HP ProBook

ProBook is HP’s small-business laptop range, sitting below the EliteBook line.

It keeps the parts of a business machine that most buyers actually use: a durability-tested chassis, a fingerprint reader and TPM security, a keyboard built for typing volume, and longer driver and parts support than a consumer laptop. What it leaves to EliteBook is the most rugged testing, the top-tier materials and the full enterprise manageability stack.

The naming reads as a family number then a generation, so a ProBook 445 G10 is a 14in AMD model of the tenth generation. HP has recently begun folding the range into its OmniBook naming.

Who it suits: a small business or self-employed buyer who wants something more durable and more serviceable than a consumer laptop, without paying for fleet-management features nobody will configure.

As at any price, check whether the memory is soldered or on a slot, since that decides whether the machine can be upgraded later.

See also HP EliteBook and the wider laptop range.