With Employee discount price drops to 628.30 do you think this as a good deal?
Super deal. EliteBooks are among the very best traditional laptops you can find - well-built, highly upgradable and serviceable, basically all the best ThinkPad traits (before they started soldering everything) minus the fingerprint magnet black finish and the pointing stick (my G8 is the last generation with pointing stick). ~$600 is about the same or less than consumer laptops (without the same build quality or serviceability) with similar specs. I got the slightly lower config (supposed to arrive tomorrow) with 256GB for $570 as I'm going to replace the SSD anyway, but that doesn't appear to be available anymore.
typing on one right now that I got this week. Its such an awesome machine for what I paid with the EPP discount. I'm switching from my m1 pro macbook pro 14.
That had a nicer screen and but I really missed windows (can't believe I said that). This touchpad kicks ass too. easily as good as the MBP for my needs which don't include gaming or photo/video editing.
typing on one right now that I got this week. Its such an awesome machine for what I paid with the EPP discount. I'm switching from my m1 pro macbook pro 14.
That had a nicer screen and but I really missed windows (can't believe I said that). This touchpad kicks ass too. easily as good as the MBP for my needs which don't include gaming or photo/video editing.
My 845 G9 arrives tomorrow (hopefully). I don't use the touchpad that much, but the touchpad is one of my favorite things about my 845 G8 - the click is somehow really satisfying like the buttons in a luxury car. Most other PC touchpads feel very cheap in comparison.
Mine just arrived, to replace my current 845 G8. Overall, a fantastic laptop. My impressions:
- Just as well-built as the G8
- Quiet and cool, as is the G8
- Comes with USB-C power adapter instead of the G8's barrel-type adapter, although the G8 supported USB-C PD as well. This is actually a bit of a downgrade for me, as now you have to use one of the USB-C ports for power, whereas with the G8 both could be kept free even while plugged in.
- Edges are more rounded/curved, vs. the more angular design of the G8. Not better/worse.
Improvements:
- 16:10 display, slightly brighter than the G8 (both have displays rated at 100 nits)
- Slightly better keyboard - a bit quieter and a slightly cushier feel; G8 keyboard was very good, this is just about best in class
- Touchpad feel is as good as G8, but much larger because of elimination of trackpoint buttons and switch to 16:10 aspect ratio, which gave more space front to back
- FHD camera, nice and sharp, vs HD resolution on the G8
- IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition - I didn't expect this would come on my Ryzen 5 6600U model, so it was a nice a surprise.
Worse compared to G8:
- Standard warranty dropped to 1 year from 3
- Speaker quality is worse than before - it doesn't seem to have any grilles at all, whereas the G8 had grilles on the sides of the keyboards. Before you say this is because of the switch to the narrower 16:10 - they eliminated the extra row of keys at the right, so there's actually more space on either side of the keyboard than the G8, which has speaker grilles on the sides of the keyboard deck.
- No more trackpoint
The 845 G9 initially did not play nice with my Lenovo ThinkVision P24h-20 USB-C monitor, the display and USB hub worked fine but I kept getting error messages that the power adapter caused a surge or wasn't providing enough power. I did the BIOS update and now everything's working fine.
I got the 32gb ram/1tb ssd version of this for $799 and I am still in shock I got it that cheap.
Like others have said, I'm thrilled with this thing. It's done everything I have asked and more, without the slightest hiccup and the build quality is phenomenal.
The screen aspect ratio makes a big difference and the track pad and keyboard are excellent. The graphics card is handling output to an external Samsung Crg9 at 5120x1440 @120hz and its flawless. Highly recommend this laptop if they ever get this cheap again. Def remove all the hp bloatware crap too!
I got the 32gb ram/1tb ssd version of this for $799 and I am still in shock I got it that cheap.
Like others have said, I'm thrilled with this thing. It's done everything I have asked and more, without the slightest hiccup and the build quality is phenomenal.
The screen aspect ratio makes a big difference and the track pad and keyboard are excellent. The graphics card is handling output to an external Samsung Crg9 at 5120x1440 @120hz and its flawless. Highly recommend this laptop if they ever get this cheap again. Def remove all the hp bloatware crap too!
