Trade in your old laptop
Standard HP cashback

I've done this successfully already with an antique (c.2004?) Packard Bell laptop I had lying around. The T&Cs say they accept laptops up to 6 years old unless they're genuine Windows XP machines, in which case there is no age limit ... woohoo!

A lot of the inevitable questions will have answers here http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-probook-450-g3-newest-business-laptop-i3-6100u-score-higher-than-i5-5200u-4gb-2415061

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-probook-450-g3-newest-business-laptop-i3-6100u-score-higher-than-i5-5200u-4gb-2413868

Credit to huangxq2 for all his time & effort

​the consensus of the deal is that you get upto about 175 to 200 off the price and tcb with trade in and cashback. agreed on its own with no incentive it's not great, but it also has the quality on its side. please remember this, and Huang has said many many times, even with the same spec, these laptops are 'worth' so much more because of their build quality. :-D

My i3 laptop has arrived today. Initial impressions are that this has a very high build quality, far superior to my Lenovo consumer laptop. I love the aluminium keyboard panel, looks good and seems to be robust and easy to keep clean. As some other posters said quite a lot of bloatware but easy enough remove. In my opinion definitely worth the money. Thanks to original poster.

Trade in your old laptop
Standard HP cashback

I've done this successfully already with an antique (c.2004?) Packard Bell laptop I had lying around. The T&Cs say they accept laptops up to 6 years old unless they're genuine Windows XP machines, in which case there is no age limit ... woohoo!

How long did you have to wait for the 2 cashback amounts?

Can you trade a desktop

Took delivery of mine last week. Nice machine. Very responsive and feels well built. Good deal

A lot of the inevitable questions will have answers here http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-probook-450-g3-newest-business-laptop-i3-6100u-score-higher-than-i5-5200u-4gb-2415061

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-probook-450-g3-newest-business-laptop-i3-6100u-score-higher-than-i5-5200u-4gb-2413868

Credit to huangxq2 for all his time & effort

This was £350.40 last week so although this still remains a good deal it has been quite a bit cheaper recently. The price has been jumping up and down so could drop again.

Funny how it's necessary to add "non-gaming laptop" to the description - (but I do understand why you've put it) :laughing:

They've cunningly priced this just below the higher £400 Trade Up point. I wonder if you added a small item like a printer cartridge or mouse etc to take the total above £400 if you'd get the higher trade up?

Oops, that'll teach me not to search before submitting! Do I need to remove this posting?

I wouldn't have thought so - they're both expired and at different prices anyway.

Just thought I'd mention in case people have questions regarding the cashbacks - a lot of the questions will have been answered in those threads.

I have an old XP Pro laptop but have put Ubuntu on it. It still has a valid license sticker. Would they take that or do I need to put XP back on it?

I don't know too much about computers so could use some help. This looks good but doesn't seem to have much storage room for photos/vids/music. Am I reading that right? Could you only use it with an external hard drive?

Trading in an old desktop with windows xp coa sticker on it is most guaranteed to get cash back. Have traded in 5 such computers, one with even a torn xp label.

Need another laptop but no tradeins left :disappointed:

Is that something a complete novice could do?

As long as it complies with the trade in T&C:
For your Trade-in to qualify for the promotion it must be a working, complete and undamaged, (reasonable wear and tear accepted) Laptop (minimum 10” screen size), Tablet (minimum 9” screen size) or Desktop. Your Trade-in must be no more than 6 years old (age limitations are not applicable to genuine Microsoft XP computers) and complete with all accessories including working battery and power supply where applicable.

Thanks for your feedback. I've scanned the t&c's and my netbook is a Packard Bell Dot2 with a 10.1" screen and pre-installed WinXP Home. I believe it meats all the criteria, but it depends how **** they are and whether they distinguish between a netbook and a laptop (i.e. netbooks don't have dvd drives). Whether it is within 6 years of age is a close run thing....I think we bought it in 2010.

The 6 years age doesn't apply if it's on XP. I traded in a 12 year old XP laptop and got £150 trade in.

I think the £50 cashback deal is now over - if you go the cashback link and type in the purchase date, it states "The invoice date you have selected is invalid".

