HP EliteBook 14" 840 G7 2020, Core i7-10610U, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Silver

A light, cheap business laptop with a worn screen and an old CPU. Buy it for office work, not for gaming or photo editing.

The i7-10610U is a 10th Gen chip, and our database puts it in the 15th percentile for CPU performance, which is honestly a bit rough. But here's what surprised us: for everyday tasks like email, spreadsheets, and a dozen browser tabs, the 16GB of DDR4 RAM and fast NVMe storage pick up a lot of the slack. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are a weak spot, landing in the 36th percentile, so don't expect to do anything beyond light photo editing or very old games. The compact score is a standout at the 90th percentile, and at 1.10kg, this thing is genuinely easy to carry.

The obvious modern alternative is the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7, which gives you newer silicon and a better screen, but you'll pay more. The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA-U7512 is another step up in display quality and build, but again, the price jumps. If you want a Mac, the MacBook Pro M3 Pro is in a completely different universe for performance and price, so that's not a fair fight. The MSI Stealth 14 AI A1VEG-090US is the gaming option, but this HP is not a gaming laptop, so skip that comparison entirely.

Pricing is all over the place depending on where you shop. In the US you'll find it for USD 380 to 390, but in Canada the spread is wider, from CAD 490 to CAD 569 across three listings. The best Canadian deal is at the CAD 490 end, so don't pay the higher price unless you're getting a better warranty or return policy. For a sub-USD 400 business laptop with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, this is a solid value if you accept the Grade B screen.

The HP EliteBook 840 G7 is a business laptop that's aging like a decent pair of shoes, still comfortable but not winning any races. The one thing to know is this: you're buying a refurbished machine with a Grade B LCD, so the screen is going to have some wear. But for the price, you get a 14-inch Windows 11 Pro laptop with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD that handles office work without breaking a sweat.

If you're looking for a laptop with a beautiful, flawless display, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7 or an ASUS Zenbook instead. And if you want to play games, skip this entirely and look at something with a dedicated GPU, like the MSI Stealth 14.

If you need a cheap, light Windows laptop for office work, school, or travel, and you can live with a screen that has some cosmetic wear, the EliteBook 840 G7 is a smart buy. Just make sure you're getting it at the lower end of the price range, and don't expect it to do anything graphically demanding.