HP’s terrific ZBook Firefly 16-inch is a transportable workstation aimed toward productiveness, pictures, 2D, and light-weight 3D workloads. It’s primarily based on the business-class EliteBook 865 laptop computer however provides professional-class discrete graphics capabilities which can be licensed for Adobe, Autodesk, and SolidWorks. HP has supplied each 14- and 16-inch variations of this product since final yr, however with the brand new Tenth-generation fashions, you’ll be able to select between Intel and AMD chipsets for the primary time, albeit solely within the 14-inch model.
Properly, that’s a quandary, isn’t it? However after a little bit of deliberation, I made a decision to overview the 16-inch model, largely as a result of I had evaluated two 14-inch ZBook Fireflies prior to now—this product line stays certainly one of my all-time favorites—and I used to be curious how the larger show would influence the expertise. And whereas I’ll admit to a little bit of reviewer’s regret—after the very fact, I found that the AMD chipset within the 14-inch ZBook Firefly is the primary to incorporate the agency’s AI engine—please don’t shed a tear: the 16-inch model carries ahead all the things I cherished in regards to the EliteBook 865 and provides some good upgrades. It’s a wonderfully balanced productiveness monster.
Design
As with its business-class inspiration, the ZBook Firefly is a giant slab of aluminum, however as a substitute of the pedestrian silver of the EliteBook, it arrives in a darker grey shade that telegraphs its transportable workstation bona fides to HP followers.
However ZBook followers is likely to be dissatisfied to know that the distinctive “Z” emblem doesn’t adorn the surface of the show lid. As an alternative, we now get the usual silver HP emblem.
The feel and appear are skilled all through, with the black show bezels and keyboard keys contrasting properly with the darkish grey physique. The laptop computer can be well-made, with completely no flex in any respect on the keyboard deck regardless of its dimension. That’s spectacular, as is its reported sturdiness: HP says that the laptop computer has handed 19 MIL-STD 810h checks, so that is no homebody. The ZBook is designed for use within the area.
Show
As we see elsewhere in HP’s premium transportable PC product households, the ZBook has moved to 16:10 show panels, which is a welcome transfer. There are a number of selections out there in quite a lot of resolutions and configurations, together with HP’s vaunted DreamColor panel, which gives precision shade accuracy for graphics professionals. However the overview unit arrived with an astonishingly vibrant and crisp 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED panel that emits 400 nits of brightness—it feels brighter than that—and is blessedly freed from any pointless multitouch capabilities.
Apparently, the show within the overview unit additionally affords excessive refresh-rate capabilities, so you’ll be able to swap between 60 Hz and 120 Hz, a pleasant bonus. (And unsure about this characteristic’s availability throughout different panel choices.) Put merely, this show is gorgeous, and it’s a giant step up from the Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) show that graced the EliteBook 865 I reviewed earlier this yr, with the identical moderately small bezels.
However the show doesn’t fairly lay flat.
Inside elements
16-inch ZBook Firefly patrons can select between an extended record of thirteenth Gen Intel Core U- and P-series processors. And whereas I assume that the majority would favor a beefier P-series half, the U-series is a strong selection that most likely helps maintain the worth down. Certainly, the overview unit shipped with an Intel Core i7-1365U processor that proved greater than satisfactory for the productiveness and creator duties I threw at it. Having 32 GB of DDR5-5200 RAM—upgradable to 64 GB—and an NVIDIA RTX A500 Laptop computer GPU with 4 GB of devoted GDDR5 RAM doesn’t damage both. Nor does the voluminous and speedy 2 TB of Gen 4 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD storage that got here with the overview unit. (Clients have quite a lot of selections between 256 GB and a pair of TB of storage.)
I used the HP with all of my normal productiveness apps—Courageous, Phrase, Notion, Groups, and so forth—as one may anticipate, but in addition with Adobe Photoshop Parts 2020 and Premiere Parts 2022. And whereas I put in however didn’t actually use the total Visible Studio, I spent a whole lot of time with Visible Studio Code for each coding and productiveness duties. You shouldn’t be shocked to find that the ZBook Firefly soared together with no hiccups, however I actually get pleasure from how the bigger show improves the expertise for each productiveness and creator apps.
The ZBook Firefly was quiet and funky in regular use. However given its skinny body and devoted graphics, it’s affordable to wonder if sure workloads will warmth up the PC, spinning up the followers and the noise. I don’t run the high-end engineering and creator apps that may set off such a factor, however the one time I actually heard the fan was throughout video rendering in Premiere Parts, and even that wasn’t objectionable.
