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日本HP 340S G7 review – the affordable business solution
On this rather warm February day, we are going to share our thoughts on the HP 340S G7. Basically, it is a business notebook that targets value as its most important feature. It really looks simple and non-obnoxious, while it packs quite the punch in the form of the 10nm Ice Lake processors from Intel.
Additionally, you can pick from a 768p TN panel and a 1080p IPS one, and given the subtle price difference, we would certainly recommend the latter. By the way, this is one of those notebooks that come with some bloatware, such as an Amazon store app, Dropbox, an antivirus program and more, preinstalled. Of course, you are free to remove everything you don’t need, and honestly, we are fans of clean Windows installations, so… the choice is yours.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-340s-g7/
Contents
Specs Sheet
HP 340S G7 - Specifiche
- HDD/SSD
- fino a 512GB SSD
- Slot M.2
- 1x 2280 M.2 NVMe slot Vedi foto
- RAM
- up to 16GB
- OS
- Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home, No OS
- Batteria
- 41Wh, 3-cell
- Materiale del corpo
- Plastic / Polycarbonate
- Dimensioni
- 324 x 225 x 17.9 mm (12.76" x 8.86" x 0.70")
- Peso
- 1.47 kg (3.2 lbs)
- Porte e connettività
- 2x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- HDMI
- 1.4b
- Lettore di schede
- SD, SDHC, SDXC
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ax
- Bluetooth
- 5.0
- Jack audio
- 3.5 mm combo
- Caratteristiche
- Lettore di impronte digitali
- optional
- Telecamera web
- HD
- Tastiera retroilluminata
- optional
- Microfono
- Dual-Array Digital Microphones
- Altoparlanti
- 2 Stereo Speakers
- Unità ottica
- Fessura del blocco di sicurezza
Tutti HP 340S G7 configurazioni
What’s in the box?
Inside the package, you are going to find a 45W power brick and a plastic bag holding all of the mandatory paperwork
Design and construction
So, let’s start by saying that this notebook sits very comfortably both in your hands and on the lap. It has a weight of 1.47 kg and a height of 17.9mm, which makes it both thin and light. On the other side, its only disadvantage is the plastic material, used to build its body. However, this is not the biggest problem, as we’ve seen very rigid ThinkBooks made entirely out of plastic. No. Here the build quality is poor. The body squeaks and pops when you try twisting it.
Its lid, cannot be opened with a single hand, but after you lift it from the base, the weight of the hinge becomes very balanced. Once again, the structural integrity is not the best. However, it is good to see thin side bezels, and a camera placed above the display.
Moving to the base, we see the power button, which is placed above the “Escape” key, so prepare for spontaneous shutdowns, every once and a while. Beside the power button, there is a long grill, which houses the speakers. It is great to see front-firing speakers on a budget product.
Next, there is the keyboard. If you see on HP’s official website, the option to include a backlight costs 21 bucks, and we think that it is definitely worth it. Additionally, the key travel is very long and the feedback is clicky. Ultimately, this is a very comfortable keyboard to use. Do you know what else is comfortable? The touchpad. It is short, but wide and is very responsive. Honestly, HP is doing a very good job with their touchpads on their latest laptops. By the way, the 340S G7 also comes with the option for a fingerprint reader.
Since the speakers are at the top, you can only see a ventilation grill on the bottom plate, while the hot air is fired towards the hinge cover.
Ports
On the left side there is only the SD card reader, while the right side is home to the power plug, an HDMI connector, two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports and one USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1) port, and an audio jack.
Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
Not again… HP has once again tried to trick us, ladies and gentlemen. As soon as we saw the bottom panel on this device we felt a cold sweat run down our foreheads. There are only four Phillips-head screws naked to the eye. However, you need to remove the two long rubber feet as they house four more screws. Thankfully, our plastic pry tool is exactly the same size as the feet, and we were able to easily remove them, without destroying them.
So, cooling is nothing extraordinary. Only one, rather thin, heat pipe and a medium-sized fan.
This device has two RAM SODIMM slots for up to 16GB of memory in total. Additionally, you can upgrade the storage with an M.2 PCIe NVMe drive, and a 2.5″ SATA drive slot.
