HP EliteBook 14" 845 G8 Silver

The refurbished HP EliteBook 845 G8 is a budget-friendly 14-inch business laptop with 16GB of RAM, a comfortable keyboard, and excellent port selection. The Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U handles everyday work smoothly, but the dim display and small 256GB SSD are clear weak points. At under $350, it's a smart buy for students or office workers who value function over flash.

The Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U is a capable chip for everyday multitasking. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it chews through browser tabs, Office apps, and Slack without breaking a sweat. In our database, the CPU lands in the 43rd percentile, which puts it squarely in the "solid but not spectacular" camp. You won't confuse this with a workstation, but for the kind of work most people actually do, it's more than enough. The integrated Radeon Graphics sit at the 70th percentile, which is a nice surprise. You can get away with light photo editing and even some older games at low settings, though this is absolutely not a gaming laptop.

The 16GB of DDR4 RAM is a highlight at this price point. It's only in the 39th percentile overall, but having dual-channel memory makes a real difference in responsiveness compared to the 8GB configs you often see in budget machines. The 256GB SSD is the bottleneck. At the 19th percentile, it's one of the smallest drives in our database, and you'll feel that pinch quickly if you store a lot of files locally. Cloud storage or an external drive is almost a necessity here.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro MWP72LL/A, the EliteBook gets demolished on screen quality, battery life, and raw performance. But that MacBook costs several times more, even used. The Lenovo Yoga 7 83JR0001US is a closer fight. The Yoga gives you a much nicer 2.2K display and a 2-in-1 design, but you'll typically pay more and might get less RAM at the same price. The ASUS Zenbook UX3407QA-X1P512 is another step up in display and build quality, though it's often pricier and drops the Ethernet port.

Where the HP really carves out a niche is against the Dell Plus 14 LDB04255-A369BLU-PUS and Samsung Galaxy Book4 NP750XGK-KS2US. Those are newer laptops with better screens and longer battery life, but they frequently ship with 8GB of soldered RAM. For heavy multitaskers, the EliteBook's 16GB of upgradeable DDR4 is a genuine advantage. If your workflow involves dozens of tabs and multiple apps, the HP will feel smoother despite its older processor. If you prioritize display quality and portability above all else, the Samsung or ASUS are better picks.

Pricing on the refurbished EliteBook 845 G8 is all over the place, with a spread of $321 between the lowest and highest listings we've tracked. At the low end around $215, this is a steal for a 16GB Ryzen laptop with Windows 11 Pro. At $536, you're creeping into territory where you can find new budget laptops with better screens and warranties, or even a used M1 MacBook Air if you're willing to switch ecosystems. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. If you can snag one for under $350, the value is hard to beat. Just factor in that you might want to swap in a larger SSD down the line, which adds a bit to the true cost.

The HP EliteBook 845 G8 is a business laptop that's found a second life on the refurbished market, and if you're hunting for a sub-$500 workhorse, it's worth a look. You're getting a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U, 16GB of RAM, and a 14-inch 1080p display in a chassis that weighs just over 3 pounds. It's not going to turn heads at a coffee shop, but the magnesium alloy build feels sturdy and the backlit keyboard is genuinely comfortable for long typing sessions. Just know what you're signing up for: this is a refurbished unit, often a Grade B, so expect some cosmetic scuffs and the usual quirks of a pre-owned machine.

Connectivity is a strong point here. You get two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, full-size HDMI 2.0, and even a wired Ethernet jack, which is becoming rare on thin-and-light laptops. Wi-Fi 6 is onboard too, so your wireless speeds are covered. The biggest thing to watch out for is the display. The 250-nit panel with 45% NTSC color coverage is fine for documents and spreadsheets, but it looks washed out next to anything with a brighter, more colorful screen. And yes, some configurations ship without a webcam, so double-check the listing if you need one for Zoom calls.

For the price, which we've seen ranging from $215 to $536 across vendors, the EliteBook 845 G8 makes a solid case for itself as a budget productivity machine. It's not trying to be a MacBook Pro or a premium ultrabook. It's a straightforward Windows 11 Pro laptop built for getting stuff done, and it does that without much fuss.

Skip the EliteBook 845 G8 if you care about display quality at all. The 250-nit, 45% NTSC panel is rough for watching movies, editing photos, or working near a window. Creative professionals should save up for a MacBook Air or a Dell XPS with a better screen. Also, if you need a laptop that lasts a full workday on battery, this isn't it. The 53Wh battery is just okay, and you'll be hunting for outlets by mid-afternoon. Anyone who needs a webcam for frequent video calls should verify the specific unit has one, as some refurbished configs ship without it.

The HP EliteBook 845 G8 is a purpose-built tool, not a luxury item. It's for someone who needs a reliable, no-nonsense Windows laptop with plenty of RAM and a great keyboard, and who doesn't want to spend more than a few hundred bucks. The port selection is fantastic, the performance is solid for office work, and the lightweight chassis makes it easy to carry around. But you have to accept the trade-offs: a dim screen, limited storage, and the gamble that comes with any refurbished purchase.

Should you buy this? If you find a good deal under $350 and your daily routine lives inside a web browser, Microsoft Office, and maybe some light spreadsheets, absolutely. It's a lot of laptop for the money. If you do any creative work that demands color accuracy, or if you need all-day battery life away from an outlet, look elsewhere. This is a desk-bound warrior, not a coffee shop showpiece.