HP EliteBook

EliteBook is HP’s business range, built to different priorities than a consumer machine: chassis durability, security features, serviceability and long-term driver support so an IT department can manage a fleet for years.

The model numbers decode simply. The first two digits are the family and size — 830 is 13.3in, 840 is 14in, 850 is 15.6in. The G number is the generation, so a G8 is newer than a G7.

A good deal of what is here is refurbished, which for business hardware is a genuinely sensible purchase: these machines were specified for durability from the start, they were typically used in an office rather than carried through airports, and the saving against new is substantial. Each listing states plainly whether a machine is new or refurbished.

For an office machine that needs to be reliable rather than fast, an EliteBook 840 with a Core i5, 16GB of memory and an SSD remains an excellent value buy.

See also the wider refurbished laptops range.