HP EliteBook 2560p

        
        
        

       The 12.5-inch 2560p was designed for the traveling business professional in mind as it is the smallest and lightest in the EliteBook family of notebooks and because it's built with HP's DuraCase technology. Meaning, this notebook is supposed to hold up against bangs, scratches, bumps, and falls--and prevent things such as display cracks, broken hinges, and hard drive data loss.

       Powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-2520M CPU with 4GB of RAM, the EliteBook 2560p scored 7,093 on PCMark Vantage. That's significantly higher than the ultraportable category average (4,781), but below the ThinkPad X220 (7,719), which has the same processor and amount of RAM. The Dell Latitude E6320, which has a 2.7-GHz Core i7 CPU, notched a higher 8,195.The EliteBook 2560p comes with a 320GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive. It took 56 seconds to boot up the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional, two seconds faster than the average, but slightly longer than the Latitude E6320 (0:51) and the ThinkPad X220 (0:47). 

       General, the build is exceptional and strong and the design is pleasing to the eyes. I have confidence that it will withstand years of bumps, bruises and the occasional mishap. Speaking of mishaps, the 2560p has a shock-mounted hard drive (to help prevent data loss in the event of a drop) and the keyboard is spill resistant. Really, there isn't much at all to complain about, but perhaps some users would be slightly put off or concerned that the battery sticks out from the backside. But, this is surely one of the best built and attractively designed 12-inch notebook I've come across.