HP 255 15.6" 2Q0G3UT#ABA 2021, Athlon Gold 3150U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Dark Ash Silver

The HP 255 G8 has a 256GB SSD and a decent port selection, but the 8GB of RAM sits at the 6th percentile and the Athlon Gold 3150U CPU lands at the 21st. The 1366x768 display is one of the worst we've seen. It's fine for basic office work, but you'll feel the compromises every single day.

The Athlon Gold 3150U sits at the 21st percentile for CPUs in our database. That's not a typo. This is a 2-core, 2.4GHz processor with a 3.3GHz boost, and it struggles with anything beyond light multitasking. The integrated Radeon Graphics lands at the 30th percentile, which means video playback is fine but don't even think about gaming. Our gaming score for this machine is 7.6 out of 100. That's not a weak spot, that's a crater.

The 8GB of DDR4 RAM is the real bottleneck. It ranks in the 6th percentile, which puts it near the bottom of every laptop we've tested. Chrome with a dozen tabs will have you watching the memory usage climb. The 256GB SSD is the one bright spot, though it's still only at the 16th percentile. It's enough for Windows 10, Office, and a modest file collection, but you'll be leaning on cloud storage before long.

Stacked against the competition, the HP 255 G8 doesn't just lose, it gets lapped. The Apple MacBook Pro M5 and Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 are in a completely different universe, with CPUs and GPUs that rank in the top percentiles across the board. The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition both offer significantly better displays and build quality for not much more money. Even the MSI Creator A13V, which is aimed at creative professionals, makes this HP look like a relic. The only place the HP 255 G8 competes is on price, and even then, the compromises are hard to swallow.

The HP 255 G8 is listed at CAD 639 in Canada and MXN 16,699 in Mexico. For that money, you're getting a machine that handles basic productivity and not much else. The SSD is a nice touch at this price point, but the 6th percentile RAM and 21st percentile CPU mean you're paying for a laptop that will feel dated within a year or two. If you can stretch your budget by even CAD 100-150, you'll find options with better screens and more memory. As it stands, this is a machine for people who need a laptop today and can't wait for a sale.

The HP 255 G8 is a budget business laptop that gets the basics right and not much else. The 256GB SSD is the highlight here, and it's the only component that doesn't feel like it's fighting you. Everything else, from the 8GB of RAM to the 1366x768 display, lands in the bottom tier of our database. This is a machine for checking email, writing documents, and not much more.

At 1.74kg, it's portable enough to toss in a bag, and the port selection is actually decent for the price. You get USB-C, two USB-A ports, HDMI, and Ethernet. But the AMD Athlon Gold 3150U is a 2-core chip from 2020, and it shows. This isn't a laptop you buy for speed. It's a laptop you buy because it's cheap and it turns on.

Skip this if you care about your eyes or your time. The 1366x768 display at 250 nits is one of the worst screens we've seen, and the 8GB of RAM will have you closing tabs to keep things running. If you do any photo editing, video work, or gaming, this machine will frustrate you daily. Also skip it if you plan to keep the laptop for more than two years. The CPU and RAM are already at the bottom of our database, and they won't age gracefully.

The HP 255 G8 is a budget laptop that cuts too many corners. The 256GB SSD and decent port selection are the only things keeping it from being a complete pass. With RAM at the 6th percentile, a CPU at the 21st percentile, and a display at the 6th percentile, this machine is already behind the curve. If you need a basic machine for light office work and you're on a tight budget, it'll get the job done. But if you can save a little longer or find a refurbished option with better specs, do that instead.