Review: HP ZBook 14 G2

Introduction and design

Let's be honest: most mobile workstations are too heavy (and ugly) to comfortably carry around. These powerful and expensive devices typically weigh more than five pounds (2.26 kg) and they look as boxy and boring as the laptops in '80s sci-fi films. Luckily, HP has done its part to save the mobile workstation industry from itself with the new, improved and gorgeous HP ZBook 14 G2 ($1,779, £1,966, AU$2,492).

Competing against slightly larger mobile workstations, like the 15.5-inch Lenovo ThinkPad W550 and the 15.6-inch Dell Precision M3800, the ZBook 14 is designed for the mobile professional who needs plenty of pop under the hood, as well as a bit of portability and style.

In addition to the three aforementioned Windows devices, the MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina Display is a lighter, slimmer, more stylish and equally powerful professional device. It all comes down to which specifications suit your needs and how much you're willing to spend.

Design

At just 3.77 pounds (1.71kg) and 0.83 inches (21mm) tall, the ZBook 14 doesn't feel like a mobile workstation. Its closest rivals, the Precision M3800 and the Lenovo W550 are 0.3 pounds (0.13kg) and 2.7 pounds (1.22kg) heavier than the ZBook.

Most other notable mobile workstations, such as the MSI Prestige PE60 2QD, are all in the 5 to 7-pound range. The sleek and stylish MacBook Pro 13-inch weighs an anorexic 3.48lbs (1.58kg), and it is slightly thinner than the ZBook at only 0.71 inches (18mm).

In order to make the ZBook so light, HP relied heavily on a matted black aluminum upper panel, bordered along the edges with rubber and magnesium. This gorgeous design is perfect for a serious no-nonsense machine. If nefarious federal agents carried laptops instead of briefcases in the movies, the HP ZBook 14 G2 would be their device of choice.

The bottom panel is mostly black magnesium, save for four rubber feet that keep the laptop steady on all sorts of surfaces and angles.

With one simple button-click, I was able to remove the bottom panel to gain access to an easily removable battery. More tech-savvy users will love the removable panel, as it gives you easy access to the cooling fan, your processors, as well as your wireless card – should you need to quickly upgrade or replace a damaged item.

The laptop's display is entirely surrounded by black magnesium. Like most HP and Lenovo laptops, the display is surrounded by a thick and unattractive 0.5-1-inch border. Competitors like Dell have begun designing laptops with minimal display border to provide a more cinematic experience. The ZBook has about as "uncinematic" an experience as you can get in terms of screen border.

Despite its dull surroundings, the full HD (FHD), 1,920 x 1,080p screen is bright and colorful. It produces vibrant colors with plenty of detail from a wide range of viewing angles. Even with heavy sunlight overhead, you should be able to enjoy watching a movie, so long as it isn't an incredibly dark film, like Sin City or Citizen Kane.

Unfortunately, the touchscreen is an optional upgrade, and the laptop won't perform any Lenovo-style bends and twists. What you're getting with the standard ZBook 14 G2 is a traditional laptop whose screen can bend back 130-degrees, but can't be manipulated with a finger or stylus.

The standard keyboard base is primarily composed of black aluminum. The backlit keys are made of magnesium and they sit above an aluminum trackpad with two upper and two lower buttons. I find these buttons to be unnecessary.

HP, Dell and Lenovo insist on including the buttons on their professional laptops, despite the fact that most of us are touch-oriented people who scroll and click using only our fingers and a screen on the majority of our personal devices. Although these buttons are superfluous, they don't detract from the ZBook's overall aesthetic and should not be considered a major issue.

Specifications and value

Because the ZBook is so light and slim, you're probably expecting me to detail its performance shortcomings. Although the ZBook isn't the fastest mobile workstation in its ranks, it's definitely not a slouch. As you'll see below, it's got a lot of awesome features hiding under the hood, enough to put it just below elite company in the mobile workstation class.

Specifications

Here is the HP ZBook 14 G2 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

• CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-5600U (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 3.2GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: AMD FirePro M4150 (1GB GDDR5)
• RAM: 16GB DDR3L (1,600MHz)
• Screen: 13.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,080p
• Storage: 256GB HP Z Turbo Drive PCIe SSD
• Ports: 3 x USB 3.0 ports (1 x USB 3.0 charging), DisplayPort, HDMI, headphone jack, microphone jack, Ethernet, docking connector, VGA, secondary battery connector
• Connectivity: Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7265
• Weight: 3.77 pounds
• Size: 13.35 x 9.33 x 0.83 inches (W x D x H)

Packing a fifth-generation Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, which is the same as the Lenovo and one Intel Core i generation above the Dell, the HP ZBook 14 G2 isn't messing around in terms of under-the-hood performance. If you're a designer or a video editor, you'll love the elite AMD FirePro M4150 chip, which isn't the most powerful on the market, but the GPU provides enough giddyup to get the job done while also considering battery drain. I'll get into the workstation's battery performance in a later section.

