HP Elite Dragonfly review
Our Verdict
The HP Dragonfly isn't just a looker that volition inspire jealousy from Apple users; it's likewise a long-lasting 2-in-i laptop that earns serious respect.
For
- Cute, centre-catching design
- Epic battery life (with optional upgrade)
- Brilliant and colorful screen
- A stiff set of of security options
- Comfortable keyboard
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The HP Dragonfly isn't just a looker that will inspire jealousy from Apple users; it's likewise a long-lasting two-in-i laptop that earns serious respect.
Pros
- +
Cute, center-catching blueprint
- +
Epic bombardment life (with optional upgrade)
- +
Bright and colorful screen
- +
A strong set up of of security options
- +
Comfy keyboard
HP continues to liven up the business-course section of your nearest aeroplane. It seems the copper and black Spectre laptops weren't enough, every bit the new HP Elite Dragonfly (starting at $1,664, and tested at $2,298) shocks the arrangement with its elegant blueish-magnesium chassis that'southward much lighter than it looks. Merely the Dragonfly'due south beauty is far from but peel deep, thanks to a beautiful brandish, thin bezels and surprisingly long bombardment life for a auto of this size.
If only the laptop weren't out of most consumers' reach with its high pricing, I'd be recommending this to everyone I know as the PC to buy. The HP Aristocracy Dragonfly is such a good ii-in-1 laptop, though, that information technology's more than worth its investment; it's going to make other laptop makers take detect of HP as a leader in premium laptops — and, aye, even MacBook fans will accept notice. That's why it'due south i of the best Windows laptops you tin buy, and ane of the best laptops on the market.
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HP Aristocracy Dragonfly pricing and availability
The Elite Dragonfly'south got a new version coming, as its Gen 2 model was appear at CES 2021.
With an entry-level cost of $1,664 (currently on sale a $2,561 starting cost), the Dragonfly is priced to be out of accomplish of almost consumers, intended more for execs on the become. A similarly spec'd Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga costs a lower (simply still pricey) $one,327, while the Intel-based MacBook Air we compared it against in the original version of this review now starts at a significantly less expensive $999 — and has the new Apple tree M1 processor to kick.
Nosotros tested a $2,298 (MSRP: $iii,536) configuration of HP'due south machine stocked with an Intel Core i7-8665U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB Thou.2 PCIe SSD and a 32GB Intel Optane Memory H10 SSD. Oh, and considering this machine is meant for those flying in mode, information technology'southward upgraded to a larger, four-cell battery, plus the optional pen and sleeve. That larger battery comes standard on the entry-level Dragonfly, simply yous tin save $22 if yous desire to become the two-prison cell battery (which shaves 0.2 pounds off the Dragonfly's weight).
I'd recommend y'all bump upward to the $1,811, midrange model, which features a Core i5-8365U CPU, 256GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, Intel vPro security, a 1920 x 1080-pixel and 1,000-nit panel, and HP'southward Sure View privacy-screen engineering science.
| CPU | 8th-Gen Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 |
| RAM | 8GB / 16GB / 32GB |
| Display | 13.3-inch impact-screen brandish, 1920 ten 1200 or 3840 x 2160 |
| Storage | 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB SSD |
| Ports | USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (x2), USB three.1, HDMI 1.four, headphone jack |
| Battery life | 24.5 hours (rated for four-cell bombardment); 12:25 (tested, web surfing) |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Dimensions | 12 x 7.eight x 0.6 in. |
| Weight | 2.five pounds |
HP Aristocracy Dragonfly design: A stunner in blue
The HP Dragonfly is a laptop and so beautiful that it could influence the generation of notebooks that follows it.
The HP Dragonfly, named after the shade of blue that HP painted the auto, is a 2-in-1 laptop and so cute that it could influence the generation of notebooks that follows it. From its hit hue to its slight silver accent touches and a very grippable texture, this is a laptop whose advent I can't crack a joke nigh (and I love to brand fun of whatever gaps in designs).
At a surprisingly light 2.v pounds and at 0.6 inches in thickness, the Elite Dragonfly makes the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (two.9 pounds, 0.5 inches), Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (3 pounds, 0.6 inches) and Apple MacBook Air (2.eight pounds, 0.half dozen inches) seem hefty by comparing.
