HP Releases New Elite Dragonfly Ultrabook

[ThePointblank]

From Anandtech, Tom's Guide and Ars:

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14878/hp-elite-dragonfly-a-13-3-inch-convertible-notebook-with-24-hr-battery-life

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/09/hp-debuts-elitebook-dragonfly-2-in-1-with-ultra-light-chassis-24-hour-battery-life/

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/hps-elite-dragonfly-is-the-macbook-air-apple-should-have-made

 

 

This is a new 2-in-1 ultrabook out of HP's Elite lineup. Prices start at $1549 USD, and will be available October 25th.

 

The laptop weights in at around 2.2lbs, which HP touts as being the lightest business laptop, and is made from lightweight magnesium alloy machined via CNC. The chassis is certified to the MIL-STD-810G military standard so it will withstand drops and shocks better than most other laptops out there. Hopefully, this is a Linus-proof laptop based upon this spec.

 

The screen is a 13.3" affair, with either a 1080p with 400 nits of brightness, or 1080p panel with 1000 nits of brightness with HP's Sure View privacy filter, or 4K with 550 nits of brightness available. All screen options will have Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to cover them. It will have 85.6% screen-to-body ratio, with 360 degree folding screen, so you can use it as a tablet, with it's included Active Pen G3 in the box.

 

Other specs include options of a 8th generation Core i3/15/i7 Whiskey Lake CPU (no 9th or 10th gen options yet as they don't have Intel's vPro) with up to 16GB of RAM and 2 TB of SSD storage. The RAM is not upgrade-able, while the SSD being offered is either a SATA drive for the lower end or specialized SKU's (there's an option for a FIPS 140-2-certified drive), and for higher end SKU's, it will be a PCI-E 4x SSD.

 

Connectivity-wise, you got WiFi 6 and Gigabit 4G LTE, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one USB 3.1 Type A, HDMI 1.4, and a headphone jack. It will also feature four Band & Olufsen-badged speakers as well as a microphone array as well.

 

Long battery life is being claimed; the base battery is a two-cell 38 watt hour Li-ion battery that should provide 16 hours of battery life, but there's an optional four-cell, 56.2 Wh model with an estimated 24 hour battery life as well. The 4-cell battery will push the weight beyond 2.2 pounds though.

 

As part of the Elite business lineup, there are some security features as well; a 720p webcam with a built-in shutter to cover the webcam when not in use, there's an option for an IR camera, and a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello. The Elite Dragonfly will also support HP's Sure Sense, Sure Recover, and Embedded Reimaging technologies, a TPM 2.0 module, and an Absolute persistence module.

 

Full spec sheet is here (from Anandtech):

 

 

Overall, this looks like a very good effort by HP, with a nice, clean design, and decently packed in terms of specs.

[Arika]

1 hour ago, ThePointblank said:

MIL-STD-810G military standard

doesn't actually mean much when it comes to drop resistance

 

Quote

The important point here is to understand that a MIL-SPEC certification does NOT mean that the device could resist battlefield conditions (meaning “in combat” or “on the frontlines”). That is why consumer devices look radically different from their military counterparts that are extra-bulky.

 

The MIL-STD-810G* drop test consists in testing the resistance to shock of all the equipment surface: all faces, edges, and corners. In total, 26 drops from about 4 feet (phones, laptops) are necessary to perform the complete drop test. Since tests are done to test specific areas of the equipment, manufacturers can divide the 26 drops over five different devices. After each drop, the equipment is inspected for damage.

 

Also, the drop surface is 2-inches of plywood (on top of concrete) because it is the most likely surface that things fall onto in a military transport context. In the real world, this may be different because people stand on concrete, metal or marble more so than on plywood. Not perfect, but good to know.

 

The “drop test” is also called “shock” tests in certain documents. These tests are designed to measure the durability of equipment during load/unloading and transportation.

 

 

 

Really hope it comes in standard colours too (black or silver) blue just doens't look good 

[williamcll]

Or you can just stick to a thinkpad.