What you won't love about this laptop is its measly 256GB of storage (with optional configurations up to 500GB). Most 15 to 17-inch mobile workstations come with at least 1TB of storage, a little less than four times what you're getting with the ZBook. For example: the Lenovo W550 and Dell Precision M3800 come with roughly double the ZBook's storage. To be fair, the MacBook Pro starts with only 128GB of storage, so it's not like the ZBook is worst-in-class.

Performance and features

Don't let the advanced processor and graphics card fool you, some laptops lag behind competitors with exactly the same chipset. That's why it's always important to read reviews that feature benchmark scores to determine whether or not a laptop's particular chip functions well in concert with all of the laptop's other hardware.

Benchmarks

Here's how the HP ZBook 14 G2 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 5,455; Sky Diver: 2,988; Fire Strike: 961
• Cinebench CPU: 279 points; Graphics: 42 fps,
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 2,782
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hours and 23 minutes

In the Cinebench graphics test, the ZBook 14 G2 managed a frame rate of 42 frames per second (fps), which is exactly the same as the Dell's 42 fps, but much worse than the Lenovo's 60 fps. For the CineBench CPU test, which measures a processor's multi-core performance via a 3D image rendering task, the ZBook scored 279 points, which is the same as the Lenovo, and dramatically lower than the M3800, which scored 501 points.

The ZBook scored 961 points in 3DMark's Fire Strike test, which measures graphics rendering. The Lenovo scored 1,426 points. The ZBook also lost in a head-to-head against the Lenovo on the 3D Mark Sky Diver test by a wide margin (2,988 to 4,530). To be fair, the ZBook scored a couple of hundred points higher on the 3D Mark Cloud Gate test, besting the Lenovo's 5,246.

It also took home the prize on PCMark's Home test, which measures your laptop's ability to handle common tasks like web browsing, writing, gaming, photo editing, and video chat, among other tasks. The ZBook scored 2,782 points, a whopping 600 points higher than the Lenovo.

The Lenovo W550's battery lasts 8 hours and 55 minutes during the PCMark 8 Battery Life test, and our reviewer was able to run the machine for 11 hours without over-exerting it. Unfortunately, the ZBook doesn't reach these marks. It scored a 3 hour and 23 minute rating on the PCMark Battery Life Test, and I was able to run the machine for about 7 hours and 15 minutes playing Guardians of the Galaxy on a loop at 50% screen brightness and 50% volume.

When I attempted to tax the machine with more than a dozen spreadsheets open and YouTube running in the background, I witnessed no lag in performance and was able to switch between tasks instantly. However, the laptop only lasted about 6 hours and 45 minutes, which is still pretty good for a mobile workstation.

A couple of major flaws

When I received the HP ZBook 14 G2, I was psyched to see that Windows 10 had been already installed. This would have been my first non-preview version of Windows 10, and it would have been on a powerhouse workstation packing a Core i7 processor.

Unfortunately, because the ZBook comes standard without a touchscreen, I wasn't able to take full advantage of the new operating system, which is a huge bummer. Yes, you can upgrade to a touchscreen, but you're already paying so much for this device as is. Keep this in mind if you're interested in buying a mobile workstation, but you need Windows 10.

The price is also a major concern. The aforementioned Lenovo and MacBook Pro are about $600 (£386, AU$845) cheaper than the ZBook. The Dell M3800 is about $150 (£97, AU$211) cheaper. In the case of the Dell and the Lenovo, you'd be sacrificing performance while still paying more.

Although we haven't benchmarked the MacBook, I'd expect performance to be in-line if slightly worse than the ZBook 14, given the Apple device's less powerful Core i5 chipset. But you'd get a lot more style and portability with the Mac.

Verdict

The HP ZBook 14 G2 is the belle of the mobile workstation ball. It's got the looks. It's got the small form factor. And it comes with a powerful chipset. However, if optimal graphics and processing performance are your main concern, this beauty might not be right for you.

We liked

How can you not like the way this baby looks? It perfectly blends magnesium, aluminum and rubber to create a black-on-black kit that will immediately improve your desk space. It performs better than most consumer-grade laptops, though it won't blow any mobile workstations out of the water, and it features a pretty FHD screen.

Power users will love being able to swap out a drained battery for a fully-charged one, which should push total use-time with two batteries to around 14 hours. And if you need to replace broken parts, HP has made it easy for professionals to go in and tinker around.

We disliked

Unfortunately, you won't get to the pinnacle of workstation performance with this laptop. It's just good enough to beat out most of the laptops at your local Best Buy, but it won't surpass other devices in its class.

Additionally, it doesn't come with much storage capacity, and the lack of a touchscreen makes Windows 10 seem like a tease. And finally, the hefty price tag means you're sacrificing performance for style, which is a hard sell for your company's CFO.

Final verdict

If you're a Windows power user who requires as much portability and style as you require performance, the HP ZBook 14 G2 is an ideal device for you. It's got tons of ports and connections, it's got an easily-replaceable battery and it just looks so darn good.

But if you need enough boost to get you through rigorous tasks, and a few extra pounds or inches won't really upset your experience, the benchmarks say there are less expensive devices to consider.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1KlHtGM