HP EliteBook 640 G9 review

What is HP trying to do with the EliteBook 640 G9? Well, it aims at corporations, that make huge orders of identical equipment. Since standardisation is something really important with big companies, all laptops should be secure, and reliable.

Yet, once the more laptops an organization buys, the more money it saves, if it gets its employees a machine that is cheaper. So, the EliteBook 640 G9 should offer more value than the affordable ProBook 440 G9 but will be more friendly on the budget than the EliteBook 840 G9.

Interestingly, HP used to call this model the ProBook 640 Gx. Apparently, it now thinks that it represents the values of the EliteBook family. This is also confirmed by the use of the HP Wolf security package.

In terms of hardware, the EliteBook 640 G9 arrives with 12th Gen Intel processors. Like with the more premium 840 G9, you can pick between 15W and 28W chips. And there is a dedicated GPU option too – the GeForce MX570. Unfortunately, according to its specs sheet, there can still be found a configuration that comes with a 768p TN panel.

On the bright side, there are 1080p IPS options with narrow and full sRGB coverage. And the cream of the crop in security terms is the HP Sure View model, which shortens the viewing angles by using black magic.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-elitebook-640-g9/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP EliteBook 640 G9 - Specs

  • CMN141D
  • Color accuracy  2.7  0.9
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 4000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Home
  • Battery
  • 51Wh, 3-cell, 42.75Wh, 3-cell, 42.75Wh, 3-cell , 42.7Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 321.81 x 213.86 x 19.9 mm (12.67" x 8.42" x 0.78")
  • Weight
  • 1.37 kg (3 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.0b
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • SIM card slot
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • HD with Temporal Noise Reduction
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Microphones
  • Speakers
  • Dual Stereo Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, we found an envelope with paperwork, as well as a 65W USB Type-C power adapter.


Design and construction

For better or for worse, there has been no change in EliteBook 640 G9’s design, apart from its name. It comes with a profile of 19.9mm and weighs 1.37 kg. Both the lid and the base are made out of aluminum, with the former featuring a plastic stripe up top for the antennas.

In terms of strength, we find the base pretty rigid, while the lid is a bit flexy. Also, the keyboard feels reinforced, as there is almost no deck flex.

Thankfully, the lid can be opened with a single hand. The matte screen’s bezels are pretty slim. Above the panel, you can see an HD Web camera with Temporal Noise Reduction, a privacy shutter, and an optional IR face recognition scanner.

Then, a look at the base reveals the location of the speakers. They are placed above the keyboard, which makes the sound shoot directly at you. A bit below that is the main event – the spill-resistant, backlit keyboard. It has great key travel and clicky feedback. At the end of the day, this is one of the good units on the market.

A fingerprint reader has made its way to the palm rest area. It shares it with the touchpad, which is a bit unimpressive. Its gliding is not very smooth, while the tracking is okay.

Flip the device around, and you’ll find the ventilation grill. From there, the single fan draws its cool air, which is then exhausted as heat from a vent in between the base and the lid.

Ports

On the left side, there is a security lock slot, followed by a LAN port, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with an Always On function, and a Smart Card reader. Then, on the right, there is a power plug, a Thunderbolt 4 connector (that can also charge the device), two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, an HDMI 2.0b connector, an Audio jack, and a SIM card slot.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

You need to undo only 5 captive Torx-head screws to access this notebook’s internals. Then, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool. It’s best to start from the back.

Our configuration features a 51.3Wh battery pack. It got us through 13 hours of Web browsing, or 10 hours of video playback. To remove it, unplug the battery connector, and undo four Phillips-head screws that keep it in place.

Memory-wise, you get two SODIMM slots for up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in dual-channel mode. Respectively, the storage options comprise one M.2 PCIe x4 slot with the support of Gen 4 SSDs.

As for the cooling, you get one heat pipe, which leads to a heat sink. There a single fan blows the heat away from the chassis.


Display quality

HP EliteBook 640 G9 has a touchscreen Full HD IPS display, model number CMN141D. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.56 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 157 ppi, and their pitch – 0.161 x 0.161 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 56 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Its viewing angles are excellent. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 429 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 421 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 6%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6440K – slightly warmer, almost matching the sRGB standard of 6500K.
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 57% Brightness (White level = 139 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 – 1590:1.

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 an 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 640 G9’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 the HP EliteBook 640 G9 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display can reproduce 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 640 G9’s backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes the display comfortable for long hours of work and safe for 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.

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 54.0 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP EliteBook 640 G9 configurations with 14.0″ CMN141D (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS panel.

*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 640 G9’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-elitebook-640-14-inch-g9-notebook-pc/2101000544

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.


