HP ZBook Firefly 14 G8 review: Upgraded CPU and GPU, but screen options and battery life disappoint Review

HP continues to identify its sleekest and most transportable laptops right after flying bugs. The thirteen.three-inch Elite Dragonfly 2-in-1 convertible recently saw an outstanding G2 upgrade, and now HP has up to date the 14-inch ZBook Firefly, which is a very little heavier but also provides extra heavyweight general performance as the “smallest and lightest” of the firm’s Z-collection of cell workstations. 

In a lot of approaches, the ZBook Firefly 14 G8 is a common 14-inch laptop, lacking the convertible style and 4K screen of the Dragonfly G2. However, it does present legitimate workstation-course general performance in a slender and gentle style that will attraction to content material creators, architects and other qualified people. 

Design and style & attributes

This eighth-era (G8) update is effectively a ‘speed bump’ that introduces Intel’s newest (11th era) processors and Nvidia’s T500 GPU to the variety.  

The primary style hasn’t adjusted due to the fact the G7 version that we reviewed earlier this 12 months, measuring 323mm vast by 21.5mm deep by seventeen.9mm thick, and weighing just 1.4kg. The create top quality stays outstanding far too, with the Firefly’s strong — and recycled — aluminium casing conference the navy-grade MIL-STD-810H standard for resistance to warmth, shock and humidity. That rugged style could be overkill for the Adobe Imaginative Cloud people that HP highlights on its web-site, but it will be welcomed by architects or engineers who have to have to pay a visit to developing web pages and other outdoor places. 

The 14-inch ZBook Firefly 14 G8 runs on 11th-era Core i5 or i7 processors with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It can use CPU-integrated Iris Xe graphics or a discrete Nvidia T500 GPU with 4GB of online video RAM. The chassis is MIL-STD-810H qualified.


Visuals: HP Inc

The keyboard feels organization and relaxed far too, with a row of navigation keys on the much ideal, and a fingerprint sensor just beneath that. HP receives a very little carried away with the trackpad attributes, nevertheless. As you would assume, you can ideal-click on by tapping with two fingers, but there are also remaining/ideal buttons in the decreased corners of the trackpad, as well as two different actual physical buttons over the trackpad itself, and even a pointing adhere found on the principal keyboard. 

Like its predecessor, the Firefly G8 has two USB three.1 ports on the remaining-hand side, while the two USB-C ports in excess of on the ideal have been upgraded to guidance Thunderbolt four. There’s an HDMI port on that side far too, which you may in all probability have to have for an external observe, supplied the Firefly’s modest developed-in screen. There’s no Ethernet port, so you may have to have an adapter if you have to have a wired link in an business office. 

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Oddly, this G8 version of the ZBook Firefly at this time lacks the 4K screen choice that was obtainable with its predecessor. Our evaluate device experienced a non-contact IPS screen with regular FHD (1920 x 1080, 157.3dpi) resolution, which was vivid and vibrant, many thanks to its outstanding 1000 nits brightness, aided by a welcome anti-glare coating for outdoor use. It also features HP’s SureView privacy manner that’s intended to overcome ‘visual hacking’ (anyone seeking in excess of your shoulder) by sharply limiting the display’s viewing angles. Intellect you, the viewing angles aren’t good even with SureView turned off, so the Firefly could not be the best choice for providing shows where by you do want other persons to be ready to see the display. 

A different oddity is that the screen on our evaluate device only supported seventy two% of the NTSC color gamut. There are other screen solutions obtainable that guidance contact and the sRGB and DCI-P3 color expectations for graphics and online video work, but these all share the very same 1080p resolution. There is a different fifteen.six-inch version of the Firefly that provides a 4K choice — but, of program, this is larger sized, heavier and extra highly-priced, which will be a disappointment for people who are captivated to the highly transportable style of this 14-inch product. 

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Ideal side (prime): energy connector HDMI 1.4b 2x USB-C/Thunderbolt four. Remaining side (over): headphone/microphone combo 2x USB three.1.


