HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook Assessment: Price Each Penny

8.8

HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook

Like

• 
  Beautiful design
• 
  Roomy, high-res and vibrant show
• 
  Excessive-res 8-megapixel webcam
• 
  Cozy keyboard with enjoyable RGB lighting
• 
  Haptic touchpad is superior
• 
  Punchy quad audio system

Don’t love

• 
  Expensive amongst Chromebooks
• 
  Earlier-gen Intel silicon
• 
  Pen not included

Many Chromebooks are small and plastic and low price. The HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is not like most Chromebooks. This 14-inch machine is amongst a uncommon breed of higher-end Chromebooks that additionally contains the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 and the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2. It is most much like the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook we reviewed a 12 months in the past, dropping among the enterprise options for a barely cheaper price. And I imply barely: The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is $1,000. It is too spendy for many shoppers trying to choose up a Chromebook as an affordable different to a Home windows laptop computer or MacBook. It makes extra sense for its audience of always-connected freelancers and contract employees who’ll use it day in and time out.

The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook boasts the identical stellar chassis and superior haptic touchpad as its enterprise predecessor, together with a barely bigger, 14-inch show with a finer 2,560×1,600-pixel decision that is rated for an extremely vibrant 1,200 nits. HP additionally outfits the system with an 8-megapixel digicam, which it says is a primary for a Chromebook. All of it provides as much as among the best Chromebooks we have ever reviewed and a incredible ChromeOS expertise. The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook received a CNET Innovation Award final 12 months, and this 12 months’s Dragonfly Professional Chromebook wins our Editors’ Alternative Award. 

The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 continues to be the most effective Chromebook for many patrons, however the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is well worth the added price if you need the most effective amongst Chromebooks and are keen to spend a premium to get it. In any case, a $1,000 Chromebook continues to be comparatively inexpensive within the bigger laptop computer class, particularly for a top-of-the-line mannequin.

HP sells one, and just one, mannequin of the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook. It checks in at $1,000 and options an Intel Core i5-1235U processor, a generous-for-a-Chromebook 16GB of RAM and a spacious-for-a-Chromebook 256GB SSD. The Core i5-1235U chip is from Intel’s earlier Twelfth-gen chip collection, with two efficiency cores and eight effectivity cores. It is a member of the U-series of 15-watt chips that prioritizes effectivity over energy. The one selection you might have when shopping for the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is selecting the colour: black or white. My evaluation pattern was black. The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is not obtainable within the UK or Australia. In each areas, you will discover solely Home windows-based Dragonfly laptops.

The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook carried out effectively on our ChromeOS benchmarks. It completed tops amongst a bunch of premium Chromebooks primarily based on Core i3 or Core i5 processors on our 3DMark take a look at, whereas ending behind solely the gaming-focused Acer Chromebook 516 GE on Google Octane 2. It additionally lasted greater than eight hours and half-hour on our demanding battery drain take a look at, a span that trailed solely the exceptionally lengthy runtime of the Acer Chromebook 714. 

In anecdotal testing, it felt peppy throughout quite a lot of multitasking eventualities. I want it had a CPU from Intel’s present, thirteenth technology of Core chips. However the previous-gen Core i5 CPU, alongside an ample 16GB of RAM, offers the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook greater than sufficient muscle to energy Google’s light-weight ChromeOS and the gazillion Chrome browser tabs you are more likely to go away open. 

Stylish Chromebook

The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook seems to be extra like a premium laptop computer than the standard Chromebook does, and for good purpose. It options the identical magnesium-and-aluminum enclosure as its Home windows doppelgänger, the HP Dragonfly Professional. It is a beautiful, matte-black affair. The lid, keyboard deck and backside panel all have a matte-black end with a keyboard to match. It is minimalist and delightful. And it feels very sturdy — far more inflexible than the standard Chromebook — and contains a show hinge that feels each robust and clean. I have not come throughout a Chromebook with a greater match and end.

