The affordable HP EliteBook 745 G3 ($1,049 as tested) is a general purpose business laptop aimed at budget-conscious business buyers. But the cost savings aren't worth the trade-off in performance and features. It's competent, but no aspect really stands out, and negatives include a subpar display and performance that lags behind similar systems in just about every area. You do get a good I/O port selection, and the physical build is solid (particularly the keyboard and speakers), but there are simply better options for business. The Lenovo ThinkPad T450s remains our Editors' Choice for its full feature set, touch screen, hot-swappable battery, and faster hardware. The Lenovo ThinkPad E450 and the Acer TravelMate P645-SG-79QV are also worthwhile, affordable alternatives to consider. 

Design and Features

The EliteBook 745 G3 bears a pretty basic design, with no aesthetic flourishes. The plastic body is silver on the lid and keyboard deck, and black on the bottom half of the laptop and around the display. It measures 0.74 by 13.3 by 9.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.33 pounds, a decent weight for a 14-inch system. To compare, the same-screen-size Dell Latitude 14 5000 Series (E5450) measures 0.9 by 13.2 by 9.1 inches and weighs 3.98 pounds, while the Lenovo ThinkPad T450s measures 0.83 by 13 by 9 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.5 pounds. 

The 14-inch display on this system features a 1080p (1,920-by-1,080) resolution, but it's pretty underwhelming. There's a thick bezel around the screen and the anti-glare technology makes the view a bit dull, the display doesn't get very bright, and desktop text is a bit blurry. Colors aren't particularly vibrant, and if I hadn't seen the specs beforehand, I probably could have been convinced the resolution was 720p. The Aspire E5-573G-57HR and Aspire E5-573G-7034 feature the same resolution for several hundred dollars less, and image quality is better. Like those systems, there is no touch-screen support here, but there are configurations available that include it.