HP EliteBook x360 1040 G8 review

HP EliteBook x360 1040 G8 — a flagship business convertible with no weak axis

A 2020 flagship-line convertible at $616, well above the $356 class median but mid-tier for the premium band it plays in. Core i5-1135G7 with 64GB of RAM; performance registers +29% over class, memory top-quartile, and — unusually for this catalog — no top weakness registers at all.

A clean sheet of metrics

Memory at 64GB (double the class median), performance at 48.4 versus 37.4, and no axis falling below its class band. That profile is rare: most machines this age show at least one floor-level score. The 1040-line chassis was HP's business flagship, and the numbers still carry that positioning.

What the premium buys — and doesn't

At $616 the buyer pays business-flagship money for 2020 silicon with no discrete GPU — graphics is integrated-only, and no gaming expectation applies. What the money actually buys is the complete package: build, input quality, 64GB, and a balanced scorecard with no weak spot to route around.

Price trajectory

From a $1,500 base, decay has run 10.38% per year to $616, with a projected $495 (−20%) ahead. Flagship lines hold relative value; the absolute drop is the cost of entering a premium band at all.

Against its neighbors

Pricier: the ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 4 ($688) and Lenovo Yoga 7 14AHP9 ($652). Cheaper: HP's own EliteBook x360 1040 G9 ($578) — one generation newer for $38 less, the awkward sibling that undercuts it. Sideways: the Dell XPS 15 9575 ($590) and HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 ($609).

Bottom line

The no-compromise office convertible of this batch — if the compromise you accept is paying premium money for integrated graphics. Serious buyers should cross-shop the newer-generation G9 at $578 before committing; the G8's edge is marginal.