Are you looking for an HP ProBook 450 G9 laptop review? Then you have come to the right place. The HP ProBook 450 G9 is very popular in South Africa and around the world. You are here because you wish to buy one and you are wondering whether or not it is a good laptop.
This is a genuine HP ProBook 450 G9 laptop review; I am typing this on a ProBook 450. My old laptop, which I had used for over a decade, finally broke down. Okay, it didn’t really break down. The cooling fan on the thing died, and that’s a small enough fix. It was the second (or third) time that this had happened.
The first time I went around the repair shops in town looking for a replacement fan. I couldn’t find one, but one of the repair guys told me to “pour” some oil onto the cranky fan. That worked, and I used the HP G62 laptop for another one, or even three months.
A week ago, the fan started acting up again. In fact, it sounded worse, more like a grinding mill than just a little bit cranky. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn’t have my laptop opening tools. They got misplaced during a bout of packing and unpacking. You know, one of those things that happen whenever one moves house.
In any case, after a bit of introspection, I decided that it was time that I got a new laptop. Over 10 years is a long enough time to keep one computer, and mine was beginning to do damage to my blood pressure. It was still good enough for blogging, but the lack of RAM meant I had to sometimes wait while programs loaded.
What was I looking for in a laptop?
The decision to buy was sort of forced on me, but I had a pretty good idea what I was looking for in a new laptop. I had been doing a lot of research, and the first thing that I desired was RAM of at least 16GB. That’s important if you are going to be opening a lot of programs on your computer.
I had also long coveted Core i7 laptops, which is why I had decided that I wasn’t going to touch anything that was below that. The now discarded HP G62 had a Pentium processor, which, after some bit of research, I had discovered was a scaled back Core i3.
In any case, I was looking for a more powerful machine. Yet I was resolved to remain on HP. As mentioned earlier, my not-so-dead old laptop had served me well for over 10 years. So, I have become something of an HP fan.
Battery life was another factor on my shopping list. It’s important, in these days of load shedding, to get a laptop that gives you hours of battery life. To be honest, I usually use my laptop plugged in, but the power outages have made this point somewhat important.
After a bit of shopping around, I ended up buying the HP ProBook 450 G9. The purchase was a few days ago, and I have had time in which to play around with the device. Hence the decision to write this HP ProBook 450 G9 review.
What did I get?
To begin with, it’s important to note that specifications will be different from one HP ProBook 450 G9. That accounts for the different price points even on laptops that, on the face of it, are quite similar. On my laptop, the following are the specifications;
- Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1255U 1.70 GHz
- Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.6 GB usable)
- System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
- Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
- Edition Windows 10 Pro
- Version 22H2
- Installed on 12/1/2023
- OS build 19045.2486
- Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0
HP ProBook 450 G9 Review: The good
Now that I have given you the background and the basics, it’s time to delve into this HP ProBook 450 G9 review. We will get started by looking at the good. As you may have already guessed, this is a laptop that I love. But what is it about the ProBook 450 G9 that’s so appealing?
The HP ProBook 450 G9 is beautiful
The G9 is a beautiful laptop. It’s made from a combination of aluminum and plastic. The aluminum is one of the things that sets the ProBook 450 G9 from other laptops. You feel while handling it that this laptop was designed to last long. Hopefully, it will last as long as my previous laptop.
The ProBook 450 G9 is ultra thin, and it’s relatively light weight. I am not going to go into the figures relating to weight and the thinness here. You could easily get those all over the internet.
All I can say is coming from my 10 year old G62, I feel like the ProBook 450 G9 is a real revelation. ProBooks are made for business users. They are behind EliteBooks in terms of design quality, but they are still some of the best laptops that you will be able to find anywhere out there.
The processor is fast and efficient
Before going into the numbers, I need to point out that the 10 core processor on my HP ProBook 450 G9 has so far been great. I have checked in Task Manager and I am using an average of 7% CPU. So, not a lot. Remember I was coming from a 10 year old laptop, so the bar was pretty low.
