HP’s latest privacy tool for laptops is meant to thwart prying eyes

6 min readDec 6, 2020

The EliteBook x360 1040 G7 is the first of likely many HP notebooks with presence detection.

November 30, 2020

It’s getting pretty difficult to make a laptop that stands out. There are countless thin and light notebooks with comfortable keyboards, beautiful screens and enough power for most professional workflows. To really make an impression, manufacturers have to introduce some unique features that rise above mere gimmickry. HP’s latest attempt is something called Presence Aware on the EliteBook 1040, which lets the machine know when you’re in front of it so that it can dim the screen when you leave and wake up when you return. There’s also a new AI noise reduction tool to make your voice sound clearer on calls.

Though we don’t review many commercial laptops like HP’s EliteBook series, we’re making an exception this time because interesting new features like Presence Aware and AI Noise Reduction tend to show up in HP’s consumer models after debuting in business-first lines. The $1,560 EliteBook 1040 is our first chance to determine if they’re actually useful.

Engadget Score

EliteBook x360 1040

Pros

Stylish design and sturdy build
Handy programmable shortcut key
Convenient webcam shutter
Comfortable keyboard

Cons

Expensive

Summary

The HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 is our first chance to test the company’s presence-sensing feature that dims and locks your computer when you leave and wakes it when you return. It works as advertised, but is mostly useful for people working in an office and don’t always remember to lock their machine when they step away. The EliteBook x360 1040 G7’s screen is on the dim side, but if you can tolerate that you’ll appreciate its beautiful design, reliable performance and good battery life.

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Design

HP has become a leader in laptop design, with its Spectre series being some of the best-looking ultraportables around. The company’s machines often have super thin silhouettes with unique flourishes like leather coverings. The EliteBook 1040 is less striking — its silver exterior and sloping profile are pretty typical these days, but touches like the angled lip and shiny branding on the back edge add subtle style. HP also said this year’s model is slightly smaller and lighter than the last generation. Regardless, this is a good-looking machine, and one of few commercial laptops that also looks stylish.

Gallery: HP EltieBook x360 1040 G7 review photos

The 14-inch display is surrounded by thin bezels on the right and left, though the top and bottom borders are wider to accommodate a Windows Hello-capable IR webcam (and, uh, HP’s logo). You can use a dedicated keyboard shortcut to trigger a physical shutter to keep prying eyes from spying through your webcam. Meanwhile, next to the spacebar sits a fingerprint sensor. Unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Book Flex 13, which also has a fingerprint scanner on the keyboard, HP’s reader takes the form of a button that you can actually push down on. It’s a bit superfluous since you don’t have to press the key for the laptop to read your fingerprint.

Possibly because it’s meant for business users, the EliteBook 1040 comes with a conservative (which is to say generous) port selection, including two USB-A connections, an HDMI socket, a microSD card reader and a headphone jack. There’s also a pair of Thunderbolt-friendly USB-C ports, which you can use to charge the device on the right edge. That said, having one on either side would have been a bit more convenient.

Display and audio

The EliteBook’s 1,920 x 1,080 screen is crisp and colorful. I enjoyed watching Engadget’s docuseries Superhumans and the speakers flanking the keyboard were loud and clear. I also played videos of Costa Rica in 4K and they looked rich and detailed, while Christmas jazz music was bright and well-rounded.

I do wish the display were brighter, though — it was sometimes hard to see in sunlight. It’s still clearer than HP’s other laptops with built-in privacy filters, though. By skipping out on the filter, the EliteBook 1040 instantly improved its viewing angles.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Keyboard and trackpad

I’ve loved HP’s EliteBook keyboards for some time now, and the 1040 doesn’t disappoint. The buttons are satisfyingly deep and offer clicky feedback that reminds me of mechanical keys. The layout is well spaced, and since this is a 14-inch machine there’s also room on the right for an additional column of keys including Home, Page Down, Page Up and End.

HP also threw in a nifty programmable key in the shortcut row at the top, which you can set to launch your favorite apps, files or websites. Using a combination of Ctrl, Alt and Shift with the programmable button, you can create up to four different shortcuts. For example, you could set the key to launch your messaging apps, browser with tabs open for email and calendar, as well as your photo and audio editing software. This way, you can start your work day with all your frequently used tools with just a push. Then you could set Shift-ProgramKey to pull up three different browsers set to the PlayStation 5 order page for various retailers when a drop is about to happen. It’s a simple but surprisingly useful feature that I wish more companies would adopt.

Performance and battery life

Thanks to its 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, the EliteBook 1040 was more than capable of handling my daily workflow. I encountered no delays as I wrote up news posts while covering a live event on YouTube, downloading and editing pictures and researching stories. It kept running even as I pushed it harder, jumping in and out of League Of Legends to chat with my friends on Discord and Telegram. That said, it did take a second or so to switch between those apps.

Battery life

HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7