Toshiba Satellite E45t Ultrabook Review

Pros: Good overall performance; Solid sturdy build; Runs cool; Long battery life; Good keyboard

Cons: Lackluster display; Tinny audio; Poor webcam; Bit heavy for 14-incher

The Verdict: The $699 Toshiba Satellite E45t Ultrabook is a capable Windows 8 touch-screen laptop with Core i5 performance in an attractive, sturdy shell.

Those in the market for a portable Windows 8 notebook for less than a grand are spoiled by all the great choices these days. Toshiba's $699 Satellite E45t Ultrabook (a Best Buy exclusive) offers a 14-inch touch screen, an Intel Core i5 CPU, a 750GB hard drive, a 32GB SSD cache and nifty Dragon Assistant voice software in a sleek, sturdy package. Is the Satellite E45t the Ultrabook for you?

Toshiba Satellite E45t Ultrabook Review

Design

Covered in silver aluminum with a brushed metal finish, the Toshiba Satellite E45t-A4300 Ultrabook sports a premium look. As with many of Toshiba's recent notebooks, the E45t features the company's "Skyline" design, with rounded corners toward the rear, and more squared corners toward the front of the system. A shiny, chrome Toshiba logo adorns the bottom left of the lid, and the underside is encased in black plastic.

Inside, the laptop's black, island-style keyboard is housed in a dark-gray aluminum deck, with a round, fingertip-size power button on the top right. The touchpad is centered beneath the keyboard's G and H keys, surrounded by a brushed metal palm rest.

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At 13.4 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches and 4.4 pounds, the E45t is just a bit smaller but heavier than such competing Ultrabooks as the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch (13.9 x 9.1 x 0.82 inches, 4 pounds) and the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 (13.6 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches, 3.8 pounds).

Display

The Satellite E45t's 14-inch 1366 x 768-pixel TFT display delivered mediocre visuals. When we watched a 1080p trailer for "The Avengers," the Hulk's green skin and Iron Man's red-and-gold armor looked somewhat washed-out, blacks weren't deep and there was visual noise in darker areas. Viewing angles were narrow, with images washing out once we moved beyond 45 degrees to either side. We also found that we had to tilt the display about 30 degrees past vertical -- farther than we would like -- in order to see the truest colors.

On the bright side, graphics in games such as "Bejeweled 3" and "Dragon's Blade" looked rich. We enjoyed the vibrant orange and yellow flames surrounding special gems in "Bejeweled 3."

Although it was adequately bright to our eyes, the E45t sports a dimmer display than competing Ultrabooks. Registering 149 lux on our brightness meter, the E45t was outshone by the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch (163 lux) and the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 (178 lux), and also scored lower than the thin-and-light notebook category average (211 lux). Additionally, the IdeaPad U430 Touch sports a sharper 1600 x 900p display, while the Inspiron 14 7000 boasts a full-HD (1920 x 1080p) screen.

However, the E45t's 10-point touch screen was responsive. Gestures worked well, including pinch to zoom, swiping back and forth to navigate Web pages in Internet Explorer and swiping up to view all apps. The laptop's sturdy hinge offered adequate resistance to our pokes, only budging slightly when we used more force than usual.

Audio

The E45t's DTS Studio Sound speakers were good, but not great. We played "Oh Come, Emmanuel" by Lindsey Stirling and Kuha'o Case at full volume, and though the music was loud enough to fill a medium-size conference room, violin and piano notes sounded canned and hollow. When we listened to "Let Her Go" by Passenger, Mike Rosenberg's crooning vocals echoed oddly.

Toshiba's Audio Source Filtering app lets you prioritize voices or background sounds using a slider bar. Although placing the bar on the left for Voice Enhancement made Rosenberg's voice clearer and louder, we lost most of the accompanying instruments, and setting the dial to Background Sound Enhancement caused the vocals to disappear into the music.

Dolby's DTS Studio Sound program lets you add bass boost and surround sound, as well as control your device's output with an equalizer. We played around with the Dolby app but found no significant difference in the music.

To test the device's speaker volume, we played a tone at max volume and measured it from 13 inches away. The E45t notched 73 decibels -- softer than the thin-and-light category average (83 dB), the IdeaPad U430 Touch (90 dB) and the Inspiron 14 7000 (75 dB).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The island-style keyboard on the E45t is large and comfortably spaced. While there was adequate feedback, we wish the keys had deeper travel. We liked the dedicated row of Function keys at the top, which let you adjust brightness, volume, playback and connectivity settings with one tap.

