HP Elitebook 820 G1

On the go business people usually have very clear requirements on their wish-laptop: It must be reliable and secure, and sufficiently fast for the used applications. However, special focus is also placed on weight and battery runtime – particularly when the laptop is taken along on extended business trips.

Compact, 12-inch laptops are made just for this purpose as they try to master the balancing act between maximum portability and high (remaining) user value. The EliteBook 820 G1 plays this role at HP. The entry-level model features a Core i5 processor alongside 4 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB HDD. Configurations of considerably higher performance are also available. The EliteBook 820 G1 sports a Core i7-4600U, 8 GB of RAM, a 180 GB SSD storage, and a mobile wireless module.

For a business user, the EliteBook 820 is a solid system, in both senses. It’s been tested to military specs for drop, shock, vibration, dust, temperature and altitude, and the keyboard drains away spilled liquids safely. But it’s also easy to service: the whole base clips off for easy access to the components for repairs and upgrades.

Communication

The manufacturer installs different Wi-Fi modules depending on the configuration; in our case, it is Intel’s Dual-Band Wireless-N 7260. Although this mid-range model does not feature the latest ac standard, it supports 802.11 a/b/g/n, and consequently also transmits in the less frequented 5 GHz band. Transmission rates of up to 300 Mbps can be reached owing to dual-stream technology (2×2), providing an appropriate router is on the other side. The EliteBook proved to have an above average range, and excellent connection stability even in difficult reception conditions in our practical test (o2 Box 4421, max. 150 Mbps).

In addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, our review sample also sports a mobile broadband modem (HP hs 3110), which enables the user to browse via UMTS/HSPA+ on the go. Inserting a corresponding SIM card was a bit inconvenient because it has to be inserted in a slot under the battery.

The same 0.9 megapixel webcam including the array microphone as found in the EliteBook 850 G1 is available for video conferencing. The picture and sound quality are acceptable for communication purposes, but the primary camera of every low-priced smartphone provides much better results.

Security

Protecting the laptop against (physical) theft is not the only security issue for laptops, but in particular protecting the stored data. HP therefore relies on extensive hardware and software technologies, which include a specially protected BIOS, and an optional file and drive encryption. Physically, the EliteBook can be protected against theft with a Kensington lock, but it can also be located and/or remote locked (Computrace and Intel Anti-Theft) in real emergencies. Naturally, a fingerprint scanner should not be omitted, which is a convenient alternative, or a supplement for normal passwords.

Performance

The limited cooling capacity of the small 12-inch chassis requires the use of energy-efficient ULV processors that are based on Intel’s latest Haswell architecture, and which the contenders also use. Depending on the configuration, HP installs various Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs; our premium model even sports the Core i7-4600U. Its base speed of 2.1 GHz can be increased up to 3.3 GHz via Turbo Boost (2 cores: 2.9 GHz). Additionally, Hyperthreading improves the multi-threading performance. Intel builds the chip in a 22-nanometer process, and it is specified with a TDP of only 15 Watts (including the chipset).

Since it does not sport a dedicated solution from AMD or Nvidia, the integrated HD Graphics 4400 takes care of all graphic tasks. The medium, also called “GT2”, expansion stage of the Haswell GPU features 20 execution units (EUs) with a clock of 200 up to 1100 MHz.

A swift dual-channel connection to the main memory is necessary so that the graphics unit can max out its full performance. This prerequisite is given in the form of two 4 GB DDR3L-1600 modules, which gives the 820 G1 an advantage over the ThinkPad X240 that only sports one memory slot. We were also pleased with the large 180 GB SSD – but more about that below.