Hewlett Packard EliteBook 8560p Notebook Review

To quote Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, "Decent!" It appears HP took some design cues from Apple without the goal of creating a Mac-centric clone. Clean lines, brushed aluminum, a large trackpad, and an uncluttered interior combine to give the 8560p its orderly, unblemished looks.

Typing on the 8650p's attractive full-sized keyboard complete with a numpad is about as comfortable as its gets on a notebook. The keys are ever-so-slightly indented, and the click-action feels right. We also appreciate the inclusion of quick-access buttons in the top-right corner that, based on customer feedback, HP chose to replace touch-sensitive buttons found on previous models with. From left to right, you're given one-touch access to wireless, QuickWeb (pre-launch environment), mute/unmute, and calculator. We've run into issues where touch-sensitive buttons sometimes fail to register, and while there's a certain gee-whiz factor with using them, we applaud HP's willingness to listen to customer feedback and replace them with physical buttons.

Without a doubt, one of our favorite features of the EliteBook 8560p is the oversized trackpad. The trackpad isn't just gigantic, it also supports touch gestures, a feature that will ruin you for regular touchpads. To scroll horizontally, for example, you tap with two fingers and swipe up or down rather than hunt for that magical, unseen strip on the right side. To scroll left or right, you do the same thing, except swipe accordingly. Pinch-to-zoom is available, you can drag-and-drop items by double-tapping to select and then sliding your finger, and you can rotate images in applications that support it by placing two fingers on the touchpad and rotating them in either direction.

One of the concerns with having a touchpad as large as this is that it could get in the way of typing. However, you can turn it off/on by double-tapping the top left corner.


For whatever reason, OEMs typically don't like to grant end-users easy access to internal notebook parts, or at least that's how it used to be. Things have been steadily improving, but HP takes it a step further by providing tool-less entry into the 8560p's underbelly. With the flip of a switch, the entire bottom panel slides effortlessly away exposing key components. This makes it incredibly easy to add more RAM, upgrade the storage, or even blast the dust bunnies out of the fan blades. Why can't all notebooks be this easy to work on?