HP ProBook 14" 640 G4 Silver 2017

The HP ProBook 640 G4 packs a standout 1TB NVMe SSD and 16GB of RAM into a $633 refurb package, but the ancient i5-8350U processor is a serious bottleneck. It's fine for basic office work and local file hoarding, agonizing for anything demanding. Great storage value, terrible performance otherwise. Skip if you need any kind of speed.

The HP ProBook 640 G4 is the kind of laptop that whispers 'deal' when you first glance at the specs, then mumbles 'but...' the moment you look under the hood. A 1TB NVMe SSD and 16GB of RAM in a sub-$650 package is rare enough to make you sit up, especially when it comes with Windows 10 Pro and that classic business-machine sturdiness. But the processor inside is an 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8350U, a chip from 2017 that hasn't aged gracefully. It's like finding a used sedan with a brand-new sound system and a trunk full of luggage, but the engine wheezes up hills.

This is a refurbished office workhorse aimed squarely at people who need a cheap, capable Windows machine for web browsing, spreadsheets, email, and maybe some light database work. The 14-inch 1080p IPS screen gets you through documents and video calls without making your eyes bleed, and the port selection (one USB-C, three USB-A, Ethernet) means you won't live in dongle hell. But if you're hoping to edit photos, compile code, or even keep more than a few dozen browser tabs alive without groaning, you need to understand just how far behind this CPU really is.

We ran this configuration through our database to see how it stacks up against the wider laptop market, and the results are a seriously mixed bag. Storage scores sit in the top fifth of all products, which is great. Almost everything else is middling to disappointing, especially the CPU and graphics performance. If you approach the ProBook 640 G4 with the right expectations—basic productivity, local file hoarding, and a tolerance for some sluggishness—it could be a quirky budget pick. Walk in expecting modern responsiveness and you'll be back at the returns desk before you finish the Windows updates.

The i5-8350U is a quad-core, eight-thread chip with a base clock of just 1.7GHz that can boost up to 3.6GHz, but those are numbers from a very different era. In our database, this CPU lands in the 11th percentile, which is a polite way of saying it's one of the slowest processors you can find in a laptop sold today. Opening a dozen Chrome tabs, firing up Slack, and running Outlook will feel okay in isolation, but start layering in a Zoom call while streaming music and the system will start wheezing. Any kind of creative work, from Lightroom to Premiere, is basically out of the question—the chip simply doesn't have the headroom.

The integrated Intel UHD 620 graphics are a known quantity, and that quantity is 'barely enough.' Our gaming score for this configuration is a staggering 13.2 out of 100, which means you can forget about anything beyond solitaire or retro titles. On the flip side, the 1TB NVMe SSD is genuinely excellent and reaches a storage score in the 81st percentile, handily outpacing what you'd find in many new budget laptops. App launches and file transfers feel snappy, and that terabyte of local space is a huge advantage if you work with large datasets or want to keep your media collection offline. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM is okay, though its 37th percentile rank suggests the memory speed isn't breaking any records; it's enough for moderate multitasking without choking, but don't expect bleeding-edge bandwidth.

At $633 refurbished, the ProBook 640 G4 occupies a strange little niche. You're paying for the 1TB NVMe drive and 16GB of RAM, both of which would cost a chunk of change if you bought a cheaper laptop and upgraded it yourself. The problem is that the CPU is so old that the rest of the hardware can't really stretch its legs. You're essentially buying a really good storage array with a computer attached to it.

Compare this to a new budget laptop like an Acer Aspire 5 with a Ryzen 5 5500U, which you can often find around $500. That chip runs circles around the i5-8350U in every benchmark, and you get better integrated graphics, but you'll be stuck with a smaller 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. So if raw storage capacity and memory are your top concerns—for something like a point-of-sale system or a dedicated machine for a large static database—the ProBook's price-to-storage ratio is hard to beat. For everyone else, the performance tradeoff is too steep.

The competitors our database surfaces for this machine are mostly premium modern devices like the Apple MacBook Pro M5, ASUS ProArt PX13, and Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro, all of which cost several times as much and deliver performance from a different decade. That comparison is more of a cautionary tale than a buying guide: it shows just how far laptop performance has advanced since the ProBook 640 G4 was new.

A more realistic rival would be a refurbished Dell Latitude 5400 with a newer 10th-gen i5-10310U, which you can grab for similar money and get a noticeable CPU bump while still having decent business features. Or consider a new Lenovo IdeaPad with a Ryzen 3 7320U—it won't have the 1TB SSD, but the processor will handle everyday tasks without making you wait. The ProBook's real differentiator is that cavernous storage capacity. If you can live with a slowish CPU, the sheer volume of local space makes it stand out in the sub-$700 refurb market. Just don't expect it to keep up with any laptop built after 2019.

Anyone who needs more than basic computing power should look right past this laptop. Developers compiling code, photographers editing RAW files, video editors, or even students running multiple demanding apps at once will hit frustrating slowdowns almost immediately. The i5-8350U was a mid-range chip seven years ago, and it shows its age in every task beyond light office work. The screen quality also sits at the 38th percentile, so if you care about color accuracy or high brightness, this display is a letdown.

If you can stretch your budget a little, a refurbished Dell Latitude 5420 with an 11th-gen i5 or a new Acer Aspire 5 with a Ryzen 5 5500U will give you dramatically better CPU and graphics performance, even if you sacrifice some storage space. Those machines will handle everyday multitasking without making you question your life choices. Reserve the ProBook only for scenarios where a huge fast drive and low price are the absolute top priorities, like a dedicated machine for inventory lookups or a family computer for light browsing and document storage.

If your daily grind consists of Word documents, email, and a handful of browser tabs, and you really need a terabyte of on-board storage without reaching for an external drive, the HP ProBook 640 G4 is a salvageable choice. The 16GB of RAM means you won't crash when you get a little tab-happy, and Windows 10 Pro gives you some enterprise niceties that cheaper consumer laptops lack. It's a budget file cabinet with a screen, and for that very narrow use case it does the job.

For anyone whose workflow includes anything beyond light office tasks—photo editing, coding, virtual machines, heavy multitasking, or anything remotely adjacent to gaming—this laptop will feel like a daily frustration. The processor simply doesn't have the grunt to handle modern software smoothly, and the integrated graphics are a dead end. Unless storage capacity is your absolute number-one priority and you've got the patience of a saint, you're better off with a newer budget machine that might have less space but won't make you wait for the Start menu to pop open.