HP ProBook 4530S (Core i5 2.4Ghz/4gig/640gig) £249.99 **Deadlines Extended**

[DJBenson]

Thanks to the dog helping me pour milk over my current laptop, I've been on the look-out for a new one and happend upon a stonking deal.

You can get the HP ProBook 4530S - a pretty decent core i5 lappy with some decent specs (dedicated graphics, 640gig HDD, USB 3) for £517.97 - in itself an average price for a business-spec machine.

Factor in the £100 cashback HP are currently offering and that's £417.97 (stick with me...)

Another promotion gives you up to £250 off the same machine if you trade in a working laptop up to 2 years old. Older than 2 years old? No problem - that's £150 off. As noted below, selected "branded" desktop units are also eligible for trade-in.

You can claim for the cash back 30 days after invoice and the trade-in immediately (but within 30 days).

Relevant links:
HP ProBook 4530s
Trade-In (Terms & Conditions)
Cash-back (Terms & Conditions)

List of courier charges for a 3KG laptop with insurance to cover the trade-in value

Guide to creating a Hackintosh out of the 4530S

The return address for the trade-in promotion is: Dataserv, Hawthorne Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW18 3BP

<strike>The HP site claims it is business related but they have been paying out to consumers - I am buying as a business so anybody self-employed can benefit from this.</strike> HP have confirmed that both consumers and businesses can participate in the trade-in scheme.

Now available from LaptopsDirect.co.uk for the original price, in stock and available for next day delivery. Eligible for both cashback and trade-in.

Updated 02/03/2012:
The deadlines for both the trade-in and cashback promotions has been extended. New deadlines are as follows;

For trade-in - purchases must be made between 1st Feb and 30th April
For cash back - purchases must be made between 25th Feb and 31st March

Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-2430M Dual Core (2.4GHz, Intel Sandy Bridge Architecture, 3MB Cache, Intel Turbo Boost up to 3GHz)
Screen	15.6" (HP BrightView, LED Backlit, 1366 x 768 HD 16:9 Screen)
Operating System	Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit
RAM	4GB (DDR3 1333MHZ)
Hard Drive	640GB
Optical Drive	DVD Rewriter (Records DVDs 8x & CDs 24x & Dual Layer Super Multi)
Graphics	Dedicated (AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 1GB Dedicated RAM)
Wireless LAN	Wireless (802.11b/g/n Wireless)
Network Card	10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam	Integrated Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader	3-in-1 card reader (SD/SDHC,MMC)
USB Ports	3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 Port
Bluetooth	Bluetooth® 3.0+HS
Speakers	Integrated Sound System
VGA Port	1 External VGA Port
Kensington Lock	Kensington lock slot
Charge Time	2.5 Hours
ExpressCard	ExpressCard™/34 slot
HDMI	1x HDMI Port
Warranty	HP 12 Month Warranty (Com610/615/HP550/2230s/6730s/ 6830s/6735s/Probooks4510/4515/4310/4710)
Battery Life	5-6 Hours (up to 6 hours with power management)
Weight	2-3 Kg (This Model 2.39 Kg)

[DJBenson]

Oh and an added bonus - this is 100% compatible with OSX Lion out of the box

The machines currently being shipped out have the Atheros wireless chipset so are indeed compatible with OSX. Some variants of the 4530S have a Ralink chipset which is not compatible.

[Art Vanderlay]

Old (branded) desktops/workstations are also eligible. Excellent value if you have an old PC kicking about and fancy a laptop.

[pootle]

Only downside that I can see is that you have to wait 56 days before you actually get your trade in money and 30 days before you can even put in a claim for your cashback with another 56 day wait on top (if I've understand that last bit right).
Either way you've still got to have £500 spare to buy it in the first place which, sadly, I haven't.

Oh. Your trade in PC/Laptop HAS to be fully operational for it to be accepted.

[allan]

Low res screen for the size as well.

