ATEN HP EliteBook 840 G7 14" Laptop - Core i5 1.6GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro

Product Information

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In contrast to its poor gaming graphics performance (which is entirely expected for a business laptop), the EliteBook 840 has excellent battery life, even among its peers. To test battery life, we loop a locally stored 720p video with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system conks out. The EliteBook 840 lasted for more than 19 hours in this test. That's short of the 24 hours that the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 managed, but it still trounces the two ThinkPads and even beats HP's own estimate of 18 hours. HP EliteBook 840 G7’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, high maximum brightness (457 nits), and a very good contrast ratio. Also, it doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment and covers 97% of the sRGB color gamut. Moreover, our Gaming and Web design profile, improves the color accuracy, in compliance with the sRGB standard. This means all of the professionals, whose work is dependant on color accuracy will be satisfied.

We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. We time each operation and, at the end, add up the total execution time. As with Handbrake, lower times are better here. The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, and it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters. You won't have problems using the EliteBook 830 G7 and 840 G7 outside, even on bright days. The 13-inch display reached 374 nits of maximum brightness, just short of the peak brightness on the 14-inch model (378 nits). Again, the Latitude 7410 (402 nits) edges out the competition while the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (364 nits) was a bit dimmer than the rest and the 382-nit category average. EliteBook 830 and EliteBook 840 G7 keyboard and touchpad PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the system's boot drive. This score is also a proprietary numeric score; again, higher numbers are better. We expect all systems with SSDs to post excellent scores of around 5,000 on this test, and that's certainly the case here. Those are good if unremarkable runtimes. Dell's Latitude 7410 (10:56) and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (10:45) both broke the 10-hour mark and the category average (10:01). EliteBook 830 and EliteBook 840 G7 webcam That doesn't mean they aren't the best options. In fact, at the right price, I'd even consider these models over the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, our long-standing best business laptop. It ultimately comes down to pricing -- if you can find these on sale for less than their rivals, then don't hesitate to snag them for your workforce — they'll be happy with their new systems, trust me. EliteBook 830 and EliteBook 840 G7 Specs Display

These results closely match those of our Handbrake video-editing trial, another tough, threaded workout that's highly CPU-dependent and scales well with cores and threads. In it, we put a stopwatch on test systems as they transcode a standard 12-minute clip of 4K video to a 1080p MP4 file. It's a timed test, and lower results are better. This dynamic duo flexed all over the competition in our synthetic benchmark tests, with the EliteBook 830 scoring a 4,262 and the 840 G7 notching a 4,378. The Latitude 7410, equipped with an Intel Core i7-10610U, proved with its 3,108 result that splurging on the top-tier CPU variant pays off. Equipped with the same Core i7-10610U CPU, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3,913) closed the gap a bit but only the EliteBooks topped the category average (4,037).The EliteBook 840 didn't overexert itself in our heat test but the EliteBook 830 had some trouble keeping its cool. HP Inc UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA FRN 973346) and acts as a credit intermediary and not a lender, offering credit products provided by a limited number of finance providers. Such credit products may not be suitable for everyone. Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status and ability to obtain credit. Those dimensions compare well with the competition, though they're not quite as impressive as those of the X1 Carbon Gen 8, which measures 0.59 by 12.7 by 8.5 inches and weighs 2.4 pounds. And IT departments can go even lighter by branching out to other manufacturers. The Asus ExpertBook B9450, for one example, weighs just 1.91 pounds and claims to be the lightest 14-inch business laptop available. This notebook’s body is entirely made out of aluminum. It weighs 1.33 kg and has a profile of 17.9mm. Thankfully, both the body and the lid are very resistant to flex and bend, leaving no doubts over the build quality. By the way, you can notice a plastic strip sitting at the top part of the lid, which acts as an antenna for the optional LTE connection.

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Intel Core i7-10510U, Windows 10 Pro, 14.0-inch 1,920 x 1,080 anti-glare 400 nits non-touch screen, Intel UHD Graphics 620, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD The entry-level EliteBook 840 G7 reviewed here runs on a 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. The screen is an FHD IPS panel with a modest 250 nits of brightness. More expensive models offer Core i7 CPUs, more RAM and storage, and brighter screens (up to 1,000 nits). Image: HP IncRarely do I review a laptop with as few shortcomings as the EliteBook 830 G7 and EliteBook 840 G7, and yet, I'm not entirely sold. Yes, these systems nail the basics, but they fail to stand out in any way. While they offer a sleek design, a good 1080p display, fast performance and decent battery life, the EliteBook 830 and 840 G7 don't do anything to separate themselves from the competition. Left-side ports (top): 2x USB 3.1, 3.5mm audio in/out. Right-side ports (above): SIM slot (4G LTE), 2x USB-C, HDMI, round-pin power-in. Images: Sandra Vogel / ZDNet Pushing the EliteBook 840 G7's engine didn't cause it to overheat; the laptop warmed to only 92 degrees and the keyboard and touchpad stayed at a comfy 86 degrees and 78 degrees, respectively. EliteBook 830 and EliteBook 840 G7 software and warranty While the EliteBook 840 can handle basic graphics output without breaking a sweat, it's not up for 3D gaming, as our graphics benchmarks clearly show. The first, 3DMark, measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. We run two 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike, which are suited to different types of systems. Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff. The results are proprietary scores, and it's clear that only the ThinkPad X13 in this group offers passable performance.