Content

1. TECH SPECS
2. Positioning
3. Appearance
4. Screen, stylus, sound and webcam
5. Keyboard and touchpad, fingerprint reader
6. Performance
7. Autonomous work
8. Conclusion

TECH SPECS

• Processor: 7th Generation Intel® Core ™ i8 (i7-8565U) Quad Core 4GHz.
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR3 SDRAM, memory soldered to motherboard, dual channel support
• Memory: 512GB Intel PCIe NVMe QLC M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) with 10GB Intel® Optane Memory H32
• Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
• Screen: 4K IPS eDP + PSR BrightView (3840 x 2160), 33,8 cm (13,3-inch) diagonal touchscreen, ultra-thin, Direct Bonding, WLED-backlit, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5, brightness 550 nits, sRGB 95% (Note: screen options available, be sure to see “Screen” in text)
• Sound: Bang & Olufsen audio system, 4 premium stereo speakers, rear multi-directional microphone
• Battery: HP High Capacity 4-cell 56,2Wh Li-ion Polymer
• Charging: HP 65W Smart USB Type-C Adapter
• Camera: HD 720p webcam, HD infrared webcam with security shutter
• Connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX 200 160 MHz and 4G LTE (optional 5G), 4 x 4 antenna
• Keyboard: HP Premium Collaboration Backlit, Spill Resistant, DuraKeys
• Touchpad: Glass ClickPad, Microsoft Precision touchpad with gesture recognition, enabled by default
• Sensors: Fingerprint sensor, screen rotation sensor, magnetometer, gyroscope, light sensor, Hall sensor
• Ports:
  • 2 USB 3.1 Type-C connectors;
  • 1 x USB 3.0 Type-A;
  • 1 headphone / microphone combo;
  • 1 x HDMI 1.4;
  • 1 external Nano SIM card slot for wireless WAN
• Other: Includes stylus, folds into tablet, fingerprint reader and infrared camera for Windows Hello login
• Color: Iridescent dragonfly blue, which can be translated as “rainbow blue dragonfly”
• Material: magnesium and plastic, 5% of which was fished from the ocean
• Dimensions: 30,43 x 19,75 x 1,61 cm, weight 999 g
• Price: right, it’s even embarrassing to speak, the crisis is still (the price is in the “Conclusion” paragraph)

Positioning

Official positioning

High-end managers want a laptop that combines performance, stylish design, portability, reliability, and enhanced storage security. And so that all this without compromise, since the time is such that you have to work not only in the office, but from anywhere.

The HP Elite Dragonfly is the answer to these managerial needs. This laptop:

• Super secure (everything from BIOS to browser, HP SureView protection from prying eyes, dimming the screen on the sides)
• Superportable (compact size, weighs only 999g)
• Superfast (fast SSD, Intel Optane, Wi-Fi 6, 4G LTE with 4 x 4 antennas)
• Super-easy to work from anywhere (up to 1000 nits touchscreen, stylus support, multiple form factors, quiet keyboard).
• Battery life up to 24 hours, there is fast charging by Type-C

By the way

HP Premium PCs are divided into 4 lines:

• Specter. An image-building, designer notebook that attracts attention. This does not affect performance in any way.
• Envy. This line has a classic design, and the emphasis is on performance and functionality in every sense (for example, the Envy monoblock is currently on the test, and there, in addition to powerful hardware and other delights, a very good sound is installed, to which, when the monoblock is turned off, you can connect like a Bluetooth speaker)
• Z-series. Laptops aimed at creative professionals looking for high performance (come with professional Nvidia cards)
• Elite – These computers are also designed for professionals, but for businesses. The Elite PCs in the HP portfolio are considered the most secure PCs (and will stand up to abuse, and various protections such as a prying screen, built-in protection against remote hacking and viruses, etc.)

Appearance

Left-hand side: USB 3.0 Type-A, power button, nano-SIM card slot
Right side: 2 USB 3.1 Type-C, 3.5 mm jack, HDMI 1.4

The design of the HP Elite Dragonfly is austere and laconic, as, by the way, befits an expensive and to some extent a status laptop. If you want chic, then look at the Specter line.