What'southward amazing nigh this laptop'south lightweight design, though, is that the auto doesn't experience flimsy for it. I've tested other magnesium-trounce machines in the past, but dissimilar them, the Dragonfly doesn't buckle or bend when you lot grip or apply pressure level, thanks to internal reinforcements. Too, HP's provided an oleophobic coating to the Dragonfly's machined metal beat out, making information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to wipe away whatever smudges.
One affair you won't notice with your middle but that volition make you lot tip your cap to HP is that the Dragonfly is the first laptop with ocean-bound plastics (recycled materials that would typically exist headed to the ocean) inside of its shell (Dell's used the fabric in its packaging before). That material is used in the speaker box of the Dragonfly, and HP marks this as only role of the get-go of the visitor'due south efforts to use recycled materials.
HP Aristocracy Dragonfly ports
The HP Dragonfly likewise offers a great port selection, with dual Thunderbolt 3 USB-Cs, HDMI-out, a USB 3.1 port and a headphone jack. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga packs all that, plus a 2nd USB 3.ane port and an extension port for Ethernet and docking. The MacBook Air sadly offers merely a pair of Thunderbolt 3s and a headphone jack.
HP Elite Dragonfly security and durability
The best keyboards let you hit the ground running, and the HP Dragonfly has 1 of my favorites.
With business organisation laptops, there are nuts and there are cool perks in ruggedization and security features that help convince companies they're making a solid investment. Thankfully, the HP Elite Dragonfly doesn't settle for the bare minimum.
First off, the Dragonfly packs processors with Intel'southward vPro technology, a table-stakes-level feature that's there for IT pros to offer remote management help. HP'south also bestowed its self-healing BIOS technology, so your computer can fight low-level attacks. On elevation of that, there'due south a fingerprint reader below the lesser right corner of the keyboard.
Without those, we'd exist docking points. Just the Dragonfly besides goes higher up and beyond with its physical webcam guard, which is an elegantly small switch that signifies your privacy by roofing that pigsty with a ii-tone circumvolve of diagonal lines. Information technology'southward not the first webcam shutter always, but it's the kickoff I've seen that actually looks dandy.
The Dragonfly, similar all of HP'southward Elite-model business laptops, has passed nineteen MIL-STD-810 tests, ensuring that it's not going to bend or interruption under pressure level. Those tests checked the machine's ability to survive drops, extreme temperatures (both high and low), blasts of sand and other accidental damage.
HP Elite Dragonfly display: As pretty equally its vanquish
The Dragonfly'south 13.iii-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel screen proved to exist a dandy console for watching the Bail flick No Time to Die's trailer, as I could come across each small smudge on Daniel Craig's face, savor the icy blues of his eyes and catch the verdant copse in a landscape behind a bridge that 007 was rappelling off of.
According to our colorimeter, the Dragonfly produces 117% of the sRGB spectrum, which approaches the 122% premium laptop average and competes closely with the 113% score from the XPS 13 2-in-1. That score narrowly beats the 106% rating from the ThinkPad X1 Yoga and the 100% from the MacBook Air.
The Dragonfly's screen gets pretty bright, too, emitting up to 373 nits. That outshines the 362-nit category average and the 342 nits from the MacBook Air. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga gets even brighter, hitting a maximum of 402 nits, equally did the 516-nit Dell XPS 13. On this Dragonfly console, you lot get an first-class range of viewing angles, equally colors stay strong at up to sixty degrees to the left and right.
As I tapped, pinched, pulled and swiped on the Dragonfly'southward bear on screen, I saw excellent responsiveness with fast reaction times conforming such a luxury laptop. Scrolling through news articles on the internet also proved smooth.
HP Dragonfly keyboard and touchpad
The best keyboards let you hit the ground running, and the HP Dragonfly has one of my favorites. On my showtime run through of the 10FastFingers typing exam, I hit 79 words per minute, a betoken off my 80-wpm average.
My fingers flew similarly well on the Dragonfly's 2.v x 4.3-inch glass touchpad, which offers buttery-smooth scrolling. Two-finger zoom in and out gestures, as well equally Windows 10's 4-finger window-navigation commands, likewise functioned as well as could exist expected.
HP Dragonfly audio: The weakest link
As I listened to Daughter Talk's "Bounciness That" on the Dragonfly, I noticed that the machine got plenty loud, more filling 1 of our small conference rooms. The laptop produces so much sound, in fact, that I felt the need to play tunes at effectually 60% volume, because audio bled out of said room and reached my nearby colleagues, who started laughing at how loud it got. Ane even called it "an awesome little speaker."
