HP EliteBook 840 G5 - Review 2022

The xiv-inch business concern laptop segment is 1 of the most competitive in the PC market. At the top are glamorous models like the HDR-screened version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the new Huawei MateBook 10 Pro. Below are workhorse systems similar the ThinkPad T470 and T480, and Dell'due south Latitude 5490 and 7490. Position HP'due south EliteBook 840 G5 between those two camps. (It starts at $1,199; our exam model is $1,835.) This highly IT-manageable, spiffy-looking motorcar has its charms, and while information technology does non displace our Editors' Choice pick, the X1 Carbon, it delivers enough flexibility to make information technology a stiff contender for fleet deployments, with enough options to delight a broad range of business-user needs.

A Mainstream Middleweight

The EliteBook 840 G5 looks glamorous with its argent aluminum unibody and stylized slash logo, but it is really a workhorse that woos Information technology managers with its Intel vPro manageability, HP Sure Outset protection against BIOS hackers, and HP Sure Recover option. (The last can restore a company'south software image from the deject if the solid-land bulldoze has been wiped.) Compared to its G4 predecessor, information technology even has tethered screws on the bottom, so y'all tin can open up the chassis for service or upgrades without dealing with easy-to-lose screws and screw caps.

Except for its 14- rather than 13.3-inch display and the welcome add-on of defended Home, End, Page Upwardly, and Page Down keys to the keyboard, the EliteBook 840 G5 tester unit I have on hand is a near twin of the EliteBook 830 G5 I reviewed not long before it. The model I have in paw has the aforementioned 1,920-by-1,080-pixel (1080p) native screen resolution, the same eighth-generation Core i7-8650U quad-core processor with Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated silicon, the same ports on the left and right edges, and the same 16GB of memory and 512GB SSD.

Also identical is the pick of a face-recognition webcam or a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello sign-ins, plus an option for a SmartCard slot, for enterprises that prefer that kind of secure-access solution. The $one,199 base model makes do with a seventh-generation Cadre i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.

At 3.27 pounds, the 840 G5 undercuts the 3.74-pound ThinkPad T470, just as it's undercut, in plough, by the MateBook X Pro (two.93 pounds) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2.49 pounds). It'due south a petty trimmer than the ThinkPad T470, at 0.seven by 12.8 by 9.2 inches versus 0.79 by 13.3 by 9.2 inches. The Huawei is sculpted more than similar a xiii.3-inch ultraportable, at 0.57 past 12 past viii.five inches.

While its chrome HP logo and carved rear border are fashionable touches, the EliteBook 840 G5 is more than but a pretty face—information technology's passed MIL-STD tests confronting vibration, stupor, temperature and altitude extremes, grit, humidity, and more. The connectivity, meanwhile, is on-indicate, if not overly generous. On the laptop'south left side, y'all'll find a USB 3.0 Type-A port and a Kensington cable-lock slot, as well every bit, on this unit of measurement, the above-mentioned SmartCard slot...

On the right are a SIM card slot, an audio jack, another USB 3.0 port, HDMI and Ethernet ports, a docking-station connector, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and the AC adapter connector. There is no SD carte du jour slot.

A sliding shutter uncovers the webcam, which captures well-lit, slightly soft-focus 720p shots and video. Most users will appreciate the transmission action of the shutter and the implied security of physically blocking the camera lens. I capeesh the at-a-glance visual cue, myself, rather than having to rely on an Bone or program-based assurance that the photographic camera'due south non in commission.

The Blindside & Olufsen-tuned speakers, meanwhile, are arrayed in a strip between the keyboard and the screen. Their output can easily fill a room—with some smash and echo when volume is cranked all the mode upwards—with crisp highs and well-divers lows. Both MP3s and videos audio great.

Pick a Console (Only Be Certain It's the Correct I)

As with the EliteBook 830 G5, HP chose to send its 840 G5 test unit with the lowest-mutual-denominator screen for review. The skilful news is that the full HD display is an in-plane switching (IPS) rather than twisted nematic (TN) console, so details and colors are fairly sharp, and the off-center viewing angles are wide.

The bad news is that it isn't very bright. The company rates the screen at 220 nits. As a result, those colors don't pop, and backgrounds aren't washday white. The whole screen looks murky if yous dial the backlight downwards two or 3 notches for the sake of saving battery power.

If you've got the budget, though, HP's got alternatives. Most buyers would do well to opt for the upticked full HD display with 400 nits of effulgence. In that location's also a 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) screen, plus a 1080p version of HP'south Sure View privacy screen. Sure View may appeal to business users who handle sensitive data often. It protects the screen contents from being spied upon via coincidental glances (say, from the person sitting abreast you on a airplane or train). Printing the F2 central, and the display becomes legible only to someone seated directly in front of it.

As for the keyboard, a quibble start: I go on to hold a beef with HP's placement of the cursor-arrow directional keys in a row rather than a more intuitive inverted T. Hither, it's the usual HP organization, with half-acme up and downwards arrows placed between total-height left and right ones...

Just otherwise, this EliteBook's backlit keyboard is impressive, quieter than nearly yet with a firm and responsive typing feel. It features HP's dedicated keys for placing, ending, and presenting during Skype calls, as well equally both a comfortable touchpad and a mid-keyboard pointing stick (though the latter has just two instead of three buttons).

HP backs the EliteBook 840 G5 with a iii-yr warranty, not including onsite service. The Windows ten Pro preinstall comes with a surprisingly high number of not terribly compelling casual games, but HP restricts its bundling to useful system utilities.

Solid Functioning, Slightly Pricey

With its Core i7-8650U processor (a one.9GHz quad-core) and fast Samsung SSD, the EliteBook 840 G5 turned in an admirable score of 3,517 points in our PCMark 8 office productivity benchmark (we consider annihilation over iii,000 splendid). And while the 830 G5 with the same CPU was a trifle off in our Handbrake video editing and Adobe Photoshop prototype-manipulation tests, the 840 G5 posted thoroughly competitive times of 1 minute eighteen seconds (ane:18) and 2:57, respectively.

Information technology was a unlike story in our 3DMark graphics tests and Heaven and Valley gaming simulations, where the EliteBook (and other laptops with integrated graphics) got schooled by the Huawei and its Nvidia GeForce MX150 discrete graphics. Upscale configurations of the 840 G5, however, tin be fitted with dedicated graphics, also, in the form of AMD'due south Radeon RX 540, which won't be enough to satisfy hardcore gamers merely should bring noticeably perkier graphics performance.

Perhaps the HP'due south toughest exam came in our battery life rundown, where lasting through a mere eight-hour workday no longer cuts the mustard. Our test unit of measurement survived for a very respectable 12 hours and 51 minutes, though it trailed the 17-plus hours of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the T470 with its optional extended-life bombardment.

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A Striking Biz Laptop, Merely Mind the Price

With its sleek and sturdy construction, pleasing performance, and variety of configuration choices, the EliteBook 840 G5 is a very likable business organisation laptop, though not quite likable enough to undo our Editors' Selection vote for the lighter X1 Carbon.

Our main complaints are the base model's muddied screen and our test unit's $1,835 list price despite said screen. While HP and its aqueduct partners often offer the system on sale, it strikes us equally a bit expensive compared to rivals such as the $1,499 MateBook X Pro. Still, if we were HP's even more than plush EliteBook 1040 fourteen-incher, nosotros'd be worried—the EliteBook 840 G5 is that good.