HP Elitebook 840 G3 or generation 3 is incompatible with Windows 11. You will not be able to update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 on Elitebook 840 G3 series laptops. Before discussing the reasons and the available options for Elitebook 840 G3 users, we talk about the basic configuration of an HP Elitebook 840 G3 laptop.
About HP Elitebook 840 G3
HP EliteBook 840 G3 is a 14″ Notebook with Intel Core i7 (6th Gen) i7-6600U Dual-core (2 Core) processors. The max turbo frequency is 2.60 GHz. This notebook or laptop was first released in 2015. Windows 10 continues to be the preferred operating system for the EliteBook 840 G3 laptops.
Why is HP EliteBook 840 G3 incompatible with Windows 11?
For our discussion, we need to focus on the processor in HP EliteBook 840 G3 series. HP EliteBook 840 G3 laptop has the 6th generation processor from the i7 family of core Intel processors. i7-6600U is the processor that powers HP EliteBook 840 G3 series laptops.
For the i7 family of core processors, processors from the 8th generation or higher generation are compatible with Windows 11. i7-8086K is the earliest i7 processor compatible with Windows 11 operating system.
One of the ways you could validate this is by visit the list of Windows 11 compatible processors on the Microsoft site.
Available options for HP EliteBook 840 G3 laptops
HP ElitBook 840 G3 laptops come with Windows 10 operating system. The laptop is not compatible with Windows 11. So, what options does that leave you with HP EliteBook 840 G3 users?
Windows 10 becomes end of life on 14 October 2025. Security updates for Windows 10 will not be available after October 2025, unless you enroll in a paid subscription to the Extended Security Updates for Windows 10.
So, the available options for Windows 10 EliteBook 840 G3 series laptops include the following:
Enroll in a paid subscription to the Extended Security Updates for Windows 10. The ESU subscription can be bought for a period between 1 to 3 years. Your Windows 10 computer needs to be on Windows 10 22H2 edition before you could use the ESU program for Windows 10.
The second option is to let Windows 10 run without security updates. This is not a recommended solution because of security concerns. You will not have access to fixes for security vulnerabilities discovered in Windows 10 after October 2025. However, when Windows 10 becomes end of life or attains the EOL status, it does not imply that your computer will stop working altogether.
You could exchange the HP EliteBook 840 G3 laptop with a new laptop model that is compatible with Windows 11.
Can I install Windows 11 on EliteBook G3 840 laptop?
Technically speaking, Microsoft made it possible to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. However, we do not recommend installing Windows 11 on HP EliteBook G3 840 laptops because:
- Access to Windows 11 security updates on unsupported computers is not guaranteed.
- Due to inherent software and hardware incompatibility, there is a high chance of system malfunction.