A lot has changed in a year. Thin ultrabooks have given way to touch-screen, often convertible/tablet devices. And among ultrabooks, there are tons more to choose from. Touch isn't necessary to enjoy a Windows 8, but when a laptop lacks touch altogether -- as does the Elitebook Folio 9470m -- it feels like an omission that has to be made up with a superlative touch pad, and this Folio doesn't do that. Granted, this Folio came out at the end of last year, but this expensive albeit highly configurable laptop already feels a little outmoded. The HP Elitebook Revolve, coming out soon, feels like the Windows 8 business travel ultraportable of choice. This Folio is more of a workhorse ultrabook, if such a thing exists.

This 14-inch laptop is larger and thicker than you'd expect, although it does pack awfully impressive battery life. It feels constructed to be a slim road warrior, but its specs aren't incredibly impressive. It's an ultrabook without touch -- and a thickish, expensive one at that. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a lighter, similarly outfitted business laptop, with touch, too.

Price as reviewed	$1,349
Processor	Intel Core i5-3427U
Memory	4GB, 1333MHz DDR3
Hard drive	180GB SSD
Chipset	Intel QM77
Graphics	Intel HD 4000
Operating System	Windows 8 (64-bit)
Dimensions (WD)	13.3 x 9.1 inches
Height	0.75 inch
Screen size (diagonal)	14.0 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	3.6/4.4 pounds
Category	Midsize

That $1,349 is a lot to pay for a modern laptop. It makes the Elitebook Folio 9470 a more expensive product than the MacBook Air, and -- let's face it -- most executives would prefer the Air. But it also has a lot more ports and security features, not to mention Windows 8 Pro. Think of its real competition as a machine like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which bears a similar price tag and specs.

That's not to say the Folio doesn't have its charms. Understand, the Folio looks like a business laptop because it is one: an elegantly compact one at that. The two-tone magnesium (silver on the top, black underneath) has a soft-touch finish. Everything from the cleanly inset matte 14-inch screen to the crisp black keyboard and its small set of tiny, LED-lit buttons above it feel part of a just-this-side-of-boxy industrialized-crisp look.

It won't surprise anyone used to a MacBook Air or other slim ultrabook, but this feels nicer than an older, thicker laptop. Unfortunately, the Folio lacks an optical drive, and its internal specs really aren't much better than what you'd find on the smaller Dell XPS 13. At 3.6 pounds, it weighs less than most mainstream laptops, but it's heavier than your average 13-inch ultrabook. It feels like a slightly bigger, more mature version of the HP Folio 13, albeit, also without the same appeal or novelty of that previous machine.

A squared, chiclet-style backlit and spill-resistant keyboard feels very similar to Apple's design in terms of initial appearance, or what you'll find on many recent HP laptops. Tiny dedicated top buttons turn Airplane Mode on and off and toggle mute.

A rubberized concave pointer has been added between the G, H, and B keys, with additional buttons above the extra-large multitouch glass touch pad. Even on touch-oriented Windows 8, the rubber pointer wasn't such a bad way to go. Most would prefer the touch pad -- if the touch pad actually worked perfectly. The glass surface is certainly big and wide enough, but it was unreliable when I navigated around doing everyday work and Web browsing. It's not a click pad, either: separate buttons lie below (that makes four buttons framing the HP touch pad, all told). I wished I could reach up and touch the screen instead. Alas, I couldn't.

The 14-inch, touch-free 1,366x768-pixel display is antiglare, but that's about the only thing it does well. The brightness levels are relatively dim, the screen resolution is low-res for this price tier, and screen size compared with those on laptops such as Apple's Retina Display MacBook Pro and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The lack of a touch screen wouldn't matter if HP had nailed the touch-pad experience. It didn't.

Additional bells and whistles include a fingerprint reader (on the right palm rest), a 720p Webcam, and a side docking port. HP also offers a suite of software security features, and the Intel platform includes vPro for enterprise and business use.

Ports and configurations
The Folio has plenty of connections -- a side docking port for business use to connect to sold-separately dock, dedicated Ethernet, an SD card slot, three USB 3.0 ports, and both VGA and DisplayPort. There's no HDMI, since this is a "business" laptop, but HDMI is so universal at this point I can't understand the omission. Bluetooth is included, and optional 4G broadband connectivity.

Our review configuration of the Elitebook Folio has a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427 CPU, the same as the recently reviewed ThinkPad X1 Carbon. In fact, every other spec is the same as that Carbon, too: 4GB of RAM, Intel HD 4000 graphics, and a 180GB SSD. You can configure the Folio with a 320 or 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive, too (self-encrypting, even), or up to 256GB SSD.

	HP Elitebook Folio 9470m	Average for category [midsize]
Video	VGA, DisplayPort	VGA, plus HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone jack	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	3 USB 3.0 (1 with charge), SD card reader	2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, SD card reader
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile broadband	Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband
Optical drive	None	DVD burner

Performance and battery life
In our tests, the Folio 9470m was a little behind the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but it handled as well as any other ultrabook in its class. That's a pretty big class. There are no dedicated graphics options: Intel HD 4000 graphics are good enough for most everyday use and even some games, but it won't hold a candle to midrange Nvidia or AMD dedicated graphics.

This Folio shines when it comes to battery life: at 7 hours and 3 minutes using our video-playback test, it's well above the rest of the pack. Web surfing or extended video streaming would lower that number, but it's really hard to do much better right now than this in a mainstream laptop.

HP includes a standard one-year warranty, extendable up to three years, plus a one-year battery warranty and toll-free 24-7 phone support.

Conclusion
The Elitebook Folio 9470m is a light, full-featured variation on the business ultrabook, with all the security extras, ports, and solid construction you'd want and a killer battery life. It lacks originality, and has a high price tag. The lower-res screen lacks touch, and the entire laptop feels too traditional for its own good. Traditionalists may love it, but keep in mind that more flexible computers are available, including forthcoming models from HP; the Elitebook Revolve bears serious consideration.

Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)
193

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

430

Sony Vaio T13

465

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310

467

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m

536

Acer Aspire M5-481PT

581

Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
174

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m

178

Acer Aspire M5-481PT

179

Sony Vaio T13

183

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)

186

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310

188

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)
68

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

116

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m

119

Acer Aspire M5-481PT

128

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310

131

Sony Vaio T13

131

Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m
423

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)

417

Acer Aspire M5-481PT

362

Sony Vaio T13

341

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

324

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310

303

Avg watts (load test)

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Sony Vaio T13
25.4

Acer Aspire M5-481PT

26.56

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310

26.61

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m

27.6

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

28.1

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)

29.89

Find out more about how we test Windows laptops.

System configurations:

HP EliteBook Folio 9470m
Windows 8 Pro (64-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 180GB Intel SSD

Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 750GB Toshiba 5,400rpm

Sony Vaio T13
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 500GB Hitachi 5400rpm

Acer Aspire M5-481PT
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U; 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 128MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 500GB Hitachi 5400rpm + 20GB SSD Hybrid

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch w/ Retina Display (October 2012)
OSX 10.8.2 Mountain Lion 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 3210M, 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz,768MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000, 256GB Apple SSD

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Windows 8 (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 180GB Intel SSD