HP Dragonfly G4 review: The ideal business laptop for traveling

Best Prices Today: HP Dragonfly G4 (818N5EA#ABD)

$3086

Road warrior, hybrid employee, enterprise traveler. There are numerous phrases for individuals who work extra on the street than at their desk. HP is addressing this goal group with the Dragonfly G4. In the fourth era, HP has outfitted its light-weight pocket book with a Core i7 from Intel’s Raptor Lake era–other than that, little has modified.

The Dragonfly weighs slightly below 2.64 kilos and is housed in a sturdy blue-grey casing produced from a magnesium-aluminium combine. The materials floor has a pleasing grip as it’s barely roughened. As the corners and edges are rounded, the Dragonfly can be painless to select up. You can open the show 180 levels with one hand. Read on to study extra.

Looking for extra choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops obtainable in the present day.

HP Dragonfly G4: Small pocket book, a great deal of connections

Considering its compact kind issue, the Dragonfly is effectively outfitted: Above all, it has extra ports than different ultra-mobile lightweights, which regularly solely supply Type-C with Thunderbolt 4. The Dragonfly additionally has two of those 40 Gbps ports for connecting the facility provide unit amongst different issues. However, there’s additionally an HDMI 2.1 output and a USB Type A socket.

The HP pocket book comes with loads of business-ready extras, too. In addition to WLAN with Wi-Fi 6E, you too can go surfing on the go through the built-in 5G module. The slot for the nano-SIM card on the left-hand facet of the casing might be conveniently eliminated with out opening instruments.

You can log in utilizing your finger through a sensor button on the backside proper of the keyboard or through the complete HD digital camera. Its lens might be closed with a particular button, however automated logging out and in of the pocket book through HP’s Auto-Lock & Awake nonetheless works as a result of this perform acknowledges the person through a proximity sensor.

Thomas Rau

You may also use the F2 key to limit the show’s viewing angle. This Sure View privateness filter is designed to forestall nosy neighbors on trains and planes from catching operational or different secrets and techniques with a fast look on the display screen.

The underside of the housing might be simply opened after eradicating 4 screws. The battery, SSD, and mobile module might be changed. However, the RAM and WLAN {hardware} are soldered on.

Thomas Rau

The Core i7-1355U within the Dragonfly delivers the standard velocity for a cheap processor from the U-series: The efficiency is completely ample for workplace functions and for many multimedia applications. It simply isn’t made for demanding video modifying and rendering functions. This is as a result of the hybrid CPU can’t actually choose up velocity as a result of thermal situations within the compact casing. It calculates round ten p.c slower in Cinebench R23, for instance, than in a bigger 15-inch pocket book.

The velocity benefit over the predecessor Dragonfly G3 with Alder Lake CPU is round 10 p.c, a bit of extra for multimedia, rather less for Office. However, in comparison with knowledgeable multimedia pocket book with GPU such because the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, the velocity deficit is simply vital when, as in rendering, the CPU and graphics card are required to work collectively. During regular work with pictures and movies, the lag is normally solely round ten p.c as a result of the Dragonfly is supplied with a beneficiant 32GB of RAM.

The two small followers within the HP pocket book are quiet even beneath a heavy load. However, they steadily change their rotational velocity, which causes the working noise to fluctuate and disturb delicate customers greater than when the followers rotate a bit of sooner however at a relentless quantity.

Thomas Rau

HP Dragonfly G4: Battery life will final you an extended journey

An ultra-mobile enterprise pocket book is outlined above all by its weight and battery life. The Dragonfly impresses in each disciplines. In addition to its low weight, it has an impressive battery lifetime of 17.5 hours within the WLAN check. The battery capability is 68 Wh, when you’re curious.

HP Dragonfly G4: The show is good for workplace use

The 13.5-inch display screen has a side ratio of 3:2. This is sensible for workplace work, as the extra vertical pixels permit you to see extra content material from textual content paperwork and web sites, for instance, than with 16:9 or 16:10. The decision of 1920×1280 just isn’t exceptionally excessive, however is ample for traditional workplace functions.

In the check, the Dragonfly shines with a really excessive brightness and wonderful distinction. The latter makes textual content and spreadsheet work extra nice whereas the previous, together with the anti-reflective show floor, makes picture content material straightforward to learn even in troublesome lighting situations. The Dragonfly may also routinely regulate its brightness to altering gentle situations utilizing a sensor.

Thomas Rau

The luminance just isn’t evenly distributed, because the brightness decreases considerably from prime to backside. However, that is much less noticeable on the small display screen than on a big monitor. What is instantly noticeable, nevertheless, is the show’s dependence on the viewing angle.

Even when you haven’t activated “Sure View”, the picture instantly loses distinction and coloration saturation in case you are not sitting in entrance of it optimally. Nevertheless, the display screen might be tilted flexibly in order that customers of any peak can discover the best viewing angle.

HP Dragonfly G4: The keyboard and touchpad are designed for frequent typists and clickers

A prime keyboard rounds off the Dragonfly G4’s workplace suitability. The keys are comparatively massive for this type issue. What’s particularly pleasing is the very pronounced stress level that each one keys have throughout your complete keyboard floor together with the area bar. As is common with ultrabooks, the arrow keys will not be positioned individually and the up and down keys are mixed within the dimension of 1 key.

The touchpad additionally impresses with clear stress suggestions. It even stays very quiet when the mouse is clicked. The Dragonfly’s floor strikes the proper stability between grip and velocity. You can place the mouse pointer exactly or let it whiz rapidly throughout the show as required.

HP Dragonfly G4: Test outcomes and options

This article was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.