HP EliteBook 14" 840 G8 Review

Looking for a basic business laptop that's easy to carry around? The HP EliteBook 840 G8 is a 14-inch ultrabook that's been around for a few years, and you can now find it for surprisingly low prices on the refurbished or clearance market. It's built for office work, with a lightweight 1.47kg chassis, a backlit keyboard, and Windows 11 Pro pre-installed. The specs, like the Intel Core i5-1145G processor and 16GB of RAM, are decent for everyday tasks. But the first thing you'll notice is the screen. It's a 14-inch display, but the resolution is only 1366x768, which is a lot lower than what you get on most modern laptops. So, is this a good deal for a student or remote worker on a tight budget? Let's break it down.

Performance is fine for the basics. The quad-core Intel i5-1145G CPU lands in the 16th percentile, which means it's slower than most current laptops, but it's still capable of handling web browsing, document editing, and video calls without much fuss. The integrated Intel graphics are exactly what you'd expect, scoring in the 51st percentile. That's fine for a second monitor and maybe some very light photo editing, but it's not for gaming or creative work. The 16GB of RAM is a solid amount for multitasking, though it's only in the 32nd percentile. The real bottleneck is the storage. It uses a 512GB eMMC drive, which is a slower type of storage compared to an NVMe SSD. It ranks in the 26th percentile, so expect longer boot and load times.

At a current price around $299, the value proposition is all about the budget. You're getting a certified business laptop with a professional OS for the price of a cheap Chromebook. The trade-off is that you're accepting older, slower components and a very poor display. If your only goal is to run Microsoft Office and a browser as cheaply as possible, it works. But for just a couple hundred dollars more, you could find a refurbished model with a better 1080p screen and a faster SSD, which would be a much better experience.

Compared directly to other options, the trade-offs are clear. A refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad from a similar era often has a better 1080p screen and might use standard SSD storage for a similar price. The ASUS Zenbook Duo is in a completely different league with its dual-screen design and modern processors, but it costs several times more. For students, a new budget laptop like an Acer Aspire or Lenovo IdeaPad often has a sharper screen and newer CPU for not much more money, though it might not feel as sturdy. The EliteBook's main advantage over those is its professional build and Windows 11 Pro license, but that only matters if you specifically need those features.

So, should you buy the HP EliteBook 840 G8? Only in a very specific scenario. If you need an ultra-cheap, portable Windows machine for basic office work and you absolutely do not care about screen quality, this can get the job done. The low-resolution screen is a major deal-breaker for most people, though. For anyone who spends hours looking at their laptop, the fuzzy text and lack of screen real estate will get old fast. My advice is to stretch your budget just a little if you can. Spending a bit more for a better screen and faster storage will make a huge difference in how much you enjoy using your laptop every single day.