The design is unmatched, however the sturdy chassis requires you to tote round some further weight. The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook weighs 3.4 kilos, which is heavier than the 14-inch Acer Chromebook Spin 714 at an excellent 3 kilos. In the meantime, one other high-style Chromebook, the marginally smaller 13.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2, is a hair below 3 kilos.

Together with the premium design, the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook delivers a premium show that is crisp, spacious and vibrant. It is a 14-inch panel with a tall 16:10 facet ratio that makes it really feel roomier than a standard widescreen 16:9 show. And with a 2,560×1,600-pixel decision, textual content seems to be exceedingly crisp, and pictures look exceptionally sharp, with correct colour. 

The show can be insanely vibrant. HP says it is rated for a jaw-dropping 1,200 nits of brightness. That is three or 4 instances as vibrant as the same old 300- or 400-nit show of most Chromebooks or laptops. In my very own testing with a lux meter, I measured a peak brightness of 950 nits, which falls in need of HP’s estimate however continues to be a formidable determine. It was viewable in direct daylight, and even the touchscreen’s shiny coating wasn’t too reflective, making out of doors computing a viable choice. Regardless of providing pen help for the contact show, the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook would not include a pen. 

The keyboard is marvelous. The flat keys supply a agency response with shallow-but-not-too-shallow journey and are quiet when pressed. A flimsy, clacky Chromebook keyboard it isn’t. The typing expertise is aided by the inflexible chassis, which did not supply even a touch of flex below the fingertips of a heavy typist like this reviewer.

I might’ve given the keyboard prime marks with out the stunning and enjoyable inclusion of RGB lighting. It is not per-key and even multiple-zone RGB lighting such as you get with a gaming laptop computer, however the single-zone RGB lighting lets you customise the look of the in any other case monochrome and matte black Dragonfly Professional Chromebook. And you may set the RGB lighting to match the colour of the wallpaper you selected for the show, which actually dials within the Chromebook’s look.

The touchpad can be finest at school. It is the haptic touchpad we first skilled on the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook, and it is superior. The haptic suggestions creates the right click on response regardless of the place you press on the touchpad. I hope haptic touchpads turn into a bigger pattern as a result of I would like all laptop computer and Chromebook touchpads to really feel like this one.

The nice instances preserve rolling with the webcam. It is an 8-megapixel digicam that produces a razor-sharp picture that is effectively balanced. I’ve not encountered a greater webcam. In case you spend a big chunk of your work week working remotely and on Zoom calls, then you definitely’ll respect trying crisp and clear on videoconferences together with your boss, co-workers or shoppers. It is not an IR digicam, nonetheless, so you possibly can’t use facial recognition for simple, safe logins. Nonetheless, there is a fingerprint reader subsequent to the facility button on the top-right of the keyboard that lets you log in with no need to key in a password.

HP discovered room for quad audio system on the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook, they usually ship wealthy, full sound. This is likely one of the few laptops and the primary Chromebook on which I have been in a position to take heed to music and never flip it off after half a tune. The bass response will not blow you away, however I might detect some bass, whereas the mid and excessive tones remained separate and clear.

The port choice is minimal. You get a quartet of Thunderbolt 4 ports — two on all sides — and nothing extra. You may want to hold an adapter with you for connecting to HDMI or Ethernet or an older USB Kind-A tool. The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook prices by way of one of many Thunderbolt 4 ports. The system’s luxurious design extends to the charger. It contains a small, sq. energy brick and a braided cable that resists getting twisted or knotted. And it weighs a scant 0.6 kilos, which helps mitigate the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook’s barely heavy weight for a 14-inch laptop computer.

A $1,000 Chromebook defeats the aim of shopping for a Chromebook for many individuals who view such a purchase order as a option to acquire a low-cost laptop computer. In case you spend the bulk, if not the whole thing, of your day working by way of Gmail and Google Drive contained in the Chrome browser, nonetheless, then the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook will maintain nice enchantment. As a substitute of engaged on an undersized, flimsy Chromebook, the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook permits you to spend every day sitting at a meticulously designed system with a beautiful show; a incredible keyboard and touchpad; an unmatched webcam; and ample energy and battery life. It is dear, nevertheless it’s value each penny.