How to Find Out More About My NoteBook?

[LodeHere]

Hi,

I bought a "as new"  EliteBook 850 G1 from a well known trusted vendor. It belonged to a leasing company, and looks new, so it was only used a few times at most, or never at all. I can't tell. (But the price was great: €575.)

I have not started it up yet -except for a few seconds, but when the Windows 10 first preparation started I shut it down- as I want to save the notebook for the time my current one gives up the ghost, which, being an identical notebook, might still be years from now after less than 5 years of use of my current one. (I really like the EliteBooks 850.)

I have the PCID, Serial number, and Product code of the new machine of course.

Now I wonder if with those data I can look up more info on it online, using my current notebook on which I'm typing this.

When it was made, and if it was or is registered on HP. Maybe thus also by whom.

I can even give the data here if requested. by someone from HP.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

You can lookup the warranty info at the link below.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/checkwarranty

You will not find any info regarding registration, previous ownership, etc.

You can look up the list of parts at the link below by entering the product number...

http://partsurfer.hp.com/search.aspx

Here is the support page for your notebook...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-elitebook-850-g1-notebook-pc/5405368

The 4th, 5th and 6th characters of the serial number will tell you the year and week the PC was made.

The 4th digit is the year.  The 5th and 5th digits are the calendar week of the year.

So, for example if the 4th, 5th and 6th character are 345, the notebook was made in 2013 in the 45th week of the year.

[LodeHere]

Thank you very much. 😎

It was made in May 2014. Looks like the leasing company kept it somewhere dust free for all that time. It's spotless outside and inside. Looks brand new. No fingerprint or the tiniest speck of dust anywhere... things shine inside as if they just came out of the factory.

I don't know if it was registered on HP. By the time I begin to use it I might find our by registering it myself.

On the battery I had already seen that it was made in 2014/3, so it's one month older than the notebook. I took it out and after fully charging in my "old" current notebook it lasted for about 3 hours still. But I don't use the batteries much, so it makes no difference to me. (The battery of my "old" notebook still works over 2 hours if I would need it.)

The current one I'm using has a 120GB SSD, and the "new" one a 240GB SSD.

I'm glad to have found this excellent notebook indeed "as new."  😍

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you got a good one there.

I have one old EliteBook--a 6930p made in 2010 and it runs W10 Pro v1909 just fine.

If I am in the market for another notebook, I will get an EliteBook again, but I want either the 13" or 14" display size (EliteBook 830 or 840).

I have a HP 350 G1 notebook. I couldn't pass up the price on it, but I don't like that the display is 1366 x 768.

I removed the mechanical hard drive, dropped in a 240 GB SSD, and swapped out the Broadcom wifi N card for the Intel 7260 AC.  I also maxed the memory out to 16 GB.

It has the same chipset as yours, but has an entry level 4th gen i3 processor.

[LodeHere]

Maybe because before I got my current working EliteBook I had always used much cheaper one's and from other brands. (None with SSD.) So when began to use my current one I realized what I had missed... what a pleasant difference!

Maybe if I would improve my current one or get a new much more expensive notebook I would say the same again. But I'm satisfied with what I have. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yours should be good for years to come.

Mine is from 2010 as I wrote, and it runs beautifully 10 years later.

I maxed out the memory to 8 GB, and put an Intel 535 120 GB SSD in it.

[LodeHere]

I had read somewhere on HP's website that the Business class notebook were the long lasting kind they make. 

And now hearing that from your positive experience I feel even better with what I have. 

I like it so much that I have been thinking of cloning my current system on the "new" one using Zinstall WinWin so I can just continue where I left off when my current one gives up... but who knows what will be happening in 10 years or so from now. 😊

Thank you again for your kind help. (And moral support concerning the notebooks.)

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Enjoy your EliteBook.

[LodeHere]

My new laptop had Windows 10 on it, but I prefer Windows 8.1 with StartIsBack on it, which I have on my currently in use laptop. Without any third party software I simply plugged an external drive with a system backup of my currently in use laptop into the new one, and Microsoft asked me on the new one for my MS licence name and e-mail address to check if I was the same Windows licence holder. Then it was approved of and activated. So now I have the same Windows licence on both laptops, but am using only one as I'm using only one laptop. (A Mexican friend told me Microsoft allows one to use one's Windows licence on a new laptop, as one has bought that license.)

Now and then I make a new system backup of the the one currently in use -I'm typing this on it- so I can update the new one with it in the future, when the current one would no longer work and couldn't be repaired,  or only at a high cost not worth if. Whenever that might be... 😊