HP EliteBook Revolve 810 G2 review

EliteBook Revolve 810 G2 — an early business convertible past its era

The 2014 EliteBook Revolve 810 G2 is HP's first serious business convertible: an i5-4210U with 16 GB of RAM in a rotating-hinge 11.8-inch chassis. At $162 it sits far below the business-class median of $297. The profile reads: graphics 0 (integrated only), reliability 9 against a 42.5 median (a floor reading), performance 13.1 against a 41.5 median. No top strength registers — this is a machine priced for its form factor, not its performance.

An early convert with a real hinge

The Revolve's rotating bearing was over-engineered by design — business buyers paid for a mechanism that survived years of flips. The 11.8-inch tablet mode, pen support of its era and EliteBook keyboard made it a credible field-notes machine in 2014. That mechanical identity is what remains valuable: the hinge outlives the silicon.

The honest floors

Performance at 13.1 (−68% versus class) and reliability at 9 (−79%) place the platform at the bottom of the working range. The dual-core Haswell handles documents and browsing adequately, but modern web apps strain it, and a decade of service shows in the reliability reading. Graphics at 0 means the integrated part carries no ambitions beyond display output. The 16 GB of RAM is the one spec that still reads comfortably.

Price trajectory

From roughly $1,300 new to $162 today at 6.5% per year, projecting to $142 in two years (12.7% lower). Standard end-of-life curve — the residual value is the mechanism and the keyboard.

Where it sits against peers

Pricier neighbors are the HP ProBook 455 G2 ($174) and EliteBook 745 G4 ($172) — conventional laptops, newer silicon; cheaper options are the ProBook 450 G1 ($152) and Dell Latitude E5530 ($144). Nothing else in the band is a convertible: buyers wanting the rotating form factor have no direct substitute here, which is the machine's only pricing power.

Bottom line

A budget-friendly buy for the form-factor faithful: pen-note takers and kiosk-style deployments where the rotating hinge is the feature. Performance and reliability floors rule out any demanding use. As a plain laptop it is outclassed by cheaper neighbors — only the convert justifies it.