 On the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, we typed an average of 78 words per minute on the E45t -- better than our desktop average of 74 wpm. Error rates were the same at 1 percent on both desktop and the E45t. The bright, even LED backlighting under the keyboard times out after 15 seconds of inactivity but comes back to life once you hit any key.

Measuring 4.2 x 2.6 inches, the touchpad on the E45t is spacious and responsive. Windows 8 gestures worked like a charm; we easily swiped in from the left edge to toggle through our open apps, and scrolled through websites with two fingers.

Heat

After 15 minutes of streaming a full-screen Hulu video, the space between the G and H keys measured 77 degrees Fahrenheit, while the touchpad registered just 71 degrees -- cooler than the thin-and-light category averages of 85 and 80 degrees, respectively. The bottom of the notebook also measured a lap-friendly 87 degrees, well under our comfort threshold of 95 degrees.

Webcam

The HD camera on the E45t took dull, grainy pictures. Our bright-pink planner and fluorescent-green iPhone 5c appeared to be in pastel tones, and there was prominent pixelation on our ribbed, green sweater and along our hairline.

Ports

You'll find plenty of connectivity options on the Satellite E45t. Two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port and an Ethernet port line the laptop's right side, while the left edge houses a power jack, USB 2.0 port, 3.5mm combination audio jack and a memory-card reader.

Performance

With a fourth-generation 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor with 6GB of RAM, the E45t delivered zippy performance. We played a round of "Dragon's Blade" without lag while apps such as Evernote Touch, Windows Store, Bejeweled, Internet Explorer, Video Player and Gallery were open. Switching between apps and the Modern screen was instantaneous as we repeatedly pressed the Windows button on the keyboard.

The Satellite E45t did similarly well on performance benchmark PCMark 7. Its score of 4,316 is better than the average thin-and-light notebook (3,460), the IdeaPad U430 Touch (3,785) and the Inspiron 14 7000 (2,771). Both the IdeaPad and the Inspiron pack the same CPU as the Toshiba and carry 4GB and 6GB of RAM, respectively.

On Geekbench 3, the E45t notched 4,963, which is lower than the category average of 6,021 and the Inspiron (5,048) but higher than the IdeaPad (4,739).

The E45t's 750GB 5,400rpm SATA hard drive, which is complemented by a 32GB SSD cache, booted Windows 8.1 in 21 seconds. That's faster than the average thin-and-light notebook (29 seconds) and the Dell Inspiron 14 (23 seconds). However, the IdeaPad U430 Touch booted in just 16 seconds.

Copying 4.97GB of mixed-media files in 2 minutes and 31 seconds, the E45t's transfer rate of 28.1 MBps is less than half the category average of 60 MBps, and slower than the IdeaPad U430 Touch (29 MBps) and the Inspiron 14 7000 (30 MBps).

The Satellite E45t did well on our OpenOffice Test, matching 20,000 names and addresses in 5 minutes and 20 seconds. That's almost a full minute faster than the average (6:18) but a tad slower than the IdeaPad (5:11) and the Inspiron (5:18).

Graphics and Gaming

Packing an Intel Mobile HD graphics chip, the E45t fared pretty well on various tests. Its 3DMark Ice Storm score of 34,306 was better than the performance of the IdeaPad U430 Touch (29,623) and Inspiron 14 7000 (33,494), both of which are powered by Intel's Integrated HD Graphics 4400. The thin-and-light category average is a higher 42,006.

When we played "World of Warcraft" with all three notebooks set to 1366 x 768 pixels and effects on Autodetect, the E45t averaged a playable 36 frames per second. That showing is worse than the Inspiron 14 7000 (46 fps), but slightly better than the IdeaPad (35 fps).

With the settings bumped up to Ultra, the E45t mustered an unplayable 19 fps.

Battery Life

The Satellite E45t's 3-cell lithium-polymer battery will last you an entire workday on a charge. Clocking 8 hours and 6 minutes on LAPTOP's battery test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi), the E45t beat the thin-and-light category average (6:44) and the Inspiron 14 7000 (7:09). The IdeaPad U430 Touch provided 20 more minutes of juice (8:26).

Software

Programs that ship with the Satellite E45t include the standard suite of Windows 8 apps, such as Internet Explorer 10, Skype, People, SkyDrive and XBox Games. Toshiba also throws in a one-month trial of Office 365 for new customers, a 30-day Norton Anti-Theft trial, a 12-month subscription to Norton AntiVirus and the WildTangent Game Console.

