HP EliteBook 845 G10 review: The almost perfect business laptop with AMD Zen4

[Neenyah]

Please point me to the direction where 5600MHZ is the max speed supported for ZEN4 APU's.
I am aware for SO-DIMM, but LPDDR5X-7500 is available and supported...

Well he was talking about DIMM modules and LPDDR is exclusively soldered, there are no DIMMs for it. So people would, as usual, then complain about RAM being soldered despite being much faster and more efficient for battery.

[Andrey 845 G10]

I have reinstalled Windows. Now my display shows as sRBG. Please help make P3.

P.S. The best Windows laptop for work. But you need to upgrade the RAM.

I installed the icc profile from the article. The P3 color space has appeared. Could you also post the original profiles?

There are nice little things in the laptop. For example, there is an ambient light sensor and ambient color temperature (analogous to Apple's True Tone). They work correctly: the eyes do not get tired, you do not want to adjust the brightness. The keyboard backlight turns on automatically when darkening. Fast fingerprint scanner.

type-c supports 4k 60fps 10 bit color without compression.

Thanks for the article)

[NikoB]

type-c supports 4k 60fps 10 bit color without compression.

Even the antique 2009 DP1.2 supports this mode, but without the HDR metadata that didn't exist back then.

Unfortunately USB40 support for DP2.0-2.1 is currently fake. Only USB40 V2.0 is capable of transmitting 2xDP2.1 with 1/2 bandwidth of a full version of DP2.1 (or one full DP2.1).

In fact, this laptop should have HDMI 2.1 outputs at 48Gbps and separately 1 miniDP port with 40Gbps, plus 2 USB40 ports on the left and right and of course RJ45 at 2.5-5Gbps. Only in this case can we recognize the port system in it as a reference for a business laptop with reserve for the future.

Unfortunately, AMD released 2 crazy product lines in 2023 - Zen4 and Zen4 Phoenix.

Even though the Zen4 Phoenix is their most advanced chip, to their disgrace it doesn't have pci-e 5.0 and only has 20 pci-e 4.0 lanes (i.e. 10 pci-e 5.0 lanes in total if convert 4.0 in 5.0).

At the same time, the less technologically advanced Zen4 45 series has as many as 28 pci-e 5.0 lanes (or 56 pci-e 4.0 lanes), which, ironically, are practically not fully used in any laptop model in 2023. Question to AMD, why add pci-e 5.0 28 lines to the 45 series, if not a single productive laptop took advantage of this? At the same time, the most high-tech Zen4 Phoenix has the same 28 pci-e 5.0 lines and there are not at least 16 such lines. He has only 10 of them (if you translate the 4.0 lines into the 5.0 version). Why such a strange imbalance of 2.8 times, although the difference in performance is only 2 times?

Zen4 Phoenix is clearly missing another 8-10 free pci-e 4.0 lanes...

[Logoffon]

For business laptop:

- no numpad

Are you a time traveler? Subnotebooks haven't had numpads in years lmao.

14-inch laptops aren't subnotebooks though.

[Neenyah]

14-inch laptops aren't subnotebooks though.

I agree but I would also say that's open to personal interpretation. I mean here is the quote from NBC:

We categorize subnotebooks as devices that are no larger than 14-inches in screen size and lighter than 1.5 kg (~3.3 lbs)...

Source: notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Ultra-Portable-Notebooks.98632.0.html

That being said, was there ever a 14" laptop with numpad? 🤨 I'm getting almost exclusively 14" models to get a keyboard without it (and a touchpad being almost centred instead of being pushed to the left side) or some 15.6 - 16" exceptions without one too (X1 Extreme/P1 as I'm mostly a ThinkPad user). Don't need it and if I need it I can buy an external keyboard with it because, again, I have two external keyboards without numpad.

[TzortzisG]

Hmm... I wonder if I can put an ssd in the WWAN slot! Has anyone tried?

Getting a PCIe SSD to work on a B-keyed m.2 slot is a big deal. For starters, you have to find a B+M keyed PCIe SSD, these are old-tech 2-lanes-only SSDs, and nowadays can only be found used from ebay and such. HP doesn't like these SSDs on their motherboards, so they have a lot of issues (appearing-disappearing, discharging battery when system powered off, etc,etc). So, NO. Only the probook G9/G10 and the elitebook 6xx G9/G10 support this config.

It's really a big shame that Managing Editor Andreas Osthoff didn't think that it would be profitable for potential business buyers to know that the 845 G10s with the 7840HS and the 7940HS, both have an artificial cpu max speed cutoff point at 4.5GHz (as seen in the CPU-Z screenshot of the Performance section) IF the laptop's BIOS has been updated to a version other than the original.

[Dummy user]

The funny thing is that this laptop is seemingly affected by a known glaring issue:

h30434. www3. hp. com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Ryzen-7-7840HS-is-not-running-at-full-speed/td-p/8731252

www. reddit. com/r/Amd/comments/15fcyfx/hp_sells_laptops_with_a_bugged_bios_which_limits/

That can be seen by this reviewed laptop's GeekBench 5 ST score of 1758: exactly in line with all other bugged laptops.

I guess the editor of this review has never bothered to run HWiNFO64 to verify operating frequencies.

