HP EliteBook 830 G5 review – arguably the best from the line-up

Today we shall look at one more EliteBook 800 laptop (we promise, it’s the last one). The EliteBook 830 G5 is the smallest from the new line-up of premium business devices by HP. However, being the smallest one doesn’t mean it drags behind. This 13.3-inch device shares every single feature with its larger brothers – the EliteBook 840 G5 (Specs and Prices / Detailed Review) and the EliteBook 850 G5 (Specs and Prices / Detailed Review). With this trio, HP fights on all three fronts in the segment. If you need a tiny form factor, a blazingly fast performance, and docking capabilities – this device is appropriate for you.

Despite featuring the same design and hardware, HP has dropped the dedicated AMD Radeon RX 540 from the EliteBook 830 G5. If you have already read our reviews of the larger models, you’ll know that they had problems cooling this GPU. Hence, HP has decided that there is no point to further worsen the thermals. However, our unit features the 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U, 8GB of DDR4-2400 MHz RAM as well as a Full HD IPS touchscreen panel.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: http://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-elitebook-830-g5/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP EliteBook 830 G5 技术规格表

Acer
Not available
显示
13.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS
HDD/SSD
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
M.2 槽
1x 2280 PCIe NVMe M.2 slot 看照片
内存
8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz
外形尺寸
310 x 229 x 17.8 mm (12.20" x 9.02" x 0.70")
重量
1.33 kg (2.9 lbs)
车身材料
Aluminum
端口和连接性
  • 1x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • HDMI 1.4b
  • 读卡器
  • 以太网LAN Gigabit Ethernet
  • Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2x2)
  • 蓝牙 4.2
  • 音频插孔 combo audio / microphone jack
  • Smart card reader
特点
  • 指纹识别器
  • 网络摄像机 HD 720p
  • 背光键盘
  • 麦克风 3 multi array microphone
  • 扬声器 Bang & Olufsen stereo speakers
  • 光驱
  • 安全锁槽
  • Spill-resistant keyboard with drain

What’s in the box?

Apart from the device itself, there is a 45W charging unit, as well as some boring documentation.


Design and construction

HP EliteBook 830 G5 features an all aluminum design which feels nice to touch. It is also fairly resistant to fingerprints and smudges. Although its super thin side bezels should make it appear smaller, the device actually looks a bit squarish. That’s due to the large “chin” and “forehead” of the screen. However, the laptop measures at 310 x 229 x 17.8 mm (12.20″ x 9.02″ x 0.70″) and weighs 1.33 kg (2.94 lbs) for the non-touch screen option, and 1.51 kg (3.32 lbs) for the one with a touchscreen.

In addition to the metal cover, the lid is strengthened by the Gorilla Glass 3, placed on top of the screen. This not only makes it scratch and crack resistant but also tougher against torsion loads, preventing it from bending too much. As seen in the other models – the “forehead” houses the Web camera, some mics, and the face recognition device.

Looking at the base of the device we see – Bang & Olufsen branded speakers at the top. Next, we have the tiny power button located right above the escape key – yes, we did press it accidentally a couple of times. The keyboard itself has good feedback, while the travel is not the longest out there. Right in the middle of it, you can see the joystick. Above the touchpad are the two dedicated mouse buttons that come with it. Speaking of the touchpad, it has a glass cover and provides a very accurate response.

While the sides of the EliteBook 830 G5 are considerably smaller than those of its brothers, the I/O configuration remains the same. On the left, you can see the hot air exhaust grills, as well as a USB 3.0 Type-A port (with charging support) and a Smart Card slot. On the other side are located the charging port, followed by a USB Type-C Thunderbolt connector. Next, we have a docking port, RJ-45 and HDMI connectors, USB 3.0 Type-A and an audio combo jack.


Disassembly and maintenance

While it lacks a service panel, the back plate of the HP EliteBook 830 G5’s removal is a child’s play. Eight screws and a couple of minutes later you are inside.

The first thing that makes an impression is the lack of extra space inside this body. First, we are going to take a look at the cooling of this laptop. Here we have a rather conventional solution – a relatively large heat pipe, a heatsink, and a fan to blow away the heat.

Right beneath the Core i7-8550U are located both of the RAM DIMMs which support a total of 32GB of DDR4 memory.

Furthermore, below that, you can see the 50Wh battery unit which is the same we found in the 14-inch EliteBook 840 G5.

And lastly, but surely one of the most important pieces of hardware here – the 512 GB Samsung PM981 NVMe SSD. It is one of the fastest drives on the planet Earth at the moment. However, it may not be the choice of use in your region.