You also get an array of Toshiba apps, such as App Place (app store), Book Place (e-book store), Maintenance Utility, Media Player, Recovery Disk Creator, Password Utility and Service Station.

Nuance Dragon Assistant

Toshiba also packed Nuance's voice-control software Dragon Assistant into the E45t, so you can use a Siri-like program to search the Web, compose tweets or messages, and check your various accounts. After about 10 minutes of setup and calibration, we were ready to start using voice controls on our E45t. Greeting the computer with "Hello, Dragon" activates the program.

The software's effectiveness depends on the amount of noise around you. In a lively, open office, we asked the E45t several times to "Open Camera," to no avail. Dragon either did not register our request or misheard it. We said, "Shut Down Computer," and Dragon returned Hulu results for "Calculator shut down computer."

Dragon was much more accurate and responsive in a quiet office, letting us open Internet Explorer, the calculator and other programs. Having Dragon Assistant is a nice touch if your hands are occupied but requires plenty of refinement to make it more useful.

Configurations and Warranty

Our review unit of the Toshiba Satellite E45t (A4300) is a Best Buy exclusive and sports 6GB of RAM; a 750GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive with a 32GB SSD cache; and an Intel Core i5-4200 processor, all for $699.

A second configuration, E45t-AST2N01 -- available on Toshiba's site for $779 -- has 8GB of RAM; a 1TB, 5,400-rpm hard drive with a 32GB SSD disk cache; and the same Intel Core i5-4200U CPU.

The Satellite E45t comes with a one-year limited warranty each for parts and labor.

Verdict

 For $699, the Toshiba Satellite E45t Ultrabook is a capable and attractive Windows 8 thin-and-light notebook. It offers brisk performance, long battery life and a responsive touch screen. Our biggest qualm is this notebook's lackluster display. For $20 less, we prefer the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch. That system offers a higher-resolution display, longer battery life and an even better keyboard. Still, the Toshiba E45t is a stylish, thin and light notebook with enough power and juice to last you the day.

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Acer TravelMate P645 Review

Pros: Sleek and lightweight design; Snappy keyboard; Strong security features; Impressive performance; Long battery life

Cons: Sub-par webcam; Design somewhat plain

The Verdict: The Acer TravelMate P645 is a business-friendly Ultrabook with a speedy Core i7 processor, strong security features and long battery life.

Built for business users on the go, Acer's TravelMate P645 packs big power in a thin and light design. This carbon-fiber notebook ($1,299 as reviewed, $949 starting) touts a fast Core i7 processor, discrete AMD Radeon graphics and a host of security features built to protect your laptop inside and out. Read on to find out how this mobile powerhouse stacks up to the competition.

Acer TravelMate P645 Review

Design

The Acer TravelMate P645 stays true to its namesake, as we immediately noticed how thin and light the new notebook is. At 0.8 inches thin, the P645 is just as slim as the Lenovo Thinkpad T440s (13.03 x 8.89 x 0.8 inches), Toshiba Tecra Z40 (13.3 x 9.3 x 0.8 inches) and Dell Latitude 7440 (12.2 x 8.3 x .79 inches). The 3.5-pound TravelMate outweighs the 3.24-pound Tecra Z40, but is lighter than the 3.8-pound Thinkpad T440s and 3.9-pound Latitude 7440.

Two gray hinges hold the laptop's smooth, carbon-fiber lid together, with a matte finish across the interior and exterior. It's Acer's most durable notebook yet, but the TravelMate P645 is not MIL-SPEC certified, like the Dell Latitude and Lenovo ThinkPad are.

While the P645's has a fairly sleek and minimalist chassis, it's not as attractive as the Dell Latitude 7440. We also noticed a few fingerprints on the lid after hours of use.

The TravelMate's touchpad has a fingerprint reader between the left and right click buttons, while each key has an attractive graphite finish. The top right of the deck hosts a quartet of buttons for power, wireless, microphone and the notebook's Launch Manager. The laptop's palm rest and bottom cover have a sturdy, magnesium-aluminum build to protect the device in case you drop it.

The TravelMate's all-black bottom panel sports a battery compartment at the top left, with a vent at the top right, a speaker in the center and two more speakers on either side of the bottom edge.

Ports

 Most of the P645's ports lie on the left edge, where you'll find an Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, one USB 3.0 and separate jacks for headphones and microphones. The right edge hosts two additional USB 3.0 ports, as well as a power input and Kensington lock, while an SD Card slot is on the left side of the front edge.