While the battery is not the biggest, seen on a 14-inch laptop, it is also not the smallest – 41Wh.
Display quality
HP 340S G7 has a Full HD IPS display, model number Innolux CMN14FF. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.56 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 157 ppi, their pitch – 0.161 x 0.161 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 56 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).
Its viewing angles are excellent. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.
The maximum measured brightness is 277 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 257 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 12%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6470K (average) – almost matching the 6500K optimum for sRGB. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is 6380.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 80% Brightness (White level = 139 cd/m2, Black level = 0.126 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1100:1 (1070:1).
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. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is an 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.
The yellow dotted line shows HP 340S G7’s color gamut coverage.
Its display covers just 51% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.
Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
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.
Below you can compare the scores of HP 340S G7 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).
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 vice versa.
We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 22 ms
Health impact – PWM / Blue Light
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.
HP 340S G7’s display uses PWM to adjust its brightness levels up until 72 nits. Additionally, the flickers have a high-enough frequency to not be harmful in this aspect.
Blue light emissions
Installing 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.
Conclusions
HP 340S G7’s display has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, wide viewing angles, good contrast ratio and comfortable backlight in terms of PWM. Sadly, it covers only 51% of sRGB.
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP 340S G7 configurations with 14.0″ CMN14FF (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS panel.
*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.
Oltre a ricevere profili efficienti e rispettosi della salute, comprando i prodotti di LaptopMedia sostenete anche lo sviluppo dei nostri laboratori, dove testiamo i dispositivi per produrre le recensioni più obiettive possibili.
Lavoro in ufficio
Lavoro in ufficio dovrebbe essere usato soprattutto dagli utenti che passano la maggior parte del tempo a guardare pezzi di testo, tabelle o semplicemente a navigare. Questo profilo mira a fornire una migliore distinzione e chiarezza mantenendo una curva gamma piatta (2.20), una temperatura di colore nativa e colori percettivamente accurati.
Design e gioco
Questo profilo è rivolto ai designer che lavorano professionalmente con i colori, e anche per giochi e film. Design and Gaming porta i pannelli di visualizzazione ai loro limiti, rendendoli il più accurati possibile nello standard sRGB IEC61966-2-1 per Web e HDTV, al punto di bianco D65.
Salute-Guardia
Salute-Guardia elimina la nociva Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) e riduce la luce blu negativa che colpisce i nostri occhi e il nostro corpo. Essendo personalizzato per ogni pannello, riesce a mantenere i colori percettivamente accurati. Salute-Guardia simula la carta, quindi la pressione sugli occhi è notevolmente ridotta.
Ottenete tutti e 3 i profili con il 33% di sconto
Sound
HP 340S G7 produces a relatively loud sound with good quality. Its low, mid and high tones are clear of deviations.
Drivers
All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-340s-g7-notebook-pc/30268685
Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. As we mentioned, the battery size on this device is 41Wh.
We got 9 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing and 10 minutes more when playing an HD video on loop.
Per simulare le condizioni reali, abbiamo utilizzato un nostro script per la navigazione automatica su oltre 70 siti web.
Per ogni test come questo, utilizziamo lo stesso video in HD.
CPU options
This notebook comes with a choice of the Core i3-1005G1, Core i5-1035G1 and the Core i7-1065G7.
I risultati provengono dal test CPU Cinebench 20 (più alto è il punteggio, meglio è)
I risultati provengono dal nostro test di Photoshop (più basso è il punteggio, meglio è)
GPU options
For the first two processors, you get the Intel UHD Graphics, while the flagship features the Intel Iris Plus Graphics.
I risultati provengono dal benchmark 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) (più alto è il punteggio, migliore è il risultato).
I risultati provengono dal benchmark 3DMark: Fire Strike (Grafica) (più alto è il punteggio, meglio è)
I risultati provengono dal benchmark Unigine Superposition (più alto è il punteggio, migliore è il risultato)
Gaming tests
Obviously this laptop is no gaming device, so don’t expect anything too fancy from it.
| CS:GO | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) | HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 39 fps | 23 fps | – fps |
| DOTA 2 | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) | HD 1080p, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 55 fps | 30 fps | – fps |
Temperatures and comfort
Max CPU load
In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.
Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.
| Intel Core i5-1035G1 (15W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP 340S G7 | 2.71 GHz (B+171%) @ 92°C | 2.42 GHz (B+142%) @ 93°C | 1.77 GHz (B+77%) @ 72°C |
| Acer Swift 5 Pro (SF514-54GT) | 2.88 GHz (B+188%) @ 80°C | 1.62 GHz (B+62%) @ 64°C | 1.65 GHz (B+65%) @ 67°C |
| Dell Inspiron 5593 | 2.53 GHz (B+153%) @ 99°C | 2.14 GHz (B+114%) @ 94°C | 1.88 GHz (B+88%) @ 87°C |
| Dell Inspiron 17 3793 | 2.75 GHz (B+175%) @ 98°C | 1.97 GHz (B+97%) @ 91°C | 1.79 GHz (B+79%) @ 89°C |
| Intel Core i5-1035G4 (15W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
| Lenovo Yoga S740 (14) | 2.64 GHz (B+140%) @ 100°C | 1.89 GHz (B+72%) @ 83°C | 1.66 GHz (B+51%) @ 69°C |
As it happens, the HP 340S G7’s cooling is doing a pretty good job in cooling down the Core i5-1035G1. Well, it does run a little bit warm in the first two checkpoints, but in the end, it stabilizes both at a decent frequency and not too high temperature.
Comfort during full load
Interestingly, the fan works even during file transfers and app installations, although at a very low speed. However, with the higher load, the fan speed increases and becomes clearly audible, if not a little loud. As of the temperature on the base, you can see the hottest point on the IR images below.
Verdict
In a few words, this notebook was really fun to work with. It is swift, responsive and comfortable thanks to its amazing keyboard and touchpad, M.2 SSD and quick 10nm processor inside.
What else is great is that you have the opportunity of upgrading it via its two RAM SODIMM slots, M.2 NVMe slot, and 2.5″ SATA drive bay. How many 14-inchers can boast with that? Well, yes, you need to do some gymnastics with a plastic pry tool in order to gain access to all of the screws, but at least the glue on the feet is not too hard and you don’t risk damaging them.
If you are traveling a lot, or you do most of your work away from the office, you will be glad to hear that the battery should last you through an entire workday. We got 9 hours and a half of Web browsing and around the same time during video playback.
HP 340S G7’s display has an IPS panel (CMN14FF) with a Full HD resolution, wide viewing angles, good contrast ratio, and comfortable backlight in terms of PWM. Sadly, it covers only 51% of sRGB.
At this price point, naturally, there is one thing that will suffer – build quality. While the HP 340S G7 is light and relatively thin, its plastic body produces a lot of noises when you handle it by the edge or try to twist it. We are not sure how it is going to impact the longevity of the components inside, but one would certainly want to be extra cautious with this one.
So, if you are interested in buying such a device, the HP 340S G7 is definitely not a bad choice. Just make sure you get the IPS version of the display as it will bring a lot more value to the laptop.
Pros
- Very comfortable and responsive keyboard and touchpad
- Thin and light body
- Has an SD card reader
- Great upgradability and optional WiFi 6 support
- Its IPS panel has comfortable viewing angles and good contrast ratio (CMN14FF)
- Doesn’t use aggressive PWM for brightness adjustment (CMN14FF)
- Decent battery life
Cons
- Flimsy plastic body
- The fan kicks in even during file transfer
- Covers only 51% of sRGB (CMN14FF)
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-340s-g7/
This was very helpful to me and believe I will purchase the 340S G7.
Thanks for the review.
These guys copied your review, the automatically generated voice is from your text:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y6YdQNHOVi8
Hello, in your review you stated that it is possible to upgrade the storage with an M.2 PCIe NVMe drive, and a 2.5″ SATA drive. Can you pleas explain to me how ? I have purchased the laptop because of your review an would like to install an 2.5″ SATA whit the existing M.2 drive.
Thanks, but I can’t see the 2.5 SATA slot… where is it??? I need to add a slave SATA SSD to this laptop and I can’t find the way to do it.