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HP Probook 6470b - Performance Upgrades and System Mods


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In 2012 along with the notorious 2570p HP announced an IvyBridge Probook 6470b a 14" Probook as a successor to the 6460b.

It was discontinued in 2013 when the Haswell Probook 640 G1 came in the market.

Since I coundn't find any other place to share experiences on this laptop I decided to start a thread here.

I recently decided to buy a 6470b (i5-3320m 4GB@1600MHz 250GB), to replace the 4530s that I gave to my sister.

I was thinking to buy a newer haswell machine but I couldn't find something with a socketted CPU and an EC slot ~300€ and I wouldn't spend more. I saw the 2570p and what it offers, but for my needs the 12,5" screen is not enough (I do a lot of image and video editing).

About the laptop. It starts from 350$ on eBay and you can even get a better offer if you are patient enough to wait for auctions. Main features:

  • Socketed CPU.

CPU can be exchanged easily by the user just by removing the bottom cover.
(to do)

  • ExpressCard Slot (5Gbps) allows to connect expansion cards or even eGPU for gaming or video editing purposes.

I already tested an old EC to USB 3.0 expansion card and I am waiting for the equipment to test eGPU performance.

  • Firewire port.

There are not enough laptops out there that sport such a port, even scarcier that an EC slot.

  • Storage up to 4TB

optical drive can be swapped with a second 2.5" 12.7mm SATA-III 6Gbps SSD or HDD. Total of 2x2TB = 4TB. There is no option for RAID in BIOS.

  • eSATA (SATA 3Gbps) combo USB powered port which you can be used to boot your system.

You can boot either UEFI or standard OS from your eSATA port (tested with W7 and OSX). According to the
there are also two more SATA 3bps ports available through the
. This make a total of 5 ports.

  • WiFI can be upgraded (no whitelist)

Comes with Atheros WB225 BT or roadcom 43228 combo card with two antennas but it can be upgraded with any mini pci-e card (even an ac card). There is no whitelist in the BIOS. Unfortunately we can't say the same for the WWAN module port
.

  • WWAN/3G capability with SIM slot (whitelisted)

Whitelisted port and USB only. Accepts only (according to Datasheets) HP lt2523, HP lt2522, HP hs2350, HP un2430 (cheapest of all starting @ 35$ on
). <strike>According to
this is also wired to host a mSATA 3Gbps SSD as flash cache </strike>.

  • 14" screen upgrade option 900p for the screen

This laptop comes with both 768p and 900p LVDs. The 768p models can be upgraded with 900p screen if you replace the cable that connects the screen to the motherboard with the equivalent dual link one (693064-001 part number).

This is an upgrade that will cost ~32$ for the cable and ~52$ for the screen plus S/H.
(to do)

  • Option for 9-cell, 100-Wh battery and second additional.

You can find such a battery from
starting from 60$ shipped.

  • Non-switchable AMD graphics (selected models)

Some models come with non- switchable HD 7570M with 1GB GDDR5. These models are advertise that they can drive 3 separate screens through the Displayport 1.2 in the back. Beware that on these models you won't be able to use the UMA Graphics at all.

  • Very easy OSX installation

There is plenty documentation on how to install latest OS X software 10.10.x on this machine (HP Probooks/Elitebooks in general) with almost everything working (apart from WiFi). (tested with OSX 10.10 Yosemite)


HP 6470b Maintenance and Service Guide, Manual, Drivers

Schematics Discrete Graphics & UMA (these were the only available freely)

P.S. Sorry for my English not my native language.

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On 29/02/2016 at 0:22 AM, doc_k said:

How do you replace video cable?

 

never done it before but you can check that disassemble video for the 6560b. It is pretty much the same.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzwT21jcCLY

 

After 10:00 you can fast forward to 14:00 to check how to disassable the screen compartment.

 

Edited by timohour
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