte aluminium palmrest that feels like a chalkboard.
- Ugly, non professional design (debatable)
- Idiotic trackpad button wiring. See below.

The track point mouse buttons are hardwired with touch pad buttons so you can't disable the trackpad while using track point. If you do, then you loose the trackpoint buttons and are left with a way to move the cursor but you can't click.
Having the buttons disabled while the machine is docked easily leads to an surprisingly challenging exercise in using the keyboard to reactivate the buttons (or borrow a mouse) if you forget to reactivate the buttons when you take the machine off the dock. IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads never had this problem.

+ sturdy monitors, they don't wobble and the hinges feel solid and smooth.

Conclusions:
Both machines are absolute toys compared to IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads and feel cheaper than HP ProBooks. Also the design of the machines are childish looking in a business world where matte black or white/silverish products dominate (Lenovo ThinkPads and Apple).

P.S.
To answer the question in the title, no they are not elite.