5 Things To Know About HP's New ProBooks
The SMB-focused laptops include enhancements such as AMD Ryzen 4000 series processors and up to 16 GB of RAM.
With countless small and midsize businesses now looking to maintain productivity while working remotely, HP Inc. is launching new SMB-focused laptops for enabling improved performance with the new HP ProBook G7 release.
The debut comes as HP and other PC makers are reporting staggering demand for laptops and other devices to support work-from-home deployments.
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"We have seen very strong demand for PCs, and in general for everything that has to do with people working from home or people learning from home," HP CEO Enrique Lores said in an interview with CRN in late March. "As the activity has shifted to the home, all of our products in that space really have been in high demand."
What follows are five key things to know about HP's new ProBooks.
Display And Body
HP is unveiling two seventh-generation ProBook models—the ProBook 445 G7 with a 14-inch display and the ProBook 455 G7 with a 15.6-inch display.
Both models feature choices between HD resolution and FHD resolution, along with up to 1,000 nits of brightness. Other options on brightness are for 220, 250 or 400 nits. The displays can also open a full 180 degrees in order to lay flat on a surface, HP said.
In addition, the body on the new ProBooks is made from aluminum, and the notebooks have passed 19 tests for military-standard durability, according to HP.
Processor
Perhaps the standout feature on the new ProBooks is the processor—with HP touting the notebooks as its first commercial PCs to include AMD's latest Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors.
The move underscores HP's "commitment to raise the bar for powerful and secure commercial devices with cutting-edge PC innovations—AMD’s leading processor technology being a prime example," HP said in a statement to CRN. It also comes as the CPU shortage from AMD rival Intel has dragged on.
For both of the new ProBook models, the processor choices are the AMD Ryzen 3 4300U (quad-core, up to 3.7GHz); AMD Ryzen 5 4500U (six-core, up to 4GHz); and AMD Ryzen 7 4700U (eight-core, up to 4.1GHz). All of the processors include AMD Radeon graphics.
RAM And Storage
The new ProBooks offer a further boost to performance with an option for up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM.
On storage, up to 1 TB of SATA HDD is available in each of the notebooks. The new ProBooks can also be configured with up to 512 GB of PCIe NVMe SSD.
Security And Privacy
HP said that many of its advanced PC security solutions from its higher-end commercial lineup are available in the new ProBooks.
Those solutions include Sure Sense, which can block previously unknown malware using artificial intelligence. Sure Sense uses deep-learning technologies to learn what malware looks like and shut the threats down instantly, according to HP.
Other key security and privacy features in the new ProBooks include HP's self-healing BIOS technology, Sure Start, as well as a built-in webcam shutter. In addition, the notebooks offer an option for HP's integrated privacy screen, Sure View Gen 3.
Price And Availability
Both the ProBook 445 G7 and the ProBook 455 G7 are expected to be available in late April, HP said.
The company did not release pricing for the new ProBooks, though press materials characterized the notebooks as "affordably priced" for devices that offer "business-class power."