HP ProBook 450 G9 laptop review: An efficient Intel CPU at last

When reviewing HP’s ProBook 450 G9 laptop, we had this objective in mind: to see if Intel’s Core i7-1255U is indeed pleasantly efficient, and thus to establish if Alder Lake-U can hold its own against AMD’s latest offerings – in particular, concerning battery life and emissions, both of utter importance to business users. The lightweight, yet robust entry-level device caters exactly to this category of users and companies, offering a combination of mid-range features and quality, while the input devices even have the genetics of HP’s higher-end machines. Our configuration is rocking 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512 GB SSD, and a Full HD IPS panel with 250 nits of brightness, available for US$1,129 in the States.

SKUs with a brighter 400-nit low-power display are purchasable too while processor options range from Core i3 to Core i7, with the i7-1260P as the top-end option. For the graphics, Nvidia’s GeForce MX570 is available in some SKUs together with an Intel iGPU, but our unit only has the latter. The AMD-based model, going by “ProBook 455 G9”, is available for roughly the same price as our configuration.

The competition includes the ThinkPad E15 G3 , Dell’s Inspiron 15 / Inspiron 15 Plus , and Schenker’s Work 15 . Asus’ VivoBook 15 Pro and Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 represent interesting as well as powerful office-multimedia hybrids within the same price range. Though not marketed as classic business laptops, they could still work for some private customers.

Recent HP laptop reviews: The entirely silver casing is primarily made of aluminum and plastic. It has a plain but sleek business design language while being sturdy and crafted well. The base is difficult to twist, but the lid is a bit more wobbly than on the little brother, the ProBook 445 , so twisting produces slight image distortions which thankfully does not give you any headache in everyday use.

The hinges are tight and hold the lid well while still making it possible to open the laptop with a single hand. The maximum angle is 180 degrees, and the screen-to-body ratio is at about 80 percent. In our test field, Dell’s Inspiron 15 is the only laptop to be somewhat lighter than the 1.

718 kg (3. 8 lbs) of the ProBook, which is, for a 15. 6-inch notebook, pleasantly light already, while the thickness of less than 20 mm is within the acceptable range, too.

While the ThinkPad E15 is slightly bigger overall, Schenker’s Work 15 is the one to feature the smallest footprint in our comparison field. Located on the device’s left-hand side, we’re happy to see a LAN port, even if specified at just 1 GBit/s. Right next to it sits a USB-A 3.

1 Gen 1 port (5 GBit/s), whereas every other port is on the right: Two additional USB-A 3. 1 Gen 1, one HDMI 1. 4b, the 3.

5 mm audio jack, a SIM slot dummy (proper slot for WWAN-equipped SKUs only), the charging port and a USB-C 3. 2 Gen 2 (10 GBit/s) suitable for charging and connecting external monitors via DisplayPort 1. 4.

A SmartCard reader is optional while SD card slot is missing altogether, as is Thunderbolt. The latter is unfortunate to see but it is common practice in entry-level devices. The ports are well-located, so your cables are not getting into each other’s way.

WLAN speeds are high as expected and Intel’s AX211 WiFi 6E module easily hauls the ProBook 450 up to the first place in our comparison field on its shoulders. This is especially true regarding the download rate (~1. 5 GBit/s) which is more than twice as fast as what competitors with their Realtek and MediaTek chips can muster, such as the IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 and VivoBook 15 Pro respectively.

However, certain SKUs of the ProBook ship with Realtek Wi-Fi modules rather than the AX211 tested here. As an alternative, you can connect to a network via the Gigabit LAN port. Bluetooth 5.

2 is on board as well, while LTE is supported optionally via Intel’s XMM 7560 (Advanced Pro Cat 16). It’s 2022 and yet HP still outfits its ProBooks with 720p webcams. What’s on offer here is neither better nor worse than comparable HD cameras.

The picture is washed-out and noisy. That said, it is just about sufficient for video conferencing. The dual-array microphones achieve better results in their respective field, which is recording sound, though.

Furthermore, the SKU we tested has infrared facial recognition support (Windows Hello) and provides a physical PrivacyShutter. HP strives for security in its ProBook series. Hardware-wise, the features include TPM 2.

0, a fingerprint reader, an IR camera for Windows Hello, a physical camera shutter, and a nano-Kensington lock slot. The list of pre-installed applications includes HP’s Wolf Security, Sure Click, Sure Sense, Tamper Lock, Sure Admin, and Sure Start. The bundle being quite extensive overall, you’ll find more security features in the higher-end devices (such as EliteBook and ZBook).