The body is made of magnesium alloy. The advantage of magnesium alloys over aluminum is that, firstly, they are lighter. The same aluminum body would have weighed 30% more.

The HP Elite Dragonfly weighs only 999 grams. At the presentation of the device, this was the main feature. HP representatives were not too lazy to even bring the scales so that everyone could weigh.

Another advantage of magnesium alloys is that they have less effect on radio waves. Considering that the laptop has a slot for a nano-SIM card, this property of magnesium alloys is definitely not superfluous.

Otherwise, magnesium alloys do not differ from aluminum ones. They are just as strong, they have excellent thermal conductivity. If you’re wondering why magnesium alloys aren’t common in consumer electronics, then the answer is simple. They are much more expensive!

Well, since the HP Elite Dragonfly is a laptop aimed at business professionals who are not too price sensitive, HP did not skimp on the case, but did everything right.

The laptop comes in one color, which HP has named “Iridescent dragonfly blue”, which translates to “rainbow blue dragonfly.” I guess the designers were inspired by something like this:

The color of the laptop is really very nice. It changes hue depending on the lighting from a dark blue (almost black) to a rich light blue. Decorative elements – only the HP logo on the lid and silver edging on the hinges.

The laptop has a matte finish. Almost no prints remain on it. And it is very easy to clean.

Considering the status of the device, it could not be otherwise: the balancing is perfect. The laptop can be easily opened with one hand.

The set of ports is optimal for a business device. There are 2 USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3. Both ports can be used for charging. There is also a traditional USB Type-A for conventional flash drives. For connection to an external screen – HDMI 1.4.

It is assumed that the owner of the HP Elite Dragonfly often works outside the office, so the laptop has a slot for nano-SIM cards. The nice feature is that you don’t need a paper clip or nails to open it. Press lightly and the slot will pop out by itself. By default, this is 4G LTE. But optionally, you can order 5G.

Screen, stylus, sound and webcam

The choice of the screen, I think, will make you think. There are three options:

1. Full HD IPS eDP + PSR BrightView (1920 x 1080), 33,8 cm (13,3 ″) diagonal Touchscreen, Ultra Slim, Direct Bonding, WLED Backlit, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5, 400 brightness nit, NTSC 72%;
2. Full HD IPS eDP + PSR BrightView (1920 x 1080), 33,8 cm (13,3 ″) diagonal Touchscreen, Ultra Slim, Direct Bonding, WLED Backlit, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 with integrated display privacy HP Sure View, brightness 1000 nits, NTSC 72%;
3. 4K IPS eDP + PSR BrightView (3840 x 2160), 33,8 cm (13,3 ″) diagonal Touchscreen, Ultra Slim, Direct Bonding, WLED Backlit, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5, 550 nits , sRGB 95%.

It may seem that the first is the most affordable and most boring: Full HD and 400 nits of brightness. The highlight of this screen is that it uses a “1W panel”, which is a super economical screen that allows the laptop to run for 24 hours. This is an option for those who need the most autonomous device.

My favorite is # 2. This option has a top 1000 nits brightness. And here it should be noted right away that the battery life will not be as record-breaking as that of a one-watt screen.

Not all smartphones have such a brightness of 1000 nits. I once had a rugged laptop from Dell on my test that also came in 1000 nits brightness. Even on a sunny snowy winter day (I went to test the protected properties of the laptop in nature), the screen was readable as if I were sitting on a sofa at home. But this screen takes some getting used to. A person subconsciously loves everything bright, so somehow imperceptibly you twist the brightness to high values ​​even where it is not needed. And then my eyes start to hurt. But if you want to sit at midday in the center of the Sahara and see everything on the screen, then 1000 nits is your choice.

The second advantage is the presence of the HP Sure View privacy screen, where the image on the screen is visible only when you are sitting in front of the screen. Left and right, and the screen is unreadable. Check out how this was implemented on the HP Envy x360. And it’s important to note right away that Dragonfly has a new generation of HP Sure View that works even better. So screen number 2 is for those looking for the brightest screen with peep-proof protection.

