Case
Plastic is mostly used for the ProBook 650 G2. The display lid and base unit's underside are charcoal black while the base's upper side and its bezel are silver. An HP logo adorns the center of the lid's upper side. The base unit's build is stable; it could only be warped with some effort. In the pressure test, the base's upper side yielded slightly in the optical drive's area.

Connectivity
The ProBook 650 G2 features diverse interfaces; HP even offers a 9-pin RS 232 interface as an option. Most ports are located on the right where it could quickly become cramped due to the number of ports and their proximity. USB Type-C, DisplayPort, 2 USB 3.0 ports, and the Ethernet interface are close together. Thus, it might happen that one of the neighboring ports is blocked when using larger USB flash drives. A SIM card slot is also found on the right. Our review sample is equipped with an LTE modem, and 200 MB of data volume for 36 months are included when buying the laptop. This volume should be enough for downloading emails in a month.

Display
HP has installed a matte TN panel in our review sample. The 15.6-inch screen comes from ChiMei and has a native resolution of 1366x768 pixels. This equates to a pixel density of approximately 100 PPI. HP also offers the device with a Full HD panel, among other models. Customers can also buy the ProBook 650 G2 with a touchscreen. The HD panel in our review sample only offers a low brightness (223 cd/m²) and low contrast (405:1). We expect considerably more from a device from this price range. A direct comparison with the competition shows that the ProBook 650 G2 is on par with Dell's Latitude 15 E5570. It has improved, even if only marginally, compared with the predecessor ProBook 650 G1 model. The fact that the screen flickers at a brightness of 90% and lower is also unfavorable. This can lead to complaints such as headaches when used for prolonged periods.

On the other hand, it is favorable that barely any visible backlight bleeding is seen in a completely black image.