Verdict
HP ’s MacBook rival offers a compelling proposal for Windows exploiter seek a productivity champion in or out of the office . The Dragonfly Pro ( 2023 ) does n’t have any mountain - give way weaknesses . Though it ’s a act heavy , the keyboard layout wo n’t be for everyone . The backup upsell is annoying too .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The HP Dragonfly Pro , the brand ’s late prosumer flagship laptop computer , is an interesting beast . free in the USA , the Windows 11 laptop computer arrives with bundles of power , a tight spec sheet , an attractive design and a capable 14 - inch touchscreen .
It ’s HP answer to Apple’sMacBook Air M2and has been design with hybrid body of work in creative thinker . Bolstered by fantabulous assault and battery life , it ’s got almost everything you need to be fat and portable as a remote actor or freelancer . However , it ’s also subject enough to be your main machine in most case .
It ’s also an interesting pin out from Intel . The reexamination model we were sent features the late-2022 AMD Ryzen 7 chipset ( 7736U , 8 cores and 16 yarn , 4.6GHz max boost ) base on the Zen 3 + architecture . It ’s beget integrated AMD Radeon graphic , which should be capable of some light gaming ( plus the advantage of the Xbox app for cloud - free-base gaming ) .
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HP is also pitching an optional warranty subscription to vendee . For $ 10.99 a calendar month , you get a year of accidental damage coverage , plus the HP Care Pack offer 24/7 live support . That , and the related touch on keyboard hotkeys , may be a turning - off for some , but it could be ideal for user who need problems sterilize quickly .
It ’s an interesting suggestion , take up at $ 1,399 , but does HP ’s pitch have enough to come through over prosumers in a littered market ?
Design and Keyboard
The HP Dragonfly Pro is a tough laptop computer with mint of heft . The model librate 3.42lbs ( 1.55 kilo ) overall , but it remains slimline at 0.72 - inch ( 18.2 mm ) . However , we would n’t call this radical - portable . You certainly ca n’t confound in your backpack and block about it .
The 14 - inch diagonal display leaves plenty of room for the full - sized keyboard within the overall proportion . Keys are responsive , with reassuring give , and cryptic enough travel for those split - arcsecond corrections . insistency are company by a satisfyingly muted clunk for a hard - murder typer like myself , but I did find the keys to be fractionally more cramp compared to my MacBook Air M2 .
HP has also included a column of shortcut keys to the away right of the Backspace , Shift and Enter key . There ’s one for webcam / audio configurations , another to reach the 24 - hour live backup , and another one that can be programmed for your own ends , such as open multiple apps or websites with one click .
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Annoyingly , I accidentally pip these paint all the clock time . It ’s just instinctual to reach towards the edge of the control surface when your little finger is searching for Backspace , but you ’ll belike get used to it .
The keyboard is flanked by stereophonic verbaliser – from Bang & Olufsen no - less – and HP has include a large and roomy tactual trackpad that ’s very responsive and smooth to the touch ( it ’s made of glass ) and there ’s wads of way to repose your radiocarpal joint either side . There are two extra backlighting setting for the keyboard too as well as a fingerprint sensor .
The “ ceramic white ” off - white lusterlessness conclusion ( it also comes in “ sparkling lightlessness ” ) and aluminum / magnesium feel conformable to the touch and it ’s one of HP ’s more stylish models . It ’s a traditional laptop design , with a received flexible joint , so there ’s no stunting in term of orienting the machine for tablet bodily process or watch picture . There is some satisfying magnetic resistance when opening the laptop computer lid too .
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HP has n’t gone overboard in term of ports . There ’s just a leash of USB - C outs , two of which are 10Gbps Thunderbolt 3 ports mean you may summate a 4 K presentation to the mix . amazingly , there ’s no earphone jack , allow alone options for colligate USB - A natively , Ethernet or SD . Even port - averse Apple has a 3.5 mm out . Welcome to the dongle - verse .
Display and Sound
The large 14 - inch diagonal display matches the size of the recentMacBook Pro M2 Pro / Maxmodels from Apple but falls a little short in damage of resolve . The 16:10 IPS display maxes out at FHD+ 1920 x 1200 resolution ( compared to 3024 x 1964 on the 14 - in MBP M2 , and 13.6 - inch MBA M2 which has a 2560 a 1664 ) . However , the display eyeglasses are in line with what you could expect from Windows 11 laptop computer at this price full stop , such as theDell XPS 15 .
The showing has great color and dividing line , and is sure promising enough at the max 400 nit , but that spec fall poor of some of its rivals . Nevertheless , I had no problem reading the show in undimmed sunshine to work on documents or browsing the vane . The anti - reflection Gorilla Glass finish certainly helps . However , depending on the conditions , the max brightness is n’t idealistic for gaming , watching telecasting or editing photos .
If you ’re gaming on this show , say with the Xbox Cloud Gaming solution via the Xbox app ( which I witness work well ) , you ’re not run to be able to gage beyond a 60Hz refresh rate . However , I must say Forza Horizon 5 looked very nice on the showing and the Bang & Olufsen stereoscopic photograph speakers performed surprisingly well .
