HP EliteBook Folio 1040 Review– Finally, a Non BlandEnterprise Laptop

Lets face it, business PCs tend to be boring with bland designs. The HP EliteBook 1040 G1 on the other hand, offers just about everything you want from a solid business laptop while offering the looks of a sleek PC that is sporting a more consumer-like design. Furthermore, the HP EliteBook is HP’s thinnest business Ultrabook ever. From the moment we picked it up, we were impressed with how thin and lightweight it is for a 14” laptop. To that effect, it weighs just 3.3 and measures just .63 inches thin. Speaking of the design, the Elitebook 1040 takes cues from HP’s popular Envy series, which in turn takes cues from Apple’s MacBook Pro. And that isn’t a bad thing. The result is a super sleek and sophisticated laptop. But not only does it look good – the Elitebook 1040 is also built to last and withstand the elements. 

The moment you pick it up, you can feel how solid its magnesium and ABS plastic construction is. It has also been created to pass the MIL-STD 810G testing for drop, functional shock, vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and extreme temperatures. That makes it perfect for both harsh enterprise environments and traveling businessmen who tend to treat their computers roughly. In addition, the full-size keyboard is spill-resistant and has a drain. The keyboard also sports a set of tactile keys with plenty of spacing in between keys and the keyboard is also backlit. 

Beyond the keyboard, the large pressure-sensitive multi- gesture touchpad helps alleviate the need for a touchscreen when using Windows 8, however, we still feel like a touchscreen should be standard nowadays – especially at this price point. The 14” display on the 1040 offers the perfect balance for those on the go – it’s large enough to work comfortably, but not too large to become un- travel friendly. The display is a LED-backlit FHD anti-glare UWVA 1080p display. 

This is good news to users who don’t like the glossy display that is found on most consumer laptops these days. It’s also a very good, nearly excellent display with accurate color reproduction, and bright visuals that are easy on the eyes. It’s just a bit weak when it comes to viewing angles and its colors aren’t super vivid. And unfortunately, a touchscreen display is not standard, but it is an optional upgrade. 

A non- touchscreen display is fine if you plan on using Windows 7 on the Elitebook 1040. But anyone planning to use Windows 8 – should not, even for a moment, consider not opting for a touchscreen display. Our system came powered by a Core i5 vPro (i5-4300U) processor, 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. As far as benchmarks are concerned, the system earned a PCMark 8 Work Conventional Score of 2760 and a Creative Conventional score of 2097. 

Overall, the system feels very peppy and offers capable performance. If you’re looking for even more raw power, you’ll want to configure it with a Core i7 processor. When it comes to features, the EliteBook is no slouch either and it’s also pretty future proof. Our system came with built in NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and it can optionally configured to include HP Mobile Broadband with 3G and 4G LTE. 

There are also plenty of ports, including 2 USB 3.0 ports (one which can be used for charging when the system is off!) a docking connector, display port, a microSD card of RAM, and a VGA and ethernet dongle is included in the box. 

The system also sports a convenient dedicated wireless button and dedicated mute button. HP also has an optional UltraSlim Docking Station accessory available for connecting to accessories and printers without the hassle of connecting individual components.