Anyone else have a non-working fingerprint reader? Mine has the IR camera and fingerprint reader, but Windows Hello and Device Manager don't see a fingerprint reader at all. (IR camera works great but it would be nice to have the option to use fingerprint to log in as well.) I wonder if it's defective or just not connected? Mine is the 6600U/16GB/256GB configuration. Strangely I can't seem to find a listing of the full specs on the support site.
ETA: I chatted with HP support, and indeed the fingerprint sensor on my unit is just a dummy and not operative. Not a huge deal, but lame that HP was too cheap to also make a keyboard deck without the fingerprint sensor cutout, as it only leads to user confusion.
It looks like the configs with non-Pro Ryzen processors (like my 6600U) have the IR camera but no fingerprint sensor, while the Pro Ryzen processors (like the 6850U) have the fingerprint sensor. Can anyone confirm if the Pro models have the IR camera in addition to the fingerprint sensor?
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That had a nicer screen and but I really missed windows (can't believe I said that). This touchpad kicks ass too. easily as good as the MBP for my needs which don't include gaming or photo/video editing.
That had a nicer screen and but I really missed windows (can't believe I said that). This touchpad kicks ass too. easily as good as the MBP for my needs which don't include gaming or photo/video editing.
Recently bought the Lenovo, but still within the return period.
Also - touchscreen or not on the HP?
I logged with my edu account still showing $1109
I logged with my edu account still showing $1109
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- Just as well-built as the G8
- Quiet and cool, as is the G8
- Comes with USB-C power adapter instead of the G8's barrel-type adapter, although the G8 supported USB-C PD as well. This is actually a bit of a downgrade for me, as now you have to use one of the USB-C ports for power, whereas with the G8 both could be kept free even while plugged in.
- Edges are more rounded/curved, vs. the more angular design of the G8. Not better/worse.
Improvements:
- 16:10 display, slightly brighter than the G8 (both have displays rated at 100 nits)
- Slightly better keyboard - a bit quieter and a slightly cushier feel; G8 keyboard was very good, this is just about best in class
- Touchpad feel is as good as G8, but much larger because of elimination of trackpoint buttons and switch to 16:10 aspect ratio, which gave more space front to back
- FHD camera, nice and sharp, vs HD resolution on the G8
- IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition - I didn't expect this would come on my Ryzen 5 6600U model, so it was a nice a surprise.
Worse compared to G8:
- Standard warranty dropped to 1 year from 3
- Speaker quality is worse than before - it doesn't seem to have any grilles at all, whereas the G8 had grilles on the sides of the keyboards. Before you say this is because of the switch to the narrower 16:10 - they eliminated the extra row of keys at the right, so there's actually more space on either side of the keyboard than the G8, which has speaker grilles on the sides of the keyboard deck.
- No more trackpoint
Like others have said, I'm thrilled with this thing. It's done everything I have asked and more, without the slightest hiccup and the build quality is phenomenal.
The screen aspect ratio makes a big difference and the track pad and keyboard are excellent. The graphics card is handling output to an external Samsung Crg9 at 5120x1440 @120hz and its flawless. Highly recommend this laptop if they ever get this cheap again. Def remove all the hp bloatware crap too!
Like others have said, I'm thrilled with this thing. It's done everything I have asked and more, without the slightest hiccup and the build quality is phenomenal.
The screen aspect ratio makes a big difference and the track pad and keyboard are excellent. The graphics card is handling output to an external Samsung Crg9 at 5120x1440 @120hz and its flawless. Highly recommend this laptop if they ever get this cheap again. Def remove all the hp bloatware crap too!
Which programs did you remove?
ETA: I chatted with HP support, and indeed the fingerprint sensor on my unit is just a dummy and not operative. Not a huge deal, but lame that HP was too cheap to also make a keyboard deck without the fingerprint sensor cutout, as it only leads to user confusion.
It looks like the configs with non-Pro Ryzen processors (like my 6600U) have the IR camera but no fingerprint sensor, while the Pro Ryzen processors (like the 6850U) have the fingerprint sensor. Can anyone confirm if the Pro models have the IR camera in addition to the fingerprint sensor?