[Fnige]

For everyone other than americans and brits

2.2lb = 0.997903kg

[kelvinhall05]

"business laptop" my ass.

 

Try dropping one of these down the stairs as well as a Thinkpad. Then try plugging in USB drives, keyboards, mice, projectors, SD cards, chargers, and SIM cards into it.

 

 

If the HP survived, you'd need half a dozen dongles to do this, or a $100 hub. Not with the Thinkpad.

[spartaman64]

1500 for a laptop with a i3 u processor? no thanks

[Deli]

25 minutes ago, SlimyPython said:

For everyone other than americans

2.2lb = 0.997903kg

The Brit uses it too.

 

[dalekphalm]

I have the Spectre x360 13" - this seems like a very interesting side grade.

[Deli]

How can a 56.2Wh battery last 24 hours?

 

My Zenbook 14 Intel i5 with a 50Wh battery can only do 8-9 hours.

[Fnige]

26 minutes ago, Deli said:

The Brit uses it too.

 

oh... ok

[descendency]

2 hours ago, Deli said:

How can a 56.2Wh battery last 24 hours?

 

My Zenbook 14 Intel i5 with a 50Wh battery can only do 8-9 hours.

1080p screen, 25% brightness, video loop only vs actual use.

[Deli]

36 minutes ago, descendency said:

1080p screen, 25% brightness, video loop only vs actual use.

Just watch Louis Rossman's video. He was looking for new place for his shop. The broker said the place was 2500 sqf. Rossman measured the actual size was 17xx sqf only.

 

The seller always wants to oversell its products.

[ThePointblank]

38 minutes ago, descendency said:

1080p screen, 25% brightness, video loop only vs actual use.

Per Anandtech, the result is based upon MobileMark 2014, which is a fairly light use case scenario.

[suicidalfranco]

meh

[kokakolia]

On 9/19/2019 at 9:18 AM, williamcll said:

Or you can just stick to a thinkpad.

HP Elitebooks have always been rock solid. Lenovo just has a cult following for some reason. 

[dalekphalm]

7 hours ago, kokakolia said:

HP Elitebooks have always been rock solid. Lenovo just has a cult following for some reason. 

Mostly from the golden days back at IBM before Lenovo bought their PC division, I think. 

[Sauron]

Ok, I'll say it:

1.6k for a 1080p screen and an ULV i3 is theft. Please stop.

7 hours ago, kokakolia said:

HP Elitebooks have always been rock solid. Lenovo just has a cult following for some reason. 

Solid or not this has nothing of what I'd want in a high end laptop. At least Lenovo used to make an effort (though that's increasingly less the case). Here, RAM is soldered, the keyboard looks awful (just look at those damn arrow keys), the ports are too few and it doesn't have an sd card slot. Oh, and there's no trackpoint. HP used to do better, too.

[kokakolia]

8 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Ok, I'll say it:

1.6k for a 1080p screen and an ULV i3 is theft. Please stop.

Solid or not this has nothing of what I'd want in a high end laptop. At least Lenovo used to make an effort (though that's increasingly less the case). Here, RAM is soldered, the keyboard looks awful (just look at those damn arrow keys), the ports are too few and it doesn't have an sd card slot. Oh, and there's no trackpoint. HP used to do better, too.

So it's clear that this particular model doesn't cut it. But I'd argue that this laptop is pretty good for under $1000:

Spoiler

https://www.amazon.com/Elitebook-840-Business-Laptop-Thunderbolt/dp/B07T36SMZ3/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=hp+elitebook&qid=1569169735&sr=8-8

It's got a lot going for it except for the ULV processor. I don't know if the RAM is soldered in however. That could be a dealbreaker.

 

Overall, I believe that Dell, HP and Lenovo are all copying each other. It's just a matter of shopping around and finding the best deal. Hopefully, companies will start putting 16gb of RAM instead of 8gb. RAM used to be so cheap before 2017. Now RAM prices are reasonable.  

