HP ProBook 6560b

HP ProBook 6560b 15.6″ Notebook - Core i5 2410M 2.3 GHz

Small business, corporate business notebook

Review

One criticism I have with this and many other HP computer systems, especially their laptops, is they tend to use any number of different hardware configurations within the same model of laptop. This makes it a complete pain in the @$$ when it comes to trying to obtain the correct driver. Going to HP support to download the correct drivers is of no help, as their are often multiple drivers for the same component. For example, the ProBook 6560b might include any one of the following wireless network cards: Intel, Broadcom, Atheros, or a couple others. Nothing on the laptop indicates which one was built into the laptop, short of opening the thing and disassembling. Shame on Hewlett Packard for doing this. Each configuration should be a distinct model, or sub-model with specific identification.

Support

As mentioned in the review, HP uses different hardware configurations in the same model of laptop. To obtain the correct driver you have to figure out which component they used... the hard way.

Go to Device Manager. (Superkey + R and type "devmgmt.msc" and locate the device which is not functioning due to lack of driver. Right click on the device in question then goto the following: Properties, Details, Hardware Ids. Using the hardware ID strings you can perform an Internet search, or search on a specific useful sight such as driveridentifier.com to find the device name and manufacturer.

Example: Wireless adapter driver needed for Windows 7, and HP offers 14 choices of driver under networking, with 6 of those being for wireless specifically.

Device Manger, Other devices, Network Controller, Properties, Details, Hardware Ids:

PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&SUBSYS_1509103C&REV_01
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&SUBSYS_1509103C
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&CC_0280

After doing an Internet search using one of those text strings you will come up with "Broadcom" so you need to download and install "Broadcom Wireless LAN Driver and Utility." However, if your HP ProBook 6560b shows different text strings for the Hardware Ids under that device then you will need one of the other drivers.

It is a painfully slow and frustrating process when there are a number of devices with multiple available driver options. Again, shame on HP.