Display quality

HP EliteBook 830 G5 in the configuration we tested is equipped with a Full HD IPS touch-sensitive panel with a model number Chi Mei CMN1375. It has a diagonal of 13.3 inches and a resolution of 1920 x 1080, leading to a pixel pitch of 0.153 x 0.153 mm and a pixel density of 166 ppi, thus making it appear as “Retina” when viewed from at least 50 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We measured a peak brightness of 217 nits in the center of the screen and 206 nits as an average across the surface with 8% maximum deviation. The optimal correlated color temperature in sRGB is 6500K. This device goes close to that value with 6700K on a white screen and slightly colder along the grey scale – 6780K. You can see how values change at 140 nits or in other words – 82% brightness.

Values above 4.0 are unwanted and should not be present. The contrast ratio is very good – 1190:1 (1160:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

EliteBook 830 G5’s display is able to reproduce only 53% of the colors in the sRGB gamut.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. In the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 24 ms.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

This screen’s backlight uses PWM to adjust its brightness only up to 60 nits and moreover, it does it with a very high frequency. As a result, the display is not that harmful in this aspect and can be used for extended periods of time.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusion

Typically for an IPS panel, HP EliteBook 830 G5 has comfortable viewing angles and a very good contrast ratio. However, the screen is not very color accurate, neither is it able to reproduce a huge gamut of colors. One of the most important features of a business grade screen is covered, though, as the screen doesn’t use aggressive PWM for adjusting screen brightness. Moreover, if you want to completely eliminate the pulsations our Health-Guard profile can take care of that.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for HP EliteBook 830 G5 configurations with 13.3″ Chi Mei CMN1375 (Full HD, 1920 x 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at: Buy from Amazon.cn (#CommissionsEarned)

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

除了获得高效和健康友好的配置文件,购买LaptopMedia的产品,您还可以支持我们实验室的发展,我们在实验室测试设备,以产生最客观的评论。

办公室工作

Office Work应该主要由那些花大部分时间看文本、表格或仅仅是浏览的用户使用。该配置文件旨在通过保持平坦的伽玛曲线(2.20)、本机色温和精确的色彩来提供更好的清晰度。

设计与游戏

本资料针对专业处理色彩的设计师,以及游戏和电影。设计与游戏》将显示面板发挥到了极致,使其在白点D65的网页和高清电视的sRGB IEC61966-2-1标准中尽可能准确。

卫生保健

Health-Guard消除了有害的脉宽调制(PWM),并减少了影响我们的眼睛和身体的负蓝光。 由于它是针对每个面板量身定制的,因此可以保持色彩在视觉上的准确性。 Health-Guard模拟纸张,因此大大减轻了眼睛的压力。

以33%的折扣获得所有3份资料


Sound

HP EliteBook 830 G5’s Bang & Olufsen speakers sound crisp and loud. Moreover, they are clear in all frequencies.


Drivers

You can find all drivers and utilities for the HP EliteBook 830 G5 on HPs official website: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-elitebook-830-g5-notebook-pc/18477184

Battery

As always, the battery tests were run with Windows power saving setting turned and Wi-Fi turned on, and the screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits. EliteBook 830 G5 features the same 3-cell 50Wh battery unit as it’s larger brother with the clarification that it has to illuminate a smaller area. This resulted in 11+ hours of web browsing, 8 hours and a half of video playback, and three hours and 45 minutes of gaming away from the charger.


CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

The Intel Core i7-8550U is part of the new 8th Generation Kaby Lake Refresh and it’s a direct successor to the Intel Core i7-7500U from the Kaby Lake generation and the Intel Core i7-6500U from the 6th Skylake generation. With the latest alteration to the ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors, Intel doubles the core count from 2 to 4 and retaining the so-called Hyper-Threading technology, keeping the same 14nm manufacturing process and feature the same 15W TDP.

However, due to the core count change, the base frequency of the Core i7-8550U is lowered to only 1.8 GHz while Turbo Boost frequencies remain pretty high – somewhere between 3.7 – 4.0 GHz. This ensures considerably higher multi-core and single-core performance during short workloads before going back to more bearable frequencies considering the 15W TDP but most of the other specs and features remain the same.

The chip also incorporates a newer Intel Gen 9.5 integrated graphics called Intel UHD Graphics 620. The support for Google’s VP9 codec and H.265/HEVC Main 10 is still the most notable feature of the iGPU. Intel claims that the new UHD 620 chips improve the overall power consumption compared to the previous one.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/


GPU – Intel UHD Graphics 620

Intel UHD Graphics 620 is a refresh of the HD Graphics 620 found as an integrated solution in many ULV Kaby Lake processors. UHD Graphics 620 is codenamed “Kaby Lake R U GT2” and it’s a part of the Gen 9.5 generation.