The 'How it Works' section states "Purchases must be made between 24th November 2015 and 29th February 2016", even though the T&Cs state "Terms and Conditions for purchases made between 24th November 2015 to 31st March 2016".

A guy on the other thread said that he had contacted HP who stated that they had pulled the deal early... Who knows? Unfortunately they're only open Mon-Fri...

Anyone know of any decent HDD for the sata bay? ?

Does anyone know if there are any conditions on who you buy from for the trade-in programme, ie. does it have to be an authorised HP reseller? I'm looking at one of the other trade-in deals but I'll be buying from a small independent rather than a mainstream supplier. I thought in the past they made it a requirement that you had to buy from an authorised HP seller but I can't see any reference to that in the current T&Cs.

Has anyone open the back and confirmed the SATA connector is there?

It's not just the 'How it works' page that is wrong - if you actually go to 'Claim Now' and type in your 'data of purchase' as say 26 March 2016, it states that 'The invoice date you have selected is invalid'. Try it!

The invoice date is invalid on the claims page because you have to wait 30 days before claiming i.e. it only accepts today's date on the 26th April.

Yep, I put an additional ssd in mine. There isn't a HP caddy supplied (metal frame the drive sits in) but it fits in without it

Nice. Thank you.

How do you securely fit the SSD then? Can the SSD be screwed directly to the laptop without the metal frame?

Don't forget topcashback, currently 6.6% for business laptops as quidco down to 4% now

I ordered i5 model below, extra £75 trade up cashback. TCB only tracked at 3.3%

http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P4P52ET&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

Yes just that, I know the benchmark differences are huge but only about £30 more after cashback.

I've just gone for the i3, hopefully the trade-up and cashback will all work out for us :smiley:

Got an old Packard Bell XP laptop for £50 for anyone in the Doncaster area :smiley:

My Laptop uses an i3 processor and I must say it is not at all impressive.

There is a lot of lag, especially running multiple programs (iTunes and browsing the web for instance).

The one I have at work is i7 and that is lightening in comparison, they don't always cost that much more money either.

Wonder what the difference in performance would be if they both ran at the same clock... Doesn't seem a massive increase in performance considering they were released 6 years apart! I went from a pentium 75 in '94 to an Athlon 1000 6 years later, now that was a huuuuuge jump.

Clock for clock doesn't really matter when they're using so much less power and putting out so much less heat.

Will I get away with a Packard Bell netbook for trade-in?. Has XP as base install and fully functional bar one key (z) which doesn't work. Thoughts?

if you're on the fence with this deal, do it. I did mine last week. ordered, the laptop came the next day.
it's a supremely built piece, compared to consumer laptops.
use the principle from this page and information to choose the laptop right for you. I bought a £416 i5, with 500gb HDD, and bought a20quid 9 inch tablet off gumtree for trade up.

on the day of purchase, I filled out the trade form and had it agreed in principle, then sent off the tablet with the documents they send you over email. they only ask you 3 questions, are you vat registered, no, how many employees, 1- being you, and the name of your business, which you already filled in at the checkout. that's it. don't forget quidco and tcb.

I went through tcb and tracked :-)

if youre on the fence, did my post help at all, or just clarify how you felt perhaps? so far it's been a pretty painless experience. have a good read of the TS and cs, and see what parts of them, if any, restrict your potential to purchase. is it a moral thing, or worried about your trafe in item etc?

dave

I have an old xp laptop but I put Windows 7 on it. Can I still trade this in?

If you can trade in and get cash back it would be a great deal, or if you can just trade in that would still be a good deal.

At 393.63 its not a good deal as you could get similar spec for 300 although you would probably have to install the ssd yourself

Where's the i5 for £450? The only one I can see with a SSD is £506.40.

Thanks for replying, I put on Windows 7 years ago, Can it still be done ?

I'm pretty sure there will be a way. Have a read of this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971760

I think someone reported on here that he had installed Ubuntu but the laptop had the Windows XP sticker on it, and HP accepted it.