HP only includes a 45-watt charger (barrel pin connector) in the box. A 65-watt power supply allowing for “HP Fast Charging” is optional. HP’s 45 W and 65 W USB-C chargers are compatible with the ProBook; furthermore, HP sells various USB-C docks, hubs, and adapters.

Neat: Recycled material makes up a high percentage of the packaging. After loosening five Phillips screws, you’ll have to remove the metal base plate with the help of a spudger. Now you can access the M.

2 2280 SSD, the replaceable WiFi module, and an empty M. 2 2242 slot that will accept a second SSD or a WWAN card (although there aren’t any antennas in SKUs with no cellular). The RAM is upgradeable; there are two DDR4-3200 slots.

The fan is cleanable, and you can easily remove the cooling system to apply fresh thermal paste. In addition, the screwed-down battery is replaceable, as is the BIOS battery. HP provides a 12-month warranty, which may vary depending on the region.

Therefore, check with your shop before making a purchase. Other manufacturers already offer 24 months for comparable devices. However, HP will happily give you an extension of up to 36 months for additional charge.

The quiet keys of the 6-row chiclet keyboard are of normal size (16 x 16 mm or 0. 63 x 0. 63 in) with generous spacing.

The travel of 1. 5 mm combined with a crisp pressure point provides a firm stroke, allowing for fast typing and preventing a feeling of sponginess. Subjectively, typing is way better here than on the smaller ProBook 445 G8 , whose keys are way too easy to trigger and are less crisp.

Overall, the keyboard resembles that of a ZBook or EliteBook. The layout is good, as expected, but the up/down arrow keys are only half size, while the number pad looks a bit crowded. Essential secondary functions are assigned to F keys.

While the power button is embedded into the uppermost row, a short accidental press remains sans effect and you have to hold it for a second or two for the button to do its thing. The keyboard deck yields somewhat when applying direct pressure to it, but not when typing. The splash-proof keyboard’s illumination has 2 levels of brightness.

The touchpad measures 11. 5 x 7 cm (4. 5 x 2.

75 in). The integrated buttons trigger reliably while providing a concise pressure point. The surface is smooth, offering the best precision as far as Windows notebooks are concerned, and fingers glide over it like a charm.

It also offers lag-free response, and scrolling works just as smoothly. A pointstick is nowhere to be found in the ProBook series, whereas ThinkPad E and L series accommodate one. Even the 2022 EliteBook 860 does not feature a pointstick, unlike the previous EliteBooks.

The matte Full HD non-touch display has a brightness of 218 nits, way below the specified 250 nits, and HP reduces it further to meager 140 nits on battery. You can fix that with little effort via Intel’s Control Center. The ProBook still relies on the 16:9 aspect ratio, while the more expensive EliteBook 860 G9 has finally gone for 16:10, in addition to a larger display diagonal.

The resolution of 1920×1080 pixels is still sharp enough for a diagonal of 15. 6 inches. Factor in that you are expected to sit a bit further away from this screen than you would with an Ultrabook.

You can also set the Windows scaling to 100 %, which leads to an even sharper display image. The contrast of 1,376:1 is good, the black value of 0. 17 nits offers rich blacks, and the white point is subjectively pleasing to look at but objectively has a slight green tint to it.

The illumination homogeneiety of 85% is average. The response times are average to good which is of course not so relevant for office use. There is no display flickering.

The low-power panel specified with 400 nits should offer a much better value in our opinion: Even in 2022, very few entry-level business laptops achieve high sRGB color space coverage, let alone the larger color spaces necessary for more ambitious image editing. At less than 64 % of sRGB, the ProBook is on par with many comparable laptops, while Asus’ VivoBook 15 Pro offers the best color space coverage by approaching ~100 % of DCI-P3. An average dE2000 of ~5 is well above the desirable upper limit of 2.

5 to 3. The calibration we did was able to lower it to about 4, which had a very welcome effect of dispatching the slight green cast. Our ICC profile is available for download next to the brightness distribution analysis box, as always.

Despite the matte finish, display content can only be read outdoors in the shade because at 218 nits the panel just does isn’t bright enough. The following pictures show the display with brightness automatically locked to 140 nits (on battery). You totally should disable the screen’s energy-saving feature via Intel’s graphics driver.

For the ProBook 450 G9, an entry-level business laptop conceived for office use, HP decided to limit the Intel Core i7-1255U to 15 watts while, on the other hand, allowing a power draw of 28 watts for the thinner Spectre x360 13. 5. We assume the fastest CPU available here, the Core i7-1260P, also runs at 15 watts which would mean little to no performance increase.

