HP ProBook 440 G9 review – 14-inches of office excellency

One of HP’s most popular laptops – the ProBook 440 G9 has been on the market for quite a while now. However, we don’t think its appeal has faded ever so slightly. The reason for that is its low price and the fact that it is a fantastic machine for your home and/or office.

In fact, the ProBook series was so good last year, that we send some friends its way, every time they needed advice on a business notebook purchase.

The ninth generation of ProBook 400 is powered by Intel processors – either U-series or P-series. The choice here is yours, if your local provider has all options, of course. Alternatively, you can go for the ProBook 4×5 series, which features AMD CPUs.

Unfortunately, HP is still adamant when it comes to display options. The base level is a 768p TN unit, which should always be avoided. On the other hand, you can pick a “regular” 1080p IPS panel, as well as a 100% sRGB version.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-probook-440-g9/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP ProBook 440 G9 - Specs

  • AUO AUO818B
  • Color accuracy  4.9  4.0
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD
  • M.2 Slot
  • 1x 2280 M.2 PCIe + 1x 2230 M.2 PCIe  See photo
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Home, Windows 10 Home
  • Battery
  • 42.75Wh, 3-cell, 42.75Wh, 3-cell , 51.3Wh, 3-cell, 51.3Wh, 3-cell, 42.75Wh, 3-cell /
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 321.9 x 213.9 x 19.9 mm (12.67" x 8.42" x 0.78")
  • Weight
  • 1.38 kg (3 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • Sleep and Charge
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.1
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Speakers
  • 2x Stereo Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Nano K-Lock

All HP ProBook 440 G9 configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, we got some paperwork, as well as a 45W charger. Some configurations will feature a 65W unit, with an optional USB Type-C connector.


Design and construction

This 14-inch device has a profile of 19.9mm and weighs 1.38 kg. That’s with the 42.75Wh battery – if you go for the larger 51.3Wh package, the weight will increase by 40 grams.

HP made the laptop entirely out of aluminum. However, both the chassis and the lid show a little bit of flex – nothing extraordinary. Furthermore, the metal is cool to the touch, which gives a premium feel to the notebook.

The lid on our device can be opened with a single hand. It has slim bezels all around the display, with the top one housing the Web camera. Here, you get an HD resolution, and an optional IR face recognition scanner.

Moving to the base, we find the speaker grill, an optional fingerprint reader. Thankfully, the keyboard has a backlight and is spill-resistant. It comes with a long key travel and clicky feedback. Pretty comfortable.

We would have liked to see a bigger touchpad, but this one will do. Its surface is smooth, and the tracking is accurate.

Looking at the bottom panel, we see a ventilation grill, which helps the fan draw cool air, while the heat is exhausted through a vent in between the base and the lid.

Ports

On the left side, you get a security lock slot, a LAN port, and a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port. On the right, there is a power plug, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port with Power Delivery and a DisplayPort function, two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, an HDMI 2.1 connector, an Audio jack, and an optional SIM card tray.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

To access this notebook’s internals, you need to undo 5 captive Phillips-head screws. Then, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool such as a guitar pick. It would be best to start from the back.

Inside, there is a 51.3Wh battery pack. It lasts for 13 hours of Web browsing, or 9 hours of video playback. To take it out, remove the four Phillips-head screws holding it in place, and unplug the battery connector from the motherboard.

Here, we see two SODIMM slots for up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM in dual-channel mode. Now, the storage comprises one M.2 PCIe x4 slot on the right, and one M.2 PCIe slot on the left, which is only accessible if there’s no LTE card installed.

As for the cooling, you get one heat pipe, connected to a heat sink, and a fan of medium size.


Display quality

HP ProBook 440 G9 has a touchscreen Full HD IPS display, model number AUO AUO818B. 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, and 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.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 295 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 271 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 14%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6000K.
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 73% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.1 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 very good – 1450:1.

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 on 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 ProBook 440 G9’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers only 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 the HP ProBook 440 G9 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display can reproduce 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. On 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 vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 30 ms

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


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 ProBook 440 G9’s backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes the display comfortable for long hours of work and safe for your eyes 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.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 68.3 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP ProBook 440 G9 configurations with 14.0″ AUO AUO818B (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.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

HP ProBook 440 G9’s speakers produce a sound of decent quality. Its low, mid, and high tones all have some deviations from clarity. Moreover, the maximum volume is a bit too low.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-probook-440-14-inch-g9-notebook-pc/2101000453

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the 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. This device’s 51.3Wh battery pack lasts for 13 hours and 3 minutes of Web browsing, or 8 hours and 54 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

According to HP, this machine is offered with the Celeron 7305, Pentium 8505, Core i3-1215U, Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U, Core i5-1240P, and Core i7-1260P.

HP ProBook 440 G9 CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the HP ProBook 440 G9 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP ProBook 440 G9 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)


GPU options

On the graphics side, you can decide to leave it with the integrated GPU, or get the NVIDIA GeForce MX570.

