HP EliteBook 840 G9 review

One of the more premium business offerings by HP, the EliteBook 840 G9 has to justify its rather high price tag. True business people are placed in front of a difficult choice since there is a ton of great 14-inch premium office solutions.

HP aims to win you with a large roster of processors. Including devices from both the Alder Lake-U and Alder Lake-P lineups, you can get exactly what works best for you. It may be the Core i5-1235U if you need something fast on the go. And if you can take advantage of more power for your 3D projects, or large data crunches, then, pretty much anything from the P-series is a good choice.

However, HP is notorious for detuning the processors on its business laptops. The company does that to make its devices quieter. While we can see the reasoning behind that, it is a big mistake not to let the users choose if they want to make use of the full performance package.

We won’t assume anything, though, and we’ll live our tests to speak for themselves. Regardless of the performance, however, the display is something we are really looking forward to. Also, HP offers its privacy-oriented Sure View option.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-elitebook-840-g9/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP EliteBook 840 G9 - Specs

  • AUO AUOA49A
  • Color accuracy  5.0  1.4
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home
  • Battery
  • 38Wh, 3-cell, 51Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 316 x 224 x 19.2 mm (12.44" x 8.82" x 0.76")
  • Weight
  • 1.36 kg (3 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 2x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 4
  • HDMI
  • 2.0
  • Card reader
  • Nano SIM
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • 5MP
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Microphones
  • Speakers
  • 2x Stereo Speakers, Bang & Olufsen
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Nano K-Lock

All HP EliteBook 840 G9 configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, we found only the mandatory paperwork, as well as a 65W USB Type-C power adapter.


Design and construction

HP used mainly aluminum for the build of the EliteBook 840 G9. There is an exception for the screen bezels, of course. The structural integrity is great, with very little flex experienced when we twisted the device.

As you can tell from the images, the laptop now features curved edges. This is a characteristic design feature of most HP business laptops this year. In addition, the notebook is pretty light at 1.36 kg, while its profile is 19.2mm. Not too thick in our opinion.

Its lid can be opened with a single hand and goes all the way down to 180°. Moreover, there are two rubber feet on the backside of the lid, which should lift the base from the ground after a certain angle. However, the angle is too big to make a difference in cooling for example.

A quick look at the matte screen reveals thin bezels and a lot going on above it. There is a 5MP Web camera with an optional IR face recognition scanner and a privacy shutter.

Then, we have the base. It sports a spill-resistant keyboard that features a backlight. This unit is phenomenal for typing, thanks to its long key travel, clicky feedback, and consistency.

Respectively, the touchpad features a glass surface, which is very smooth. Gliding is a joy, and the tracking is accurate. On the other hand, we would love it to be more responsive. By the way, the right side of the palm rest area sports a fingerprint reader.

On the bottom panel, you will find a couple of speaker cutouts, as well as the ventilation grill. The heat is being exhausted through a vent in between the base and the lid.

Ports

On the left side, there is an HDMI 2.0 connector, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with Always On support, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, and an optional Smart Card reader. Then, on the right, you get an Audio jack, another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, a security lock slot, and a SIM card tray.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

Accessing this notebook’s internals is pretty easy. You just need to undo the 5 captive Phillips-head screws. Then, pry the bottom panel using a plastic tool, starting from the back.

Inside, we find a 51Wh battery pack. It lasts for 14 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing, or nearly 12 hours of video playback. To take it out, unplug the battery connector from the motherboard, and undo the four Phillips-head screws that secure it to the chassis.

You can upgrade the memory via two SODIMM slots, hidden beneath a metal bracket. The maximum supported amount is 64GB of DDR5 RAM, working in dual-channel mode. Storage-wise, there is one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which supports Gen 4 SSDs.

The cooling comprises one heat pipe, a heat sink, and a medium-sized fan.


Display quality

HP EliteBook 840 G9 uses a WUXGA IPS touchscreen panel, model number AUO AUOA49A. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.6 cm), and the resolution – 1920 x 1200. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 162 ppi, and their pitch – 0.16 x 0.16 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 53 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 420 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 422 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 8%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6070K (average) – slightly warmer than the 6500K optimum for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 56% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.09 cd/m2).
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 (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is very good – 1560:1.

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 Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, 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 EliteBook 840 G9’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 97% 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 the HP EliteBook 840 G9 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 = 33 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.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

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 EliteBook 840 G9’s backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes it comfortable for long periods of use.

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.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 58.0 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP EliteBook 840 G9 configurations with 14.0″ AUO AUOA49A (FHD, 1920 × 1200) IPS.

*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 EliteBook 840 G9’s Bang & Olufsen speakers produce a sound of decent quality. Furthermore, it is clear across the entire frequency spectrum.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-elitebook-840-14-inch-g9-notebook-pc/2101000805

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the 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. The 51Wh battery pack lasts for 14 hours and 27 minutes of Web browsing, or 11 hours and 40 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

There are a total of 9 processor options at your disposal. Four of them are from the Alder Lake-U series – Core i5-1235U, Core i5-1245U, Core i7-1255U, and Core i7-1265U. Respectively, the other five come from the Alder Lake-P series – Core i5-1240P, Core i5-1250P, Core i7-1260P, Core i7-1270P, and the flagship of the energy-efficient models – Core i7-1280P.