Thanks, I read that comment but didn`t know what Ubuntu was. My friend put Windows 7 on and if I remember correctly it was not a genuine version.

guys the xp thing is an age guide. it's a benchmark for HP to determine what is worth trading in. if it originally came with xp, you're good, there is also the other age condition of 6 years, so either or :-D

I got an i5 6200u with 500gb HDD for 416. for what an m.2 ssd costs, which is the only difference between that and the 516 model, is about 50 quid in real life, so I thought it was a better option.

HP Probook 450 with 500gb HDD

I think they have put the price upto £506

"The promotion is open to businesses or organisations operating in mainland UK and Northern Ireland only"

So individuals can't participate in this promotion?

Is there any reason they've specified windows XP? I've got an old Dell D630 with a Vista sticker on and a quick system check shows it is nearly 9 years old. I can't decide if I should send it or just nab one of the retired XP desktops from work and send that in?

Has anybody tried returning/cancelling an order through HP business sales? The t&c's state that 'After shipment Commercial and Public Sector customers have no automatic right of return without cause (e.g damaged on arrival)'. Slightly concerning as if the trade in claim goes south then it appears you have no opt out!

I doubt very much that you are going to find a laptop as well built for 300 quid tbh.

Regardless of specification

Gone or £393 laptop thanks OP.

Thanks op, gone for this. Trading in an Sammy NC10 netbook with windows xp :smiley:
Thinking of sticking another 4gb stick of ram in it. Do they have to be matched pairs? Anybody know exactly what I need?
Thanks.

I don't think they'll have to be matched pairs, as long as it's DDR3L SDRAM.

I'm assuming something like this would be fine:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-KVR16LS11-Non-ECC-SODIMM-204-Pin/dp/B00CQ35GYE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459263996&sr=8-2&keywords=DDR3L+SDRAM

Heat added. Great deal.

Can anyone recommend a cheap tablet that qualifies for the trade in?

Would they accept a Windows Vista desktop?

Taken the plunge on the i5 500gb HDD. Did you receive a PO with the serial # of the laptop, or did you have to wait for delivery before submitting your trade-in claim?

Thank you ordered. Waiting for the tracking to show on Quidco from two days ago when it was still 6%. Hope it tracks ....

If you intend buying the i5 priced at £506.40, scroll down and click the case bundle link 'See more bundle details' and you'll find that it actually REDUCES the overall price to £478.80. It actually TAKES OFF more than the £15.60 cost of the case alone, rather than increasing the price.

A slight flaw discovered! :disappointed:
Downside is £25 less trade-in cashback as the bundle is now less than £500 threshold, so only a small saving overall of £2.60 but now including a free case.

If I buy it today, will it usually be dispatched within the promotion window. Or would it be better to wait for the next month and make sure all promotions are running pre purchasing?

Also is the level of cashback based on purchase price inc.VAT? ie will the £450 i5 trigger the higher cashback level?

I can vouch for the build quality, I've got a works elitebook and they have a quality feel.
I use my windows tablets more than my dell i5 laptop otherwise I would be all over this deal.

Has anyone whose ordered today had confirmation of the serial number yet? In the middle of my trade-in claim but stuck at the serial number section

Will an Android tablet suffice? Can't see anything that says otherwise in the T+C's...

Not feeling that resolution at all.

It is the invoice date matters.

They promise deliver in 48 hours. So the invoice should be dated on or before 31/03/2016.

If still worry, contact HP if they can issue you invoice quickly.


If you do not know the answer to the question you are asking about cashback, you definitely have not read enough to understand the minimum.
Read post 1 of the link below for summary of cashback. Click into the cashback link to see the different levels.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-probook-450-g3-newest-business-laptop-i3-6100u-score-higher-than-i5-5200u-4gb-2415061?p=27595222

sorry, but where is reference to the £50 standard cashback, I can't see this anywhere...

thanks seen link in first post. please ignore the one above!

Not True, check bios dates has to be less than 6 years old if not windows xp

No, that is completely incorrect.

