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HP 255 G8 Laptop Review

I thought I would give an honest review of the HP 255 G8 15.6” laptop now that I have been using it for the last 12 months.

Whilst the model number has stayed the same, HP have updated the laptop since I purchased it. The updated ones have a different CPU, now come as standard with Windows 11, and the colour of the case is different as well. But this review is based on what I have.

The specifications of the laptop I have are: 15.6” FHD screen, a Ryzen 5 3500U CPU, 8Gb Ram (expandable), 256Gb SSD, USB-C, no optical drive and comes with Windows 10 Home as standard. So, what do I think of it, and would I recommend it?

I have the laptop at home for general use, surfing the ‘net, emails, watching videos etc., and the odd bit of word processing etc., and it’s perfect. Screen is clear and easy to see, I have the resolution at it’s highest of 1920 x 1080 at 100% size so for some people this is a bit small but obviously this can be changed to suit your needs. The 8Gb Ram is a minimum for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 today and can be upgraded to 16Gb (from memory), but this does mean that you will need to remove the lower-case panel which can be a bit of pain as HP do have a habit of hiding screws under rubber feet and they don’t like being removed! The 256Gb SSD whilst not the largest you can get, is fine as I store most of my documents and such-like in the cloud. The CPU, again, not the fastest is fine for general use and does allow for multi-tasking if you need to do more things at once. No optical drive really isn’t an issue, as if I do need to load some software from DVD or play an audio CD, then you can just plug in an external drive. USB-C is nice if you have newer USB devices, but don’t try and charge the laptop via it as it doesn’t have USB-C charging – this is done via the older style barrel jack (as quite laptops still do). Originally the laptop came with Windows 10 Home, but after setting it up, I upgraded to Windows 11, and it runs without any issue (the newer versions come with Windows 11 as standard).

Battery life – Hmm… this is a hard one as to be 100% honest, it’s normally sitting on a laptop table and plugged in. Officially they say up to 10 hours on battery, but I think the longest I’ve used it ‘off mains’ is around 20 minutes or so. I would have thought that at least a couple of hours plus would be no issue, but this also depends on what you are doing with the laptop.

Connectivity – It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for wireless connection as well as a GB Lan port. The Bluetooth connects to my headphones without any issue and seem to have a long range. The Wi-Fi connection connects to my home network without any issue on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.

There is a simple web-cam built into the screen bezel (720p) and works fine for the odd Zoom or Teams meeting. Sound is ok, but as with most laptops it’s a bit tinny due to the small speakers (which is why I use headphones!).

Would I recommend this laptop – Oh Yes, without a doubt. In fact as well as mine, my wife has one and I have probably sold a dozen including the newer/updated version.

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