The notebook's underside can be connected to the optional Acer ProDock, which provides additional ports while serving as a stand for the laptop.

Fingerprint Reader and Security Features

You can use the P645's ProShield application to secure the notebook a variety of ways, from password protecting the laptop's BIOS settings to disabling specific ports on the laptop.

ProShield allows users to register up to 10 fingerprints via the notebook's fingerprint reader for an extra layer of security when logging in. We successfully registered our right pointer finger with ProShield after four quick swipes. Once that was completed, the P645 instantly recognized our finger when we logged in.

You can use ProShield to encrypt and decrypt files, as well as delete anything that you want to be gone for good. ProShield can store your online account information, a function that allowed us to sign into Twitter with a single finger swipe as soon as we registered our credentials.

The Travelmate's Identity Card feature allows you to quickly view and print important information such as your notebook's serial number. Built-in MotionProtect technology will automatically park the head of the hard drive to a safe spot if a fall is detected. But this isn't an issue if you order a configuration with a solid-state drive.

Intel vPro and Acer Office Manager

The TravelMate comes outfitted with Intel vPro technology, which is built to defend against advanced malware for those working in the cloud. All vPro devices feature Intel Active Management Technology, which allows you to access supported laptops remotely regardless of their power state or operating system.

Acer's included Office Manager software provides IT managers with a central hub for managing clients, creating security policies and viewing all devices in a particular network. The notebook complies with TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2, which is an international standard for security processors.

Keyboard and Touchpad

 The P645's black, spill-resistant island keys are generously spaced. The TravelMate has keys for Home, Page Up, Page Down and End at the very edge next to the Enter and Shift keys, which enabled us to easily scroll through websites with our right hand.

The P645's keys provide satisfying, snappy feedback, allowing us to type at 74 words per minute with a 1 percent error rate on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test. The keyboard's blue backlighting is bright, though we noticed less light coming from the spacebar and near the Y and U keys.

The notebook's 3.8 x 2.1-inch touchpad provided instant response for both physical and touch-based clicks, and we were able to pinch-to-zoom with ease.

Display

Our configuration of the P645 packs a 1920 x 1080 IPS LCD display, which is sharper than the Tecra Z40's 1366 x 768 screen. The Latitude E7440 and ThinkPad T440 have the same screen resolution as the TravelMate, but both competitors give you the option of a touch screen, which is not available on the TravelMate.

The colorful 1080p trailer for "Thor: The Dark World" looked rich on the P645's screen, though the faces of characters Thor and Jane Foster were somewhat lacking in detail. The clip remained watchable at sharp viewing angles, but everything was a bit dim at full brightness.

The TravelMate's 235-lux display failed to outshine the 238-lux Latitude E7440 or 294-lux ThinkPad T440s. Still, Acer's screen is brighter than the 169-lux Tecra Z40 and the 205-lux category average.

Audio

With three speakers on the underside, the P645 filled a small room with music. We could clearly hear the muted bass in the intro of Fall Out Boy's "Just One Yesterday," but the song became a bit muddy once the strings and guitars kicked in at full volume.

Kanye West's "I Am a God" gave similarly mixed results, as the song's deep bass and rapid vocals were easy to distinguish but sounded a bit fuzzy with the volume all the way up.

On the LAPTOP Audio Test (sound output as measured from 23 inches), the TravelMate was a loud 83 decibels, higher than the ThinkPad T440s (81 dB) and Tecra Z40 (79 dB), and on a par with the thin-and-light category average. However, the notebook's speakers fell short of the Latitude E7440's 88-decibel performance.

Webcam and Voice Chatting

Acer Crystal Eye is the manufacturer's stock webcam app, featuring adjustable brightness, contrast and noise reduction, with the option to take photos and videos in up to 1280 x 720 resolution. The software also lets you share images via Facebook and YouTube.

In self-portraits taken on the notebook's 720p webcam using Crystal Eye's default 640 x 480 setting, our brown sweater looked washed out and our birthmarks were barely distinguishable. However, we noticed much richer colors and better detail when we kicked the settings up to 1280 x 720.

The TravelMate P645 utilizes Acer's Purified Voice technology, which is meant to reduce background and keyboard noise during voice chat. Our Skype test call sounded mostly clear on the notebook, though we could still hear some keyboard clicking coming from our coworker on the other end.

Heat and Noise

You can count on the TravelMate P645 to keep its cool throughout long work and play sessions. After we watched 15 minutes of HD video, the laptop's touchpad reached 78 degrees, the underside 88, and the G and H keys a warmer 90 degrees. All are below our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. The P645's vent stayed mostly silent during our time with the notebook.

