HP ProBook 645 G4 (Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U, SSD, FHD) Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

Up in the air. The ProBook 645 G4 comes with a powerful AMD APU, good input devices and a fast NVMe SSD. Despite its 900-to-1000-Euro ($1051 to 1167) price tag , the device is not free of flaws: The notebook has poor battery life and a dim display with a poor contrast ratio.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-ProBook-645-G4-Ryzen-5-Pro-2500U-SSD-FHD-Laptop-Review.328170.0.html

[DavidC1]

The ProBook reveals flaws that a business notebook should not have.

How does this get 84%? Serious your website's method is wrong. Single channel memory, mediocre battery life, relatively heavy, poor display.

It's a joke of a rating system.

[Browny]

Being price competitive against Intel is the whole point of AMD Ryzen. So please, review something like Huawei Matebook D 14", not these overpriced machines.

[fmyhr]

Another missed opportunity to implement Ryzen's ECC memory.  :(
I REALLY don't get why AMD and its partners aren't taking advantage of this potentially huge advantage over Intel -- which offers that only in very expensive, typically very heavy, Xeon notebooks.

[notebookchat]

The ProBook reveals flaws that a business notebook should not have.

How does this get 84%? Serious your website's method is wrong. Single channel memory, mediocre battery life, relatively heavy, poor display.

It's a joke of a rating system.

This is a notebook for working, not stroking shiny chrome. The single channel memory is to leave the second slot free to add your own at low cost. There are memory slots instead of soldered on memory. Similarly there is a free 2.5" slot to add your own storage. It has a relatively full complement of ports, including card readers. All these add to size and weight. Of course you can always something ultralight, then carry around 3 lbs of dongles and adapters.

[Delta-Sierra]

This is a cheaper alternative to its sibling, the ProBook 650 G4, and by most accounts its well worth it.  Although HP continues to fumble on displays in the ProBook 6xx range, many of us are fortunately docking these and using much better 23-27" IPS FHD, QHD, and 4K monitors.  Battery life is a bit soft, but the successor Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U has better power/performance than 2500U on the revised 12nm die process and some APU optimizations and tweaks.  The just-released Ryzen 5 Pro 4500U on the new 7nm process and fresh 3rd-gen Ryzen architecture should -- I expect -- completely close the gap on Intel and even beat their comparable model (when it finally arrives on 10nm) in battery life.

My point:  this G4 model is approaching 18 months old now and really needs to be thought of in late summer 2018 technology thinking.  These notebooks are VERY affordable now, allowing for many of these relatively minor drawbacks to be overlooked.  At the same time, it's work keeping an eye out for the G5 that should prove to be a huge improvement.  Right now, Ryzen 5 3500U is available on the EliteBook 745 G6, but not in the ProBook 6xx series... what gives HP?  :(