Connectivity
As one ought to anticipate, the ZBook Firefly gives trendy and speedy connectivity capabilities, together with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on an M.2 combo card. 5G mobile connectivity can be out there as an possibility, although it wasn’t included within the overview unit. Right here, once more, I skilled no points, with the Wi-Fi knocking down nearly precisely 500 Mbps off of my 1 Gbps Web connection.
Ports and enlargement
Regardless of its skinny chassis, the ZBook gives an affordable combine of contemporary and legacy ports that ought to fulfill most customers.
On the left, you will see a full-sized USB Sort-A port (with a sluggish 5 Gbps information switch charge however system charging capabilities), an HDMI 2.0b video-out port, and two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Sort-C ports (with 40 Gbps information switch, USB Energy Supply, DisplayPort 1.4, and HP Sleep and Cost capabilities), plus an optionally available good card reader (that was included on the overview unit).
And on the best, there’s a headphone/microphone combo jack after which one other full-sized USB Sort-A port (with a sluggish 5 Gbps information switch charge and no system charging capabilities).
This isn’t deadly, however I’d wish to see quicker USB-A ports in 2023, and it’d be good to have a minimum of one Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Sort-C port on either side.
Audio and video
The ZBook Firefly gives surprisingly first rate Bang & Olufsen downward-firing audio system, they usually sound notably good when used on a desk or different arduous surfaces. There’s no Dolby Atmos immersive sound help, sadly, however the audio system sound nice and by no means distort, even at 100% quantity, with each video and music content material. Certainly, it will possibly fill a decent-sized room with sound. (And I like that the bundled HP Audio Management app may be configured to routinely optimize for the content material you’re having fun with reasonably than forcing you to manually select between music, film, and voice.)
For the hybrid employees within the viewers, the HP ships with twin array microphones with convention and individual modes and, as with the audio system, it affords configurable and AI-based noise-reduction capabilities (additionally through HP Audio Management). There’s additionally a high-quality 5 MP webcam with an 88-degree viewing angle, terrific low-light efficiency, and auto-framing.
These capabilities are configured through a utility that may solely be launched from the myHP app for some purpose. As can the PC’s multi-camera capabilities, although I didn’t take a look at that.
Keyboard and touchpad
HP’s premium PCs have lengthy had the most effective transportable keyboards within the trade, and the ZBook Firefly continues this development. Its full-sized, backlit, and spill-resistant keyboard gives brief, snappy key throws, nice suggestions, and completely zero flex. It’s almost excellent.
The one niggle right here—for me, a minimum of—is the numeric keypad, which shifts the principle keyboard over to the left and was arduous to regulate to, with the Energy and Delete keys now not on the high proper. This may occasionally simply be me, I’m a messy typist, however I’ve accuracy points with these keys and others alongside what is often the best aspect of the keyboard, just like the Proper arrow key. And as HP defined to me, a numeric keypad is beneficial for architects and engineers, and the 14-inch mannequin, which doesn’t have the numpad, is likely to be a more sensible choice for me and others who don’t want this performance. Truthful sufficient, however in an imaginary and excellent world, we’d get a selection of keyboard.
Past that, I’ve no main points. There’s a microphone toggle key on the keyboard, which I like, however the webcam is toggled utilizing a hard-to-find handbook shutter above the digital camera, which is lower than excellent, particularly at this value level.
The glass touchpad is giant and correct sufficient that I by no means wanted to disable three- and four-finger gestures, which is uncommon for me. Additionally good, I had no points grabbing gadgets on display for drag-and-drop. With a number of touchpads, particularly bigger items, you must actually place your fingers on the far left of the touchpad for this to work precisely. However this one was excellent.
Safety
The ZBook Firefly gives Home windows Whats up facial recognition and fingerprint recognition capabilities, a minimum of optionally, which is my excellent configuration, although the fingerprint reader is an old-school sq. sensor on the far proper of the wrist relaxation and never positioned contained in the keyboard. As famous above, you’ll be able to toggle the microphones and the webcam on/off, the latter manually.
As with different premium HP PCs, the Firefly additionally shipped with the corporate’s complete Wolf Safety suite, which gives hardware-backed safety towards offline firmware assaults and deep learning-based safety applied sciences along with the same old malware protections. However this product is aimed toward managed companies with a number of HP {hardware} and is likely to be overkill for people.
Sustainability
The HP ZBook Firefly accommodates 60 p.c post-consumer recycled plastic. And the laptop computer’s packaging is sustainable too: the surface field and corrugated cushions are 100% sustainably sourced and recyclable, and the molded paper pulp cushion contained in the field is 100% sustainably sourced and recyclable.
