HP EliteBook 865 G9 Laptop review

The HP EliteBook 865 G9 is a top-of-the-line laptop featuring top-notch performance, durability, and security features, making it a reliable choice for business and power users alike. With a sleek design (14.12 x 9.88 x 0.76in) and premium build quality, the EliteBook 865 G9 is a laptop that can easily handle demanding workplace tasks, but also look great doing so.

Unboxing

Upon opening the box of the EliteBook 865 G9, we were immediately impressed by the sleek, slim profile and premium feel of the device. Alongside the laptop,nestled securely in a foam insert, there were also accessories such as a power adapter and quick start guide.

First impressions

Our first impressions of the HP EliteBook 865 G9 were overwhelmingly positive. The laptop has a professional, business-like design with a black brushed metal finish and keyboard deck. The laptop has a solid and premium feel thanks to its durable MIL-STD 810H rating and high-quality materials.

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Design and build quality

One of the features that stands out most to us from the EliteBook 865 G9's design is its security. 

The laptop comes with a fingerprint scanner built into the touchpad, making it easy for users to log in quickly and securely, along with a built-in webcam privacy shutter, allowing users to control when the camera is active and prevent unwanted surveillance with a physical block.

The EliteBook 865 G9 boasts a professional, business-like look with a black brushed metal finish on the lid and keyboard deck. This laptop was built with MIL-STD-810G protection (a military standard that outlines environmental test methods and guidelines for the design and testing of military equipment and systems to ensure their suitability for use in various environmental conditions), with testing by HP showing it can withstand 26 drops from 30” onto every side. It also has a wide range of connectivity options, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-C port, an HDMI port, two USB-A ports, and a headphone jack, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 capabilities. We noticed that the included power brick could be plugged into either USB-C port to properly charge the laptop.

In use

The HP EliteBook 865 G9 offers impressive performance, with its AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U processor and 16GB of RAM allowing it to handle demanding tasks (advanced spreadsheets, basic video editing, multiple app multitasking, and/or many tabs open at once on a web browser) with ease. The 512GB SSD ensures quick access to files, and the keyboard has comfortable well-spaced keys. 

While using the keyboard for the last couple of weeks, we felt as though the keyboard had satisfying tactile feedback while not feeling too soft or overly clicky. The touchpad is smooth and responsive, and the fingerprint scanner adds a convenient security feature that we found ourselves using anytime Windows Hello did not recognize our face or if we had the camera shutter closed.

In addition to its impressive performance and connectivity options, the EliteBook 865 G9 also excels in terms of security. 

The device has several security features built into its hardware and software, including HP Sure Start (a self-healing BIOS that helps to ensure that malware is stopped before the device initializes, allowing you to start it with confidence that it is secure), HP Sure Click (which helps to make each click safer by opening untrusted websites and files in their own virtual containers or micro-virtual machines to contain and prevent the transfer of malware), and HP Sure Sense (a constant watchful eye that helps to prevent malware, zero-day ransomware, and Advanced Persistent Threats and protects against a range of threats, including malware and viruses). 

These features work together to provide robust security for the device. The best part about these softwares is that they mostly run on their oen in the background, automatically. We never had to interact with these, other than our obsessive nature of checking every possible setting on a laptop.

To use HP SureStart, we do not need to take any action as it is designed to work automatically in the background to detect and repair corruptions in the BIOS. 

HP Sure Click is a browser extension that we we decided on installing in supported web browsers to provide additional security when browsing the web. To use HP Sure Click, we simply need to enable it in our browser and it will now automatically isolate potentially harmful websites and downloads. 

HP Sure Sense is also designed to work automatically in the background to protect our device from malware attacks. We do not need to take any specific action to use HP Sure Sense, but we may need to ensure that it is enabled and up to date.

While using this laptop over a  few weeks, we didn't feel like we were missing anything. 

We appreciated the larger screen, which was of a high enough quality for our usual tasks(spreadsheets, writing, Slack, research, emails, light photo editing, etc), though if you professionally work with photos or videos, you may want a better screen,. This isn't the best monitor for photo editing or even the best monitor for video editing. We usually see professional photographers desiring a higher resolution screen, somewhere around 4K or above. We kept forgetting about the Numpad to the right of the keyboard, though when we remembered it was there, it helped when punching numbers into a spreadsheet. 

Lastly, the screen size (35.56cm / 14in) is a fair trade-off for the added weight (1.36kg / 3lb). While this laptop takes up more space (13.3 x 9.2 x 0.6in) in a bag and is heavier than most smaller laptops, we found it worth the compromise.

Final verdict

The HP EliteBook 865 G9 is an outstanding business laptop we would highly recommend to enterprise and power users. 

Its sleek design, premium build quality, and impressive performance make it a standout choice, and its security features are top-notch. While it may not be the best choice for gaming or other graphics-intensive tasks, it is an excellent all-around laptop that will meet most users' needs. When buying, don't forget to check out the HP promo codes available at the moment.

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