Please read the terms again.

computer comes with XP, no age limit.

computer comes with os other than XP, must be less than 6 years old.

did you find the serial on your invoice buddy?

you'll probably get your laptop today, mine arrived in less than 24 hours. the laptop came before my invoice hahahah.

by the way, don't forget to check your junk mail for trade up information. the email contact shows as 'trade up from HP' and naturally and good spam filter will chuck this into junk :-s

mine went into junk in hotmail/ outlook and took me ages to find this out! hahah :-(

For anyone wanting to upgrade the RAM for this, I've just checked and it seems that something as cheap as this will be fine as it's 1.35v (even though Amazon list it as PC3, and not PC3L):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT51264BF160B-PC3-12800-Unbuffered-NON-ECC/dp/B005LDLV6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459335566&sr=8-1&keywords=12800+4gb#Ask

how do they know if it is a genuine xp product though? is there something in the BIOS that will tell them this because realistically.....most stick on licenses i have seen are well past it to determine anything and the housing "Designed for Windows XP" sticker can be had for 99p on eBay

There has to be something in the system that can tell them

When you complete the trade in form- it asks for a 'reseller' company. What did you put mate?

I just put HP as the reseller company

ditto. direct from HP. the sale of the product doesnt necessarily communicate with the trade up. treat it as two separate transactions as it were.

My i3 laptop has arrived today. Initial impressions are that this has a very high build quality, far superior to my Lenovo consumer laptop. I love the aluminium keyboard panel, looks good and seems to be robust and easy to keep clean. As some other posters said quite a lot of bloatware but easy enough remove. In my opinion definitely worth the money. Thanks to original poster.

I ordered this today and still haven't had the order accepted email yet, only the order received email. Little bit concerned if the invoice date is what matters for the cashback and the site says the invoice will be sent the day after delivery. Have sent an email to the trade up assistance address to see what they say about it...

my laptop arrived before the order accepted email. don't be concerned.

Email received today advising that my order of yesterday has been cancelled. Email appears to be generic so I suspect I am not the only one to receive....

Thank you for your recent order from HP Store but unfortunately we were unable to complete your order. This is either due to us being unable to verify all of your information, or that there was an error in processing your order. If you have already paid we have arranged for a refund for you and the details of how you will receive this are below.

I received this today and can confirm the system disk is a M.2 and there is a free working SATA 2.5" slot in addition to the optical drive.

I just used my name as my billing address, company name and credit card etc so all consistent. Good luck with your purchase

Thanks

I'm sending an old XP laptop the battery is gone so minus £25 there but I removed the OS and installed Linux do I need to install XP back or will they be happy with the stickers stating its genuine XP

What date did people put in for the "Purchase date" for the trade up claim? My invoice has three dates on it - customer order date, dispatch date, and billing document date! I've gone for customer order date as that is the date that I clicked "buy"...

I put the customer order date but waiting for mine to be authorised

The battery was completely dead on mine too, but they didn't notice ... Can't help you about the OS, because mine had XP still on it

I spoke to them. they go off the date you order online.

Anyone had confirmation of cashback yet?

My claim was "Approved" and I sent the laptop in - but what is the next step? Do you get an email confirming the cashback amount and date? Thanks.

Can you not claim the £50 until 30 days has passed?
Also, is the invoice number on the invoice? or do I use billing doc number?

Thanks

Thanks for the reply - I only sent it last week so I'll give it until next week. I've not opened my ProBook as I was hoping to have this confirmed first.

Got an email from them saying no OS needs to be installed. So saves me some time.

trade up still available in April. £50 cashback gone though.

I cant seem to claim the £50 cash back. I purchased the laptop last week, and when I tried to submit the claim today it complains about the purchase date. Anybody else had this issue? Thanks

You can only make the cash back claim after 30 days from the invoice date. So the earliest date you can input today is 2nd March.

I figured it out after I had posted but thanks anyway :smiley:

Note that £50 cashback is not available on Probook 450 this month, trade up cashback still is though.

If you purchased a laptop now? I purchased it end of March so can still get the £50 cashback, is this correct?

​Yes

Absolutely love this Laptop

The build quality is 10 out of 10 have just dropped another 4GB of memory in to take advantage of the dual channel and this Laptop is very very fast

I got the 4GB Crucial memory £15.59 from Crucial free postage Crucial Memory

Easiest memory upgrade ever with the access on the laptop

Pics:

Showing Dual Channel Pic 1

6.9 Windows Score Pic 2

Crucial Memory Installed Pic 3

Anyone know if you have to select "I am a VAT registered business" in the trade-in form? Can you select no?

