HP first introduced the ProBook 5310m as the “world’s thinnest full-performance notebook PC” which is a notable claim for the ProBook line, whose defining characteristic tends to be its price-consciousness. While almost every laptop is “the world’s something-or-other” with the 5310m HP delivered a legitimately thin offering to their ProBook series and something significantly different from the other 13.3-inch ProBook, the 4310s.
A quick note on HP’s naming–the letter at the end of each model name says a lot about the system. The 5310m’s “m” stands for business mobility, while a “b” means entry-level enterprise and an “s” is for small business. HP’s EliteBooks are the company’s enterprise offerings. As with any other product though, there is a lot of crossover from one line to another though.
At 0.9-inches thick and 3.7 pounds the 5310m is on of the slicker 13.3-inch notebooks that I’ve seen lately. The 5310m not only makes the ProBook design thinner but adds premium features, like a brushed aluminum lid (carried over from the EliteBooks) and soft-touch coating on the palmrests and bottom of the chassis. And we see ProBook features well, including the isolated keyboard design and metal power button with white LED.
The design, interestingly, is based on that of the 5101 netbook, not that of the other ProBooks or the EliteBooks.
As noted above the 5310m uses a standard power notebook processor, not a wimpy low-voltage model (though this is an option on the entry-level $699 model). Other changes were made so the laptop could be thinner and lighter though. The most important one is that the system does not have an optical drive. This will not matter to many people, but it will be a dealbreaker for others, so it’s worth keeping in mind. The other change is a different battery design than the one typically found on a sub-$1000 notebook. The 5310m’s battery is a slim, slice-style battery, not a standard design. The slice slides into the bottom of the chassis and is super thin, rather than using a design that plugs into the back and is the same height as the bottom half of the computer. It’s a great move for HP, and it matches the change we recently saw with Lenovo’s move from the ThinkPad T400 to the T400s.
The 5310m features what might be the nicest hardware in the small business section. Consider it a step up from the standard ProBooks, ThinkPad SLs and Vostros, thanks to the slim profile and the extra perks. The all black design is handsome and tends to look clean, though the aluminum lid did pick up a few aesthetic scratches in my travels. The magnesium chassis shouldn’t have any problems holding up to wear-and-tear. The aluminum on the lid might not offer a ton of extra protection, but it can’t hurt.
The system might be slim, but users will still get a full selection of ports. The Probook has three USB slots, a combo headphone/microphone jack, a card reader, lock slot, ethernet, and DisplayPort. Noticeably missing are a modem jack and VGA out. Neither of these will be missed by the majority of users, but if you are doing a lot of presentations in other people’s offices you might want something with VGA. Also missing is a hardware volume adjustment. There is a hardware radio on/off button, but it’s on the inside of the system, next to the delete key, not on the side or front as is typical with a business system.
I’m quite happy with the hardware on the 5310m. The island-style keyboard is great to use, the bits of aluminum give the system a great feeling, and the touchpad supports gestures (though they are turned off by default). While the touchpad is a nice size HP again used a glossy surface which I don’t like, but it wasn’t a serious problem. The display and sound are not the computers strongest points, but both are adequate given HP’s goals with the computer and its size/weight. One design flaw is that the system’s muted LEDs mean that is card be hard to notice if the 5310m is charging or not. More than once I had to check the plug to make sure what the powered-down computer was up to.
The 5310m supports HP’s QuickLook (instant-on Outlook) and QuickWeb (instant-on internet) software tools as well as the small business-friendly Protect Tools security suite. There is also a 2MP webcam designed for video conferencing.
Performance surprisingly is a selling point for the 5310m. This isn’t generally the case with thin-and-lights, but this one comes with a standard voltage processor in the $899 build, giving it a leg up over many systems in its weight class. Also on the performance front, the system comes standard with a 7200RPM disk and DDR3 RAM. HP notes that the full performance processor should offer about 2x the performance of the CULV processor, which in turn offers 2x performance of Intel’s Atom netbook processor.
The quoted difference in battery life from the 5310m’s CULV (Intel SU2300) processor to its standard power one is just half an hour–from 6.5 hours to 7. Battery testing put the life of the 5310m with the Intel P9300 processor at about 6 hours for standard mobile working conditions.
Overall, the ProBook 5310m is sort of a big deal. HP totally hit the mark with the hardware and they did it for $899, a reasonable price for a system that performs as well as this one and still manages 6+ hours of battery life. If you don’t need an optical drive or discrete graphics this is a computer to keep your eye on, whether you need it for business or not. The biggest problem is that it’s crammed in the stack of ProBooks, which tend to be pretty average, so not many buyers will probably ever happen upon it.
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