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HP EliteBook 2530p

The first small representative of the new EliteBook series, the successor to the HP Compaq 2510p laptop.

In 2008, HP began to phase out the Compaq brand, so the family of small but high-end business laptops also underwent a rebranding. The EliteBook 2530p model broke with many things that were inherited from the Compaq nc2400 in its predecessor. The chassis gained aluminum inserts and the bottom was rounded off. Inside, the components have been significantly updated, with the aged hard drive IDE standard replaced with SATA and the BIOS replaced with UEFI. In addition, a webcam appeared, as well as, known from the ThinkPads, an openable light illuminating the keyboard. The laptop, however, retained full compatibility with the battery and docking station of its predecessors. And, like older models, it still has a DVD drive, something the competition did not have.

Putting aside the fact that it's simply a very pleasant, functional, sturdy and eye-pleasing device, there's an odd addition.
Like many laptop makers circa 2008, HP also decided to cram a program into the device that allows one to use the Internet without a lengthy Windows startup, which in a way could be understood in the case of slow, fragmented hard drives. While Dell had its “Latitude ON” or Asus' “Express Gate”, which had several functions in them (e.g., web browser, Skype, photo album, etc.), HP opted for “QuickLook 2”, which allows... access to Microsoft Outlook data. An absolutely useless, inconvenient, limited thing that sends mail when you launch Outlook on Windows anyway. What did the authors have in mind when devoting time and resources to something like this? Not much.

In this unit, the keyboard was replaced from Danish to American/Polish and the drive from HDD to SSD.

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