The ProBook 450 G9 that I got has a 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1255U 1.70 GHz processor. In the time that I have been using the laptop, I can say the processor has been pretty amazing. It’s a fairly recent processor, having been launched in the first quarter of 2022. The following are it’s specifications;
| Total Cores | 10 |
| Number of Performance-cores | 2 |
| Number of Efficient-cores | 8 |
| Total Threads | 12 |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.70 GHz |
| Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency | 4.70 GHz |
| Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency | 3.50 GHz |
| Cache | 12 MB Intel® Smart Cache |
| Processor Base Power | 15 W |
| Maximum Turbo Power | 55 W |
| Minimum Assured Power | 12 W |
Those are the processor specifications for the HP ProBook 450 G9. If you don’t know what the numbers mean, don’t worry. The important point is that the ProBook 450 comes with a 10 core processor, which makes it a serious laptop.
In fact, other people who have reviewed this laptop say the ProBook 450 is good enough for most of the games that are out there. I haven’t tested it in this regard, but the fact that it is regarded as being good enough for gaming means this machine is good enough for most applications.
My particular laptop comes with a base frequency of 1.70GHz. On the face of it, that may seem lower than the 2GHz that was on the old HP G62. However, that was a dual core processor, and the ProBook 450 G9 is a 10 core processor. It’s a world of difference.
SSD Storage is super fast
My HP ProBook 450 G9 comes with 475GB SSD storage. You can get one that has storage of up to 1 terabyte. For my needs, 475GB is more than enough.
My previous laptop had 300GB storage and I never used half of that. So, this is an upgrade for me. However, if you are a heavier user, you may be looking for a version with more storage.
But storage really shouldn’t be a deal breaker. These days, it’s easy enough to store your files either on the cloud or on an external SSD.
SSD storage on the HP ProBook 450 G9 makes this laptop super fast. The moment you click on a program, it starts up. Working on the HP ProBook 450 G9 has, so far, been a breath of fresh air.
Boot times are amazing
Another consequence of having SSD storage is that the HP ProBook 450 G9’s boot time is amazing. I thought that’s something that I needed to mention in this HP ProBook 450 G9 review.
Remember I have already noted that I am coming from a 10 year old laptop. On that device, I needed several minutes before the device would turn on or shut down.
On the HP ProBook 450 G9, things are almost instant. In fact, startup times are faster than even on a mobile phone. It’s something that makes life easier, because I don’t have to wait for the laptop to start up.
RAM
RAM was one of the things that I considered most important while shopping around for a laptop. How much RAM is enough? That’s an entire topic altogether. But basically, I was determined to get a laptop with at least 16GB of RAM.
In reality, 8GB of RAM would probably have been more than enough for my needs. But I wanted to future proof myself. It all depends on how you use your laptop. If you are into serious gaming, then you will need at least 16GB RAM.
But for most ordinary uses, 8GB should be enough. My dead HP G62 laptop had 4GB RAM, of which only 3GB was usable. It couldn’t cope in some regards, but I had gotten used to it. I would, as an example, open only a few tabs at a time.
Screen
My particular HP ProBook 450 G9 comes with a 1366*768 HD screen. Most others have 1920 x 1080 resolutions. I can’t say I have anything to complain about my screen resolution. It’s the same as I had on my previous laptop.
The one difference is that the ProBook 450 G9 has an anti-glare screen. That has been something of a revelation for me. I spent a lot of time blogging on my computer and it used to be a struggle finding a position where I could work without straining my eyes due to the sun being reflected on my screen.
With the HP ProBook 450 G9 I don’t have to worry about that. This is a point that important for this HP ProBook 450 G9 review. Depending on how you use your laptop, you may need specifications that are different from mine.
Noise
One of the things that I like most about the HP ProBook 450 G9 is how silent it is. In fact, I had to do a bit of research to learn that the laptop does have a fan.