Performance

Our fully loaded TravelMate P645 packs a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-4500 processor with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. By comparison, the more expensive ThinkPad T440s has a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U chip with the same RAM and storage, while the Tecra Z40 features a 1.9-GHz Intel Core i5-4300U processor with the same RAM and a 320GB SATA drive. The Latitude 7440 has the same CPU as the Tecra Z40, with 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

The TravelMate took 23 seconds to boot Windows 7, longer than the Windows 8-based ThinkPad T440s and Latitude 7440 (both 14 seconds), but outperforming the Tecra Z40's sluggish Windows 7 boot time of 49 seconds as well as the 27-second category average.

The P645 netted 4,886 on the PCMark 7 performance test, falling just short of the higher-end ThinkPad T440s (4,970) while outperforming the Tecra Z40 (2,542), Latitude 7440 (4,544) and the thin-and-light average of 3,538.

When duplicating 4.97GB of mixed media on the LAPTOP File Transfer test, the P645's transfer rate of 175.5 MBps is slightly less than that of the ThinkPad T440S (188 MBps) but better than the Latitude 7440 (130.50 MBps) and miles ahead of the Tecra Z40 (23 MBps) and category average of 63 MBps.

To further test the TravelMate P645 as a work machine, we had the notebook match 20,000 names to their addresses on OpenOffice. The Acer laptop completed the task in four minutes and 42 seconds, getting the job done faster than the ThinkPad T440s (5:14) and edging out the Tecra Z40 (4:45) and Latitude 7440 (4:46).

Graphics

Our configuration of the TravelMate P645 contains a discrete AMD Radeon HD 8750M GPU, while our review models of the ThinkPad T440s,Tecra Z40 and Latitude E7440 packed integrated Intel HD 4400 graphics.

Acer's notebook scored 32,231 on the 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme graphics benchmark, beating out the T440s (25,913), E7440 (21,259) and Tecra Z40 (22,606) by a long shot while also outperforming the 30,785 category average.

The TravelMate's GPU was similarly superior on the 3DMark11 test, as its score of 1,783 far outpaces the T440s (930), Tecra Z40 (869),

E7440 (801) and the thin-and-light average of 967.

The P645 ran "World of Warcraft" at a less-than-stellar 28 frames per second on Ultra settings and 1366 x 768 resolution, but that was higher than the T440s (21 fps) and Tecra Z40 (17 fps) at the same settings. It was just a notch below the 29-fps category average. Still, it was nice to see 60 fps at 1366 x 768 on low settings.

The game slowed to 24 fps at the TravelMate's native resolution, which was once again more playable than the T440s' output of 15 fps, the Latitude 7440's 11 fps and the 22 fps category average.

If you stick with low settings, the P645 can even run "BioShock Infinite" at a playable 43 fps clip. However, that dipped to 18 fps on high.

Software

Users have their choice of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro when purchasing a Travelmate P645. Our unit shipped with Windows 7, allowing us to access the classic Windows start button at the bottom left of the screen as well as the traditional Windows toolbar with customizable app icons.

Our Windows 7-based Travelmate P645 includes common Microsoft programs such as Windows Media Player, Skype and Microsoft Office. There are a handful of Acer-specific apps on the P645, including Acer Crystal Eye Webcam for photos and Acer Updater for downloading software updates.

Battery Life

[Acer TravelMate P645] The Travelmate's 4,850-mAh battery is truly travel worthy, as it lasted nine hours and 46 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test (Web surfing via Wi-Fi). That's longer than the Tecra Z40 (9:28), the Latitude 7440 (5:52), the category average (6:46) and the ThinkPad T440s (7:01). However, the T440s lasted a whopping 14 hours and 36 minutes with its extended battery.

Configurations and Warranty

The Travelmate P645 starts at $949 for the TMP645-M-6839 model, which packs a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor, 4GB of RAM, a 120GB SSD, Intel HD Graphics 4400 and a 1366 x 768 display. The TMP645-M-6427 goes for $1,099, offering the same i5 processor, graphics and screen resolution with double the RAM and storage.

The next step up is the $1,199 TMP645-MG-6429, which offers 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD with a sharper 1920 x 1080 display and AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics.

We received the fully loaded $1,299 TMP645-MG-9419, which adds a faster 1.8-GHz Core i7-4500U processor to the $1,099 configuration.