Yes you can select No

One more Pic of the SSD Performance

SSD Performance Pic

cheers

I`ve never installed memory before, just unscrew the panel and pop it in? easy as that?

Cash back seems to have been extended to include purchases to end of April now. Can others please confirm, because I don't trust my reading of the terms...

Ah, hang on, looks like this model isn't included, only the HP ProBook 455 G3 - P4P60EA which has the A8 processor and no SSD. Shame

Thanks for this - I thought that's where it would be!

I'm impressed with mine too, fitted my old PS4 drive for extra storage, and have my extra RAM coming next week.

​hey up whaps, that ks for the pics there... cpu-z, a download I think I'll be making today.

thinking of getting that memory and an ssd for mine too. thanks for the pic of the laptop memory there, is the pic taken before you installed the ssd? I was wondering if the large empty space to the left of the RAM is the m.2 slot?

where did you get your ssd... I've never used one before... is it easy to move the programming files from the HDD to the ssd to boot the computer?

sorry for all the questions.

dave

Hi, the large empty space next to the memory is for a 2.5" hard drive , this Laptop already has an 128GB M.2 SSD



Service Guide: HP ProBook G3 Service Manual

Trade up cashback still available but not £50 consumer cashback

Can I add a second 8gb memory module to make 12gb in total such as below?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT102464BF160B-PC3-12800-Unbuffered-NON-ECC/dp/B006YG8X9Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1459677707&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+memory+ddr3+1600

The service manual says yes page 14 to check:

● 16384 MB (8192 × 2; dual channel)
● 12288 MB (8192 + 4096; dual channel)
● 8192 MB (8192 × 1)
● 8192 MB (4096 × 2; dual channel)
● 6144 MB (4096 + 2048; dual channel)
● 4096 MB (4096 × 1)
● 2048 MB (2048 × 1)

For the April deals, this one looks good.

https://www.technoworld.com/hp-probook-640-g1-f1q66et-core-i5-4210m-4gb-500gb-dvdrw-14in-bt-cam-win7-8-1-pro

552 - 225 trade up. So pretty much half price.

The i5 is getting on a bit but it still performs well.
Screen is an HD+ but a review states viewing angles not that great.

​ah, apologies, I don't have the same lappy. I have a 500gb HDD, was thinking of adding the ssd after. is the ssd in this photo at all?

Price up to £444 now

Anyone got any preferences for RAM upgrade... Crucial or Kingston?

I don't think it will make any difference

I went for the Kingston one here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-KVR16LS11-Non-ECC-SODIMM-204-Pin/dp/B00CQ35GYE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Finally had confirmation of my £125 Trade-up cashback (approval - to be paid within 45 days).

I usually use Crucial but as said above it doesn't matter. I got this (probably overkill for most people's use) when it was on a Lightning deal (£40.79) about a week ago http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-DDR3-SODIMM-Memory-Module/dp/B007B5S52C

When did you send your item to HP?

23rd March (it was delivered 29th March - you check this on the ParcelForce website with the number on your receipt from the post office). I called last week, they confirmed they had received it (but said it could take up to 30 days). So it's taken almost 2 weeks all in all.


We have received and tested 1 out of 1 Trade-in devices and are pleased to advise you we have validated your claim for 1 devices.

Your Claim value for 1 devices is 125.00 and this amount will be paid to your bank account within 45 days.

We will send you an email confirmation upon your payment being processed.

If you need to contact us please email [email protected] or call UK: 0845 415 4102, IE: 0818 762 713.

Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Kind regards,

Trade Up to HP Customer Support

Thanks

Mine states it was signed for on 5th April, so I'll give it another couple of weeks.

oh dear, the post office hadn't given me a receipt; will the lab have a record of receiving my pc which was sent around 20 march?

Oh, I just received email from HP saying full £200 will be paid to me!! very happy!

£200? Did you do multiple trade ins - or purchase a higher priced laptop?

I bought the £506 i5 laptop, that's why got £200 trade in

Just received approval for £50 cashback too.

£350.40 - £125 (Trade-up) - £50 (cashback) = £175.40

Very happy with this deal :laughing:

Ditto got email this morning.