In the meantime, I will quote an excerpt from the review of the HP ENVY X360:

Initially, I noticed that the viewing angles are good, but at an angle the screen seems to darken slightly. In the picture below, please pay attention to the lower right corner. There, the image is more contrasting and slightly less bright. Note: In life, this is not so striking. For this example, I played a little with the camera settings to make it clearer.

At first I did not understand why it is so. And then I accidentally pressed the F1 button. I got a device with an anti-peeping function for the test. When you enable HP Sure View, you can normally use your laptop only while sitting in front of the screen. Slightly left and right, and the image disappears instantly. It is very cool.

I have a laptop with a 4K screen on the test. And this is perhaps its main advantage. I guess there is no need to explain that it is more pleasant to watch on a 4K screen, and not on Full HD. There is no privacy screen, and the declared brightness is 550 nits. In my measurements, the brightness turned out under 500 nits, and the minimum brightness was 23 nits. The color gamut is 100% sRGB. Considering Dragonfly is a business tool for business managers, not designers, HP didn’t bother adding DCI-P3 and more.

Overall, a brightness of 500 nits is enough for everything. Most likely, you have lower brightness on your smartphone, if it is not a flagship from Samsung or iPhone.

The screen is touch-sensitive, and the laptop can be folded into a tablet. The kit comes with a stylus that can be recharged via USB Type-C. You can’t say much about the stylus. This is a typical good HP stylus. The size is like a pen, it is comfortable to hold. There are several buttons that you can customize by downloading the proprietary HP Pen app (downloaded directly from the Microsoft Store). In it, you can bind actions to buttons. For example, hold down the button to erase, etc.

The stylus is accurate, it has a minimal parallax effect, that is, where you poke, there the point is displayed. Usually this is appreciated by artists, but it is useful if, for example, you need to accurately highlight a word in a document.

A few words about sound and webcam. The laptop has 4 speakers and a fashionable note that “sound from Bang & Olufsen. The main feature of the speakers is their location. Two speakers are located on the sides of the keyboard.

The laptop is loud enough. For movies and video calls, the sound is great. For music, this is not the best solution. Sound is clear, loud, mids and highs are ok, bass is mediocre (like any laptop). The fact that the sound is primarily aimed at productive work is evidenced by the fact that there are several microphones in the laptop, and B&O added a program that allows you to set up noise reduction yourself. For example, I managed to drown out the washing machine from the kitchen.

For some reason, I expected that a laptop under 200 thousand should have a slightly different webcam. There is a suspicion that the price of the device practically does not affect the quality of the webcam – at least 20 thousand, at least 200. The picture is the same.

What’s good is the infrared camera for Windows Hello. Despite the presence of a fingerprint, it is very pleasant when the laptop recognizes you by sight.

The camera has a shutter that you gently slide with your finger.

And here are examples of photos from the camera. Note the camera has an HDR setting! So one photo with HDR and the other without!

Keyboard and touchpad, fingerprint reader

Great keyboard, typing is a pleasure. Good backlighting with multiple levels. You can’t say much here, so I’ll just highlight the main features.

• Pay attention to the arrow keys, up / down double, but so wide that it is convenient to use.
• The top row of buttons is configured by default: pick up and hang up the video call, open the calendar, display or quickly turn off the image from the second screen.
• The touchpad is made of glass, the size is 5 mm larger than the standard one.
• Excellent fingerprint scanner. No complaints about his work. I set it up, but rarely used it, since face recognition is easier.

Performance

The HP Elite Dragonfly is a pretty conservative laptop in terms of hardware. It uses an 8th generation processor and DDR3 memory, which, by the way, is unsoldered and cannot be replaced. By the way, in general, it is better not to climb into a laptop, it is not for upgrades.

The reason HP chose to do this is because of reliability. Dragonfly’s performance is more than enough for the tasks that it faces – working with documents, the Internet, video, stable and long-term work in an out-of-office environment. It was on the basis of such tasks that HP selected the hardware. The laptop turned out to be nimble, and the claimed battery life is 24 hours (for the version with a Full HD screen).

To increase “nimbleness” and reliability, even Intel Optane memory was installed. Intel Optane are optional memory modules in which you can place a program or files to speed up access to them. Overall, Intel promises superior server-grade reliability and top-tier speed stability. Accordingly, there you can put some files and folders for which you are too worried. It doesn’t make much sense to put programs there, since Intel Optane is not too different from SSD in terms of speed. Here the trick is reliability.