Intel UHD Graphics 620 has roughly the same performance as HD Graphics 620, depending on the other components in the system. UHD Graphics 620’s performance is similar to AMD Radeon R5 M420X and NVIDIA GeForce 910M/920M.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/


Storage performance

Apparently, HP chooses Samsung and their PM981 as an SSD for the EliteBook 800 G5 series. Or at least they did that for our region (keep that in mind before you purchase). However, we got Read speeds of 3361.7 MB/s and Write ones of 1922 MB/s – a very fast performance.


Gaming tests

Despite lacking a dedicated GPU, EliteBook 830 G5 will give you the opportunity to play casual games such as CS:GO and DOTA 2 at 768p at low graphics settings. All that with a decent framerate (just run away from smoke grenades in CS if you don’t want a drop to 7-8 fps).

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 768p, Low (Check settings)HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS66 fps46 fps22 fps
Min FPS7 fps8 fps2 fps

DOTA 2HD 768p, Low (Check settings)HD 768p, Normal (Check settings)HD 768p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS66 fps35 fps25 fps

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)HD 768p, Low (Check settings)HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)HD 768p, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS28 fps– fps– fps
Min FPS15 fps– fps– fps

Temperatures

The temperature tests go this way. We use Prime95 and FurMark to torture the CPU and the GPU respectively. This won’t give real-life representation but with our methodology, we try to give you the most optimal results.

The first values from the test are from the 30th second of running the Prime95 stress test, which simulates a heavy task run on your computer (usually lighter tasks take from a part of the second up to a couple of seconds). Next, we take the ones from the 2nd-minute mark, which imitates a very heavy task, run on the CPU. The last values we give you are the ones at the end of the test, which is 15 minutes, simulating the CPU load when rendering a video, for example.

0-15 min. CPU torture test

First, Intel Core i7-8550U has a base clock of 1.8 GHz and a turbo one of 4.0 GHz. Also, it idled at 42°C on our unit. However, the maximum frequency we measured was 3.5 GHz on one of the cores, while the other ones peaked at 3.2 GHz. After around 14 seconds the temperature reached 88°C, thus resulting in a drop in frequencies to 2.2 GHz.

Cores frequency (0 – 00:30 sec.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 00:30 sec.)

That value remained constant through the end of the second-minute mark with package temperatures never going above 69°C.

Cores frequency (0 – 2:00 min.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 2:00 min.)

We were about to call it a day, until at the end the clock speeds suffered from a further slump down to 2.0 GHz. However, we have to mention that, like its larger brothers, EliteBook 830 G5 remained relatively quiet throughout the entire period of the test. Moreover, achieving an average temperature of 70.5°C.

Cores frequency (0 – 15:00 min.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 15:00 min.)

Despite being the smallest from the pack, the EliteBook 830 G5 was the most comfortable to use under extreme load. It never got too hot on the hands with the highest temperature being 44°C in the top middle part of the device.

39.0°C
44.0°C
40.0°C
38.2°C
41.1°C
37.0°C
33.0°C
32.6°C
32.6°C

Verdict

HP had an interesting approach with its EliteBook 800 devices. Actually, we are talking about the similarities and differences between the 13.3-inch and the 14-inch model. To be precise – we are wondering why they have bothered introducing two models at all?! Usually, you do that, so one of the laptops can be stealthier. However, this is not the case here, as the smaller model is merely 1 cm shorter than the “larger” one. That difference is indiscernible in real life.

Don’t get us wrong, though. We loved the HP EliteBook 830 G5. It has a magnificent build quality and a very nice touchscreen and touchpad. However, we miss the NFC and we can’t think of a reason not to put one in a body shorter with just a centimeter. Here we have to mention the keyboard which, despite missing a column of keys, has good quality feedback. Moreover, it is splash resistant.

As you might have seen in the raw benchmark section, the CPU of the EliteBook 830 G5 has the most headroom from all devices in the line-up. Not only that, but it is the most thermally efficient, as it lacks the relatively uncompetitive RX 540.

One of the strongest points of this laptop is its battery life. We got more than 11 hours of web browsing and around 8 hours and 30 minutes of video playback. Moreover, if you are really into gaming, you can do it for 3 hours and 45 minutes only on battery power.

Unfortunately, as with every laptop, the EliteBook 830 G5 has its downsides. Its bigger one is the poor color range which makes it inappropriate for designers. In addition to that, raw performance is still not on par with other devices in this price range *cough* Dell XPS 13 9370 *cough*. Despite our incomprehension as to why HP even included this device in their line-up, we have to say that we enjoyed it the most and we have the least to complain about.

Pros

  • Very good input devices
  • High contrast screen with comfortable viewing angles
  • Easy to get inside and upgrade
  • PWM is not aggressive (can be terminated completely with the Health-Guard profile)
  • Supports super fast NVMe storage
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Excellent battery life


Cons

  • Core i7-8550U underperforms in raw benchmarks
  • Premium price for a premium device
  • Mediocre color range
  • Lacks the NFC of its larger brothers

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