HP unveils 13.3-inch aluminum EliteBook 1030 with Skylake Intel Core M and up to 16GB RAM
When someone asks me for advice on buying a laptop, there are two questions I often ask them -- what do you want to do with it? and what is your budget? Once I get the answers to those questions, I steer them towards a reputable brand that meets their needs. One such brand that I always consider -- especially for a Windows machine -- is HP. Not only does the company make notebooks that are powerful, but beautiful too.
Today, that manufacturer unveils a beautiful new laptop -- the HP EliteBook 1030. Featuring a capable Skylake Intel Core M processor and up to 16GB RAM, it should meet the needs of both home and business users. It can be configured with either Windows 10 or the older-yet-popular Windows 7.
The Intel Core M is hardly a powerhouse, but it is powerful enough for typical computing. More importantly, from a battery-life perspective, the processor is very efficient. Depending on configuration, you can get more than 13 hours of use from it!
Memory can be configured as either 8GB or 16GB, but you must make that decision at time of purchase. Why? The RAM is soldered in. While 8GB is probably fine for many users, I would recommend splurging on the larger amount. The 16GB option is only available with the better processor options -- m5-6Y57 or m7-6Y75. The less-powerful m5-6Y54 can only be configured with 8GB.
There are two Corning Gorilla Glass display options -- either non-touch 1080p or a touch-friendly 3200 x 1800. If you don't need touch, the 1080p resolution should look wonderful on a 13.3-inch display. The higher-resolution will probably be jaw-dropping, however.
Thankfully, there are no HDD options. No matter which model you buy, you get an SSD. Capacities run from 128GB to 256GB. Only the latter is available as the faster NVMe -- the others are SATA.
The fanless and silent HP EliteBook 1030 has premium features too such as an aluminum chassis, fingerprint reader, glass trackpad, backlit keyboard, and Bang & Olufsen audio. Of course it has USB Type-C too, the latest USB connection type. Woo!
So how much will this 2.55 pound laptop cost? The starting price is $1,249. To learn more and configure your own, you can check it out here.