The Dragonfly's got a piddling room to amend, however, in sound quality. While I started the Girl Talk vocal with my head bobbing to the vanquish, I apace noticed Bun B's sampled vocals coming through a bit muddy, an consequence I also noticed when listening to The National's "Looking for Astronauts," every bit Matt Berninger'southward lyrics didn't hit as hard.
I tried to ameliorate the audio issues using the included Bang & Olufsen Audio Control app. Its sound options weren't enough, though, as I'd already set sound to Music. The two other options, Phonation and Movie, simply introduced other issues, messing with the instrumentals on Sum 41's "Fat Lip" and St. Vincent'southward "Regret."
HP Aristocracy Dragonfly performance: Solid but not the fastest
The Dragonfly's pocket-size, lightweight chassis packs way more endurance than information technology has any right to. This blue beauty lasted a full 12 hours and 25 minutes.
The high-cease HP Dragonfly we tested sports an 8th Gen. Intel Core i7-8665U processor and 16GB of RAM, providing speedy performance. I saw zero slowdown when I split my screen with the 4K remaster of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" video on YouTube and a dozen Chrome tabs (including Giphy and the Google md for this review).
The Dragonfly'southward 14,071 score on the Geekbench 4.3 general-performance benchmark is a bit beneath the 16,357 premium laptop boilerplate and the 15,113 from the ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Intel Cadre i5-8265U, 8GB of RAM). All the same, the Dragonfly's score blows the seven,880 from the MacBook Air (Intel Core i5-8210Y with 8GB of RAM) out of the water. The XPS 13 2-in-1 (Intel Core i7-106G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM) did even better, with a nineteen,225 showing.
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The 512GB K.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (with 32GB Intel Optane 3D XPoint SSD) in the Dragonfly copied 4.7GB of files in 12 seconds, for a speed of 424.1 MBps. That ties the rate from the 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Opal 2 SSD in the ThinkPad X1 Yoga but falls behind the 513.65 category average.
On our HandBrake test, which times a laptop's conversion of a 4K moving-picture show to 1080p resolution, the Dragonfly posted 22:23, which could be improve. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga finished in xix:07, while the premium laptop boilerplate falls in the middle, at 20:48.
The Intel UHD 620 GPU in the Dragonfly won't enable meridian gaming, just this laptop sneaks a modest amount of prowess out of its integrated graphics. The Dragonfly ran the Dirt three racing game at 31 frames per 2nd. That might fall below the 59-fps premium laptop average, just information technology's the same rate we saw in the ThinkPad X1 Yoga (which also packs the Intel UHD 620).
HP Aristocracy Dragonfly battery life: Soars for hours
The Dragonfly'due south small, lightweight chassis packs fashion more than endurance than it has any correct to. Our battery exam (web surfing at 150 nits) tuckered the blueish beauty of a full charge in 12 hours and 25 minutes, clobbering the 8:43 premium laptop average, the 8:51 time from the MacBook Air, the x:18 from the ThinkPad X1 Yoga and the 10:57 time from the XPS 13 2-in-ane.
Of course, this fourth dimension comes from a Dragonfly with the four-cell battery, and you tin downgrade from that version if you want to save $22 and shave 0.2 pounds off the weight. Personally, I'd proceed the four-cell bombardment.
HP Elite Dragonfly heat: Cool up top, warm down below
The Dragonfly can become a little warm. Subsequently nosotros streamed 15 minutes of full-Hard disk drive video on the laptop, our heat gun clocked the laptop's underside at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is above our 95-degree comfort threshold. The touchpad (82 degrees) and keyboard (93 degrees) didn't breach the limit. When I tested the Dragonfly, I spent some time typing with information technology in my lap, and while I felt a little heat, it didn't become a problem.
Bottom line
The HP Dragonfly's crisp, beautiful display; lightweight pattern; and robust security features combine to give you a laptop that's as nice to wait at as it is to use. If only it didn't cost so much that I winced when I saw our testing unit'southward toll. Yous could relieve $300 by opting for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga, merely you'd be dropping over ii hours in bombardment life in commutation. That said, the HP Elite Dragonfly truly earns the Aristocracy branding, as this laptop'south elegance and endurance add upward to utter excellence.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/hp-elite-dragonfly
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