The entire P645 series comes with a two-year parts and labor warranty, which covers mail-in and carry-in repairs and also includes 90 days of software support. As with all Acer notebooks, the TravelMate is backed by toll-free phone service. See how Acer fared in our Tech Support Showdown

Verdict

With a speedy processor, discrete graphics and long battery life, the Acer TravelMate P645 ($1,299 as reviewed, $949 starting) is an excellent choice for corporate users. The notebook's thin design makes it easy to take to any office, and the host of ProShield security options will keep your files and information safe. While this laptop is durable, some users may miss the reassurance of MIL-SPEC certification available on competing business notebooks.

The TravelMate's processing performance is right on par (and sometimes better than) the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s ($1019 starting, $1,749 as reviewed), which has less RAM and storage than TravelMate but can be outfitted with a touch screen. Throw in the TravelMate P645's Radeon GPU, which blows the competition out of the water, and you've got a thin-and-light powerhouse.

See more: Dell Precision M4800 Review

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HP ZBook 14 Review

Pros: Powerful performance; Fast and large SSD; Robust security software; Comfortable keyboard; Sleek design

Cons: Expensive; Lackluster webcam

The Verdict: HP's ZBook 14 is a high-powered and durable mobile workstation Ultrabook that can handle anything you throw at it.

HP's ZBook 14 is a business Ultrabook with the power to call itself a mobile workstation. With an Intel Core i7 processor, a monster 16GB of RAM, a 240GB SSD and a dedicated graphics chip, this 14-inch laptop can easily handle your most demanding tasks. But at $2,349 as configured (starting at $1,399), the Windows 7-powered ZBook 14 is almost as expensive as a similarly configured 15-inch MacBook Pro. Here's why it's worth the investment.

HP ZBook 14 Review

Design

The HP ZBook 14 features the same design language as its larger sibling, the ZBook 15. Its lid is composed of a stylish brushed aluminum surrounded by a textured magnesium alloy. In the center is an inlaid, reflective HP logo that matches the magnesium's dark coloring. Inside, the ZBook 14 sports a sleek and sturdy aluminum keyboard deck.

Above the keyboard, and stretching from edge to edge, is the notebook's speaker grille. Just above sits the power button on the left, and Wi-Fi and mute buttons on the right. To the right of the ZBook's keyboard is a low-profile fingerprint scanner.

At 13.4 x 9.3 x 0.83 inches and 3.9 pounds, the ZBook is a hair thicker and heavier than Lenovo's T440s, which measures 13 x 8.9 0.80 inches and weighs 3.8 pounds. Acer's 14-inch TravelMate P645 also undercuts the HP, measuring 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.82 inches and weighing just 3.3 pounds.

[HP ZBook 14] At 13.3 x 9.1 x 0.83 inches and 3.6 pounds, the Dell's Latitude E7740 is similarly thin and light. Apple's MacBook Pro 15, which features a slightly larger 15-inch display, is thinner but heavier than the HP, measuring 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.71 inches and weighing 4.5 pounds.

The underside of the ZBook 14 features an easy-access bottom panel, which allows you to quickly replace internal components such as the notebook's RAM, storage drive and battery.

The ZBook 14 is MIL-STD 810G certified, which means it can withstand drops from as high as 4 feet. HP says the ZBook can also hold its own against dust, functional shock, vibration and both high and low temperatures. The notebook's keyboard is also spill-resistant, so you won't have to worry if you tip your coffee on it.

Display

The HP ZBook's 14-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution provided a crisp, clear picture. Text viewed on The New York Times home page was sharp, as was a high-definition image of a field overlooking a mountain. A trailer for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" looked equally good, as the red-and-blue-clad wall crawler crisscrossed the Manhattan skyline. Fiery explosions appeared to jump off the ZBook's screen, while Electro's blue complexion looked stunningly bright.

When compared to the MacBook Pro 15's Retina Display, however, the ZBook 14's screen had a slightly tan tint. It's not something most users will likely notice, as we needed to look at both screens side-by-side, but it's certainly something to take into account.

At 255 lux, the ZBook 14's display just outshines the 251-lux thin-and-light-notebook category average. The Acer TravelMate P645's screen hit 235 lux, while the Dell Latitude E7440 registered 238. Both the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s and MacBook Pro 15-inch offered brighter displays, averaging 294 lux and 324 lux, respectively.

Audio

Chances are, you aren't buying the HP ZBook 14 for its audio capabilities, but you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good its speakers sound. Kendrick Lamar's "Backseat Freestyle" was clear, even with the sound turned all the way up. Just make sure the included DTS Studio Sound software is switched on; otherwise, the audio sounds hollow and tinny.

