HP 255 G2 review
HP 255 G2 — 2.8 kg, performance 0.
Technical specifications
| Type | Laptop |
| Screen | 15.6" · 1366x768 |
| Processor | AMD E2-3800 |
| Weight | 2.8 kg |
Performance scores
HP 255 G2 — an E2 APU at the entry floor
The HP 255 G2 is an early-2010s budget 15-inch built on AMD's E2-3800 APU — a quad-core chip clocked at 1.3 GHz with no boost, designed for the cheapest possible usable laptop. At $127 it sits well below the general-laptop median of $248. The profile is unambiguous: graphics 0, performance index 0 against a 43 median, overall USComp score 6. This is a machine defined by what it cannot do.
What an E2-3800 delivers in practice
Four very slow cores with TDP-conscious clocks: adequate a decade ago for a browser tab and a document, below modern working tolerance today. The performance index of 0 reflects that honestly — current web applications will strain it visibly on every interaction. There is no axis where this platform surprises on the upside; the value proposition was price at original sale, not capability.
The floor, stated plainly
Graphics 0, performance 0, USComp 6 (−88.7% versus class): every dimension is at the bottom of the catalog. The honest use case is the narrowest kind — a single-application terminal, an offline media player, or controlled-environment duty where the machine does one undemanding thing. Even within that scope, neighbors in the same price band do it better.
Price framing
No reliable depreciation data is available for this model (no original MSRP or release year on record), so no forward projection can be computed. The $127 asking price is effectively the terminal value of a floor-tier machine — no resale expectation, no upgrade path worth funding, no headroom for future workloads.
Where it sits against peers
Pricier neighbors include the HP 17-p023ng ($137) and Compaq Presario CQ60 ($135); cheaper options are the HP 15-ay087ur ($120) and Compaq 15 ($120). Sideways sits the Dell Inspiron 15 3542 ($123) and Lenovo IdeaPad Z575 ($122) — both materially faster platforms for the same money. The 255 G2 is outclassed on every side of its band.
Bottom line
A budget pick in price only: the performance floor is absolute, and several same-band alternatives are faster. Recommended only where purchase price is the sole criterion and the workload is trivially narrow — for any practical buyer, the $120-137 options nearby deliver several times the machine.
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⭐ What stands out
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graphics performance absent (no data or feature not provided).
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overall performance is lower than typical general laptop class (+100%) (low tier).
budget segment of category -
composite score is lower than typical general laptop class (+88.7%).
budget segment of category
🔁 Alternatives
Compromise axis: mobility ↔ overall performance
⚙️ Configuration analysis
Top configuration is built for office apps, web browsing, and basic daily tasks.
🤔 How to choose
Universal advice for any use case.
- Reliability vs price: reliability (median 54) ↔ price (median 247.9).
- Weight vs CPU: mobility (median 50) ↔ overall performance (median 43.1).
- Upgradeability vs battery: upgradability (median 50) ↔ battery life (median 2.3).
255 G2: verdict
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