Just had my confirmation email for the £125 trade-up - I only sent in a £35 tablet from Amazon!

Notice how all the prices have gone up from the sellers??

Can someone help me out...

I dropped off two parcels on Saturday 16 April to my local post office (two separate trade-ins) using the pre-printed postage labels. The Parcelforce website shows that it was collected from the post office on Tuesday 19 April. However, it is still on the very first stage out of six (i.e. 'dispatched'). I would have expected it to have been delivered by now!

I rang the Post Office and they say that Parcelforce have definitely picked it up. However, Parcelforce state that it must be at the Post Office as it has not been scanned by them... When I gave the tracking order, they say that the collection place was somewhere in NE8 (Newcastle!). I took a photo of my postage label and the bottom of it says "from Opia Ltd, Baltimore House, Gateshead, NE8 3DF). This is what seems to be causing the confusion.

Has anyone faced something similar? All I did was print off the postage label on the URL sent, and stuck it to the front! I have no idea what the two barcodes on it are...

I'm getting a little bit stressed as they're supposed to reach HP by 30 April. I emailed HP but they sent me a cryptic reply saying that they've marked the fact that it might be lost on their records. I'm going to have to email them to find out what they mean...

Opia deal with the promotions on behalf of HP.

Confirmed £125 trade-in! Sent in a 2010 year Windows 7 Sony Vaio.. Happy days!

For those who have purchased the laptop - are you pleased with it?

Also, what is the battery quality like? How long does it run for?

I am pleased with it, I have i5 6200u with SSD; it's fast I habitualy load 15 or 20 chromes & youtube as well.

the only lack is the screen which is not full HD, but with the price after cash back & trade in, it's very good bargain.

if not play youtube ; battery last around 7 hrs surfing on wired ethernet, I don't use wifi & any wireless for health reasons

I just got confirmation of £50 cash back

Ye it`s okay. I can`t seem to get on with the touch pad, prefer my old i3 and the screen could be better. I added an extra 4gb ram and it does run very smoothly.

HI,
My trade-in has been accepetd, but just received email to say cashback claim rejected.
Reason given "cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion!"

Any help appreceiated
Thanks
John

Bummer, submitted my cash back claim on Saturday and received email on Sunday saying validated and approved for payment (trade up all validated and also currently waiting payment). Maybe try claiming again, no idea if it makes a difference but I used the wrong invoice number by mistake when I claimed trade up and correct invoice number on cash back claim.

I don't like the touch pad neither, compared to my friend Lenovo's touch pad which is lot better & responsive; may be if we can find better software would make some difference?. I mostly use external mouse

Thanks, I appreciate the reply.
Emui1, that's the laptop I'm considering; uncertain whether it's worth it, minus the cashback.

I take it the touchpad is slow/unresponsive? If that's the case, I'd rather not purchase.

I may not be best person to judge on the touch pad as I don't like using touch pad at all except occasionally; the other laptop I tried have 3 fingers scroll etc & is not metal & glides smoothier. the activate sensor on HP' s touch pad is not responsive & have to tap very hard, I don't know if any setting can changed

With the cashback taken off it is definately worth it Wander.

You can mess about with the touchpad settings to improve it to your liken.

Hi yes have waited 30 days and tried a different number for invoice number today.
Claim has been rejected again with the following message:
"Unfortunately your recent claim was not successful for following reason:
This promotion can not be used in conjunction with any other offer, as you have successfully registered this product on Trade Up To HP promotion we cannot process a separate claim."

Has anybody else had this problem or am I the unlucky one?

Any help appreciated.
Thanks John

That's really odd that your claim has been rejected. I submitted a claim for the £50 cashback last night, and another one this morning (for another unit) and they both went through fine. My trade-in of £125 has been confirmed for both too... You should give them a ring.

Am I right in thinking that the cashback offer is back on now it's May?

For the HP trade in, has anyone tried purchasing a new 9 inch tablet on Amazon (or other site) and use that as the trade in device? In other words does it technically have to be an old, used device or can it be a 'new' one too?

Doesn't matter if it's new in a sealed box, as long as it meets the criteria.

