HP EliteBook 14" 840 G8, Core i5-1135G7, 16GB, 256GB SSD, Silver

The EliteBook 840 G8 has the highest user sentiment we've seen for a renewed laptop, sitting at the 99th percentile. But the specs are showing their age, with the CPU at the 23rd percentile and storage at the 16th. At $389 USD with 16GB of RAM and Windows 11 Pro, it's a fantastic deal for office work and a terrible choice for anything graphics-intensive.

The i5-1135G7 is a 4-core chip from Intel's 11th gen lineup, running at 2.4GHz base with a 4.2GHz boost. That puts it at the 23rd percentile in our CPU rankings, which means most laptops we've tested are faster. But here's the thing: for the kind of work this laptop is built for, it's fine. Word docs, spreadsheets, video calls, a dozen browser tabs. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM helps a lot here, even if that's only at the 37th percentile. You won't feel the RAM ceiling the way you would with 8GB.

The Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics sit at the 49th percentile for GPU performance. That's about average for integrated graphics, which is a polite way of saying it'll handle streaming video and light photo editing but will choke on anything resembling modern gaming. Our gaming score for this machine is 11.8 out of 100, which is one of the worst we've seen. The 256GB SSD is the other bottleneck, landing at the 16th percentile. That fills up fast with Windows 11 and a few apps. You'll want an external drive or cloud storage.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Air M4, there's no contest on performance. The M4 absolutely demolishes the i5-1135G7 in every benchmark we run. But the MacBook Air costs several times more. The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7 is probably the closest real-world competitor, offering similar business-focused features with newer internals, but again at a higher price. The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA and Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro are both in a completely different tier, with OLED displays and much faster processors. The MSI Stealth 14 AI is a gaming machine that makes this EliteBook look like a calculator. For the money, the EliteBook 840 G8 is competing with used ThinkPads and budget consumer laptops, and it holds its own there thanks to the RAM and build quality.

At $389 USD, this is a genuinely interesting deal. You're getting a business-class laptop with 16GB of RAM, a touchscreen, and Windows 11 Pro for less than most budget Chromebooks. The Canadian listing at $500 CAD is also reasonable. The value proposition hinges on what you need it for. If you want a reliable daily driver for office work, email, and web browsing, this is hard to beat. If you need storage space or any kind of graphics performance, you'll be spending more on external drives or a different machine entirely. The renewed condition is a wildcard, but the 99th percentile user sentiment suggests most buyers are getting machines that look and feel brand new.

The HP EliteBook 840 G8 sits in a weird spot in our database. User sentiment is at the 99th percentile, which is basically the best we've seen for a renewed laptop. But the hardware itself tells a different story. The i5-1135G7 lands at the 23rd percentile for CPU performance, and the 256GB SSD is down at the 16th percentile. So you've got a machine that owners absolutely love, built on specs that are decidedly middle-of-the-road by today's standards.

At $389 USD, this is a business laptop being sold at Chromebook prices. The 16GB of RAM is the real saving grace here, keeping it usable for multitasking even if the processor is showing its age. It's a 14-inch touchscreen with a backlit keyboard, Windows 11 Pro, and Thunderbolt 4 ports. For office work, email, and web browsing, this thing punches way above its price tag. Just don't expect it to do much beyond that.

Skip this if you need any kind of graphics performance. The gaming score of 11.8 out of 100 is a dealbreaker for anyone who wants to play games, edit video, or do 3D work. The 256GB SSD at the 16th percentile is also a problem if you store files locally. And if you're someone who keeps a laptop for five-plus years, the 23rd percentile CPU is already showing its age. This is a machine for right now, not for the future. The reliability score at the 33rd percentile, combined with one review mentioning a failure within 30 days, means you should factor in some risk with the renewed purchase.

The HP EliteBook 840 G8 is a case study in buying the right tool for the job. The 99th percentile user sentiment tells you everything: people who buy this for office work and everyday tasks are thrilled. The 23rd percentile CPU and 16th percentile storage tell you the other side: this is not a machine for heavy lifting. At $389 USD with 16GB of RAM and Windows 11 Pro, it's a steal for students, remote workers, and anyone who lives in a browser. Just know what you're getting into. The gaming score of 11.8 out of 100 isn't a typo.