The standard laptop connections are well covered. The EliteBook has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless capabilities, gigabit ethernet, an ExpressCard/54 slot, a separate SD Card slot, and a Firewire port, not to mention both modem and network jacks. Hate remembering a bunch of passwords? A fingerprint reader is provided in the lower-right quadrant of the wrist rest. You can communicate face-to-face with the built-in 2-megapixel Webcam, too. Though the machine has only two USB ports, one is powered. (If you need more, HP's $109 docking station for the EliteBook provides four USB ports.) The unit even has a plastic sheath on the bottom for slipping in a business card to quickly identify you as the owner.

One thing that isn't standard: This corporate raider can take a beating. While we can't vouch for dunking it in a fish tank or dropping it in the desert, it does look like it can handle a desk-to-floor drop--and maybe a splash from a small latte.

We do have one design complaint worth mentioning, however. The futuristic touch-sensitive membranes that a lot of laptops now incorporate as quick-launch panels have been a mixed bag, and the EliteBook's is no exception. It was responsive to taps and included an on/off for the touchpad, which is always nice, but the volume gauge needed recalibrating. It didn't always respond, even to repeated swipes.

But, really, the lack of an easy way to control volume is not much of a drawback on an ultraportable. In all other ways the EliteBook lives up to its name. If you have the money, it has all the panache you could want in a light, fast, and easy-to-use portable.