HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Comparison

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HP ProBook 650 G8

15.6 inches | September 2020

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Microsoft Surface Pro 9

13 inches | October 2022

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HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Comparison Overview

HP ProBook 650 G8

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Microsoft Surface Pr...

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HP ProBook 650 G8

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Microsoft Surface Pr...

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In this review, we will be comparing ProBook 650 G8 and Surface Pro 9, two laptops from HP and Microsoft. HP ProBook 650 G8 was introduced to market in September 2020 and Microsoft Surface Pro 9 was launched in October 2022. As you can see, ProBook 650 G8 is 2 years older than Surface Pro 9. Let's see if this age difference between two laptops makes a big difference.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of HP ProBook 650 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 9 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

HP ProBook 650 G8 Key Specs

Launched in September 2020
15.6" TN LCD, 16:9 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i3 1115G4
GPU: GeForce MX450 2GB
8GB Ram
359 x 234 x 19.9 mm (14.13 x 9.21 x 0.78 inches)
Weight: 1.74 kg (3.84 lbs)

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Key Specs

Launched in October 2022
13.0" Touchscreen - IPS LCD, 3:2 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i5 1235U
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU)
8GB Ram
287 x 209 x 9.3 mm (11.3 x 8.23 x 0.37 inches)
Weight: 0.87 kg (1.92 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how ProBook 650 G8 and Surface Pro 9 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose HP ProBook 650 G8 over Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Display Size	15.6 inches vs 13 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Screen Type	Matte vs Glossy	potentially less reflections on screen
GPU FLOPS	2.822 TFLOPS vs 1.41 TFLOPS	Dedicated GPU unit
GPU Type	Dedicated vs Integrated	More RAM Options
Upgradable RAM	Yes vs No	Connect to external monitors directly via HDMI cable
HDMI Port	1x HDMI 1.4 vs No	Connects to the local network via Ethernet RJ45
Ethernet RJ45 Port	Yes vs No	Read & Write SD Cards with the built-in reader
SD Card Reader	Yes vs No

Reasons to choose Microsoft Surface Pro 9 over HP ProBook 650 G8

Weight	0.87 kg vs 1.74 kg	0.87 kg lighter
Screen-to-Body Ratio	~83.9% vs ~79.9%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	6.2 mm vs 6.8 mm	0.6 mm thinner bezels
Refresh Rate	120 Hz vs 60 Hz	Smoother media experience
Screen PPI	266 ppi vs 100 ppi	More pixels per inch
Touch Screen	Yes vs No	Interact with your fingers
Screen Resolution	2880 x 1920 pixels vs 1366 x 768 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Max Brightness	450 nits vs 250 nits	Brighter Screen
GPU Fabrication Process	10 nm vs 12 nm	Newer Generation GPU
Charging Port Position	Left, Right vs Right	Flexible cable positions
RAM Type	LPDDR5 vs DDR4	Faster RAM Type
RAM BUS	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	Faster RAM
Dolby Atmos Speakers	Yes vs No	3D Surround Sound Support
Bluetooth	v5.1 vs v5	More advanced Bluetooth connectivity
Webcam Resolution	1920 x 1080 vs 1280 x 720	Higher Resolution Camera
Number of USB-C Ports	2x USB 4.0 vs 1x USB 3.1	Connect more device at the same time
USB-C Port Type	v4.0 vs v3.1	Faster USB-C connection
Thunderbolt	v4 vs No	Support audio, data, power and video all through one single port

Common Strengths of Microsoft Surface Pro 9 and HP ProBook 650 G8

Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
USB Power Delivery	Yes vs Yes	Charging via USB port gives flexibility
RAM Type	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)	Fast RAM type
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs Yes	Option to increase the Storage size
SSD Type	NVMe vs NVMe	Faster Data Transfers
Wi-Fi Standard	v6 vs v6E	Fast and Reliable Wi-Fi Connections
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs Yes	Easily see the keys under low light

HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the HP ProBook 650 G8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 9.

Physical Specs
Weight	1.74 kg (3.84 lbs)	0.87 kg (1.92 lbs)
Surface Area	840 cm2 (130.1 inches2)	600 cm2 (93 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~79.9%	~83.9%
Side Bezel Thickness	~6.8 mm	~6.2 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.11 kg/inch	0.07 kg/inch
	0.242 lbs/inch	0.154 lbs/inch
Colors	Silver	Black, Silver, Blue, Green

Comparison of the HP ProBook 650 G8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 External Dimensions

Weight

ProBook 650 G8 weighs 1.74 kg (3.84 lbs), whereas the Surface Pro 9 weighs 0.87 kg (1.92 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

