HP Elite 805 G9 2023, Ryzen 5 PRO 8600G, 16GB, 512GB SSD

A quiet, port-packed business desktop that nails office work but fumbles the AI hype. Great value if you find it under CAD 1,200, overpriced if you don't.

The Ryzen 5 PRO 8600G handles spreadsheets, browser tabs, and video calls without breaking a sweat. 16GB of 5600 MHz DDR5 keeps things snappy, and the integrated Radeon Graphics is fine for dual monitors and light photo work. But the AI and LLM score of 31.3 out of 100 is rough. HP markets this as AI-enhanced, and technically there's an NPU in there, but don't expect to run local models or heavy AI tasks. For actual office work, it's solid. For AI hype, it's mostly marketing.

Against the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10, the HP loses on raw performance but wins on business features and port selection. The Legion is a gaming rig with discrete graphics, so if you need GPU power, that's your pick. The Apple Mac Studio M4 Max is in a completely different league for creative and AI work, but it costs way more and runs macOS. For pure office productivity, the HP Elite 805 G9 holds its own. The Dell Tower ECT1250 is a closer competitor, but the HP's port selection and quieter operation give it an edge for desk-bound office workers.

Pricing is all over the place in Canada, ranging from CAD 990 to CAD 2,418 across three listings. That's a massive spread, so shop carefully. At the low end, this is a steal for a business desktop with DDR5 and a PRO chip. At the high end, you're getting fleeced. The US listings sit around USD 1,759 to 1,827, which feels steep for integrated graphics and 512GB of storage. If you can find it under CAD 1,200, it's a solid deal. Above that, look elsewhere.

The HP Elite 805 G9 is a business desktop that quietly nails the basics. You get a Ryzen 5 PRO 8600G, 16GB of DDR5, and a 512GB NVMe drive in a compact SFF chassis that won't annoy you with fan noise. It's not flashy, but for office work and everyday multitasking, it's a dependable workhorse.

The standout here is connectivity. With 10 USB-A ports, a USB-C, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort, this thing is in the 92nd percentile for ports. That's the kind of I/O flexibility IT departments dream about. Just don't expect it to flex on AI workloads, that's its weakest area by a mile.

If you need discrete graphics for gaming, video editing, or 3D work, this isn't it. Go grab a Lenovo Legion Tower or something with a real GPU. And if you're chasing AI workloads, the weak AI performance here will frustrate you. Look at an Apple Mac Studio or a workstation with a beefier NPU instead.

The HP Elite 805 G9 is a quiet, reliable business desktop that gets the fundamentals right. It's not exciting, and the AI marketing is overblown, but for office work, it's a solid choice. Buy it if you need a dependable SFF machine with tons of ports and don't care about gaming or AI. Skip it if you want discrete graphics or future-proof PCIe 5 support.