On the LAPTOP Audio Test, which involves measuring a notebook's decibel rating at a distance of 23 inches, the HP ZBook 14 registered an impressive 86 dB. That blows away the Acer TravelMate P645 and the thin-and-light laptop category average (both 83 dB). The Dell Latitude E7440, however, offered the loudest speakers, registering 88 dB.

Keyboard

Like any business notebook worth its salt, the ZBook 14 offers a quality backlit Chiclet-style keyboard. The keys' travel and lightly textured surface made typing this review a breeze. On the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor, we recorded an average typing speed of 80 words per minute, with a 1 percent error rate. That's better than our usual laptop typing speed of 78 words per minute.

Touchpad and Pointing Stick

The ZBook 14's 3.8 x 2.2-inch touchpad proved smooth and accurate during our testing. Gestures, such as two-finger scroll and twist-to-rotate, worked like a charm. The physical mouse buttons below the touchpad were similarly easy to use.

As with many other business notebooks, the HP ZBook 14 comes with a rubber pointing stick at the center of its keyboard, as well as two mouse buttons at the top of the notebook's touchpad. The pointing stick's rubberized textured surface made it easy to locate and use without looking. Overall, the pointing stick was accurate and offered smooth movement, comparing favorably to the one found on Lenovo's ThinkPad T440s.

Fingerprint Scanner and Security

The ZBook 14 comes with a biometric fingerprint reader for added security. To enroll our fingerprints, we simply swiped a digit across the scanner, automatically launching the HP Client Security setup program. After registering two fingers, we were asked to select three backup security questions. Once enrolled, we could set the HP Client Security program to require a fingerprint swipe to log in to our favorite websites. All told, the process took less than 5 minutes.

With HP Client Security, you can also manage your Windows passwords, encrypt your storage drives, wipe your hard drive and limit device access to the ZBook's ports, to prevent someone from stealing data via a USB drive. Additionally, you can sign up for Absolute Software's LoJack for Laptops, which lets you track your laptop and report it as stolen to the police. With HP Trust Circles, you can securely share selected files and folders with specific users via your email address.

Heat

After streaming a high-def video for 15 minutes, the ZBook's keyboard reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The touchpad was even cooler, at 77 degrees, while the underside topped out at 88 degrees. We consider temperatures of 95 degrees and higher to be uncomfortable.

Ports and Webcams

For an Ultrabook, the ZBook 14 has a good number of ports. On its right side are two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size DisplayPort, a dual microphone/ headphone jack, a dock connector, an Ethernet port and a microSD card slot. The left side features a third USB 3.0 port, a USB 3.0 power port, a VGA port, a Secure Card slot and a lock slot.

The ZBook 14z's 720p webcam captured noisy images that were full of artifacts. Fine details in our subject's face were nearly impossible to see, and colors were too dark, even under bright office lighting.

Performance

 HP equipped the ZBook 14 with a 2.1-GHz dual-core Intel Core i7-4600U processor, a whopping 16GB of RAM and a 240GB SSD. With that kind of power, this workstation can easily handle even your most demanding productivity tasks. We ran a system scan on our review unit while streaming a Hulu Plus video with eight tabs open in Chrome without noticing any slowdown.

On the PCMark 7 benchmark, which tests a laptop's overall performance, the ZBook 14 scored an impressive 5,378. That's higher than the Dell Latitude E7440, which scored 4,544 with a 1.9-GHz Intel Core i5-4300U processor, 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Acer's TravelMate P645 and its Intel Core i7-4500U processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD scored 4,886.

The Lenovo ThinkPad 440s, which packs an Intel Core i5-4200U processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, scored 4,970. Each of the notebooks outscored the thin-and-light notebook category average of 3,614.

On the Geekbench 3 benchmark, the ZBook 14 notched 6,271. That's higher than the Lenovo T440s' score of 5,151 and the Dell Latitude's 5,259, both of which fell below both the category average (5,918) and the Tavelmate (5954). Apple's MacBook Pro 15-inch, which features an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of flash memory, however, outpaced the field, with a score of 13,652.

Thanks to its 240GB SSD, the HP ZBook 14 booted Windows 7 Professional in just 25 seconds. That's faster than the category average of 27 seconds, but slower than the Acer TravelMate P645's time of 23 seconds.

