HP EliteBook 745 G3 review

Don't let its svelte figure fool you. As a business-class notebook, the EliteBook 745 G3 is highly configurable and powerful, with various options for screen resolutions and up to two storage drives (users can add a single solid state drive and a single hard drive to maximize storage capacity).

The EliteBook 745 G3 is the first laptop to ship with AMD's mobile sixth generation A12 APU, which comes with 12 total computing cores, which is divided into four processing cores and eight graphics core. The A12 APU comes with integrated AMD Radeon R7 graphics, which delivers comparable performance to AMD's FirePro 2000 series graphics, according to AMD.

Because the AMD A12 Pro APU is positioned to compete against Intel's mainstream Core i processor, it feels as if the EliteBook 745 G3 should be the flagship Elite notebook, not the EliteBook Folio 1020 G1. The EliteBook 745 G3's faster processor delivers better performance compared to the power conservative Intel Core M chip on the 1020 G1.

Unlike the fanless Core M processor, the AMD A12 Pro processor requires active cooling, and you'll find vents on the left side and bottom of the EliteBook 745 G3. In a way, this makes the 745 G3 more powerful than its premium counterpart, and you'll also have access to full-sized ports without requiring any adapters. On the left side, you'll find a lock, single USB and VGA ports along with a Smart Card reader.

A second USB port joins a USB Type C port, DisplayPort, Ethernet port, and headphone and microphone combo jack on the right side. You'll also find a SIM card slot, HP's slim dock connector and the power port on this side.

It's unfortunate that HP did not include an HDMI port given that the company managed to cram in dual legacy video output standards on the 745 G3. Because a number of businesses are upgrading to projectors, HDTVs and monitors that support the consumer-centric HDMI technology, the omission of this port means that you'll likely need to carry a dongle or adapter when traveling.

A slab of black magnesium covers the bottom of the laptop, and a removable plate conceals upgradeable components. You'll be able to upgrade the RAM and storage drives once the bottom plate is removed. Additionally, you'll also be able to add a mobile broadband card into the unit to get 4G LTE connectivity, as all 745 G3 models come wired with antennas and an accessible SIM card slot.

Here is how the EliteBook 745 G3 that was sent to techradar for review was configured:

Specifications

• Processor: 2.10GHz quad-core AMD A12-8800B R7 (up to 3.2GHz with Turbo, 2MB cache)
• Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon R7 (8-core)
• Memory: 8GB 1600 DDR3 SDRAM
• Storage: 256 GB 2280 M2 SATA III TLC Solid-State Drive (SSD)
• Screen: 14 inch LED FHD SVA Anti-Glare (1920x1080)
• Camera: 720p HD webcam
• Wireless: Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, mobile broadband optional
• Ports: 2x USB 3.0, 1 x USB Type A, DisplayPort, VGA, Ethernet, SD card reader, headphone/microphone combo port, HP slim dock, SIM, TPM, Smart Card reader, fingerprint scanner
• Dimensions: 13.3 x 9.3 x 0.74 inches
• Weight: 3.41 pounds

Even though the EliteBook 745 G3 has a low $749 (£497, AU$1,040) starting price, our review unit is priced at $1,800 (£1,196, AU$2,500). Upgrading the 745 G3 with a QHD display, 16GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity, and a 512GB SSD and 500GB hard drive brings the price up to $2,229 (£1,481, AU$3,096). At this price, you'll get more storage, but the advantage of AMD's powerful yet affordable A12 Pro APU compared to Intel's mainstream Core i5 becomes less obvious.

In fact, fully configured, the EliteBook 745 G3 is $100 (£66, AU$138) more expensive than a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display configured with a 3.1GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB solid state drive. You will, however, lose the extra 500GB hard drive, fingerprint scanner and the 4G LTE modem with Apple's laptop, but you'll gain a more solid unibody construction.

Benchmarks

PCMark8: Work: 2,227; Home: 2,644
Battery life: 3 hours and 31 minutes
3DMark: Fire Strike: 1,031; Cloud Gate: 4,745; Sky Diver: 3,614
Cinebench: CPU: 211 points; GPU: 33 fps
Geekbench: Single-core: 2,119; Multi-core: 5,251

The PCMark8, 3DMark and Cinebench benchmarks reveal that the performance of EliteBook 745 G3 is in line with Intel's Core i series processors. The ThinkPad T450s's PCMark Home score of 2,200 and 2,896 Work score delivered by Intel's fifth generation dual-core Core i5 CPU were within range of the AMD A12 Pro APU on the 745 G3, and both laptops share similar battery life with three-cell batteries.

Where the A12 Pro shines is with graphics, beating the ThinkPad's graphic performance on two of three 3DMark benchmarks. The ThinkPad scored 731 on the Fire Strike, 5,305 on Cloud Gate and 2,648 on Sky Diver tests. Additionally, the ThinkPad delivered 10 fewer frames per second using Cinebench's GPU benchmark.

As expected, both AMD A12 Pro APU and the Broadwell-based Intel Core i5 processors delivered much better performance than the energy efficient Intel Core M chipset found on the flagship EliteBook Folio 1020 G1. Compared to the 1020, the 745 G3 readily wins in all tests.

The 745 G3's processor performance is 376 points better using PCMark 8's work test, and 72 points higher using Cinebench's CPU test. Graphics performance of the integrated Radeon R7 on the 745 G3 is about three times better than the integrated Intel HD graphics on the 1020 G1, earning scores of 407, 1,551 and 1,526 on Fire Strike, Cloud Gate and Sky Diver tests, respectively.

For a system that requires active cooling, EliteBook 745 G3 is surprisingly quiet. Although the fan turned on during the benchmark testing and in my general use, but the noise was quiet and never bothersome. For the most part, the fan remained idle for basic tasks, like word processing.

Compared to Intel's newest mainstream processor, the sixth generation Skylake Core i5 CPU, on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, the AMD A12 Pro APU on the EliteBook 745 G3 is still able to hold its ground.

Graphics benchmark was mixed between the two systems using 3DMark. Both the EliteBook 745 G3 and the Surface Pro 4 scored similar marks using the Sky Diver test, but the 745 G3 scored 175 points better on Fire Strike and 2,261 points worse on the Cloud Gate. Processing performance is about equal, with the Surface Pro 4 score 2,406 using PCMark 8's Home test. The Surface Pro 4 pulled ahead with a CPU score of 305 points and GPU score of 37 fps.