HP ProBook 650 G8 1.74 kg

Avg: 15.0-15.9" 1.95 kg

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 0.87 kg

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 1.22 kg

Thickness Comparison

HP ProBook 650 G8 19.90 mm

Avg: 15.0-15.9" 20.17 mm

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 11.30 mm

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 15.38 mm

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the HP ProBook 650 G8 is 0.11 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is 0.07 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	Intel Core i3 1115G4 Intel Core i5 1135G7 Intel Core i5 1145G7 Intel Core i7 1165G7 Intel Core i7 1185G7	Intel Core i5 1235U Intel Core i7 1255U
Base Frequency	1.7-3.0 GHz	1.3 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.1 GHz	4.4 GHz
Number of Cores	2	10
Number of Threads	4	12
L3 Cache	6 MB	12 MB
Integrated GPU	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4	Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EU)
CPU Fabrication Process	10 nm	10 nm
Geekbench 5 (Single)	1264	1580
Geekbench 5 (Multi)	2563	6333
Cinebench 23 (Single)	1330	1654
Cinebench 23 (Multi)	3144	6618

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the HP ProBook 650 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 9.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPUs and compare them:

Laptops with: Intel Core i3 1115G4

Laptops with: Intel Core i5 1235U

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	GeForce MX450 2GB	Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU)
Base Clock Frequency	1395 MHz	300 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1575 MHz	1100 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	31 W	15 W
Type	Dedicated	Integrated
FLOPS	2.822 TFLOPS	1,408 GFLOPS
Memory Size	2 GB	System Shared
Memory Type	GDDR6	System Shared
Memory Bus	64 bit	System Shared
Memory Speed	1250 MHz 10 Gbps effective	System Shared
Shading Units Cores	896	640
TMUs	56	40
ROPs	32	20

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. HP ProBook 650 G8 has a FLOPS value of 2.822 TFLOPS whereas the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 ' has a FLOPS value of 1.41 TFLOPS. If graphical performance of the laptop is important for your use type, the HP ProBook 650 G8 may be the better choice between these two setups.

RAM Comparison

RAM	8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB	8GB 16GB 32GB
Memory Bus	1x8 GB	2x4 GB
RAM Clock	3200 MHz	5200 MHz
RAM Type	DDR4	LPDDR5
Upgradable	Yes	No
Max RAM Size	64 GB
Total Slots	2
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)

Both laptops, the ProBook 650 G8 and the Surface Pro 9, come with similar RAM capacities of 8 GB, providing comparable performance in memory-intensive tasks.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	HP ProBook 650 G8	Microsoft Surface Pro 9
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✖ Not supported.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	45 Wh	47.7 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Po	Li-Ion
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	Yes	No
USB Power Delivery	Yes	Yes
Charging Port Position	Right	Left, Right
Charge Power	45 / 65 W	39 W
Voltage	11.4 V
Cable Length	1 meters

On the other hand, the Surface Pro 9 features a higher battery capacity of 48 Wh, delivering longer usage time compared to the ProBook 650 G8's 45 Wh.

Battery Comparison

HP ProBook 650 G8 45 Wh

Avg: 15.0-15.9" 62.1 Wh

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 48 Wh

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 53.1 Wh

STORAGE
Both laptops, the ProBook 650 G8 and the Surface Pro 9 have similar max. storage capacities of 1 TB, allowing for ample space to store files and applications.

Storage Options	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
Upgradable	Yes	Yes
Total Slots	2	1
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	Yes

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the HP ProBook 650 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 9 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. ProBook 650 G8 has a display size of 15.6".On the other hand, Surface Pro 9 has a smaller 13.0" display.The total usable screen area of the ProBook 650 G8 is 670cm² / 104inch² whereas the Surface Pro 9's total usable screen area is 503cm² / 78inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Surface Pro 9 features a higher pixel density with 266 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

HP ProBook 650 G8 100 PPI

Avg: 15.0-15.9" 144 PPI

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 266 PPI

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 186 PPI

Refresh Rate
The Surface Pro 9 offers a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz, resulting in smoother motion and improved visual experience.

Brightness
The Surface Pro 9 offers a higher maximum brightness of 450 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

HP ProBook 650 G8 250 nits

Avg: 15.0-15.9" 319 nits

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 450 nits

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 438 nits

HP ProBook 650 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Surface Pro 9 features a more advanced Wi-Fi standard v6E, providing faster and more reliable wireless connections compared to ProBook 650 G8 (v6).

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
ProBook 650 G8 is equipped with 2x USB 3.1 USB-A ports. Surface Pro 9 does not have USB-A ports.
Both ProBook 650 G8 and Surface Pro 9 have USB Type-C ports. ProBook 650 G8 has 1x USB 3.1 USB Type-C ports, while Surface Pro 9 has 2x USB 4.0 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Surface Pro 9 is equipped with Thunderbolt 4 port. ProBook 650 G8 does not have Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
ProBook 650 G8 features an HDMI port (1x HDMI 1.4) for connecting to external monitors. Surface Pro 9 does not have an HDMI port.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
ProBook 650 G8 is equipped with an SD Card Reader for easy access to memory cards. Surface Pro 9 does not have an SD Card Reader.

Audio Jack
ProBook 650 G8 is equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, allowing seamless connection to headphones and speakers. Surface Pro 9 does not have a 3.5mm Audio Jack.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v6	v6E
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5	v5.1
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	2x USB 3.1	No
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	1x USB 3.1	2x USB 4.0
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	1x HDMI 1.4	No
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Optional	No
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	No
Ethernet RJ45	Yes	No
SD CardReader	Yes	No
Proprietary Charging Port	Yes	Yes