HP EliteBook 1040 G4 [i7-7th Gen, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD]

HP’s 14-inch HP EliteBook 1040 G4 is a solid business notebook that’s as good for play as it is for work. That’s because the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 bright, vibrant display offers great picture quality, and its Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers produce solid sound. The high-powered, quad-core model offers a ton of speed, while the dual-core (Intel U-Series) model lasts over 10 hours on a charge from its excellent audio to its vibrant display, there’s a lot to love about this laptop. However, some competitors offer a better typing experience and even longer endurance.

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 display

The HP EliteBook 1040 G4 14-inch display offers crisp, vivid images. As I watched the teaser trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, I admired how it nailed the difficult-to-display purple of Thanos’ body, his gold armor and the blue glow from Black Panther’s spear. The 1920 x 1080-pixel panel is also crisp enough to show the intricate glowing patterns that emanated from Doctor Strange’s hands.

According to our colorimeter, the two EliteBook 1040 models we tested produced an average of 113 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That beats the 101-percent average for thin-and-light notebooks and trounces Lenovo’s ThinkPad 25 and T470p (69 to 77 percent) , but it’s less than the 144 percent we saw from the Dell Latitude 7380.

The two HP EliteBook 1040 G4 models we tested emitted 278 and 292 nits (for the 7820HQ and 7500U models, respectively) of brightness. Those marks soar above what we recorded for the Latitude 7380 (267 nits), the ThinkPad 25 (221 nits) and the ThinkPad T470p (229 nits), as well as the 253-nit category average. That’s bright enough for a solid range of viewing angles, as I saw Doctor Strange’s red cape stay strong at 30 degrees to the left and right. The touch-screen display on the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 offers speedy input recognition, doing a fantastic job of keeping up as I rapidly doodled in Paint. The screen’s right and left sides correctly registered Windows 10’s gestures for navigating windows and opening side menus.

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 security and Durability

The HP EliteBook 1040 G4 has several ways to keep your data secure. In addition to HP’s optional Sure View privacy screens, which can help prevent someone from stealing intellectual property from you by peeping at your screen, the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 packs HP’s Sure Start technology, which automatically repairs your laptop’s BIOS (the root-level infrastructure of your system) in case of attack. In contrast to these EliteBook keyboards, the Lenovo ThinkPad 25, ThinkPad T470p and the Dell Latitude 7380 pack amazingly comfortable keyboards with stronger feedback and deeper travel. The T470p, for example, has a deep, 2.3 millimeters of travel and requires 74 grams of actuation force. HP says that its keyboard offers less snappy feedback than competitors in order to produce less typing noise, which may appeal to some users.

The 4.3 x 2.5 touchpads on the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 tracked my input accurately as I navigated the desktop. The HP EliteBook 1040 G4 also correctly registered the navigational gestures in Windows 10 and web-page scrolling in Chrome. The two ThinkPad also provide a TrackPoint nub that lets you navigate around the desktop, without lifting your hands off of the home row.

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 audio

The strong sound produced by the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 is yet another example of HP’s partnership with the audiophiles of Bang & Olufsen, whose branding sits next to the gridded speaker above the keyboard. When listening to St. Vincent’s “Los Ageless” on the EliteBook, I noted clear vocals, accurate synths and sturdy bass. Neither the Dell Latitude 7380, the ThinkPad T470p nor the Lenovo ThinkPad 25 offers sound quality that comes close.

The included Bang & Olufsen Audio app includes three audio options; the default Music setting is best. The Movies option distorts vocals, and the Voice setting drops out nearly all of the bass.

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 performance

Though both HP EliteBook 1040 G4 configurations we tested had 1080p screens, 16GB of RAM and 512GB solid-state drives, one was powered by a dual-core Core i7-7500U CPU while the other had a more powerful, quad-core Core i7-7820HQ processor. Both offer great multitasking, but the quad-core processor delivered much stronger overall performance. When testing both machines, I saw no lag or delay as I scrolled down pages and moved between tabs after splitting each screen between a 1080p streaming YouTube video and a dozen Chrome tabs (including Giphy, Slack, Gmail and Google Docs).

