HP ProBook 14" 445 G11 Pike Silver Aluminum 2024

The HP ProBook 445 G11 is a no-nonsense workhorse with a great port selection and a fast Ryzen 7 chip. The screen is its biggest weakness, with dull colors and low brightness that hold it back. It's a decent buy if you find it near the $800 mark, but don't pay a premium for it.

The Ryzen 7 7735U and 16GB of DDR5 RAM chew through Office 365, Teams, and a pile of browser tabs without breaking a sweat. The integrated Radeon 680M graphics are a step above basic Intel integrated graphics, landing in the 59th percentile, which means you can get away with light photo editing or very casual gaming at low settings. Just don't expect to play anything demanding, our gaming score for this config is a brutal 17.5 out of 100. The 512GB SSD is middle of the pack for speed, so apps load fine but it won't set any records. The real performance bottleneck is that 300-nit, 45% NTSC screen, it's dim and dull, which makes any visual work feel like a chore.

Stacked against something like the Lenovo Legion 5i, the ProBook gets absolutely destroyed on graphics and screen quality, but the Legion is a gaming tank that weighs more and costs more. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro and MSI Prestige are both sleeker and have gorgeous OLED screens that make this HP's display look ancient, but they'll likely cost you more and might skimp on ports. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is in a different universe for performance and portability but is aimed at creators and gamers. The ProBook's real competition is other fleet laptops, and here it holds its own on CPU power and connectivity, but the low reliability score gives us pause compared to the top-tier business machines.

Pricing on this thing is all over the map, we've seen it listed anywhere from $800 to over $1,600. At the low end, around that $800 mark, it's a solid deal for a business laptop with a Ryzen 7 and 16GB of RAM, especially if you need those legacy ports. But if you're looking at the higher end of that spread, you're getting into territory where you could snag a machine with a much better display and stronger overall build quality. Newegg seems to have the more aggressive pricing, so definitely shop around before you buy.

The HP ProBook 445 G11 is a straightforward business laptop that knows exactly what it is. You get a capable Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a touchscreen in a fairly light 1.4kg package. It's built for getting work done, not for turning heads or playing games after hours. The port selection is genuinely useful, with Ethernet and HDMI 2.1 alongside the usual USB-C and USB-A, which is a breath of fresh air if you're tired of dongle life. But the display is a letdown, covering only 45% NTSC, which makes colors look washed out compared to almost any modern phone or tablet. And with a reliability score in the 33rd percentile, our database suggests you might want to keep that warranty handy.

If you care at all about screen quality for watching movies, editing photos, or even just having vibrant colors, look elsewhere. This 45% NTSC panel is a dealbreaker for anything visual. Gamers should also steer completely clear, the gaming performance is one of the worst we've seen in this category.

This is a laptop for IT departments buying in bulk and remote workers who live in spreadsheets and need a wired network connection. It's a practical tool that prioritizes ports and processing power over a pretty screen or booming speakers. If you can get it for a good price and your work is mostly text-based, it'll serve you well. Just know that the display is a compromise you'll notice every single day.