It took the ZBook 14 just 32 seconds to complete the LAPTOP File Transfer Test, which involves copying 4.97GB of mixed media files. That's a rate of 221 MBps, well ahead of the thin-and-light average of 44 MBps. The Dell Latitude E7440 copied the files at a rate of 130 MBps, while the Acer TravelMate P645 did so at 176 MBps. The ThinkPad T440s finished the task at a rate of 188 MBps. Apple's MacBook Pro 15, once again, kicked the competition in the pants, with a transfer rate of 309 MBps.

The ZBook 14 performed very well on our OpenOffice test, matching 20,000 names to their corresponding addresses in just 4 minutes and 10 seconds. That just beats out the MacBook Pro's time of 4:15. The Acer TravelMate P645 completed the test in 4:42, while the Dell Latitude E7440 finished in 4:46. The Lenovo ThinkPad T440s took the longest, finishing in 5:14. All of those notebooks, however, were much faster than the category average of 6:13.

Graphics

With its discrete AMD FirePro M4100 graphics chip, the HP ZBook 14 can easily handle demanding video-editing software and some mainstream games. On the 3DMark11 benchmark, the laptop scored 1,770. That's far better than the Latitude E7440's score of 801, as well as the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s' 930. The category average is 988. Still, the Acer TravelMate P645's AMD HD 8750M graphics chip edged out the HP, with 1,783.

While playing "World of Warcraft" with the graphics set to autodetect and the display resolution at 1280 x 1024 pixels, the HP ZBook 14 averaged 73 frames per second. That's more than twice the category average of 35 fps. The Acer TravelMate P645 hit 47 fps, while the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s came in at 39 fps. The Dell Latitude E7440 reached just 23 fps. It's worth noting that only the ZBook 14 ran at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels. The rest of the notebooks ran at a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.

Bump the graphics up to their highest, and the resolution drops down to a playable 33 fps. Move up to 1080p, and the HP's frame rate falls to 26 fps. That still beats the Acer's 24 fps and the category average of 23 fps.

The graphically intensive "Bioshock Infinite" ran at a respectable 34 fps with the graphics on low and resolution set to 1280 x 1024p. Just don't expect full-HD gameplay to be smooth; setting the graphics to max and the resolution to 1920 x 1080p dropped the frame rate to 10 fps.

Battery Life

The HP ZBook 14's 3-cell battery lasted 7 hours and 34 minutes on our LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web browsing over Wi-Fi with the display brightness set to 40 percent. That runtime is better than that on the Dell Latitude E7440 (5:52) and the thin-and-light laptop category average (6:51). However, other systems lasted longer, such as the MacBook Pro 15-inch (8:57), the Acer TravelMate P645 (9:46) and the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s, which ran for 14:36 with its high-capacity battery pack.

Configurations

With a 2.1-GHz Intel Core i7-4600U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 240GB SSD and AMD FirePro M4100 graphics chip, our $2,349 HP ZBook 14 is the most powerful preconfigured version of the system available. If that's not good enough, you can customize the notebook with a 512GB SSD and all of the aforementioned components for $3,641.

If you don't want to shell out that much cash, you can opt for a base model of the ZBook 14 for $1,399. That version includes an Intel Core i5-4200U processor with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and AMD FirePro M4100 graphics chip.

Software

HP kept the ZBook 14 expectedly clean of bloatware. The workstation comes loaded with the aforementioned security software, as well as the CyberLink YouCam software. You also get the HP Performance Enhancer, in addition to CyberLink PowerDVD 12. Further software offerings include Skype and the AMD Catalyst Controller.

HP offers ZBook 14 users a three-year limited warranty. On-site service and extended service contracts are also available beyond the standard warranty period via HP's website. See how HP fared in our Tech Support Showdown and Best & Worst Brands Report.

Verdict

The sleek HP ZBook 14 isn't just a powerful mobile workstation; it can also serve as a very capable multimedia laptop during your downtime. Its keyboard is comfortable enough to use during long workdays, and the machine's MIL-STD 810G certification means it can stand up to the bumps and bruises of everyday life.

If you're in the market for a low-cost business notebook, we suggest checking out the Lenovo T440s or Acer TravelMate P645. If you're interested in a workstation, you should also consider Dell's 15-inch Precision M3800. That slim speedster packs a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-4702HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and Nvidia Quadro K1100M graphics, as well as a higher resolution, touch-enabled QHD+ display, all for $100 less. (Stay tuned for review.)

Most mobile workstations don't come in 14-inch models, making the HP's portability a win for business users on the go. If you want a high-powered system and don't mind dropping a chunk of change, the ZBook 14 is an excellent choice.

 See More: Acer Aspire Z3 Review

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