CPU options

The EliteBook 640 G9 is offered with the Core i3-1215U, Core i5-1235U, Core i5-1245U, Core i7-1265U, Core i5-1250P, or Core i7-1270P.

HP EliteBook 640 G9 CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the HP EliteBook 640 G9 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP EliteBook 640 G9 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)


GPU options

Graphics-wise, you get the integrated solutions, as well as the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 with 2GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

HP EliteBook 640 G9 GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the HP EliteBook 640 G9 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP EliteBook 640 G9 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS72 fps61 fps31 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS88 fps57 fps31 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 640 G93.27 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 90°C @ 45W2.53 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 90°C @ 30W2.32 GHz @ 2.17 GHz @ 74°C @ 24W
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

Well, well, well, how the turntables… The more affordable EliteBook 640 G9 performs better in long loads than its compatriot – the EliteBook 840 G9.

Comfort during full load

What is even better, is that the device can be barely heard. Also, its external temperature remains firmly in check throughout the test.


Verdict

As it turns out, if performance is on the table, you should pick the EliteBook 640 G9 over the more premium 840 G9. However, Lenovo has a device that is even less expensive and provides more performance out of the same hardware. It is called the ThinkPad E14 Gen 4, and it also has a Thunderbolt 4 connector.

On the other hand, the EliteBook 640 G9 comes with superior battery life. The 51.3Wh battery will last you around 13 hours of Web browsing, or 10 hours of video playback. This compares to 10 hours of Web browsing, and 8 hours of video playback for the aforementioned Lenovo.

HP EliteBook 640 G9’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very good contrast ratio. It covers 95% of the sRGB color gamut, which makes the image appear pretty vibrant and punchy. Furthermore, our Gaming and Web design profile aids the panel to achieve fantastic color accuracy.

Something that makes the laptop suitable for color-sensitive work. Another good aspect is the lack of PWM, which makes it safe for work in long periods of time in this aspect.

Combine that with a fantastic keyboard, which has spill resistance and a backlight. A pinch of fingerprint here, a tablespoon of IR face recognition, and a privacy shutter, and you get a tasty little notebook to play with.

Well, play is not exactly its purpose, and most of the time, the one deciding whether to buy this laptop or not will be a large corporation. So…large corporations, you have to keep in mind that the EliteBook 640 G9 comes with DDR4 memory. Yes, it is cheaper than DDR5, but the integrated graphics really loves the higher bandwidth of DDR5.

Speaking of graphics, you can get the machine with a GeForce MX570. We haven’t had it in our configuration, but we’ve tested it on other devices, and let us tell you – it is crazy good.

While this device features a good port selection, it still lacks an SD card slot. LTE is on the table, however, with 5G reserved for the more expensive EliteBook 840 G9.

Without a doubt, the 840 G9 is a higher quality product than the 640 G9. However, the more affordable device really puts in a fight and comes up on top on occasions. And if you want great value, check out the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 4.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-elitebook-640-g9/

Pros

  • Good battery life
  • PCIe x4 Gen 4 support + 64GB of DDR4 memory in dual-channel
  • One Thunderbolt 4 connector, Wi-Fi 6, and optional LTE support
  • 95% of sRGB coverage and great color accuracy with our Gaming and Web design profile (CMN141D)
  • No PWM (CMN141D)
  • Spill-resistant keyboard
  • IR face recognition and fingerprint reader
  • Decent cooling


Cons

  • No SD card reader
  • Visually it’s just a ProBook 640 G8 copy

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George
George
1 year ago

Hi Alex! We have discovered at HP forums that the (former Probook) now called “Elitebook” 6xx G9 series can also support a 2nd SSD in the WWAN port (if of course not already used by a wwan modem). This 2nd SSD is a M.2 (2230) PCIe NVMe Gen-3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3. HP fits these laptops with a 128gb/256gb disk if requested, or you can fit one yourself (thus installing even greater capacity drives). This is also true for the lower spec Probook 4xx G9 series as seen in my comment: https://laptopmedia.com/review/hp-probook-455-g9/comment-page-1/#comment-105864 On the other hand, the higher spec “true” G9… Read more »

DimeC
DimeC
6 months ago
Reply to  George

Thank you so much, this is of great use!

George
George
6 months ago
Reply to  DimeC

DimeC, the information has been revised as follows: These laptops can support 2230 drives if fitted by HP (special bracket used), otherwise individuals must use 2242 drives. Most importantly, you MUST check first that the motherboard has the appropriate M-key connector (notch is to the right -marked “ssd2”). Full discussion here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Second-ssd-drive-on-elitebook-650-g9/td-p/8824381