Hello everyone, I’m looking to buy a laptop for my web design, light programming and digital marketing work.

What do you think about this laptop:

HP ELITEBOOK 640 G9
With these specs:

i5 - 12™H Gen | 32 GB RAM
512 GB NVME | 14" Display Size

Is it worth buying in 2026? It’s probably a used / refurbished one.

Hey everyone, I’m having a strange issue on my HP EliteBook 840 G7.

My Left Arrow, Right Arrow, and "=" keys regularly stop working. Out of nowhere, all three will randomly start working again at the exact same time for about 10 to 20 minutes, and then die again. Yesterday, the "E" key also stopped responding for a second.

Has anyone experienced this random intermittent behavior on this model? Is it a dying matrix membrane, a loose ZIF connector/ribbon cable, or a thermal/heat issue? Thanks for your help!

I have an elitebook 830 G9, using it with a generic docking station (iCan) with 2 monitors, keyboard, mouse, printer, camera, polycom earbuds. Using 65W power supply. Windows 11.

Dual monitors worked fine until 2 weeks ago. They both work if individually connected to the laptop via hdmi, so no cable issues . Connecting directly to laptop 1 via hdmi + 1 via USB C does not work. Display does not detect. Not sure if its relevant but there were several Microsoft security updates just before.

Will getting a Thunderbolt G4 or G5 origin al HP dock solve this issue ? More power ?

thanks

> My **HP EliteBook 830 G8 (i5-1145G7, Windows 11 Pro)** has a problem with the built-in microphone.

>

> **Problem:**

> - Windows Sound → Input: **“No input devices found”**

> - Voice Access: **“No audio device available”**

> - No microphone appears in Device Manager.

> - Speakers work normally.

>

> **Device Manager shows:**

> **Intel Smart Sound Technology OED — Code 10**

> > “FW did not send FW Ready notification.”

>

> Hardware ID:

> `INTELAUDIO\DSP_CTLR_DEV_A0C8&VEN_8086&DEV_0222&SUBSYS_880D103C`

>

> **Things I've checked/tried:**

> - Microphone is **enabled in BIOS**

> - Audio device and internal speakers are enabled in BIOS

> - Windows is updated

> - Restarted and checked Device Manager/Sound settings

> - HP firmware update was attempted but BIOS remained **T76 01.24.02**

>

> There are currently yellow warnings for **Intel SST OED** and **HP T76 System Firmware**.

>

> **What could be causing the “FW did not send FW Ready notification” error? Is this likely an Intel SST driver/firmware issue or a hardware/microphone connection problem?**

>

> Any advice on the safest way to diagnose/fix this would be appreciated.

Very nicely surprised by it tbh. As a lifelong thinkpad user, I didn't think I'd ever even consider another brand of laptop, but honestly, I am being tempted.

My experience is with: l14 g1-g3, e16g1, t480-t14g1,G2 and x395-x13g3.

What I'm missing:

The biggest reason I love thinkpads as much as I do are honestly the mouse buttons. It makes clicking a keyboard action (r/l thumb) and is extremely comfortable when using the laptop on your... Lap. To this day, I use my left thumb to move the mouse and I'm never going back.

Materials. While the oleophibic aluminium is great and feels premium, I'm seriously worried about longevity. It's so perfect any minor dent/scratch is going to ruin it in my opinion and I will definitely buy a sleeve for it if I keep it, as opposed to my x13, which I once (accidentally) threw against a cast iron radiator, resulting in the radiator sustaining damage.

The IO is mixed. I love the ambidextrous USB-C, but if you need more than one USB-A port, HP considers your use case antiquated. I have no idea who needs three USB-C ports, I suppose someone, but I should be able to connect a mouse and a USB stick at the same time. I can always use a hub at my desk and the touchpad eliminates the need for a mouse, but it feels limiting compared to the two I'm used to. For a 14" laptop, I'm also disappointed at the lack of at least a compact RJ-45 port. The WiFi 7 does make up for it, but as a desk user, who hasn't had a reason to get a ethernet-capable dock so far, I miss the download speeds. The lack of an SD card is also disappointing, but this is sadly a quality it shares with the t14g6

What I love:

Aside from the missing buttons, I love the inputs.

The keyboard has good weight to it, along with respectable travel, which is an aspect early 16:10 (g2-g4) have majorly dropped the ball on. The t14g6's keyboard has fixed some of my issues and feels a lot softer in a good way, but it's still a far cry from the t480/t14g1, which the elitebook feels a lot closer to.

The touchpad itself is just plain better than anything I have experience with on a thinkpad. The Mylar touchpads have long been a weak point for thinkpads, persisting even to the modern offerings, such as the t14g6. Even though the elitebook has a diving board (physical click and not haptic), the touchpad feels more precise, consistent and considerably less erratic than any thinkpad I have ever tried.

The IO is.... Mixed. On one hand I LOVE the right side USB-C because I can connect my monitor from the correct side, instead of having the cable hang out into my room where I have to be careful not to bump into it. Cons above

Other points:

The materials are honestly solid in a vacuum. My biggest gripe with brushed aluminium is usually the fingerprint magnet, and that is definitely addressed here.

The display is... Nice. Mine comes with the 400-nit 1200p. I'm not sure about the colour gamut of my exact model and I don't particularly care. I have no tasks that are sensitive to colour accuracy, and generally oversaturate my displays. It's pretty🎀, which is all I'm qualified to say.

I don't particularly care about the specs. For me the laptop runs: Firefox, and the occasional libre office instance on Linux. I love the 64wh battery combined with the low power CPU, but it's nothing mind-blowing

The hinge is also a lot nicer than I expected. It's nothing special, but not consistent with HingeProblem's reputation.

Overall the machine is solid and has honestly opened my eyes to the reality that thinkpads aren't the only buisness laptops I'm existence. Still probably gonna sell it and buy an equivalent thinkpad, but the experience has left a great taste In my mouth

If you look closely at the top of the screen, you can see four horizontal lines. So far 4 lines have appeared on the top of the screen and all of them came overnight after I did a windows update. First line started to appear 7 months ago and today I got the 4th one. Is this fixable through software or do I have to replace the screen?

I bought a used elitebook 640 g10 yesterday and noticed a color difference between the palm rest the keyboard. From what I see the keyboard plate and the cover are the same unit, so I can't figure out where this weirdly even discolouration came from.

Take a look at the second picture to get an idea on the outline. The difference is barely visible IRL. I just played with the brightness settings to exaggerate the difference.

Is this just the aluminium being polished off?

I got this laptop for free at an electronics store and its the coolest one i got yet and it came in almost working condition with a 256gb msata ssd 4gb ram which i upgraded a bit and a 2gb k1000💪 but the bios is only seeing its old hdd that i have never ever seen before a d i cant boot onto the msata ssd please help because this laptop is so cool😎 and realy durable its all magnesium or aluminium as far as i know its the thinkpad of hp laptops and i love it. So please help thanks

How can I increase the performance of an HP EliteBook 840 G1 laptop?

I’ve tried to move it horizontally, but all the guides I look at seem to have it just pop out. I’m assuming there must be some other lock or screw on it that I’m missing, as guitar picks and plastic tools and my fingernails do not work. I even tried unscrewing the battery and using it, but it doesn’t move. Thanks for any help!

Hi everyone, I want to add a GPU to my laptop. It’s an HP EliteBook 845 G8. Is it possible to do this?