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 battery Life

The HP EliteBook 1040 G4 offers decent to great longevity, depending on the model. Intel’s HQ model uses a power-hungry 45-watt CPU, and the U model uses a 15-watt CPU. The more efficient U model of the EliteBook lasted 10 hours and 35 seconds on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi. The HQ model lasted a more modest 8:07.

The 8:37 category average falls between those two times, and the Dell Latitude 7380 made it even longer (10:46). The Lenovo ThinkPad 25 lasted a short 6:52 with its three-cell battery but 13:14 with its six-cell battery (an optional $139 upgrade). The ThinkPad 25 is a special edition of the T470; when we tested a regular T470 with a non-touch display and 6-cell battery, its time was a remarkable 17 hours and 25 minutes. Lenovo’s ThinkPad T470p, which has an HQ series processor to gulp down power, lasted an above-average 8 hours and 50 minutes. That beats the runtime from the HQ version of the Elitebook 1040 G4 by more than a half hour.

HP EliteBook 1040 G4 webcam

The 0.9-megapixel webcam in the HP EliteBook 1040 G4 is serviceable, and that’s about it. Yes, I can recognize myself in the selfies I shot in the office. But the edges of my clear glasses are blurred out, and a chromatic particle filter seems to be applied to the image; you can see flecks of all the colors of the rainbow on the white ceiling tiles above me and the beige wall behind me.

Hp Elitebook 1040 G4 7th Core I7 16gb Ram 512gb Ssd Touch Screen

Key Features

• Intel Core i7-7600U processor, 7th Generation dual-core CPU with Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz, designed for responsive and efficient handling of business-class workloads and multitasking

• 16GB DDR4 RAM, offering high-bandwidth memory performance for running multiple applications, virtual desktops, and productivity software simultaneously

• 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, providing fast read/write speeds for quick boot times, secure file storage, and seamless access to documents and programs

• 14-inch Full HD IPS touchscreen display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, anti-glare coating, and rich color reproduction—ideal for presentations, design work, and everyday computing

Design and Build

• Premium aluminum chassis with diamond-cut edges for durability and a professional look

• Ultraslim profile and light weight at approximately 1.36 kg, built for mobile professionals and frequent travelers

• Rigorously tested for reliability and compliance with MIL-STD 810G standards, including drop, vibration, temperature, and dust resistance

Display & Input

• Edge-to-edge multi-touch display supports smooth finger interaction and gesture navigation

• Spill-resistant backlit keyboard for comfortable, accurate typing in various environments

• Responsive and spacious glass touchpad with multi-gesture support for fluid navigation

Security & Privacy

• Embedded TPM 2.0 security chip for secure hardware-based encryption and credential protection

• Fingerprint reader and optional IR camera for secure, password-free logins via Windows Hello

• HP Sure Start Gen3 self-healing BIOS technology ensures system recovery from unauthorized firmware changes

• Optional HP Sure View integrated privacy screen (on select configurations) to protect against visual hacking

Connectivity & Expansion

• 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 for high-speed data transfer, device charging, and external display output

• 2 x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x HDMI 1.4, and 1 x 3.5mm audio combo jack for flexible peripheral connectivity

• Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2 for dependable wireless performance

• Micro SIM slot on select units for optional LTE mobile broadband

Audio & Communication

• Four premium Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers with rich, immersive sound output ideal for video calls and media playback

• Dual microphones with background noise cancellation to enhance voice clarity during meetings and calls

• Integrated HD webcam with automatic light adjustment for sharp video in various lighting conditions

Battery & Power

• All-day battery life, with usage ranging up to 12–13 hours under standard workloads

• Supports HP Fast Charge, delivering up to 50% recharge in approximately 30 minutes

• Includes 65W USB-C power adapter for compact and efficient charging.