[DJBenson]

I'm not sure if anybody else has gone for this but discussions on a certain other "warm" bargain site are starting to hurt my head - so here are some important things to remember;

You can initiate your trade-in upon receipt of the new machine (as you need an invoice and the serial number). You have 30 days from the invoice date within which to submit your trade-in claim and post your old equipment.

You can submit your cashback claim 30 days from the invoice date but you must do so within 30 days to be eligible.

Working example;
Date purchased: 24th February 2012
Trade in qualifying period: 24th Feb - 25th March 2012
Cash-back qualifying period: 25th March - 24th April 2012

They really are a strange bunch over on that site.

[RonnyJ]

I got a shortlived deal on a 4530s a few months ago - disappeared very quickly, and HP didn't want to pay up initially. It's a slightly different spec, i3 processor and only Sandbridge provided graphics. Came to £80 in the end after the £250 cashback

It's a very nice built laptop IMHO, and I assume the i5 version is the same. For what it's worth, mine came with a Ralink wireless card, not an Atheros (Atheros supported apparently by Lion, Ralink isn't - but not tried it).

[DJBenson]

Yeah it has been mentioned about the Atheros/Ralink chipset issue - it seems the US ones upon which most of the Hackintosh gudes are written are supplied with an Atheros WLAN card.

Not too much trouble to swap it out - I've read that it is screwless access to the chassis so hopefully just a case of picking up a Airport compatible card off eBay.

[RonnyJ]

Yes, extremely easy to open up the 4530s - take out battery, push a couple of sliders and the back panel comes off.

I'm not sure though whether you can put in any wireless card, I did read somewhere it was BIOS-locked to HP provided parts.

[SuperBrother]

Does the trade in deal work for private customers? From the link provided it reads as though it's for business users only.

[DJBenson]

Here is an email sent to HP regarding the promotion;

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email. Both businesses and consumers are eligible to
take part in our trade up promotion. Upon receiving your trade in machine
we have an assessment team which will assess this for damages, if any are
found then deductions would be made as follows:

• Battery worn out / failed Minus £30
• Cracked / damaged casing Minus £25
• Dead Motherboard Minus £50
• Missing 1 or more keys from keyboard Minus £15
• Missing Power Supply Minus £20
• Permanent marking (etched / asset tag) Minus £20
• Power on password locked Minus £30

Kind Regards,

Andy
Trade Up to HP Customer Support

[zulm]

Originally Posted by DJBenson

I'm not sure if anybody else has gone for this but discussions on a certain other "warm" bargain site are starting to hurt my head - so here are some important things to remember;

It's like groundhog day in there, get decent answers posted from people like yourself then people come along and start again from the beginning asking the same questions!

I went for this one as I had an old Dell 3000 for trade - apparently it says minimum £150 cashback for PCs for a pc that's selling for about £30-40 on eBay - anything would be fine as it was ready for the bin.

[D J Fryer]

Ordered this - hopefully the old Dell Inspiron 6400 the kids use will get me £150 off!

[DJBenson]

Mine has just shipped

[D J Fryer]

Mine too

[DJBenson]

Confirmation on the "toasty" bargain site that the machines being shipped come with the Atheros wireless chipset - so should be easy to Hackintosh

[eye__writ]

Right - so if I order this today I'll still have time to initiate the cashback, etc yes?

The HP trade up site tells me that my current laptop will net me £279 from them, along with the £100 cashback that makes it £120 for this all in

[DJBenson]

I would be inclined to say "yes" but the promotion seems to be run off the "invoice date". I purchased on Friday (the 24th) but my invoice date is today the 27th so unless they invoice you by the 29th you might struggle.

[eye__writ]

Originally Posted by DJBenson

I would be inclined to say "yes" but the promotion seems to be run off the "invoice date". I purchased on Friday (the 24th) but my invoice date is today the 27th so unless they invoice you by the 29th you might struggle.

Cheers. The HP helpdesk have just confirmed that via email, so going to contact saveonlaptops to see if they can make sure my invoice is dated before 29th.

[Geoggy]

Will you post back if they do please as i will order if so