One matter the exhibit does have is a upright multitouch option , think you swipe , rapid climb , tap , vellicate and use a host of different gestures to reach your goals . However , as with most touchscreen laptop computer , you ’re going to have to content with fingerprints . When the screen timed out , it was littered with wide smears from the various gesture .
The edge - to - border glass display area has relatively narrow bezels , while the exhibit itself has rounded corners . Above the showing is a webcam , which defend Windows Hello . It works almost in a flash , meaning you do n’t even have to cogitate about opening your laptop . With Apple adding a notch to its laptops in recent years , it ’s a shame there ’s no Face ID choice for MacBook users .
The webcam itself is 5 - megapixels , not very sharp with an patently humiliated soma pace . There are visual aspect filters , but I look more like Peppa Pig than my natural pasty skin tone – although I had just have back from a hot yoga class . Auto framing technical school works well and will naturally soar upwards in on your face when you draw back from the screen .
Performance
You ’ll be well-chosen with the performance from the HP Dragonfly Pro , at this price point . It performs very well with chore like restrained photo editing , cloud gambling , handling orotund documents , web browse and more .
It does n’t benefit from the very latest Ryzen Zen 4 computer architecture from AMD , but it does benefit from the former 2022 Ryzen 7 7736U CPU , which is free-base upon the older Zen 3 + political platform , and has a base clock speed of 2.7GHz ( 4.7 GHz max boost clock ) .
In terminus of nontextual matter , you ’ll get the unified 12 - core AMD Radeon 680 M GPU . That ’s coupled with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM with 512 GB of substantial state storehouse .
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In Geekbench 6 tests , the single - core score of 1679 is complemented by a multi - core grievance of 7145 . The earlier Geekbench 5 test ( which we ’ve been using to compare laptops here at Trusted Reviews ) scores the laptop at 1510 ( single - core ) and 9164 ( multi - heart ) .
The PCMark 10 benchmarking counterpart arrived at a score of 5888 . The comparable to the Intel Core i7 - powered and lately reviewedAsus Zenbook 14X OLEDwhich reach a grade of 5785 .
You will be able to ably play some PC game on your HP Dragonfly Pro . I encounter the first half an hour ofResident immorality Villagefrom Steam without any glitches . The fan kick up a fuss , but it was playable . Of of course , you ’re a little limited by the show ’s refresh rate and resolution and the absence seizure of a dedicated GPU . You ’ll receive a operation warning if you attempt to run anything more demanding , likeHorizon Zero Dawn , for exemplar . It ’s not inconceivable but I only achieve a soma rate of around 20fps whenever the action intensified .
For circumstance , the three-D Mark account came out at 2572 , compared to an intermediate 2020 gaming laptop of 5730 and a premium gaming personal computer ’s grudge of 19781 .
Battery Life
bombardment life is a major winner on the Dragonfly Pro . The PC Mark 10 Modern Office benchmarking tool , which simulates the workload of a laptop through the average workday – composition , web browse , schmooze , etc – brought impressive result . The 64.6Wh cellphone offer an estimated 12 hours and 34 minutes , not far short of HP ’s claim of up to 15 minute .
Watching one minute of The Banshees of Inersherin on normal loudness and full brightness level on HBO Max drop the battery lifespan from 100 % to 90 % , so you may expect 10 hours of HD video too .
The overall assault and battery performance hands down beats the reviewed theLenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 , a interchangeable productivity - style notebook also running AMD silicon ( Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U CPU with 16 GB RAM ) , which only hit nine hours and six minutes off a single charge . Of naturally , it has a small 51.5Wh electric battery .
The HP Dragonfly Pro can be refill 50 % in just half an hour on charge , but you ’ll take to have the laptop power off for full effect .
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Should you buy it?
The performance is respectable , battery life will get you through the longest of work days and the touchscreen capability are a ready to hand confederate at times .
If you ’re seeking more advance performance for gambling , prefer a completely traditional keyboard , must have a earpiece jackass , prefer a more portable pick , and if you ’d rather annul the HP Care financial backing upsell .
Final Thoughts
The HP Dragonfly Pro ( 2023 ) is a compelling proposition that hits a 10000 of high annotation for a productiveness laptop computer . The battery spirit is dandy , performance gibe the remission and the display is vivid , with a well - do spot element . HP has craft a good all - debauchee for the modern cross worker .
This is a very good - look laptop , albeit too heavy to match up to something like theMacBook Air M2orSurface Pro 9 , if your goal is true portability . Our top Windows blame in this family rest the lightweightAsus Zenbook S 13 OLED ( 2022)wonder .
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How we test
Every laptop we review give way through a serial publication of uniform checks design to gauge cardinal thing including build timber , performance , screen quality and battery life .
These let in formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests , plus a series of real - humans checks , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
Not at present . The model is only appearing in the US at the minute
There is a touchscreen , but the display can not be detected for manipulation as a pill
No mobile information connectivity is present , but there is WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
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Test Data
Full Specs
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