HP EliteBook 845 G8 (AMD)

HP EliteBook 845 G8 (AMD)

The HP EliteBook 845 G8 is a business laptop that has won over a lot of users. Beyond its elegant, sophisticated design and stable performance, it also offers enough battery life to keep up with all of your work needs. But what advantages does this laptop actually have over its rivals in the same segment? Join Hung Phat as we review it in the article below.

An elegant, sophisticated HP EliteBook 845 G8 design

The HP 845 G8 is a textbook example of the EliteBook line, one of the most elegant and modern families of office laptops. The G7's silver aluminum chassis is slim, with distinctive curves and rounded corners. The glossy, stylized HP logo adds to its refined look. The single hinge is sturdy and smooth, so you can easily open the lid with one hand.

Built from these materials, the HP Elitebook 845 G8 has passed 12 MIL-STD 810H tests, plus 120,000 hours of reliability testing through HP's Total Test Process. Weighing 1.34kg and measuring 12.74 x 8.45 x 0.7 inches, the 845 G8 slips easily into a backpack or bag, so you can take it with you to school or work.

A display with vivid image quality

The 14-inch full HD (1920x1080 pixel) IPS display produces crystal-clear images with softly saturated, very bright colors. Screen brightness measured 250 nits, with the built-in HP Sure View privacy screen. Black levels and contrast are generally good, and the high brightness makes it perfect for outdoor use on a matte screen.

HP Sure View protects sensitive information on your screen by making it hard to see from the sides. The trade-off, however, is narrower viewing angles than a conventional IPS panel.

Ports on the HP Elitebook 845 G8

The HP Elitebook 845 G8 comes with a fairly wide range of ports. On the left side, you will find a nano security lock slot, two USB Type-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports (one with charging), a headphone/microphone combo jack and a smart card reader. On the right side, there is a power connector, an HDMI 2.0 port, two USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports and an optional nano SIM card slot.

Wireless connectivity is handled by a Realtek Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2×2 and Bluetooth 5 combo card. WiFi 6 speeds were excellent in our testing with a UniFi WiFi 6 wireless access point, and the Bluetooth connection to a mouse or keyboard was reliable.

Keyboard & Touchpad

The black rubberized chiclet-style keys on the HP EliteBook are very responsive, with good bounce. Key travel is relatively deep, and the layout is sensible. The keys are quiet and don't make noise while you type. The keyboard is also spill-resistant, with a drainage hole beneath the vent cover that helps protect your computer in case of accidents. The keys have two levels of backlighting, which is handy when you need to work at night.

The ClickPad has a large, smooth glass surface with multi-touch gestures enabled. Two buttons are built into the touchpad and worked well during testing. Microsoft Precision drivers ensure accurate finger gestures. The EliteBook also includes a Trackpoint above the ClickPad with two physical buttons. The Trackpoint takes a little getting used to at first, but you will soon switch naturally between the Trackpoint and the ClickPad depending on your habits. The two physical buttons operate smoothly.

Audio & Webcam

The EliteBook 845 G8 is equipped with Bang & Olufsen speakers along the sides of the keyboard. Audio is good for video calls, aided by 3 array microphones. Sound quality is above average but lacks bass, and volume is moderate. The EliteBook 845 G8 also comes with HP Audio Control software, which is very helpful because it lets you adjust the equalizer to get closer to your ideal sound profile.

The 720p HD webcam is flanked by an ambient light sensor and an infrared camera for facial authentication with Windows Hello. The webcam itself is nothing special, with below-average video quality and washed-out colors.

The HP EliteBook 845 G8 delivers stable performance

The unit we are reviewing today has an AMD Ryzen 5 5600U APU beating inside the EliteBook 845 G8. It runs at a base clock of 2.3 GHz and boosts up to 4.2 GHz, with 6 cores and 12 threads and a TDP of 15 to 25 watts.

Backed by 8GB of DDR4 memory and a 256GB PCIe NVme M.2 SSD, the EliteBook can handle 30 Chrome tabs and 5 YouTube videos without any stuttering or lag.

The Ryzen 5 5600U APU also includes integrated AMD Radeon™ Vega Graphics, which runs very stably and handles some light photo and video editing. That means it can also run light games at low 1080P settings: titles such as Fortnite, LoL and CS: Go will play at low to medium settings.

Related models are collected in the HP laptops category. Two other models worth a look: the HP EliteBook 845 G7 (AMD) and the HP EliteBook 840 G8.

Battery life

According to HP, this laptop is equipped with a 3-cell, 53Whr Li-ion battery. With brightness turned down to 50% and only light office apps running, the HP Elitebook 845 G8 delivers 7 to 9 hours of battery life. The EliteBook also supports HP Fast Charge, reaching up to 50% in 30 minutes with the slim 65W AC adapter.