Form follows function. Ergonomics and simple quality are the trademarks of the black-gray ProBook case. The generous use of Aluminum all around the keyboard comes as a nice surprise for a product in this price range. Not only does the stability profit from this, especially around the base unit, but this light metal also contributes to the low total weight of only 2.9 kg (~6.4 pounds). Hence, the notebook is suitable for an occasional transportation.

Nonetheless, it is clear that the manufacturer has saved money in certain areas. For instance, the bottom plate that is made of simple plastic does not seem to be very robust and the display can be bent even with only a little pressure. The very tight, but not very precise hinges are not on the level of the (much more expensive) EliteBooks either. However, in practice one can ignore most of these points, especially since overall the quality can easily keep up with the competitors. A noteworthy point is the very neatly manufactured edges and material transitions. 

People who want to update the preinstalled Windows 7 Professional to Windows 8 Pro (both 64-bit) can find the required disk in the box of the notebook. However, HP has not included any other accessories except for the mandatory power supply and some brochures. 

The extensive software package contains various system tools like an HP support assistant that is supposed to support the user with the creation of backups. Furthermore, the manufacturer has also included a Media-Player (CyberLink Media Suite), Webcam software (CyberLink YouCam) and many other mostly useful applications. 

Maintenance

What is exemplary is the fact that there is no screwdriver needed in order to remove the bottom cover. One only has to push two little levers. Unfortunately, the maintenance options are quite limited. Both memory slots, the only 2.5-inch slot as well as the mini-PCIe slot and the Wi-Fi module are all filled from the beginning already. The M.2-/NGFF slot of the ProBook 450 seems to have been canceled in the 17-inch edition. Another negative aspect lies in the fact that one cannot clean the fan and the heat sink without having to take it apart further. 

Warranty

The price also includes a manufacturer's warranty of only 12 months, but it can be extended through optional service packages, also called "Care packs" by HP. People who want only an extended pick-up and delivery service can extend it to 2 years (UK727E) for about 50 Euros (~$68), and to 3 years for about 90 Euros (~$123). 

Even though the display brightness could still be a bit higher as discussed before, the ProBook can, in principle, also be used outdoors. Because of the matte surface, the user is spared any serious reflections and can still read the content seamlessly even under difficult conditions. The only thing that should be avoided is direct sunlight, if possible. 

It is known that most TN panels react poorly to skewed viewing angles. This problem also applies to our test device from HP. The display does not offer much tolerance, especially on the vertical axis, and ends up with a significant loss in contrast and color errors given a shift. The picture always stays stable on the side though so that several people can watch a movie together. 

The ProBook 470 is available with a range of Intel chips. Some of them are based on the current Haswell architecture and some others on the predecessors the Ivy Bridge. The Core i7-3632QM in our test device is part of the older generation, but with a quad-core architecture and a clock rate of 2.2 to 3.2 GHz it also offers impressive specs. Nonetheless, the energy consumption is relatively low with a value of 35 Watts TDP. This is mostly thanks to the advanced 22 nanometers manufacturing. All other details and features can be found in our CPU Data base as usual. 

HP has built in a dedicated Radeon HD 8750M graphic card with DDR3 RAM in addition to the integrated HD Graphics 4000. AMD's Enduro, the equivalent to Nvidia's Optimus technology, controls the dynamic switching between the two graphic chips depending on what application is launched. 

The ProBook should satisfy even demanding users with its 8 GB RAM (2x 4 GB DDR3-1600) and the 750-GB hard drive. However, it is a bit regrettable that there are no editions with an SSD available so far.

Even though it is about one and a half years after the official presentation of the Ivy-Bridge-based quad-core chip, it still belongs to the absolute high-end segment. The direct successor of the Core i7-3632QM, the Core i7-4702MQ, only performs a negligible 6% better in Cinebench R11.5.

However, one can notice big differences when comparing with dual-core CPUs like the Core i5-3210M. As long as the software in use is able to utilize all of its eight threads entirely, then there are performance increases of up to 100% possible. 

The CPU clock frequency is throttled to the base frequency of 2.2 GHz in both single threading and multithreading tasks when in battery mode. This reduces the performance by about 25 to 30%. This procedure seems reasonable in regards to the run times, since even then there are still enough reserves for almost all applications. 

The 750-GB-HDD of the HGST-Travelstar series (former Hitachi) contains two platters running at 5400 rpm so that the drive transfers data only at average rates. We have measured values of almost 86 MB/s after all, which is a typical result for a hard drive with these specs. The same is also the case for the reading times of 17.0 milliseconds that could still be improved significantly and not only through the use of an SSD. We have summarized more detailed information for upgrades in the maintenance section. 

The game tests that we had planned did in fact impose a problem at first, as the notebook would not display typical resolutions of 1366x768 on either the internal or any external screens. We were able to fix this error only after testing various graphic drivers and modifications to the registry.  

The aforementioned observation was confirmed in subsequent measurements where the Radeon HD 8750M scored about the same as the GeForce GT 740M. Hence, the native Display resolution of 1600x900 pixels can only be mastered on low resolutions. Many other benchmarks of the Radeon GPU can be found in our database. 

The case does not heat up significantly in daily use and only possibly in the area of the air outlet one can notice a bit higher temperature values. Even under full load, this does not change much. If one does not put the hand directly to the outlet, then one gets to enjoy an extremely well cooled notebook. 

If you are now worried that this is a result of strong throttling, then you can be relieved because even after an hour of Prime95 and FurMark the Core i7 kept a constant clock rate of 2.7 GHz and, hence misses its maximum possible Turbo Boost only by a little. On the other hand, the graphic card does throttle at times down to 400 MHz, but on average, it is only minimally below its base frequency of 775 MHz. Given noncritical temperatures of about 79 °C (174.2 °F GPU) or about 88 °C (190.4 °F CPU), respectively, the cooling system should be able to master even demanding 3D applications on hot summer days without problems. 

A cheap entry into the professional segment - that is what the HP ProBook 470 G0 wants to be and, therefore, it does without the absolute top-notch in terms of equipment and quality. However, this is not necessarily a critical point as the price-conscious customer gets a good compromise between business and consumer product with only a few weaknesses. 

Some of the biggest advantages are the case that is reinforced with aluminum, the good input devices as well as the low-noise and low-heat development. However, the ProBook proves itself not just in office use. Even demanding 3D tasks can be tackled without any problems thanks to the high-performance hardware. An SSD is the only piece that is really missing in an otherwise convincing performance overall. 

Besides that, it is rather minor things that HP should still improve, such as the mediocre display. An optional Full HD display could significantly increase the attraction of the notebook. The relatively low battery run time is not very critical, since this laptop is mostly aiming for desk use anyway, and especially also because one can simply buy more capacity. These are all minor points and do not change anything about the recommendation to purchase.