GPU options

On the other hand, you don’t really get a choice with the graphics card. You are left with what is integrated inside your processor, which is not necessarily a bad thing.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS107 fps76 fps49 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS109 fps69 fps42 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 P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i5-1235U (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP EliteBook 840 G93.09 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 83°C @ 46W2.73 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 89°C @ 37W1.58 GHz @ 1.67 GHz @ 61°C @ 17W
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 43.28 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 84°C @ 44W3.18 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 90°C @ 44W2.49 GHz @ 2.28 GHz @ 77°C @ 28W
HP Pavilion Plus 14 (14-eh0000)2.85 GHz @ 2.43 GHz @ 77°C @ 39W2.34 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 75°C @ 29W1.84 GHz @ 1.79 GHz @ 65°C @ 20W
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 (15″, 2022)3.60 GHz @ 3.08 GHz @ 73°C @ 55W3.44 GHz @ 2.95 GHz @ 88°C @ 51W2.80 GHz @ 2.49 GHz @ 69°C @ 35W
Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 33.20 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 83°C @ 44W3.10 GHz @ 2.71 GHz @ 94°C @ 43W1.89 GHz @ 1.95 GHz @ 72°C @ 20W
Acer Aspire Vero (AV14-51)3.63 GHz @ 2.87 GHz @ 84°C @ 55W2.73 GHz @ 2.36 GHz @ 81°C @ 33W2.49 GHz @ 2.23 GHz @ 79°C @ 28W
MSI Modern 14 (C12M)3.17 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 77°C @ 45W3.10 GHz @ 2.61 GHz @ 81°C @ 45W2.69 GHz @ 2.45 GHz @ 78°C @ 35W
Dell Latitude 15 55303.57 GHz @ 3.02 GHz @ 94°C @ 52W2.03 GHz @ 2.09 GHz @ 76°C @ 21W2.24 GHz @ 2.19 GHz @ 64°C @ 23W

As expected, the EliteBook 840 G9 shows an underwhelming performance in the long runs. The laptop remained pretty quiet, while the temperature on the CPU die was only 61°C.

Comfort during full load

Thanks to the sandbagging, the EliteBook 840 G9 is very comfortable to work with during long sessions of extreme workload.


Verdict

One can not argue that the EliteBook 840 G9 is a high-class business device. It is packed with privacy features like the optional fingerprint and IR face recognition sensors. Additionally, the privacy shutter helps against naughty FBI agents.

The laptop is also eligible for the HP Presence program. It consists of devices, which elevate your conference experience to the next level. Thanks to high-quality products like the 5MP Web camera, and some third-party products, you can bring your office together, even if all of you work from home.

In addition to that, this notebook offers the option to expand your memory to up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM. The M.2 PCIe x4 slot supports Gen 4 SSDs, while some models feature 5G support. This is if you get the laptop with the Intel 5000 WWAN card. Intel XMM 7560 R+’s solution offers only LTE support.

HP EliteBook 840 G9’s IPS panel has a WUXGA resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very good contrast ratio. It covers 97% of the sRGB color gamut. This results in a vibrant and good-looking image. Interestingly, the colors under the default settings are way off the mark. Our Gaming and Web design profile, however, brings them right within the boundaries of the sRGB standards. To make matters even better, the display doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment.

This great display is paired with a wide I/O selection, including two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, and a Smart Card reader, which is optional. We couldn’t have wanted anything more from the keyboard, as it sports spill-resistance, a backlight, and is one of the most comfortable units for typing.

Even though we got through 14.5 hours of Web browsing, or 12 hours of video playback on a single charge, we were left with a bitter taste. The crippled performance is not something we endorse, and we would like to see HP finally making a change in a positive direction.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-elitebook-840-g9/

Pros

  • Good battery life
  • PCIe x4 Gen 4 support + 64GB of DDR5 memory in dual-channel
  • Two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, Wi-Fi 6, and optional 5G support
  • 97% of sRGB coverage and great color accuracy with our Gaming and Web design profile (AUO AUOA49A)
  • No PWM (AUO AUOA49A)
  • Spill-resistant keyboard
  • IR face recognition and fingerprint reader


Cons

  • No SD card reader
  • Crippled performance in long runs

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NEERAJ
NEERAJ
8 months ago

One of the best details for this specific Laptop family. Post review I made my decision and ordered the 14″ 840G9-1260P. The best thing was that video which showed that how to expand memory and other worthy details. Thanks a million for this post.

Sound
Sound
4 months ago

I disagree with your conclusion. I’m a lifelong HP supporter for the mere reason that they intentionally nerf the cpu in order to keep the business laptop silent. Who’s the target audience for elitebook? A businessman. He or she is not there trying to play the latest Fortnite game or DJ’ing and Photoshopping an MTV music video (get a macbook for the artsy farcy stuff). The elitebook is for a business conference room where you want silence. Flying on the plane, want silence. Eating at airport lounges while working, want silence. And when working in a room whole having multiple… Read more »