HP installs a lone 16 GB RAM module (single-channel configuration), which reduces performance in some applications, especially in games, since Intel’s iGPU benefits from faster RAM. Furthermore, the memory runs at just 2,667 MHz while specified as DDR4-3200, an issue already known to us from other ProBooks. We ran the performance tests after setting the Windows profile to maximum performance.

That allowed the processor to draw 39 watts for a short time (PL2) and 15 watts after that (PL2), the latter equating to Alder Lake-U’s Base Power. We also tried raising the power limits manually, for demonstration purposes only, as detailed in the next section. We set the PL1 to 20, 25, and ~28 watts to explore which effects doing that would have.

Lat but not the least, “Balanced” Windows profile was used to conduct battery life tests. Based on our reviews, Intel’s Alder Lake U series works more efficiently and thus enables higher battery runtimes than the P series. The Core i7-1255U we are testing today is no exception.

In contrast to the P series, the long-term TDP is limited to 15 watts, not 28 watts. Manufacturers can adjust this to a degree, which HP, for the ProBook, has decided not to do. Only featuring 2 P-cores and 8 E-cores, the Core i7 trails behind certain Tiger Lake-based office laptops.

Looking back two generations, the ProBook 455 G7 with its AMD APU is 24 % faster in Cinebench R20, and last year’s Ryzen 5 5600U as used in the smaller ProBook 445 G8 achieves a ~35 % better CB R15 score at 15 watts. On the other hand, the Ryzen 7 5700U (Envy x360 15) and i7-1255U (Envy x360 13. 5) are on par at ~28 watts.

As for the competition, last year’s ThinkPad E15 G3 (AMD) computes almost twice as fast, while the IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 is 2. 5 times faster. For demonstration purposes, we raised the PL1 to 25 W with the “ThrottleStop” tool, please see the screenshot to the right.

With that in effect, the ProBook ranked first in our comparison field in single-core performance, and multi-core gains amounted to 30 %. Since the cooling system was not designed for this and the temperatures crossed the 90 °C mark despite the fans getting noticeably louder, we explicitly do not recommend increasing the power limits. If you do this, you’re doing it at your own risk.

Even with default power limits, the performance will satisfy many business users and for those outside this group, it is worth taking a look at the AMD-based model. Unplug the HP, and CPU performance will take a 45 % hit (with CPU power consumption getting limited to just 10 watts). CB R15 score is just 505 points as a result.

If you change the TDP manually, the performance will double much like it was when the laptop was plugged in (see screenshots). The HP’s system performance trails behind that of AMD-based competitors (or Intel-based competitors featuring higher Power Limits). The difference is subjectively hard to notice because even demanding web surfing with multiple tabs open while playing a 4K video is not a problem, even though we observed a substantially higher iGPU load than on AMD’s Vega iGPUs.

All in all, the ProBook is near the bottom of the comparison chart. This is fixable by installing a second RAM module. The driver efficiency isn’t good enough here, since latencies of more than 8000 ms hardly allow for lag-free real-time video and audio editing.

Anyhow, this is valid for our test configuration. Microsoft’s kernel module driver is responsible. Future BIOS updates might improve the situation.

The 4K YouTube playback ended with just one frame dropped. The CPU load was at 9% while the iGPU load was at 50%. In comparison, AMD Vega iGPU in the ProBook 445 G8 sailed through this test with utilization at just 1%.

The built-in SK Hynix BC711 is a 512 GB PCIe 3. 0 SSD that delivers fast as expected transfer rates showing no drops in our read performance endurance test. However, the copy rates are flaringly low even after multiple re-runs.

The competition is on par with the Schenker being the only laptop to have a PCIe 4. 0 SSD. SKUs with no WWAN module have an unoccupied M.

2 2242 slot which can be used to install a second M. 2 SSD. Intel’s Xe Graphics is included no matter the SKU.

Some SKUs also have Nvidia’s GeForce MX570, and a tip from a user states that it comes in its weakest version (20 W). We can’t confirm it at this point, even though it would fit into the overall picture nicely, given the weak cooling system. The machine’s theoretical use cases do not include playing taxing games either way.

Since Intel’s iGPU has to be content with slow single-channel RAM, it only manages to beat some older AMD Vega iGPUs, provided they also operate with single-channel RAM. Therefore, older games can be played smoothly at low detail settings. The graphics performance will increase by ~40 % if a second RAM module gets installed.

The fan remains dead silent even during demanding browsing action. Even when under full load, it takes a while for the fan to kick in, and ithere is nearly no noise after it does. Even for a business notebook, such restraint is role-modeling.

In our comparison field, the other devices keep it pretty quiet as well. As expected, the laptops with a dedicated graphics unit get louder when under load. Overall the noise emissions have improved substantially compared to the predecessor with AMD CPU.

