HP 470 G8 review – a huge improvement over last year’s device

The 470 has always been the weird kid in HP’s family. The main reason for this is that it looks like a budget device, but it actually doesn’t come cheap. Also, the naming scheme is a bit confusing – it is often mixed with the ProBook 400 series.

Looking at the past, we have our expectations pretty honest. The 470 G7 didn’t boast the best build quality out there, but we were surprised by the display quality. Its performance was also decent. However, the 470 G8 brings the big guns in the ULV CPU world. Yes, we are talking about the Tiger Lake-U processors, which are absolute beasts both in computational and graphics performance.

We are pretty sure that the new unit will offer a better gaming experience than the older one, even though the latter featured a dedicated GPU. We won’t make you wait more – let’s get right into it.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-470-g8/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP 470 G8 - Specs

  • LG LP173WF5-SPB4 (LGD063F)
  • Color accuracy  3.6  1.6
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 1000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • No OS, Windows 11 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home
  • Battery
  • 41Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensions
  • 400.7 x 257.8 x 19.9 mm (15.78" x 10.15" x 0.78")
  • Weight
  • 2.08 kg (4.6 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • HDMI
  • 1.4
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Microphone
  • Speakers
  • Dual Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

All HP 470 G8 configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find some paperwork, as well as a 45W charger.


Design and construction

It appears that the HP 470 has been working out. It was able to shave 280 grams (2.08 kg) of its weight, and 4.6mm of its waist (19.9mm). Not to mention the smaller footprint inherent to the narrower screen bezels. Overall, though, the design is kept largely the same with not-so-high quality plastic all around. This leads to some flex from both the lid and the chassis.

We would have loved to see the lid open by one hand, but unfortunately – it doesn’t. On the other hand, it is good to see that the bezels are slimmer than last year. Also, you get an HD camera above the matte display. And to our big surprise, the backside of the base lifts up from the ground, when you pass the 90° opening angle. It is not by much, but it definitely improves the airflow to the fan.

Now, let’s take a look at the huge cutting board of a base. There, you will see the speaker grills, placed just above the keyboard. It is great to find that the keyboard features a backlight, which is optional. Additionally, there is a NumberPad section.

In terms of comfort, the keyboard is okay with its decent key travel and clicky feedback. Our only complaint is that you get that metallic sound from some keys, mainly in the middle of the board.

Then, let’s take a look at the touchpad. As you can see, it has dropped the dedicated buttons, but it is significantly bigger in size. To be frank, last year’s buttons were nothing to write home about, as the clicking mechanism you have now is way better. Oh, we almost forgot to mention the fingerprint reader. It is located right next to the Intel sticker.

And if you turn the laptop upside down, you will find the ventilation grill. The heat, respectively, is blown away through a vent on the back – essentially firing towards the bottom of the display.

Ports

On the left side, there is a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI 1.4 connector, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port (without DisplayPort capabilities), and an аudio jack. And on the right, you get the charging plug and a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

To take this laptop apart, you will need to remove the two rubber feet. Then, undo all 10 Phillips-head screws. After that, you have to pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool. Start from the front by slightly lifting the base.

Here, you will see a rather small 41Wh battery pack. It lasted us for 7 hours and a half of Web browsing, or 7 hours of video playback. To remove it from the device, you need to undo all four Phillips-head screws holding it to the chassis. After that, you can just lift it away.

It is good to see that there are two SODIMM slots for memory expansion. According to HP, the device can fit up to 16GB of RAM in total. However, we are pretty confident, you can put 32, if not 64GB. Storage-wise, there is one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, as well as a 2.5-inch SATA drive bay. Unfortunately, there is no mounting hardware inside the box.

As for the cooling, there is one heat pipe, as well as a pretty long heat sink. Additionally, you get a single fan of medium size.


Display quality

HP 470 G8 has a Full HD IPS panel, made by LG with a model number LP173WF5-SPB4 (LGD063F). Its diagonal is 17.3″ (43.94 cm), and the resolution is 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 127 ppi, and a pitch of 0.2 х 0.2 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 69cm (27″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The measured maximum brightness of 394 nits in the middle of the screen and 370 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 9%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6560K – almost matching the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1010:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows HP 470 G8’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 95% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of HP 470 G8 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 32 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

HP 470 G8’s display doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment at any level. This means it is comfortable for long working periods, without presenting any harm to your eyes in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Acer Aspire 3 (A317-33) configurations with 17.3″ FHD IPS LG LP173WF5-SPB4 (LGD063F).

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

HP 470 G8’s speakers produce a sound of good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-470-g8-notebook-pc/2100408959

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This laptop’s 41Wh battery delivers 7 hours and 36 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 4 minutes of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

You can find the device with a ton of different processor options. You can pick from three Ice Lake chips – Core i3-1005G1, Core i5-1035G1, or Core i7-1065G7, and four Tiger Lake chips – Core i3-1115G4, Core i3-1125G4, Core i5-1135G7, or Core i7-1165G7.


