HP EliteBook 1xx/2xx series guide

Where the EliteBook 1xx/2xx line stands in 2026

This roster is really two eras wearing one badge family: 18 HP business machines spanning 2010 to 2024, priced $100 to $1,007 with a median of just $159 — because fourteen of the eighteen rows date from 2010 to 2013. The modern era is represented by exactly four machines: the 1050 G1 of 2018 and the 1040 G9/G10/G11 of 2022–2024. The honest framing: the median asking price describes the legacy bulk, not the four computers at the top that most buyers of this guide should actually look at.

The configuration spread

The CPU counts are dominated by the legacy rows: Core i5 appears 27 times and Core i7 19 times across the 2nd/3rd-generation Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge era, with Core Ultra 5 (3) and Ultra 7 (2) covering the modern quartet. Graphics are integrated throughout — Intel HD 3000/4000 on the old machines, Iris Xe and Arc iGPU on the new — with two anomalies: the 1050 G1's GeForce GTX 1050 and the 2011-era 8560w's Quadro 1000M, both long in the tooth now. RAM on listed configs runs from 2 GB at the 2010 floor to 64 GB ceilings on the 1040s; screens span 11.6 to 17.3 inches and weights 1.16 to 3.57 kg — this family once covered everything from sub-notebooks to 17-inch desktop replacements.

Price versus age

The legacy band is flat and cheap: 2010–2013 rows cluster at $100–289 with the 8770w mobile workstation at $289 as the top of the old era. Then comes a cliff: the 1050 G1 (2018) asks $434, the 1040 G9 (2022) $536, the G10 (2023) $886 and the G11 (2024) $1,007. That cliff is the real information in this roster — between $289 and $434 you cross from disposable machines to genuinely usable ones, and each step above that buys a full modern platform.

Which one to buy

For anything beyond occasional typing, buy one of the four modern rows. The EliteBook 1040 G9 (2022, $536, Core i5 1235U + Iris Xe) is the value pick — a current-platform 14-inch business ultrabook at half the G11's ask. The 1040 G10 (2023, $886, Core i5 1335U) and 1040 G11 (2024, $1,007, Core Ultra 5 125H + Arc iGPU) step up one generation at a time if you need newer. The 1050 G1 (2018, $434, Core i7 8850H + GeForce GTX 1050) is the odd one out — a 15.6-inch machine with the roster's only modern-era discrete GPU, viable if you specifically want cheap light-gaming capability in an old chassis. In the legacy band, the 8470p (2012, $120, Core i5 3210M) is the classic disposable typer; we would not spend above $200 on anything pre-2018 here.

Bottom line

Across the roster the medians describe the legacy bulk, and they are rough: performance index 22.4, best CPU median 14.8, energy efficiency 36.1, reliability 12 — the lowest reliability reading among this roster's own axes — and zero games clearing recommended settings at the median configuration. USCOMP Score lands at 33.5. The four modern machines post entirely different numbers individually; the 1040 G9 alone justifies the series' presence in a used-market shortlist. The practical guidance is binary: modern row or nothing, with the G9 as the default answer unless a specific newer feature calls for the G10/G11.