HP Elite c640 c640 14 G3 2022

The HP Elite c640 G3's killer feature is its port selection, which is near the top of the charts for this class. The screen is a noticeable weakness, though, and performance is merely adequate. If you can find it for under $500 and desperately need those Thunderbolt ports, it's worth a look — otherwise, better all-rounders exist.

So this is the HP Elite c640 14 G3, a Chromebook squarely aimed at students and office workers who spend their days in Google Workspace. It's got a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1265U, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, which is pretty generous for a Chromebook, plus a backlit, splash-resistant keyboard. The spec sheet looks promising, but the real story is where HP cut corners to hit a price point — and where they didn't.

That Core i7-1265U with 10 cores sounds serious, but in our database it lands in the 38th percentile for this category, so it's decidedly middle-of-the-pack. ChromeOS feels snappy with 16GB of RAM, and you'll fly through a dozen tabs and some Android apps, but the integrated Iris Xe graphics are weak (18th percentile). Don't even think about gaming. For spreadsheet crunching and video calls, though, it's fine — just keep your expectations in check.

Pricing is all over the place — we've seen it from $449 to $1020 across different vendors. At the low end, if you snag a used or heavily discounted unit, it's a solid Chromebook for the basics. But as you climb toward a grand, you're in MacBook Air territory, and that comparison doesn't flatter the Elite c640. You're really paying for those Thunderbolt ports and a Chromebook form factor, so hunt for the best deal and don't overspend.

Stacked against something like the ASUS ProArt PX13 or Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, this HP feels like a one-trick pony — great ports, meh everything else. The MacBook Air M5 and Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro absolutely demolish it on screen quality, performance, and battery life, but they're not Chromebooks. If you need ChromeOS and a boatload of wired connectivity, the c640 carves out a niche, but the MSI Prestige and Lenovo Yoga outshine it for general productivity if you can live without Thunderbolt ports galore.

If you need a bright, color-accurate panel for photo or video work, look elsewhere — this screen struggles to hit 250 nits and covers only 45% of NTSC. Anyone who stores a lot of media locally will also chafe against the 256GB limit; a Chromebook with expandable storage or a higher-capacity model would be a better fit.

This Chromebook makes sense if you're locked into Google's ecosystem and need a machine that can plug into anything: projectors, monitors, external drives. The keyboard is a joy for typing all day, and the build quality feels reassuringly solid. But the dim screen and just-average internals mean it's not a device that'll make your work feel effortless — it'll just get the job done without fanfare.