[mikeyw64]

On 9/20/2019 at 12:25 AM, Deli said:

The Brit uses it too.

 

depends on your age in the UK a lot of the time

My parents generation tend to primarily use imperial measurements as for me (aged 55)  I  quite happily use a mix of imperial & metric depending on my mood or what I'm doing.

Eg weights I tend to use metric but distance I think in miles (unless I'm on the continent and then I switch mindset) 

Fluids is an odd one. beer I use pints (which are "bigger" than US pints , a UK pint is  0.56 litres but a US pint is only 0.47 litres) but for milk I use litres (unless I'm pouring it into a pint glass ;o) )

I'm happy buying petrol in £'s per litre but I generally think of my fuel consumption in miles per gallon 

[Deli]

12 minutes ago, mikeyw64 said:

depends on your age in the UK a lot of the time

My parents generation tend to primarily use imperial measurements as for me (aged 55)  I  quite happily use a mix of imperial & metric depending on my mood or what I'm doing.

Eg weights I tend to use metric but distance I think in miles (unless I'm on the continent and then I switch mindset) 

Fluids is an odd one. beer I use pints (which are "bigger" than US pints , a UK pint is  0.56 litres but a US pint is only 0.47 litres) but for milk I use litres (unless I'm pouring it into a pint glass ;o) )

I'm happy buying petrol in £'s per litre but I generally think of my fuel consumption in miles per gallon 

Do you still use "stone" for weight?

[kokakolia]

13 minutes ago, mikeyw64 said:

depends on your age in the UK a lot of the time

My parents generation tend to primarily use imperial measurements as for me (aged 55)  I  quite happily use a mix of imperial & metric depending on my mood or what I'm doing.

Eg weights I tend to use metric but distance I think in miles (unless I'm on the continent and then I switch mindset) 

Fluids is an odd one. beer I use pints (which are "bigger" than US pints , a UK pint is  0.56 litres but a US pint is only 0.47 litres) but for milk I use litres (unless I'm pouring it into a pint glass ;o) )

I'm happy buying petrol in £'s per litre but I generally think of my fuel consumption in miles per gallon 

Oh gawd! Imperial units need to die. When I lived in Canada until recently, I was mortified to see sports clubs, grocery stores and just stores in general use imperial units. Canadians (and that includes teenagers too, not just older people) make it seem like it's an ordeal to use metric units unless they're driving and pumping gas. It's kinda sad that metric will never really take off, just based on anything food or cooking related. All of the appliances are imperial. You'd be crazy to measure your fluids in mL and bake in C. I can't imagine how confused Canadian kids must be in school. They're learning a metric system of measurement that they seldom use. 

[mikeyw64]

9 minutes ago, Deli said:

Do you still use "stone" for weight?

all depends

for my own weight I sues stones & kg interchangeably

For smaller amounts its almost exclusively KG

[mikeyw64]

3 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

Oh gawd! Imperial units need to die. When I lived in Canada until recently, I was mortified to see sports clubs, grocery stores and just stores in general use imperial units. Canadians (and that includes teenagers too, not just older people) make it seem like it's an ordeal to use metric units unless they're driving and pumping gas. It's kinda sad that metric will never really take off, just based on anything food or cooking related. All of the appliances are imperial. You'd be crazy to measure your fluids in mL and bake in C. I can't imagine how confused Canadian kids must be in school. They're learning a metric system of measurement that they seldom use. 

ah yes temperatures, for that i exclusively use celsius rather than fahrenheit 

[GOTSpectrum]

No ryzen, no dice (bad pun)

[DrMacintosh]

This is still significantly more expensive than a MacBook Air. An Air retails for $1,099 now. Granted this is a more powerful machine, but if you wanted more power in a similar form factor, the MBPs exist. 
 

A 2019 Base model MBP could beat this in any benchmark and only sacrifices battery life for cheaper. (13” base model is $1,299). 
 

So the main selling point of this HP pretty much comes down to battery life.