[NikoB]

As I wrote earlier - HP deliberately reduces the performance of processors (on average by 15-20%) relative to Lenovo counterparts in order to reduce the overall noise level during normal use. Both in PL1 and PL2 mode.

It is better, of course, that the owner himself chooses the curve for increasing the speed of the cooler (s) depending on temperatures and PL1/PL2. But from above, these values are strictly limited by the selected components according to their characteristics in the processor's power piping. Therefore, it is not an easy task to provide a large range of PL1/PL2 changes in terms of long-term reliability.

In addition, the entire power piping must be covered with massive radiators and the number of heat pipes and the weight and volume of the radiators at the output must be increased. All of this adds weight, as well as noise if the cooler(s) can't handle the given PL1/PL2.

Everyone has to come to terms with the fact that HP makes the G series so that it does not shine with performance, but is quieter than competitors in normal operation and surfing, at least the 4xx series.

Another thing is that the price of laptops of these G series is clearly too high, against the background of general characteristics and the lack of use of more advanced components available on the global market.

But it is clear that these series are most often taken in bulk by medium and large companies, possibly for kickbacks to purchasing managers, so HP is not particularly interested in the correct retail price - it does not care, it knows that these models will not be popular with retail buyers, because are not optimal in many parameters, as in this model.

[Dummy user]

@NikoB

That's a nice theory except it's not true. For Phoenix laptops HP has simply screwed up something in BIOS.

Check these three screenshots:

ibb. co/S0Pht2y
ibb. co/yfNS7RR
ibb. co/F88XjrJ

You'll see that at least in my case:

1) The PL1 limit (or its AMD version) for my CPU is 54W.
2) The CPU easily reaches it.
3) The CPU easily reaches 100C temperatures.

This indicates that there's no deliberate clock speeds/temperatures limiting whatsoever.

[Andrey 845 G10]

I put the RAM 5600 (40-40-40-80) in dual-channel mode. It feels smoother and faster. Programs and drivers are installed faster.

From the tests, I checked only Cinebench R23. Both before and after the upgrade: 1500 / 15000 (as in the article). It's always the same with tests: it's hard to detect performance gains from RAM.

The laptop has a friendly design. A screwdriver and a plastic card are enough for disassembly.

[NikoB]

1) The PL1 limit (or its AMD version) for my CPU is 54W.
2) The CPU easily reaches it.
3) The CPU easily reaches 100C temperatures.

The reviewer writes that PL1 = 41W, which is 24% less than the nominal TDP specified by AMD (54W).

This is done intentionally - so that the cooling system is quieter and easier to handle in such a small case with processors for gaming platforms.

Normally, the 7940HS should deliver at least 2600-2700 points in a looped CBR15 test at PL1=54-54W. Otherwise, what is the point of this series, if a processor with a higher TDP than the 6900HX and with a more advanced technical process is slower with the same number of cores? It's absurd, who will then buy it, right.

On the other hand, the 6900HX has a TDP of 45W, which means 41W on the 7940HS, already according to AMD's declarations of performance growth (and the general declarations of TSMC about "4nm" vs "5nm"), a priori it should be assumed that it must be faster even at PL1=41W than 6900HX at 45W.

But in fact, we don't see it.

But the 7945HX at 41W is much faster (at least 1.5 times) than the 6900HX at 45W. While the 7945HX uses the outdated 5nm process technology. But at the price of an extremely primitive built-in video chip.

This suggests that AMD irrationally used part of the space for the integrated video chip, because it clearly does not provide a significant breakthrough in performance, at least to the level of the GTX4050.

Moreover, the lack of memory in the HBM2/3 kit right in the SoC package, at least in the form of 1-2GB of cache, leads to disastrous results for the 780M.

[Dummy user]

@NikoB

I wrote about the well known maximum CPU clock speed issue, you're writing about TDP/TTP/power limits and heavy MT workloads.

Maybe you could pay a modicum of attention to what I said initially. Thanks.

[NikoB]

The PL1 limit (or its AMD version) for my CPU is 54W.

You data contradict the review data.

[Dummy user]

@NikoB

My data? I messed up with PL1/PL2 naming and 3 watts, correct. I don't want to even remember that, as it has nothing to do with the issue of HP laptops with Phoenix APUs.

I said that the reviewed laptop had troubles reaching the advertised clock speeds as evidenced by the quite low GB5 score and other ST benchmarks.

You've been talking about something completely orthogonal and unrelated: power constraints for MT workloads that I couldn't care less about. It's a laptop, not a liquid nitrogen cooled desktop.

PL2 at 51W and PL1 at 41W already make its CPU throttle in MT workloads as it easily reaches 100C temperatures and the laptop gets quite hot. Running fans a lot faster? Welcome noise. Making a beefier cooling system? Goodbye portability.

If you need a portable workstation, you need something a lot heavier than this thin and light ultralaptop.

[Neenyah]

@Dummy user, mate just one info to drop here; you are replying to a self-proclaimed expert in every existing field and area in life, no matter of their geographical location. Just keep that in mind 😁 I mean just read the following sentence from another thread, that will tell you everything:

All you have is talk, yet you didn't even know what overlayfs was

I don't need to know, because The world of Linux is of little interest to me, which does not negate my knowledge and experience...