HP Dragonfly Professional PC Laptop computer Assessment: The Greatest PC Various to a MacBook?

HP unveiled the Dragonfly Professional sequence of touchscreen laptops at CES 2023. The primary Dragonfly notebooks to rock a “Professional” moniker embody a Chromebook and a PC laptop computer, providing a modern and sustainable design, top-notch {hardware}, and efficiency to match, all at worth factors with mainstream attraction. The PC model begins beneath $1,400, whereas the Chromebook has a $999 beginning worth.

After seeing the merchandise within the steel forward of their launch, I used to be notably excited to place the Dragonfly Professional PC by its paces for its sticker worth and AMD {hardware}. The previous is extremely agreeable for an HP Dragonfly pocket book — such merchandise are normally costly and geared in direction of demanding customers with massive improve budgets.

However, by promising a superb equilibrium between efficiency and power effectivity, the AMD Ryzen chip made me surprise how the pocket book would stack in opposition to a equally priced MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Professional with an Apple M2 chip.

I spent a month testing the HP Dragonfly Professional PC in entry-level guise, and it constantly excelled as my go-to laptop. The pocket book’s design, efficiency, and battery life make it the very best PC different to the compact MacBook Professional. Right here’s a breakdown:

DESIGN: 8/10

Like each HP Dragonfly PC, the Professional iteration has a modern design and a decidedly premium construct. Obtainable in black or white with a chrome HP brand on its show cowl, the pocket book will look equally slick in your desk, a convention room desk, or at a espresso store.

The supplies used within the pocket book are decidedly premium, a lot sturdy, and worthy of its worth class. HP manufactured the Dragonfly Professional’s housing utilizing reclaimed aluminum and magnesium with distinctive sturdiness and tactility.

Made utilizing recycled plastic, the keyboard of the Dragonfly Professional is likely one of the greatest in its class. Its well-spaced keys are quiet with out skimping on satisfying journey and tactile suggestions, although their backlighting may use greater than two brightness ranges.

Along with a dependable fingerprint scanner, the keyboard has 4 additional buttons, together with one which’s customizable by way of the myHP app. The remaining buttons embody one for launching myHP, one for product help, and one for accessing its webcam controls.

The system’s haptic trackpad is superb to work together with and vastly superior to non-haptic ones. I discovered it to be quieter and significantly extra dependable.

The pocket book’s trio of USB-C ports are quick and futureproof. Two (one on all sides) have ultra-fast Thunderbolt connectivity for a seamless hyperlink with exterior screens, docks, and different high-speed equipment. Each USB-C connector helps quick charging.

Surprisingly, in contrast to any MacBook and lots of PC rivals, the HP Dragonfly Professional lacks a normal audio jack. Though having access to the latter by way of an exterior accent is fast and cheap by way of an exterior amplifier or a dongle, I want I didn’t should search for one once I needed to make use of wired headphones or earbuds.

DISPLAY: 8/10

The 14-inch touchscreen of the HP Dragonfly Professional PC I examined is stable, if not the sharpest or the brightest in its worth vary. The panel’s 16:10 side makes viewing apps and paperwork side-by-side extremely straightforward — I had no bother taking notes throughout on-line conferences and referencing them whereas creating content material after.

Contemplating the Dragonfly Professional’s beginning price ticket, I want its display screen had the next refresh charge for smoother interactions just like a few of its PC rivals and the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Execs. Nevertheless, the real-life efficiency advantages in comparison with the previous and the a lot lower cost than the latter are tradeoffs price making.

PERFORMANCE: 9/10

AMD collaborated intently with HP to create the Ryzen 7 chip that powers the Dragonfly Professional PC, lasering in on real-life efficiency and power effectivity as a substitute of merely producing excessive artificial benchmark scores. The result’s exceptional — the pocket book delivers ample energy and lengthy battery life that belie its kind issue and worth vary.

The Dragonfly Professional crushed my traditional workflow of concurrently operating a double-digit quantity of browser tabs, fielding emails and Slack messages, enhancing textual content, and modifying pictures whereas streaming lossless audio from Amazon Music. It didn’t deal with me to heat wrist pads or distract me with fan noise throughout my work periods.

Native gameplay was additionally a nice expertise on the pocket book, courtesy of its Radeon graphics. I spent hours enjoying Age of Empires IV, and the sport ran fantastically at full show decision.

Throughout my testing, the Dragonfly Professional usually made it by a workday between battery fees and with out requiring me to activate battery-saver mode within the late afternoon. Such a exceptional feat for a top-shelf PC ultrabook, completely showcasing the AMD silicon’s energy effectivity.

For comparability, high-end PC laptops with Intel chips will battle to make it by a day that features the abovementioned workflow. You’ll should be aware of the duties available and your display screen brightness to get shut and, simply in case, have a battery pack or a charger prepared. The bundled one can energy up the Professional’s battery from empty to 50% in solely half-hour.

Tuned by the consultants from Bang & Olufsen, the onboard audio system of the HP Dragonfly Professional pump out a surprisingly strong sound for its skinny kind issue. Its 5MP webcam with a software program suite for tuning it’s glorious, too.

WRAP-UP

The Dragonfly Professional’s real-life pace and battery life are the closest to what I’ve skilled from a MacBook with Apple silicon. After years of primarily counting on such {hardware}, that’s the most important praise I may give the newcomer. It’s your best choice in case you are on the lookout for a compact PC laptop computer that blends uncompromising energy and lengthy battery life at a palatable worth.

A finances of $1,399 will get you a Dragonfly Professional with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage — sufficient for all however essentially the most demanding energy customers. Spending an additional $150 will double each and make the pocket book much more future-proof. A equally geared up 13-inch MacBook Professional will value you $300 greater than the starter Dragonfly Professional.

Each Dragonfly Professional comes with a 12 months price of 24/7 dwell help. An optionally available $10.99 month-to-month subscription plan contains help, an prolonged guarantee, and 3-year unintentional injury safety.

Store HP Dragonfly Professional

Senior Know-how Editor

Stefan is the senior know-how editor for , the place he’s been masking the tech business and testing the most recent devices since 2015. He has greater than a decade of expertise masking shopper tech merchandise, particularly smartphones, tablets, laptops, and audio gear. He was beforehand the US editor for ; his work will also be discovered on Standard Mechanics and different Hearst publications.Within the uncommon moments when he’s not enjoying with a brand new gadget, Stefan likes to look at dwell Premier League video games or hang around along with his cat and rabbit. He’s additionally an espresso snob.