I couldn’t tell while using it because it was not kicking in. The one time I forced it to do so by opening tens of programs at once, I could barely hear the sound that the fan was making.
It’s a complete change from my old laptop whose fan was extremely loud. In fact, on that laptop, the fan made a consistent drone in the background.
With the HP ProBook 450 G9, there is nothing like that. Part of it has to do with the nature of the laptop’s processor. The 10 cores are divided into 2 P cores and 8 E Cores. The E-cores are efficient, and they use less power.
The P cores are meant to kick in when demanding programs are called up. All this makes for an efficient laptop. It does not need need a fan that runs constantly. All in all, it’s an amazing progression from what I was used to.
Here is how to solve the keyboard not working issue on an HP laptop
HP ProBook 450 G9 Review: The bad
This HP ProBook 450 G9 review would be incomplete without taking a look at some of the cons around this laptop. We are not going to talk about price. This is an business laptop, after all, so you should not expect to get it at an entry level price. The HP ProBook 450 G9 is pretty good, but it does have a few cons;
Battery life is not as advertised
Battery life on the ProBook 450 G9 is advertised as lasting between 10 and 12 hours. That’s a lot, but it may be a bit optimistic based on my testing. Maybe if you are doing nothing on the device, the battery will last that long.
But when working, I have discovered that the battery lasts around 4 hours. That’s at fairly optimum battery settings. 4 hours is still a lot, whatever you are doing.
But it’s still galling that laptop manufacturers have different ways through which they test battery life on their devices. It’s not just HP. This is a general complaint. I can imagine that if you are going to be watching a movie on the laptop, battery life will be even lower.
The HP ProBook 450 G9 has no media buttons
I like to play music in the background while working, and having media buttons is essential. These were available on my old HP G62 laptop. I could play, pause and move to the next song by clicking dedicated buttons.
Overall, the fact that these buttons are missing from the HP ProBook 450 G9 has been my biggest gripe about this laptop. It’s pretty basic to assume that most people also like to play music while working.
It’s not too much work to manipulate your music player using your mouse, but it’s nice to have dedicated buttons on the keyboard. In fact, there are a couple of buttons on there that are assigned to other functions that I would have thought would have served great as media buttons.
As an example, there are pg up and pg dn buttons on the top right of the keyboard. Does anyone ever use these keys? Indeed, there are similar buttons within the numlk section, so dedicating those particular keys to playing music wouldn’t have been a loss. And who uses the home and end keys anyway?
The good thing is that I have found a solution to this issue. It’s something that I will talk about in another article. But basically, you can assign other keys to act as media buttons. I did this using a tool call AutoHotKey. With this tool, I was able to assign the arrow buttons on my laptop to act as media keys.
Placement of the power button
Another gripe that I have with the HP ProBook 450 G9 is the placement of the power button. For some reason, it’s placed among ordinary keys on the keyboard.
It’s place beside the delete button and on top of the backspace button makes it likely that this button is going to be pressed in error every now and again.
Of course, there is a solution to this. What I have done is to set the power button to do nothing when it is pressed. The button will still be useful for hard shutting down the computer and for switching on the device.
Placement of most USB ports on the right
On my old laptop, there was one USB port on the right and two on the left of the device. With the HP ProBook 450 G9, things are reversed. There is only one USB port on the left and two on the right.
It’s not such a big deal, save for the fact that if you are right handed, you don’t want to have many devices in the area where your right hand is. It makes sense to put the majority of USB ports, as well as the HDMI port on the left.
Summary
Hopefully, you have found this HP ProBook 450 G9 review useful. In this article, I compared the ProBook G9 with my old HP G62 laptop. It’s not a fair comparison I know, the G62 is a basic machine, while the ProBook is an elite laptop.
I noted in the above discussion that the HP ProBook 450 G9 is an amazing laptop. I have been using it for a week, and I have found it to be way better than I had hoped for. It’s silent, has a good battery life and is super fast. The ProBook 450 does have a few cons, but this is a laptop that we strongly recommend that you buy.