Visuals: HP Inc

Selling price & solutions

The pricing circumstance for the ZBook Firefly G8 is a very little sophisticated far too, with differing technical specs and customisation solutions obtainable in the British isles and US. 

Pricing in the British isles starts off at £1,169 (ex. VAT £1,402.80 inc. VAT) for a Firefly G8 managing Windows 10 Pro 64, with a quad-core Core i7-1165G7 processor managing at two.8GHz (up to four.7GHz with TurboBoost). That selling price also involves 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and discrete Nvidia T500 graphics with 4GB of dedicated online video memory. The 1080p screen for that product is really modest, nevertheless, with only 250 nits brightness and 45% of the NTSC color gamut. Our evaluate device stepped up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and, as noted, the screen supported seventy two% of NTSC with 1000 nits brightness, bringing the whole selling price to £1,389 (ex. VAT £1,666.80 inc. VAT). 

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Buyers in the US seem to facial area marginally increased pricing, with the entry-degree Firefly G8 costing $1,889 even though working with a extra modest Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and Nvidia’s T500 GPU. Following that, the US version of the Firefly G8 skips past its British isles counterpart, opting for a marginally faster Core i7-1185G7 processor (three.0GHz, with TurboBoost to four.8GHz) with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, costing $two,489. There are a selection of customisation solutions obtainable, while it stays puzzling that the numerous screen solutions are all restricted to just 1080p resolution. 

Functionality & battery life

The ZBook Firefly G8’s general performance confirms its situation as HP’s entry-degree cell workstation for 2nd and specialized style work. It has the very same Core i7 processor as the lightweight Dragonfly convertible, with the Dragonfly producing Geekbench 5 scores of 1565 for solitary-core general performance and 4330 for multi-core. The ZBook Firefly G8 springs no surprises with a solitary-core rating of 1,590, but easily eases into the lead with a rating of 5,450 for multi-core general performance.  

The integrated Iris Xe GPU of the Dragonfly was no slouch when it came to graphics, reaching a rating of 85fps in the Cinebench R15 OpenGL graphics benchmark, and 16fps for the extra demanding Unigine Valley 3D assessments. However, the Firefly G8’s discrete Nvidia T500 GPU jumps ideal ahead to 165fps on the Cinebench exam. Its general performance with the major-duty Valley benchmark would not strengthen really so dramatically, nevertheless, nudging only marginally ahead to 19fps. This confirms that the ZBook Firefly is best suited to 2nd graphics and extra primary 3D work. 

The Firefly G8’s Core i7 processor does also have its have integrated Iris Xe GPU, of program, and this will allow you to change involving integrated and discrete graphics as essential. Using the Iris Xe in our assessments however allowed the Firefly to put up a respectable 95fps in Cinebench and 16fps in Valley, so you could use the integrated graphics for extra routine responsibilities in purchase to maintain battery life. 

That could be vital far too, as the Firefly’s battery life was not outstanding — especially for a laptop with a modest FHD-resolution screen. Using Wi-Fi to stream online video continually — with integrated graphics chosen, and brightness at 50% — the Firefly lasted just seven.5 several hours, which is shut to a entire day’s work, but hardly exceptional for a modern-day laptop. We have found reviews of Firefly models with 250 nits displays, which recorded improved battery life, so the 1000 nits of our evaluate device looks to occur at a value, even when lowered marginally all through our battery assessments. 

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Impression: HP Inc

Conclusions

HP’s ZBook Firefly G8 is one thing of a blended bag. It can be a fairly priced entry-degree cell workstation that provides solid general performance for content material generation, 2nd graphics and specialized style work, wrapped up in a lightweight but strong style. However, the restricted screen solutions seem alternatively small-sighted for these types of a highly effective laptop, and the battery life unquestionably leaves room for enhancement. Professional people who work outdoors all day very long could choose a laptop with extra strong battery life, but the Firefly G8 will however be a good choice for business office use, doing work from residence, and occasional visits to off-internet site places.

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