I've decided not to purchase it. I'd rather not add to the frustration of a slow touchpad.

It only applies to the P4P38ET model, not the one displayed on the original post.

The touchpad isn`t slow Wander. After using the laptop more i`m getting used to it now.

Not any more: https://tradeuptohp.com/gb/en/pages/tradein/qualifying


Family Model Purchase Conditions Promotional Period
Probook 450 450 G3 - P4P38ET - 01/05/2016 – 31/05/2016
Probook 450 450 G3 - P4P54ET - 01/05/2016 – 31/05/2016
Probook 450 450 G3 - P4P52ET - 01/05/2016 – 31/05/2016
Probook 450 450 G3 - P5T14ET - 01/05/2016 – 31/05/2016

So, if the trade in and cash back are still valid, is this still a good deal or are there any better deals on the HP site?

I've now successfully upgraded my probook 450 g3 to a full hd IPS screen - not for the faint hearted but fairly straightforward if you have IT/electronics experience.

Unfortunately, as stock the display cable that comes with the 450 g3 isn't compatible with full-hd screens - a shame as the upgrade would be really easy otherwise - it's possible to get 1680x1050 screen panels which would be a way to get an easy upgrade, although from my brief research only TN panels are available so you'd get improved resolution but little else.

I bought my new screen here on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401080065227

You also need the HP cable kit, which I got via the official partsurfer site:
http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?SearchText=828418-001

It's the cable that makes the upgrade expensive unfortunately, it cost me about £35. Of course, it's even more expensive if you do what I did and order the cable kit for the 450 G2 because the g3 cable kit was out of stock - they've changed the board connector and it isn't compatible!

Unusually, the cable kit comes with 4 different display cables - I tested two and found they didn't work, but it was third time lucky! The working cable was marked with the codes:
X63LC030
DD0X63LC030
MEC3ADDD464

The HP service manual is here:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04825517

You need to remove the display bezel to swap the screen panel which is just 2 screws, but removing the top cover to do the display cable involves nearly 30 screws - it took me around an hour to do the job.

The first time I booted windows it came up in 1360x768 with distortion around the edges so if that happens to you don't panic - after a reboot it had picked up the new panel and looks beautiful - much better viewing angles and colours, and full HD resolution.

Very happy now with the laptops performance and build quality - contemplating the backlit keyboard now which would be the icing on the cake!

Cheers all.

I would be interested in learning about the backlit keyboard mod. Please set up a tutorial when you've done it.

Well, it's not so much a mod as just buying the correct HP part - the laptop already has the connections and capability to use a backlit keyboard, it just doesn't have one as standard.

Unfortunately the UK layout backlit keyboard doesn't seem to be available from HP (possibly because they aren't selling it with backlit keyboard in the UK market) but there is a suggestion that if you contact an HP part reseller they might be able to obtain it.

Looking at the official channels:
https://parts.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.aspx?mscssid=91419B1EFDC847DEAE267A4546FCBC67&SearchIn=PartNumber&SearchPN=827029

You can see there that you can buy a backlit keyboard for the probook with the German, Czeck/Slovak or Denmark/Finland/Norway keyboard layout - but it does cost you about £60

Perhaps worth a punt is this one on ebay for £27:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-UK-Keyboard-For-HP-Probook-450-G3-455-G3-470-G3-Backlit-With-Frame-Black-/172208255123?hash=item2818697093:g:YgEAAOSwve5XOUiw

I'm certainly tempted to give it a go, perhaps next time payday rolls around.

Just had £125 paid into the bank! £50 to come then all my cashback is paid!

Thanks OP

@ruklaw Did you install the backlit keyboard?

Haven't taken the plunge yet, no!

I finally did get the backlit keyboard, just fitted it, works a treat. Went for this one here on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162266290072

Key layout is identical to the standard keyboard, with the addition that you control the backlight via fn-f3, cycles through high, low and off.

Pretty simple to install - four screws, one to remove the ssd/wireless cover plate, then three keyboard screws. Only fiddly bit was folding the ribbon cables over, but these are marked so pretty hard to get wrong.

Delivery took just over a week. At just under £20 it's the most no-brainer upgrade going for anyone that uses their laptop in a darkened room.