HP EliteBook 855 G7 (Ryzen 5) 15.6" Review

Here are just a few extracts from the video & some additional notes which didn’t make it into the video.

The HP EliteBook 855 G7 is the 15.6” of the popular 845 model. In the late 2020, HP has refreshed the lineup, with both the Ryzen 4000 series processor, and a considerable redesign; the latter brings the 855 G7 to be very competitive in terms of a thinner, lighter design.

Everyday Uses

The new chassis is a treat to use, it feels reasonably robust. The minimal screen bezel, reasonable keypad, a very premium finish leaves the machine a great tool to get the work done, whether you’re in the office, or travelling.
 
As a part of the EliteBook line-up, robustness and dependability is important. The EliteBook 855 G7 design will have passed 12 MIL-STD 810H testing, plus an additional reliability testing through HP's Total Test Process. For a 15.6” machine, it starts from only around 1.7kg (it still feels reasonably substantial in the hands). Having said this, the modern chassis design will be best protected, when carried in a proper laptop bag (cosmetic drops will be very visible on the metallic design).
 
As for the everyday convenience: the support for fast charging (with the minimum of 65W charger, as supplied) will help you to top up the battery whilst on the move (reaches upto 50% within 30mins, with the 65W charger). The lid could be more easily opened with just one hand, in comparison to the last generation EliteBooks. Small but thoughtful features like this are much appreciated.
 
The speakers and the keypad - appear to have performed well, during the testing. Meanwhile, we’ve achieved between 7-8 hours, during our light battery test (impressive considering that the 56Wh battery is somewhat economical). A caveat here: is that over time, the effective battery life will reduce, as you install more apps which may run in the background (other factors, e.g, the workload, screen brightness, battery health, etc will also have an impact on the battery life).

Ports

HP EliteBook 855 G7
HP EliteBook 855 G7
HP EliteBook 855 G7
The EliteBook 855 G7 has a reasonably standard range of ports: 2x USB type-A port; 2x Type C; headphone jack; AC power port; and 1x HDMI port 2.0. In addition to the lock slot, there is an optional smart-card slot, there is a sims slot (for the WWAN models). Thankfully - the charging port is in addition to the USB-C ports (which means that you could plug multiple USB-C devices & use a blue-tip charger at the same time.
 
In comparison to the Intel powered 850 G5, the newer G7 has one additional USB-C port (2x in total). However, at the moment, the Ryzen based laptops do not appear to have Thunderbolt 3 support (so the 2nd USB-C port functions as USB-C only - whereas the Intel version of the 850 G7 will have the Thunderbolt 3 support). There is no longer any ethernet port, nor dock port on the G7. Moreover, the recent EliteBook models did not have any card reader built-in. It appears that fewer ports has helped the new 855 G7 EliteBook to achieve its thinner and more compact build.

Screen options

There are multiple choices. The 250 nits standards 15.6” will probably be the panel which is more often seen. The 400 nits low powered display should be quite a treat to use. The brighter 1000-nits privacy (Sure View) panel, might appear bright on paper, but will have some trade-offs in its viewing angle / image quality - in order to support its privacy feature.

RAM spec?

You’ll have 2x RAM slots. Officially 32GB is the max RAM support (2x16GB). As seen in the video, 64GB is possible (2x32GB). Ryzen benefits from the RAM being in dual channel (e.g. 2x8GB, or 2x 16GB or 2x32GB, etc) - where the RAM is matching in the speed & capacity. In the real world usage - not having the dual channel might not be as noticeable (unless you plan on using any graphics heavy applications or intend to run the lighter games - having dual channel memory will really help there).

What processor, you might ask.

Between the Ryzen 4000 options, the Ryzen 5 or 7 will both be reasonably performance focused. The latter could potentially help the laptop to last slightly longer, in terms of a useful life-cycle. That said, their similar single core performance, will mean that the real world difference will be minimal - during the everyday workload. Jumping in the performance by this a significant factor, over the Ryzen mobile 3000 series, is very impressive regardless.

M.2/WWAN

As for the other upgrades: there will be the 1x standard M.2 slot - easily accessible should you wish to upgrade your storage. The WWAN module appears to need purchase upfront, to ensure that there is a sim slot & that there is WWAN antenna (local model may vary). Should you find a unit where the WWAN built-in wasn’t configuated at purchase, there will always be the external USB 4G dongle, or wifi tethering options available (they’re possibly not as convenient though).

Performance
The performance has appeared to be somewhat consistent in-line with the expectation; the Ryzen 5 should be able to match the Intel in the multitasking workload with reasonable ease, and keep up during the everyday workload (single thread focused).
 
This is not a gaming laptop by any means, however, AMD’s Vega integrated graphics will be more powerful, than Intel’s Integrated solutions. Again, having dual-channel memory, might make more difference to improving the performance on the Ryzen powered laptop, than the Intel.
 
The cooling performance of the system appears to be respectable. In the CPU only workload, the laptop stayed reasonably quiet, there appears to be some performance drops - for sustained workloads (however, we’ve rarely heard the fan ramping up).

Summary

The HP EliteBook G7 generation appears to be somewhat promising across the board. The 855 G7 on its own, can be seen as quite an attractive upgrade for the 850 G3/G5 owners. The most obvious reason to upgrade - would be for the generation of multi-threaded performance.
 
For what it might now lack in the sheer number of ports, the refreshed design, and good all round basics (speaker, keypad) helps to bring the EliteBook brand aesthetically & functionally into the 2020 era. However, it is arriving at the market slightly after Lenovo’s late 2020 (Ryzen powered) ThinkPad models. The EliteBook 845 and 855 G7 appear to be serious in aiming to present a compelling alternative to the ThinkPads.
 
Whilst the 845 G7 will have some strong competition in the ThinkPad T14 / T14s - the obvious advantage for the bigger 855 G7, is that Lenovo does not yet have an answer for it (there is no Ryzen powered T15). It’s reasonable to think that the 13.3 and 14” form factor will be the more popular choice, nonetheless - HP appears to have this space covered, for now.