HP ZBook Ultra G1a review: A business-class gaming workstation

Business laptops are usually boring computers that are imposed on employees en masse. But high-end enterprise workstation laptops sometimes get an interesting enough combination of power and features to attract enthusiasts. The HP ZBook Ultra G1a is a great example. It’s easy to see it as another boring gray book for big-spending business types, until you notice some of the key specs: an AMD Strix Halo APU, plenty of RAM, an OLED display, and a sufficient amount of fast ports (Thunderbolt 4, even — a rarity on AMD laptops).

I know from my time with Asus Rog Fluo Z13 and desktop frame Anything that uses AMD’s high-end Ryzen AI Max chips has to be a compelling PC. But these two devices are a gaming tablet and a mini PC respectively. Here, you get Strix Halo and its excellent integrated graphics in a simple, portable 14-inch laptop – the only one of its kind to date. That should mean great performance with solid battery life, and cutting-edge graphics that can hang with mid-tier gaming laptops — all in a PC that doesn’t attract a second glance in a stuffy office. It’s a decent Windows (or Linux) alternative to the MacBook Pro, albeit for very High price.

the HP ZBook Ultra G1a It starts About $2100 It has a modest six-core AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 380 processor, 16GB of shared memory, and a basic IPS screen. Our review unit is a much higher-spec configuration with 16 cores Ryzen EA Max Plus Pro 395An OLED touch screen with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 and a frequency of 120 Hz, a storage capacity of 2 TB, and a massive 128 GB of shared memory, costs approximately $4,700. I see that often Discounted by $1000 Or more – still expensive, but more realistic for someone looking for MacBook Pro substitute. Having this much shared memory is mostly useful for massive local AI inference workloads and serious processing of datasets; Most people don’t need it. But with Persistent memory loss I would also understand the desire to resist the future.

Unlike HP laptops are cheaper I’ve tested Having made significant sacrifices in everyday features like speaker quality, the ZBook Ultra G1a is very good across the board. Vibrant OLED display, with strong contrast. The keyboard has a nice touch and deep key travel. The mechanical trackpad is smooth, with a good clicky feel. The 5-megapixel webcam seems stable in most lighting. And the speakers have a full sound that is a pleasure to listen to music all day long. I have a gripe, but it’s a minor one: it could be a 400 nits display a little Brighter, the four-speaker sound system doesn’t sound quite as rich as current MacBook Pros, and my accidental presses of the Page Up and Page Down keys above the arrows really get on my nerves. These quibbles aren’t deal-breakers, though for the ZBook’s price, I wish HP would iron out some of them.

The big thing you’re paying for with the ZBook Ultra is the high-end Strix Halo APU, which so far is only found in PCs priced above $2,000 and Sick level mobile gamingalthough there will be Cut versions Coming to Cheaper gaming laptops this year.

The ZBook’s flagship 395 chip delivers fast performance for versatile work and enough battery life to enjoy an eight-hour workday filled with Chrome tabs and web apps (with power-saving measures). It drained battery power in Adobe Lightroom Classic, but although the Strix Halo is less powerful when disconnected from wall power, the ZBook didn’t crash. I successfully edited a large batch of 47MP RAW images without any long waits for things like AI noise reduction or automatic masking adjustments.

The ZBook stays cool and silent during typical use; Pushing it under heavy loads results in little to no warmth in its center and a fair bit of fan noise that can easily be drowned out by normal-sized music, video, or game play.

This is less a gaming-focused laptop than the MacBook Pro, as its huge pool of shared memory and graphics cores are dedicated to workstation tasks. However, this thing can game. I spent an entire evening playing Battlefield 6 With friends, with Discord and Chrome open in the background, and all the while I averaged 70 to 80 fps at 1920 x 1200 resolution with the Medium preset settings and the FSR set to Balanced mode – with peaks above 100 fps. Running it at its native 2880 x 1800 resolution got an average of 50fps which is good for a single player.

New intel Tiger lake chips It also has great integrated graphics for gaming, while being more power efficient. But the Strix Halo outperforms Panther Lake at multi-core tasks and graphics, with the flagship 395 proving as capable as a discrete laptop RTX 4060 GPU. AMD’s thicker mobile chips did too Proven to be great for Linux If you are looking forward to Stay away from Windows.

In addition to Windows 11’s annoying sales and notifications, the ZBook also has HP’s Wolf Security software, designed for deployment on a fleet of the company’s IT-managed laptops. For someone who doesn’t use this device as a managed device for work, the extra layer of security may be acceptable, but annoying. They range from warning you about files from an “untrusted location” (good) to pop-ups when you plug in a non-HP USB-C charger (irritating). You can turn all of this off and uninstall, as can the bloatware AI Companion and Support Assistant apps, but it’s part of what HP charges on its Z Workstation line.

You don’t need to spend that kind of money on a ZBook Ultra G1a-equipped machine unless you’re doing the kind of specialized computing (local AI models, mathematical simulations, 3D rendering, etc.) it’s designed for. there More achievable configurationoften retails for around $2,500, but the 12-core CPU, lower-spec GPU, and 64GB of shared memory represent a performance drop.

If you are mostly interested in games, Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Or even a Razer Blade 16 Makes hell a lot more sense. For the price of our ZBook Ultra review unit, Razer gets you an RTX 5090 GPU, with more powerful gaming performance, while the more modest ROG Zephyrus G14 with RTX 5060 gives you ZBook Ultra-like gaming performance in a similar form factor for roughly $3,000 less. The biggest knock against gaming laptops compared to the ZBook is that its fans get much louder under load.

And while it’s easy to think of the MacBook Pro as the lazy solution to all your computing needs, it still has to be said: If you don’t mind macOS, you can get it Much more (Non-gaming) Performance from M4 Pro/M4 Max MacBook Pro. Even sticking with Windows and integrated graphics, the Asus ZenBook Duo With Panther Lake priced at $2,300 it is a bargain in comparison once it launched.

At $4,700, this is a machine intended for specialized workloads. It’s a travel-friendly 14-inch that can do a little bit of everything, but it’s a jack of all trades if you’re spending your own money. The ZBook piqued my interest because it’s one of the earliest examples of Strix Halo in a traditional laptop. After using it, I’m even more excited to see it Upcoming models At more realistic prices.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto/The Verge