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When we ran the EliteBook through our file transfer test, in which we have notebooks duplicate 4.97GB of mixed-media files, its 256GB SSD completed the test in 41 seconds -- a rate of 124.1 MBps. The Portege and ThinkPad both fared better at 212 MBps and 149.7 MBps, respectively, while the Dell Latitude E5250 mustered a lowly 86.3 MBps.

Ports, Fingerprint Reader and Webcam If there's a port you need for day-to-day office use, it's probably on the EliteBook 745. The left side houses a Kensington lock slot, VGA port, USB 3.0 port and a smart card reader. On the right you'll find a USB Type-C port, DisplayPort, headphone/microphone combo jack, another USB 3.0 port, Ethernet jack, docking connector and micro SIM card slot. On the bottom, right under the DisplayPort, is an SD card reader.

The fingerprint reader on the palm rest worked well. Using Windows Hello, I quickly registered several of my fingers, which allowed me to unlock the computer. Almost every time I swiped, the reaction was instantaneous, except for a few times when the reader directed me to move my finger to the left or right.

The 720p webcam produced some grainy images, but it captured details well, like my dimple and the shadows on my face. As far as laptop webcams go, it's pretty solid.

Battery Life Unless you don't travel often or don't go to a lot of meetings, you'll be disappointed by the EliteBook 745's meager battery life. The AMD-powered laptop lasted just 5 hours and 54 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits of brightness. Other business notebooks held up better on our test, like the Portege Z30t-B (6:58), Latitude E5250 (8:31) and especially the ThinkPad T450s, which lasts 7:31 on a standard battery and a whopping 15:26 with an extended battery. The category average for battery life is 8:24 -- a good business notebook should last you the entire workday.

Graphics If you're looking for ways to slack off at work with the EliteBook 745, heavy-duty gaming won't be one of them. In our testing, AMD's R7 integrated graphics didn't stand up well to its Intel-powered foes.The EliteBook got handily beat in the 3DMark graphics performance benchmark. It notched a score of 44,377, while the ThinkPad (59,843), Portege (57,160) and Latitude (50,261) all scored much higher.

I played a game of Klondike in the Microsoft Solitaire collection, and the game ran smoothly. If you want to play Words with Friends or other nonintensive games, you'll have no problems.

Heat Consider keeping this laptop on your desk, because it got a little toasty in our heat tests. After streaming 15 minutes of HD video from Hulu, the bottom of the EliteBook 745 hit a sweltering 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That's 9.5 degrees higher than what we consider comfortable. The touchpad stayed cool at 81.5 degrees, while the spot between the G and H keys on the keyboard was just under our threshold at 94.5 degrees.

Software and Warranty Our EliteBook 745 came with a three-year warranty on parts and labor. However, the base model comes with a one-year limited warranty and HP Elite Support.

The bloatware on the EliteBook 745 is minimal; most of the add-on programs, such as HP Touchpoint Manager and HP Client Security, are from HP itself and may be useful for IT departments. AMD's Catalyst Control Center is also on board, should Windows' own settings not be to your liking.

The only real offender is CyberLink PowerDVD 12, which is fairly useless, since the EliteBook 745 doesn't have a DVD drive and there are better entertainment software options available. The Bang & Olufsen speaker software, on the other hand, came in handy when I was adjusting music to my liking. You'll also find a one-month trial of Microsoft Office 365.

Configurations Our review model of the EliteBook 745 came with a 2.1-GHz AMD Pro A12-8800B APU with integrated Radeon R7 graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD and a 1920 x 1080 display. It costs $1,049, but other options are available.The base model costs $749 and features a 1.6-GHz A8-8600B with Radeon R6 graphics. It comes with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard-disk drive and a 1366 x 768 display.

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A number of other options include adding touch-screen functionality, display resolutions up to 2560 x 1440, up to a 1-TB HDD, up to a 256GB SSD and up to 16GB of memory.

Bottom Line The HP EliteBook 745 is a lightweight, attractive business notebook with powerful speakers, but it falls short in several key areas. The performance is decent enough, but less than 6 hours of battery life, a dull screen and an uncomfortable keyboard make it a less-than-compelling choice.

For those looking for a new business notebook, we still recommend the Lenovo T450s for its excellent battery life, strong performance and extremely comfortable keyboard.

Two pieces from an art collection were taken from an unlocked area in a multi-residential building on the 2200 block of Central Street on Feb. 3.

