HP Probook 450 G8

Oct 18, 2023

So you're looking for a new laptop and you think Windows is the better choice. So, what are your options? Many! But is the HP Probook 450 G8 one of those or should you look for another model? I hope to answer that question today.

Priced at almost 700€, this laptop is a part of HP's Probook lineup for Education/Enterprise users. It's not exactly what one might say is cheap. So is it worth it? Simple answer: No. Absolutely not. Long answer, is, well, long.

Hardware

The laptop runs an i5-1135G7 Intel processor, which doesn't say much. The processor is an 11th gen i5 made for laptops, has 4 cores, 8 threads, and is rather average. It can't do extreme tasks like rendering videos, nor can it run some above average tasks like editing photos on a slightly more powerful photo editor. It can run YouTube videos and Office apps, though!

It comes with 8 Gigabytes of RAM in a 1x8 @ 3200 configuration, but there are more, and has expandable memory. Alongside this, it comes with a 256GB NVMe, which, while quite nice in a laptop, is not enough if you do anything more than make a Powerpoint presentation or watch a YouTube video. I would appreciate something more, maybe 512GB.

There is no GPU, so it uses Intel Integrated Graphics (ew), so good luck playing games on this thing. You might average 30 FPS on Minecraft with optifine installed. Forget about any fancy games, that's the best you'll get.

The display is a 1080p 60hz IPS LCD that isn't particularly bright. It's good enough indoors, but any work outside is difficult and you will find yourself squinting to make out what a word is even on maximum brightness.

The build is all metal but there is a plastic bezel around the display.

The I/O is rather vast, there is an Ethernet port, 1 USB 3.1 USB-C port that accepts charging alongside a barrel jack (god I hate those things), 3 USB 3.1 USB A, 1 HDMI 1.4, a headphone jack, a MicroSD reader and a nano security lock slot.

And there is ONE good thing. And that is the material they used for the trackpad. I don't know what they made it out of, but it feels perfect and I want every trackpad in that material. It's soft, but not too soft, it's hard, but not too hard, it's smooth, but not insanely smooth. It's amazing.

So, is that good hardware for the price?

No.

Don't bother saying it's remotely good.

Here's what you CAN get for 700€ in terms of hardware, at least what you could expect (According to my good friend Yahya)

So that's a massive difference!

But SURELY there is some reason why it's so expensive? Maybe there is great build quality? Perhaps it is forged from the finest materials that were handed to man by god himself? No.

The actual reason? Free money for HP! Schools and workplaces will buy these and simply ignore how bad it is because HP logo.

Software

HP is one of the many corporations that I would gladly show a middle finger to. They bundle too much garbage with this thing. There are at least 8 apps from them after a fresh install, not to mention a FORCED browser extension. Luckily regedit can remove that, but that's just insane.

Otherwise, it's as standart as it gets. It's not impressive.

Conclusion

It is NOT worth 700€ in every way. You should absolutely skip this model and look for a different one. The only way I would realistically recommend this thing is if it was 300€. It's garbage. HP made this model purely to increase their revenue and oversell something to education and enterprise users who are less knowledgeable.