HP EliteBook 835 G11 review

HP EliteBook 835 G11 (2024) Review: The 13-Inch That Passes the CAD Check

The EliteBook 835 G11 is a 2024 13-inch business ultraportable on the Ryzen 5 8540U with 32 GB of memory at $1,007. Small-business machines usually trade away every GPU-adjacent capability; this one quietly posts an engineering CAD score in the high band, which is not the sentence anyone expects to write about the format.

Where it holds up

Engineering CAD reads 70 in the high band — remarkable for a 13-inch iGPU machine — and AutoCAD explicitly passes its minimum check. Photo design reaches 81 in the high band with Photoshop passing, office work holds 84.85 in the high band, and portability lands at 79.6, also high. The processor scores 81.57, some 54 percent above the business-class median of 52.97, reliability reads 74 against a median of 42.5, and the 34.39 graphics score stands 795.6 percent above the class median. Overwatch and Grand Theft Auto V clear their recommended bars, with Far Cry 5 posting 21 fps at minimum settings.

Where it falls short

Memory is the flagged weakness: 32 GB sits 20 percent below the business-class median of 40, a real constraint for the multitasking the processor invites. Gaming reads 34 in the low band, and overall performance at 58.16 and value at 59.05 are both mid-band — solid, not thrilling.

Price and depreciation

At $1,007 the 835 G11 prices with the G11 business tier while out-reading several larger siblings on the CAD and photo axes. The modeled depreciation curve runs at a gentle 11.27 percent per year; no listing anchor is available for dollar projections.

Alternatives to consider

The EliteBook 865 G11 at the same $1,007 carries the same 8540U silicon in a larger frame with 64 GB of memory, fixing the memory shortfall at the cost of a 40.9 portability reading against 79.6 here. The EliteBook 665 G11 pairs a different AMD chip with double the memory — 64 GB against the flagged 32 GB here — and near-identical capability elsewhere. Buyers prioritizing portability above all can also weigh the Elite X360 830 G11 convertible at $1,084 with 79.9 portability — though its photo design reading of 13 falls far below this machine's 81.

Bottom line

Fairly priced for the class. The EliteBook 835 G11 is a highly portable 13-inch whose high-band CAD and photo scores punch above its format — buy it if memory capacity is not your bottleneck.