A digital speed tracker box was removed from a pole on the 2900 block of Payne Street sometime between 1 p.m., Jan. 29 and 12:45 p.m., Feb. 1.

A unattended purse with contents was taken from a religious institution located on the 800 block of Ridge Avenue on Jan. 31.

Known offenders took a Toshiba laptop computer, Dell tablet computer, Phillips 32-inch television and electric guitar from an apartment on the 700 block of Reba Place.

Neshawn D. Legrone, 32, of the 1800 block of Lake Street, was arrested at 1800 Lake St., on Feb. 3 and charged with theft over $500. He is due in court Feb. 26.

ALCOHOL

Hasan Mohammed Awwad, 31, of 9123 Stevenson, Des Plaines, was arrested at 2200 Church Street on Jan. 31 and charged with driving while under the influence. He is due in court March 14.

AUTO THEFT

A white four-door Honda 2006 vehicle was taken by a known offender from the 1900 block of Howard Street on Feb. 1.

A woman's wallet with contents was taken from the victim in a grocery store on the 1200 block of Chicago Avenue on Feb. 1.

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

Kurtis A. Henry, 21, of the 300 block of Callan Avenue, was charged on Feb. 1 with aggravated assault after an incident in the 400 block of Custer Street. He is due in court Feb. 26.

DRUGS

Daniel A. Chamberlain, 25, of the 100 block of Milwaukee St., LaCrosse, was charged on Jan. 29 with possession of drug paraphernalia after an incident in the 1800 block of Dempster Street. He is due in court March 14.

Jake Charles Garland, 21, of the 6300 block of North Artesian Street in Chicago, was charged on Jan. 29 with possession of marijuana after an incident in the 6300 block of North Artesian. He was due in court Feb. 1.

Kayla M. Jambois, 23, of the 100 block of Milwaukee St., LaCrosse, was charged on Jan. 29 with possession of drug paraphernalia on Jan. 29 after an incident on the 1800 block of Dempster Street on. She is due in court March 14.

Jeremy E. Schweizer, 20, of the 3300 block of Harrison Street, charged on Jan. 30 with possession of a controlled substance after an incident in the 600 block of Howard Street. He is due in court Feb. 1.

Ronald Talley, 59, of the 400 block of west Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines, was charged on Feb. 3 with unlawful possession of a controlled substance after an incident in the 1400 block of Church Street. No court information was available.

BATTERY

Arexa Michelle Shelley, 42, of the 2000 block of Dewey Avenue, was charged on Jan. 28 with domestic battery. She was due in court Feb. 1.

Lusher L. White, 28, of the 800 block of North Laramie, Chicago, charged on Feb. 2 with marijuana possession. White is due in court March 4.

Watching 4K movies on your laptop, while unplugged? Microsoft Movies & TV, the default video player that comes with Windows 10, lasts over twice as long as the competition.

You might think of VLC and Media Player Classic as the lightweight alternatives to Microsoft’s bloated default offering, but that thinking seems outdated. Microsoft Movies & TV utterly destroyed the free competition in battery life in a series of tests run by PC World Executive Editor Gordon Mah Ung.

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“Most people ‘in the know’ skip the default options for their video player of choice because it’s ‘better’ or more ‘efficient’,” wrote Mah Ung. “My results disprove this from a battery-life aspect.”

The test was simple. A 4K video, Tears of Steel, was played on a brand new Toshiba Satellite Radius 12 running Windows 10. Brightness was set manually, and airplane mode was turned on, but beyond that everything was left at the default settings. The video was looped in several different players until the battery died, and the results were surprising.

Microsoft’s Movies & TV lasted 314 minutes, over twice as long as the closest competition, Media Player Classic HC. VLC, long loved by users for being lightweight, offered the worst results of all.

“I’m a huge VLC fan and out of pure laziness, download VLC on my machines and never venture further,” wrote Mah Ung. “So it was a bummer to see my favorite media player perform so poorly in battery performance.”

Apple’s QuickTime 7, long forced on users installing iTunes, couldn’t even open the file.

“It seems odd that Apple would hurl stones at Adobe while sitting inside of a house made of shimmering non-Gorilla Glass,” wrote Mah Ung.

Apple hasn’t done a lot to update that software for Windows, but it’s still noteworthy considering how much time and energy Cupertino spent pushing the Windows version.