Also, the laptop has 16 GB of RAM, which is more than enough to work with Microsoft Office. And this size allows more than 50 tabs to open in Chrome.

It should also be noted that the laptop is not prone to overheating and therefore throttling. It works stably under load. I have done several stress tests on various benchmarks. All laptop has stood to the highest standards. Under maximum load in the hottest part, it heated up to 34 degrees. The hand panel remained cold.

HP uses a variety of additional protections in a laptop. A few examples. At startup, instead of the classic logo, the inscription “HP SureStart” lights up, which is described as “The HP Sure Start solution automatically recovers the BIOS after attacks or damage.” The laptop also has HP Sure Recover (HP Sure Recover with built-in reinstallation of images to provide recovery anytime, anywhere without having to connect to the network). Also included in the laptop is built-in security software HP Sure Sense, using proprietary deep learning algorithms, and advanced neural network technology that allows you to instinctively recognize malware and protect against previously unknown attacks.

And now some screenshots and benchmarks.

Autonomous work

A powerful, bright screen, speed, increased reliability and battery life are key selling points. In advertising materials, HP says about 24 hours of battery life. Unfortunately, however, this is for models with a basic Full HD screen and 400 nits. 4K implies increased power consumption.

I’ve done some tests. I set the brightness to about 60%, which corresponds to 300 nits. And this is the maximum brightness for most traditional laptops, which is usually excessive when working indoors.

In the Microsoft Edge Chromium browser in battery saving mode at a brightness of 300, the laptop was able to play YouTube videos over Wi-Fi 5 GHz in 4K resolution for 11 hours and 20 minutes.

Under my usual load when working on an article – Word, Internet, YouTube, the brightness is different (in the range from 30 to 80%) – the laptop lasted 12 hours.

For charging, there is a compact 65W power supply. Here, by the way, I would like to note one drawback. Both Type-C charging ports are on the right side. It would be more convenient to place them on different sides.

Conclusion

The HP Elite Dragonfly is a work of art for business notebooks. Weight 999 grams, screen, battery life, functionality, built-in protection options. Could it be otherwise if the price of a laptop starts from 125 thousand rubles and reaches 185 thousand rubles, depending on the configuration? Hardware with flaws for a similar price on the market can only be afforded by Apple, which has been producing MacBooks with curved keyboards for several years. HP does not have this option, so you have to do it conscientiously. And let’s go straight to the competitors.

From a formal point of view, MacBooks are not competitors for the HP Elite Dragonfly, since only the “firmware” is aimed at professional users. And then there are creative, not business professionals. Yes, and “proshki” is much harder. Accordingly, the MacBook Pro is more of a competitor to HP’s Z-series. MacBook Air is also from another opera. He has lower standards of protection. By positioning this device in a cafe to sit for coffee. On the other hand, Apple has a high quality product (aside from keyboard dips), and the new Air also has a decent screen (good resolution, but the brightness is lower – 350 nits). So if you need an analogue on macOS, then the MacBook Air is your choice.

If we talk about Windows, then here, of course, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Similar price fork, similar specs and battery life, 14-inch screen (500 nits) but not touchscreen. Plus ThinkPad X1, as I understand it, is that it is an even more rugged laptop in terms of external conditions (the manufacturer promises that it will withstand even a dust storm in the desert).

Another competitor is Dell XPX. In terms of looks, this is my favorite. Dell has relied on advanced hardware. While HP and Lenovo are conservative and have opted for 8th Gen Intel processors, Dell has opted for 10th Gen. For understanding, it is believed that the 10th generation has certain problems, which are generally minimal and you are unlikely to encounter them, but their very presence does not allow it to be used in a product of such a high level. The rest of the Dell XPS are similar in characteristics, the screen brightness is 500 nits, 4K, there are options with a touch screen (you can buy a stylus).

Overall, it can be said that whichever premium laptop you choose – HP, Dell or Lenovo – you will be happy with your purchase. These are the best laptops for a price that means it has to be perfect!

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