HP EliteBook 850 G2 Notebook Review

While the EliteBook 850 G1 relied on a TN panel by the manufacturer Chi Mei, we now find a model by AUO in the 850 G2. In terms of quality, the switch has not changed much: Black value (0.66 cd/m²) and contrast ratio (476:1) remain at only a mediocre level. A model with a high-grade IPS panel is still not included in HP's product line - this is a significant drawback to the competition, since even the considerably less expensive Dell Latitude E5550 can at least optionally be ordered with such a panel.

After calibrating the laptop, the color display is quite satisfactory and frees itself from the blue cast that exists under factory conditions. The average DeltaE deviations shrink from 7.4/9.3 to 1.9/0.9 (colors/grayscale) making amateur photo and image editing quite possible. Even the color space turned out to be quite luxurious for a laptop and covers more than 80% of the sRGB standard - still not enough for professionals, but not a bad result nevertheless.

Just like its predecessor, the EliteBook 850 G2 relies on ULV processors by Intel, now coming from the current Broadwell generation. The installed Core i7-5500U consists of two CPU cores, which are capable of Hyper-Threading, and it reaches via Turbo Boost frequencies of up to 3.0 GHz (2 cores: 2.9 GHz). Alternatively, HP offers many more configurations, but all of them come with either a Core i5 or Core i7 chip from the 15-watt product line. Inexpensive Core i3 or even Celeron/Pentium models are not part of the manufacturer's option list.

Additionally to the on-board graphics chip, our test sample is equipped with a dedicated AMD Radeon R7 M260X with 1 GB GDDR5 memory. However, it only jumps into action when extra 3D power is actually needed. The rest of the time only the frugal HD Graphics 5500 is active. AMD calls this technology, which can be seen as the counterpart for Nvidia's Optimus, by the name Enduro.

Only one of the two DIMM slots of the laptop is already occupied by 8 GB DDR3L-1600, forcing the memory controller to run in the potentially slower single-channel mode. Since the memory bandwidth mainly influences the performance of the integrated graphics unit, it is not a real drawback in this case - to the contrary, due to this design it is relatively easy to upgrade the EliteBook. Speaking of upgrading: If the 256 GB capacity of the installed SSD is exhausted, the laptop holds a free slot (M.2 2242) to equip it with an additional hard drive.

In comparison to the Core i7-4600U of the previously tested EliteBook 850 G1, the new Core i7-5500U features a 300 MHz higher base speed (2.1 GHz vs. 2.4 GHz), the same dual-core turbo (2.9 GHz each) as well as a slightly lower single-core turbo (3.3 GHz vs. 3.0 GHz). In combination with the about 5% higher per-MHz performance of the Broadwell architecture, a slightly improved multithread performance can be expected whereas the single-thread performance should fall slightly behind the predecessor.

Our benchmark results confirm our prediction; however, all of the assessed differences turn out to be marginal - hence upgrading from a Haswell to a Broadwell notebook is barely worth it (at least from a performance point of view). For that matter, the added value of the more expensive Core i7 models seems to be equally questionable, since models such as the Core i5-5300U run only slightly slower.

While the potential of the Turbo Boost is perfectly used in power-supply mode, the EliteBook runs at a maximum speed of 2.4 GHz when the power supply is missing. Those who require maximum speed on the go as well need to activate the "Enable Turbo Boost on DC" option in the BIOS and in return have to live with somewhat shorter battery runtimes.

For the hard drive HP relies on a 2.5-inch SSD by Samsung, to be more precise the PM851 model with a capacity of 256 GB (MZ7TE256HMHP). We believe it is a slightly modified OEM version of the Samsung 840 Evo, which is also based on Samsung's in-house MEX controller and TLC-NAND in the 19-nanometer format.

Solid transfer rates for sequential reading and writing, but especially the high performance at multiple parallel accesses on small data, make the hard drive a good choice for powerful business notebooks. Furthermore, Samsung has developed quite a reputation for the durability of its SSDs in the past years - unfortunately, with one exception: Other TLC-Flash SSDs like the 840 Evo struggle with reading older data, which might also apply to the PM851 series.

The Radeon R7 M260X is more or less the same GPU that was installed as the Radeon HD 8750M in the EliteBook 850 G1 last year. Although the 384 CGN shader runs somewhat faster (715 instead of 670 MHz), all other technical features including the 1 GB GDDR5 memory (1,000 MHz, 128-bit) remain unchanged. The performance boost of 18% in 3DMark 11 is probably due to new graphics drivers - most of the other benchmarks show much lower gains at a maximum of 5 to 10%. On average the R7 outperforms the integrated HD Graphics 5500 by a factor of two and ranks slightly above the performance level of a GeForce 830M. In comparison to the optional GeForce 940M of the ThinkPad T550, the Radeon should fall about 10% behind.

Depending on the PowerPlay settings in the Catalyst Control Center the maximum 3D performance is also available in battery mode ("Battery: Maximize Performance").

Unlike the processor's graphics unit, the Radeon R7 handles almost all current games at acceptable frame rates - at least with low to medium graphics settings. The comparably small graphics memory does not present itself as a problem in practice or only limits the performance at unplayable settings anyway. Also interesting: Despite quadruple memory bandwidth the M260X is once again defeated by the GeForce 840M and the GeForce 940M.

Unfortunately, the EliteBook exhibits a problem under long 3D load, which we have already observed with the previous model: At a core temperature of about 75 °C, the GPU speed starts to fluctuate heavily, resulting in decreased frame rates and unbalanced frame times. At an ambient temperature of 20 °C this behavior started after only a few minutes - a bad sign with regard to the upcoming summer months.

The temperature is yet another demonstration of the energy demand of the installed hardware: In partial the chassis heats up to more than 46 °C under consistent load. Since the especially hot areas are far away from the palm rest, the user can continue working though without mentionable limitations. We only advise against using the laptop on your thighs when running 3D applications.

At around 90 °C the processor reaches a relatively high but not yet serious maximum temperature in the stress test. The leeway of the Turbo Boost is at 2.7 GHz almost maxed out, which is mainly owed to the fact that the CPU does not have to share its small TDP budget with the integrated graphics unit. Instead the dedicated Radeon GPU is activated, which, however, struggles with drastic throttling at chip temperatures of 75 °C or more. In the worst-case test with Prime95 and FurMark the clock speed drops periodically to a meager 300 MHz (chip) and 150 MHz (memory) respectively - in our opinion HP should have used a more powerful cooling system or at least included the option for higher fan speeds.