GPU options

Graphics-wise, the options include UHD Graphics, Iris Plus Graphics, and Iris Xe Graphics. In addition to the integrated solutions, there are the GeForce MX330, and GeForce MX450, both equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS120 fps82 fps45 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS111 fps72 fps45 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

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.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-1135G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP 470 G83.09 GHz (B+29%) @ 79°C @ 31W2.60 GHz (B+8%) @ 80°C @ 24W2.42 GHz (B+1%) @ 78°C @ 18W
Dynabook Tecra A50-J3.77 GHz (B+57%) @ 97°C @ 52W3.22 GHz (B+34%) @ 87°C @ 36W2.82 GHz (B+18%) @ 76°C @ 28W
Dynabook Tecra A40-J3.74 GHz (B+56%) @ 96°C @ 51W3.21 GHz (B+34%) @ 86°C @ 36W2.91 GHz (B+21%) @ 77°C @ 28W
HP ProBook 430 G83.32 GHz (B+38%) @ 97°C @ 35W2.74 GHz (B+14%) @ 89°C @ 24W2.29 GHz (B-5%) @ 75°C @ 17W
Acer Swift 3 (SF314-511)3.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 91°C @ 34W2.89 GHz (B+20%) @ 91°C @ 28W2.69 GHz (B+12%) @ 91°C @ 25W
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5)3.80 GHz (B+58%) @ 80°C @ 46W3.62 GHz (B+51%) @ 89°C @ 43W1.99 GHz (B-17%) @ 60°C @ 13W
ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED K5133.39 GHz (B+41%) @ 83°C @ 40W3.28 GHz (B+34%) @ 91°C @ 37W2.96 GHz (B+23%) @ 85°C @ 28W
MSI Summit E13 Flip Evo3.65 GHz (B+52%) @ 96°C @ 45W3.31 GHz (B+38%) @ 96°C @ 47W3.03 GHz (B+25%) @ 96°C @ 29W
Dell XPS 13 9310 (2-in-1)3.36 GHz (B+40%) @ 99°C @ 41W3.16 GHz (B+32%) @ 99°C @ 37W1.92 GHz @ 72°C @ 16W
Dell XPS 13 93103.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 100°C @ 40W2.73 GHz (B+14%) @ 100°C @ 30W1.65 GHz @ 73°C @ 15W
Dell Vostro 14 54023.02 GHz (B+26%) @ 99°C @ 29W2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 99°C @ 25W2.00 GHz @ 76°C @ 15W
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)3.59 GHz (B+50%) @ 94°C @ 44W3.45 GHz (B+44%) @ 95°C @ 40W3.18 GHz (B+33%) @ 91°C @ 34W
Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga3.52 GHz (B+47%) @ 94°C3.24 GHz (B+35%) @ 94°C2.63 GHz (B+10%) @ 75°C
Lenovo Yoga 7 (14)3.34 GHz (B+39%) @ 94°C2.97 GHz (B+24%) @ 94°C2.39 GHz @ 75°C
Acer Aspire 5 (A514-54)3.54 GHz (B+48%) @ 87°C2.01 GHz @ 66°C2.03 GHz @ 67°C

Weirdly, the HP 470 G8 performs worse than the 14-inch Dynabook Tecra A40-J both in long, and short runs. This is mainly due to the inferior cooling solution, employing only one heat pipe versus the two on the Dynabook.

Comfort during full load

The device is pretty quiet under extreme workload, while the temperature on the keyboard is not too high. This means you won’t suffer from sausage fingers.


Verdict

We rarely see this these days. A device focused on usability, but without breaking the bank while offering one of the good 1080p 17-inch displays on the market. Yes, this is the HP 470 G8, and from what we learned in this review, it is a really big challenger to the IdeaPad 3 (17″, 2021), which currently holds the crown for an inexpensive 17-inch laptop.

But this is far less important, than the fact that HP was actually able to make a huge improvement year on year. The last time we had a 470 laptop with us, it was underdesigned, felt a bit ugly, and missed out on essential features.

Unfortunately, all of this has a cost – for instance, the HP 470 G8 brings USB Type-C to the series. However, it runs at 3.2 (Gen. 1) speeds and lacks the ability to output display signals.

Another cost-cutting measure was the build. The laptop is entirely made out of plastic. And not the highest quality one, either. However, the design has been slightly revamped, and it now features thinner bezels, a larger touchpad without hard to press dedicated buttons. On top of that, you get an optional fingerprint reader and a keyboard that has a backlight.

Although it is a budget-friendly device, the HP 470 G8 comes with an IPS display with high maximum brightness, a good contrast ratio, and a Full HD resolution. It features comfortable viewing angles and doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. To our surprise, it covers 95% of the sRGB gamut, which results in a pretty vivid image. Moreover, our Gaming and Web design profile helps it achieve a pretty good color accuracy, which will let you work with color-sensitive content.

Unfortunately, the battery life is still not on point with it lasting only 7 hours and a half at best. Perhaps HP could have used the ton of free space inside for a bigger battery – 41Wh is just not enough on a screen of this size. Here, the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 (17″, 2021) offers two hours more of screen-on time, which is a big advantage and can make a difference.

On the other hand, HP provides you with two SODIMM slots for memory upgrades, and an M.2 PCIe x4 slot for NVMe SSDs. And if you find yourself the mounting hardware, you can put a 2.5-inch SATA device as well.

So, should you buy the HP 470 G8? Well, it still lacks some key features like an SD card reader or DisplayPort output on the USB Type-C port, but it is a big upgrade over last year’s model. If you happen to find a good deal on a Tiger Lake-equipped specimen, go for it!

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-470-g8/

Pros

  • 2x SODIMM, 1x M.2 PCIe x4, 1x 2.5-inch SATA (optional)
  • Optional fingerprint reader
  • 95% sRGB coverage and accurate color representation with our Gaming and Web design profile (LP173WF5-SPB4 (LGD063F))
  • No PWM (LP173WF5-SPB4 (LGD063F))
  • Thin and light


Cons

  • Plastic build with mediocre quality
  • No SD card reader
  • USB Type-C without DisplayPort output

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admin
admin
1 year ago

USB-C port doesn’t work with dock-external monitor

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28 days ago
Reply to  admin

no DisplayPort