HP EliteBook 840 G3 Notebook Review

[Redaktion]

Just missed. HP has big ambitions with the third generation 840-series EliteBooks and wants it to compete with the best lightweight business notebooks. But there is a problem that already has a tradition for the manufacturer.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-EliteBook-840-G3-Notebook-Review.163267.0.html

[Francesco Sturlese]

Hi,
here in Italy the price of a 840 G3 with i7-6500u, 16 gb, 512 gb ssd + 1 tb hdd, wqhd panel is only 1150 euros. Why is the price so low? Are there any serious issues with this model? Thanks

[mika77]

why are you saying that it is plastic when HP claims this to be magnesium? thanks

[Bought one]

Bought a version with i7-6500u, 8gb ram, 512 gb M.2 ssd, lte, WQHD screen. Great! Added another 500 gb 2.5" ssd(for linux) + another 8gb ram. Now it's a mobile beast. I come from a heavy sandy bridge quad core platform, mobility adds much more value but...even though single core performance is greatly improved, fact that it has half the threads available makes me a bit disappointed. I realize that the single core performance cannot replace the physically available cores/threads. If you have lots of cloud services on, note applications, chrome browsers/tabs, development environments you'll see there's no space left for further processing.  Nonetheless, very very good laptop.

[Vlad S]

Bought a version with i7-6500u, 8gb ram, 512 gb M.2 ssd, lte, WQHD screen. Great! Added another 500 gb 2.5" ssd(for linux) + another 8gb ram. Now it's a mobile beast. I come from a heavy sandy bridge quad core platform, mobility adds much more value but...even though single core performance is greatly improved, fact that it has half the threads available makes me a bit disappointed. I realize that the single core performance cannot replace the physically available cores/threads. If you have lots of cloud services on, note applications, chrome browsers/tabs, development environments you'll see there's no space left for further processing.  Nonetheless, very very good laptop.

Got now a 4K monitor. This thing can drive it at 60hz through it's DisplayPort and works great. Really enjoying it!

[Seraf]

Hello @Vlad
My provider claims that you cannot add 2.5" SSD
Does it mean you broke your warranty by adding?
Seraf

[Aymeric]

After 6 years with Lenovo (Thinkpad T420 and T440), I bought an EliteBook for my job because of a lower price:
- first case was twisted  >> swapped for a new one

The new one was OK (i5 6500, SSD, 8 GB...) but:
- please, give me back my lenovo's keyboard, this one is unusable,
- please, give me back the assembly quality of my T440.... this HP seems to be made with plastic, a  ProBook looks and feels better (I bought 2 ProBook 450G3 for my collegues....)...
- I broke the Ethernet port after 3 months...

Just have to wait 2 years for buying a new Thinkpad   :-(

[Enos]

here in Italy the price of a 840 G3 with i7-6500u, 16 gb, 512 gb ssd + 1 tb hdd, wqhd panel is only 1150 euros. Why is the price so low? Are there any serious issues with this model? Thanks

@Francesco yes, I bought exactly the model you mentioned (i7/16Gb/512SSD/1000HD) together with the docking station. I wish I had not done it... In my opinion HP inflated the price pretending to make a discount, but the laptop is not worth much and is riddled with problems. Mine had serious issues in the BIOS (would not save settings, would not boot some UEFI images and would not recognize USB keyboard before OS started) and in Linux (hanged when a monitor was connected to the docking, reset audio volumes occasionally etc.). Only in Windows most things worked as expected: the on board keyboard remains uncomfortable, but performance, audio and the Ultra-HD monitor version are alright.

In any case I advise against buying this laptop, especially if using non-Windows operating systems.

[FerZuk]

What about StereoMix missing on this model? Why doesn't come on this model? How can you record sounds/video without Stereo Mix??

[blackdog]

HP has implemented a modern USB Type-C port 3.1, but only Gen. 1, which is a typical USB 3.0 in terms of performance with another connector. DisplayPort or Thunderbolt are not supported by the port and you cannot use it to charge the device via USB Type-C.

Hm, I'm just before buying an USB-C to USB-C cable for charging my HTC 10 phone. Is it then possible to charge from the HP Elitebook or not?
Or this quote would mean, the HP Elitebook cannot charging from USB-C? So I can charge my phone through USB-C of that notebook?
If I can charging my phone, than what kind of USB-C cable do I need for fastcharge? 3.1, 3.0 or 2.0?
Thanks

[DooMMasteR]

Yes charging a phone from the USB-C port is no problem at all.

Would be great if the laptop could be charged over it too, but HP omitted that on the G3 series :(.

[blackdog]

Okay and which USB version type should I buy to the fastcharge? 3.1, 3.0 or 2.0?

[AndreyP]

How this can have such rating? Display is awful and it has worst quality ever seen. Viewing angle is bad, contrast is bad, overall working experience with it was disgusting. Unfortunately same applies to later models too from this series.

[gweeks22]

I have this laptop with the 1080p screen. The screen is absolutely awful and I wish the keyboard had more key travel. Otherwise I think the laptop is pretty good. The screen makes it unusable though. I use my slow 2014 MacBook Pro with retina display more often because of the bad screen of the HP.

I'm probably going to buy an XPS 13 4k, perhaps OLED.

[Heather R Maurer]

Weeks of interactions with three successive account managers; unfulfilled daily promises! It is a highly deceptive and terrible system that makes you believe you have significant gains in your account and must pay to get them back; however, we never receive anything, and every day we are told we must pay a little bit more for no apparent reason! I ultimately lost a big amount! I am relieved to have escaped their hands after submitting an official report to Pro Asset Recovery Expert. It felt great to get reimbursed. This agent is reachable by email (pro asset recovery expert At gmail.com).