I’ve had nothing however good experiences with HP’s ZBook Firefly laptops, however that is my first time making an attempt a 16-inch model. To this point, I like what I see: like its predecessors, the Tenth-generation Firefly blurs the traces between conventional Ultrabooks and cellular workstations by combining the portability of the previous with extra RAM, extra storage, and discrete graphics.
For these unfamiliar with HP’s ZBook collection of moveable workstations, the Firefly household is an entry-level PC, although that must be taken in context, because it gives the identical or higher high quality because the business-class HP EliteBook collection of laptops. Different ZBook collection laptops within the Energy, Fury, and Studio households provide higher-end parts, however they’re additionally greater, heavier, thicker, and dearer.
And when you didn’t know any higher, you’ll be forgiven for mistaking the ZBook Firefly G10 16-Inch for an EliteBook 865 16-inch as the shape components are almost an identical, with the identical design, the identical ports layouts, and the identical keyboard and touchpad. The one main exterior distinction that I can see—I don’t have the EliteBook right here anymore to test—is the colour, and even that’s refined: the place the EliteBook is available in a standard silver coloration, the Firefly comes within the darker grey coloration utilized by the ZBook household.
There are greater variations on the within, after all. The Firefly I acquired for overview includes a thirteenth Gen Intel Core processor—a 15-watt half with 2 efficiency cores and eight environment friendly cores—32 GB of RAM, and a pair of TB of PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 TLC SSD storage. What elevates it above a typical Ultrabook is the discrete graphics—it additionally comes with an NVIDIA RTX A500 Laptop computer GPU with 4 GB of devoted GDDR6 RAM, which is designed for cellular workstations (versus gaming laptops)—and the power to rise up to 64 GB of RAM. (HP additionally gives an AMD variant of this laptop computer.)
As we see throughout the premium segments of the PC business nowadays, the Tenth-generation Firefly shifts to taller 16:10 shows, a transfer I applaud. That mentioned, I’m undecided but in regards to the actual specs of this panel: HP’s information sheets solely checklist Full HD+ panels, however the model within the overview unit gives a superior 2880 x 1800 decision. I can see that it doesn’t provide HP’s Positive View Replicate privateness expertise, and I assume it’s a 400-nit IPS panel, however I’ll test with HP.
Past that, I see reasonably-sized bezels given the PC’s measurement and the wants of the webcam.
And that the show doesn’t fairly lay flat.
The backlit, full-sized keyboard appears an identical to that on the EliteBook 865, as famous, which is nice, however it additionally includes a numeric keypad, which is unlucky. I’ve already triggered numerous mistypes, which is nearly actually partially my fault.
However I’d a lot quite see a model with out the numpad.
On the flip aspect, the big glass touchpad hasn’t confirmed problematic but, and that’s a very good signal: I usually expertise sufficient reliability points that I must disable three- and four-finger gestures, however I’ve not wanted to try this, at the very least to this point, with the Firefly.
Growth capabilities are respectable: you get a full-sized HDMI 2.0b port, a full-sized SuperSpeed USB Sort-A port (5 Gbps), two Thunderbolt 4/USB4/Sort-C ports, and a wise card slot on the left.
And on the precise, you’ll discover a combo headphone/microphone jack and a second full-sized SuperSpeed USB Sort-A port (5 Gbps). Given the scale of this laptop computer, it’s unlucky that there isn’t a Sort-C port on the precise, particularly since these ports are used for charging too.
The communications capabilities are trendy, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on an M.2 card, and you will get 4G/LTE or 5G mobile wi-fi as properly, although the overview unit doesn’t embrace both. NFC is non-compulsory as properly.
Sound is pushed by downward-firing, Bang & Olufsen-optimized stereo audio system, and whereas there’s no Dolby Atmos readily available, there’s an AI-based dynamic tuning functionality, and the sound was strong, clear, and distortion-free within the film and music tracks I examined.
For hybrid conferences, the HP additionally supplies noise discount on the audio system and microphones, and the 5 MP webcam gives Home windows Whats up facial recognition capabilities and a handbook privateness swap.
There’s additionally a devoted fingerprint reader, curiously positioned on the wrist relaxation and never within the keyboard, for those who favor fingerprint recognition.
Energy comes over USB-C by way of a regular 65-watt energy provide, which is fascinating because the very comparable EliteBook 865 got here with a big 110-watt charger. However I wouldn’t be shocked to find that HP gives the 110-watt half as an choice. I do know that there are two battery choices—a 3-cell 51-watt-hour battery and a 6-cell 76-watt-hour battery—however I’m undecided which model is within the overview unit.
The Firefly does arrive with a curb weight below 4 kilos, which is terrific for a laptop computer this massive—it begins at 3.88 kilos—and it’s solely 0.78 inches thick at its tallest.
The software program loadout is cheap: it consists of Home windows 11 Professional and a few dozen HP utilities, however solely a single curious instance of crapware, Adobe gives.
Extra quickly.