ProBook 450 G9’s surfaces remain cool to the touch even under long-term load. Only one bottom area close to where the CPU is gets quite warm at 47. 6 °C (117.

7 °F), while the ThinkPad E15 G3 AMD , for example, exceeds 60 °C (140 °F) in one specific section on the bottom. Also, Dell’s Inspiron 15 Plus and Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 both like it a bit warmer. ~600 MHz, this is what the performance cores are good for in the combined stress test (FurMark + Prime95) which is clearly below the base clock of 1.

7 GHz. Meanwhile, the core temperatures do not exceed 65 °C (149 °F), and the iGPU ends up running at at ~600 MHz as well (half the top clock speed). Stressing the CPU alone, we saw its P-cores manage stable 2 GHz, with an initial boost to 4 GHz.

Stressing Intel’s Xe graphics unit alone resulted in a clock speed of more than 1,000 MHz, while its temperature climaxed at 76 °C (169 °F). At 84 dB(A), the up-firing 2-watt stereo speakers of the HP ProBook get quite loud. The mids and highs are clear and balanced, while the bass lacks force.

This represents the usual office laptop sound quality. Thus, for the joy of music and movies, external speakers or headphones are to be recommended. You can connect one via the 3.

5 mm audio jack or Bluetooth 5. The idle values are not only outstandingly low for an Alder Lake CPU but rather worthy of AMD’s efficient U-series processors. At peak, 47 watts are consumed for a few seconds, after which the value levels off at 28 to 33 watts.

Thus, the included 45-watt power brick is fit for duty. The ProBook’s 51 Wh battery lasted 10 hours in our WLAN test, with brightness set to 150 nits. Which is anything but bad for a laptop with an Alder Lake CPU and solely to be beaten by higher-capacity-battery laptops in our comparison field, such as the IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 (achieved 12.

5 hours with its 75 watt hours). Similarly equipped AMD systems do not fare better. The long runtimes under load have the low 10-watt CPU TDP as their cause (total power consumption is between 16 and 19 watts).

The 45 W charger takes about 1. 5 hours to fully recharge the notebook. In the meantime, the optional 65-watt charger supports “HP Fast Charging” (50% of charge in 30 minutes, according to HP).

Intel’s Core i7-1255U proves somewhat power-efficient in the ProBook 450, resulting in longer battery runtimes. The reason behind that is quite simple: Alder Lake-U only holds two performance cores, while Alder Lake-P doubles or even triples this number. Thus, the ratio shifts sharply to the efficiency cores, of which there are eight in both cases.

Yet HP missed its chance to combine efficiency and performance, having chosen to limit the long-term TDP to 15 watts instead. Above all, HP probably wants to target those who simply do not need a high performance level. This would explain the 1,366×768 display option.

This way, business clients and companies, in particular, can at least save a good amount of money ordering high quantities of these machines and just using them in a docked setup solely for office tasks. However, it remains unclear whether or not the manufacturer miscalculated expectations of the target group of private users for this series, thus ruining the opportunity to give us a well-balanced all-rounder. At least you still have the choice of more powerful CPUs, as well as the option of a 400-nit-bright low-power display.

This leave the way open for the customer to order a rock-solid office notebook, provided one can do without Thunderbolt. You can customize these options when ordering from HP’s website among other ways. HP’s ProBook 450 G9 is a sturdy office laptop with an energy-efficient Intel CPU.

Its strong sides include the strong battery life and low emissions, combined with high-quality input devices. If only there was no heavily throttled CPU and rather dim 16:9 display in this laptop. Given the price tag of US$1,129 for an SKU very similar to the one we tested with its Intel Core i7-1255U, 16 GB of RAM, and the 250 nits FHD display (but with double the storage at 1 TB), you should consider carefully what it is that you need in a laptop.

For example, if you prefer very low emissions and high-quality input devices, you will make the right choice here. However, if you want more CPU power and a much brighter display, you should at least configure the ProBook accordingly. Also, more performance at 15 W power consumption can be had with AMD processor and HP’s ProBook 445 G9, which is available for roughly the same price .

If you value brilliant displays, you’ll be happy with the IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 or the Asus VivoBook Pro 15 , both hosting much stronger CPU and GPU. The ThinkPad E15 G3 (AMD) not merely boasts better performance but also comes with the best keyboard in our test field. However, it can sometimes be a little hot-headed.

Interestingly enough, the Schenker Work 15 scores well in most disciplines. Besides the mentioned US prices, HP offers our test configuration for £1,055 in the UK, though listed as out of stock. In Australia, you can get the same version for AU$1,885 .

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