HP ProBook 440 G9 GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the HP ProBook 440 G9 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP ProBook 440 G9 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS78 fps64 fps34 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS92 fps58 fps33 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 P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i5-1235U (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP ProBook 440 G93.25 GHz @ 2.74 GHz @ 79°C @ 46W2.49 GHz @ 2.23 GHz @ 87°C @ 30W2.20 GHz @ 2.08 GHz @ 73°C @ 24W
Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga Gen 22.55 GHz @ 2.39 GHz @ 70°C @ 32W2.49 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 75°C @ 32W2.20 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 71°C @ 24W
Microsoft Surface Pro 93.32 GHz @ 2.78 GHz @ 75°C @ 46W3.06 GHz @ 2.54 GHz @ 82°C @ 42W1.91 GHz @ 1.79 GHz @ 64°C @ 19W
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (13.5″)3.35 GHz @ 2.84 GHz @ 69°C @ 44W3.27 GHz @ 2.78 GHz @ 80°C @ 42W2.24 GHz @ 2.17 GHz @ 71°C @ 22W
ASUS Vivobook 15 (X1502)2.91 GHz @ 2.49 GHz @ 78°C @ 39W2.62 GHz @ 2.37 GHz @ 81°C @ 33W2.30 GHz @ 2.19 GHz @ 68°C @ 27W
Acer TravelMate P2 (TMP215-54)3.67 GHz @ 3.09 GHz @ 90°C @ 55W2.83 GHz @ 2.55 GHz @ 85°C @ 33W2.59 GHz @ 2.44 GHz @ 84°C @ 28W
HP EliteBook 650 G93.26 GHz @ 2.80 GHz @ 89°C @ 45W2.63 GHz @ 2.39 GHz @ 91°C @ 32W2.25 GHz @ 2.15 GHz @ 79°C @ 24W
HP EliteBook 640 G93.27 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 90°C @ 45W2.53 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 90°C @ 30W2.32 GHz @ 2.17 GHz @ 74°C @ 24W
HP EliteBook 840 G93.09 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 83°C @ 46W2.73 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 89°C @ 37W1.58 GHz @ 1.67 GHz @ 61°C @ 17W
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 43.28 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 84°C @ 44W3.18 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 90°C @ 44W2.49 GHz @ 2.28 GHz @ 77°C @ 28W
HP Pavilion Plus 14 (14-eh0000)2.85 GHz @ 2.43 GHz @ 77°C @ 39W2.34 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 75°C @ 29W1.84 GHz @ 1.79 GHz @ 65°C @ 20W
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 (15″, 2022)3.60 GHz @ 3.08 GHz @ 73°C @ 55W3.44 GHz @ 2.95 GHz @ 88°C @ 51W2.80 GHz @ 2.49 GHz @ 69°C @ 35W
Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 33.20 GHz @ 2.77 GHz @ 83°C @ 44W3.10 GHz @ 2.71 GHz @ 94°C @ 43W1.89 GHz @ 1.95 GHz @ 72°C @ 20W
Acer Aspire Vero (AV14-51)3.63 GHz @ 2.87 GHz @ 84°C @ 55W2.73 GHz @ 2.36 GHz @ 81°C @ 33W2.49 GHz @ 2.23 GHz @ 79°C @ 28W
MSI Modern 14 (C12M)3.17 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 77°C @ 45W3.10 GHz @ 2.61 GHz @ 81°C @ 45W2.69 GHz @ 2.45 GHz @ 78°C @ 35W
Dell Latitude 15 55303.57 GHz @ 3.02 GHz @ 94°C @ 52W2.03 GHz @ 2.09 GHz @ 76°C @ 21W2.24 GHz @ 2.19 GHz @ 64°C @ 23W

Short load performance is really good, as the CPU reaches 3.25 GHz on its P-cores. Even though the charger of our configuration has a rating of 45W, the processor has no problems reaching 46W for the first 10-15 seconds of the test.

Comfort during full load

In addition, the laptop remains fairly quiet even under extreme workload conditions, while the keyboard doesn’t get warmer than 36.1°C.


Verdict

We have only one thing to say about the HP ProBook 440 G9 – there is nothing wrong with it. It comes with a decent battery life, which will last you through an entire workday.

It is great for the future too, because of its two slots for memory, and up to two slots for storage. Well, information about the latter is a bit washed out. You can only put a secondary SSD if you are not using the left M.2 PCIe slot for a WWAN LTE card.

Yes, it has a SIM card tray, plus three fast USB Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 connector, and a LAN port. While it lacks a Thunderbolt 4 connector, the USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort functions.

HP ProBook 440 G9’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very good contrast ratio. Thankfully, its backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes the screen safe for use for long periods of time in this aspect. On the other hand, it covers only 51% of the sRGB color gamut, which results in a pretty unattractive image to look at.

One of the best things about this little machine is its keyboard. It has long key travel, clicky feedback, a backlight, and is spill-resistant. Not too bad. Furthermore, you get optional IR face recognition, as well as a fingerprint reader.

Actually, the only thing we would have improved is the sound quality. The speakers are not loud by any means and feel a little shallow. Ah yes, and an SD card reader would be cool too.

With such a short wishlist for next year, we are confident HP can make it happen and produce arguably the best semi-affordable business notebook. If you want to look at other decent options, we have reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 4.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-probook-440-g9/

Pros

  • Its keyboard is backlit, spill-resistant, and great for typing
  • Optional fingerprint reader and IR face recognition
  • Good contrast ratio and comfortable viewing angles (AUO AUO818B)
  • 2x SODIMM + optional two M.2 PCIe slots for storage
  • Doesn’t use PWM (AUO AUO818B)
  • Wide port selection
  • Great performance
  • Good battery life


Cons

  • Covers only 51% of sRGB (AUO AUO818B)
  • Lacks an SD card reader

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