Nearly as good, it’s easy to take away the underside panel of the laptop computer for serviceability, and you may substitute or improve the SSD, RAM, and different M.2-based elements. (HP informed me that its bigger ZBook Fury laptops have even less complicated tool-less designs.)
Portability
With its 0.78-inch thinness and a curb weight of simply 3.88 kilos, the ZBook Firefly is about as skinny and light-weight as a 16-inch laptop computer can get, so it’s fascinating that it doesn’t skimp on the supply of full-sized enlargement ports and devoted graphics. There are two battery choices, 3-cell 51-watt-hour and 6-cell 76-watt-hour, and a selection of USB-C energy adapters, one a standard 65-watt unit and the opposite a barely larger (however under no circumstances giant) 110-watt brick. Each help HP Quick Cost capabilities, so you’ll be able to cost the system to 50 p.c in simply half-hour in any configuration.
Sadly, the overview unit got here with the smaller battery (and the smaller, 65-watt energy provide), and the battery life got here in a bit decrease than I had hoped at a mean of three:30 (three and a half hours). Granted, the discrete graphics and power-sucking OLED show are most likely chargeable for that, and different configurations would probably get you nearer to what I skilled with the EliteBook 865 (an unimaginable 9 hours of uptime).
For those who need to micromanage the battery, HP gives a Energy Supervisor app that allows you to configure how the system makes use of the battery in use and whereas charging. I left this set to “Let HP Handle My Battery,” a setting that permits HP’s clever charging, which learns how and while you use the PC and dynamically adjusts the cost stage. However you’ll be able to configure this to your liking.
16-inch laptops aren’t notably transportable in comparison with the extra typical 13- and 14-inch laptops that most individuals use. However for individuals who want the extra expansive show, it is a far tradeoff, and I had no points carrying this round in my medium-sized HP Renew backpack.
Software program
The ZBook Firefly may be configured with Home windows 11 Residence, Home windows 11 Professional, or Home windows 11 Professional Schooling, and the overview unit shipped with Professional, which I really feel is the obvious selection. There are 11 HP-branded utilities, three Intel utilities, two NVIDIA utilities, and two superfluous Begin menu icons, for Adobe affords and TCO Licensed. HP additionally pinned myHP and HP Audio Management to the Taskbar. So it’s not fully crapware-free (Adobe affords? Come on) however not objectionable both.
Pricing and configurations
The HP ZBook Firefly usually begins at about $2000, which isn’t out of line for a transportable workstation of this caliber. However that stated, it’s on sale as I write this, with costs beginning at simply $995 (!). For that low value, you get a Core i5-1335U processor, Intel Iris Xe built-in graphics, a Full HD+ show (1920 x 1200, anti-glare, 250 nits), 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and Home windows 11 Professional, however no fingerprint reader, NFC, or smartcard reader.
That’s greater than affordable, so I used to be curious what the overview unit configuration would value. And right here, the two TB of storage (a $995 improve) is what made it unobtainable (to me) at a bit over $2400. However then I wouldn’t configure this laptop computer with that a lot storage. A model with the identical processor and OLED show however no discrete graphics and simply 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage brings the worth all the way down to $1517 (which is over $3000 when not on sale).
For those who’re available in the market for this laptop computer, transfer rapidly: these are unimaginable costs for this a lot energy.
Suggestions and conclusions
With its unimaginable vary of processor, RAM, storage, and 16-inch show choices, the HP ZBook Firefly G10 can meet the wants of anybody within the goal market. And that features those that may often store over within the EliteBook aisle, as this machine gives vital upgrades for licensed discrete graphics, show selections, and extra. Mix that with the skilled design, wonderful keyboard and touchpad, hybrid work capabilities, and HP optimizations, and also you’ve bought a winner right here. The ZBook Firefly is extremely really helpful, although I’ll remind potential prospects to significantly contemplate all of the buy-time customization choices. And do not forget that there’s a 14-inch mannequin for individuals who favor a smaller show and no numeric keypad.
At-a-glance
Professionals
- Enterprise-class class
- Almost excellent keyboard and touchpad (albeit with numeric keypad)
- Unimaginable vary of processor, graphics, RAM, storage, and show selections
- The OLED show is terrific, with vibrant, vibrant colours and deep blacks
- Trendy connectivity capabilities with 5G mobile information possibility
- Surprisingly sturdy audio
- Wonderful hybrid work capabilities
Cons
- Can get very expensive
- Gradual USB Sort-A ports
- Battery life within the overview unit slowed down by graphics, OLED show, small battery