HP DragonFly G4 Review

A review of the HP DragonFly G4 premium ultrathin laptop. (Intel i7-1355U, 16GB LPDDR5-6400MHz, 1TB PCIe Gen4x4, Intel IRIS Xe, 13.5" 3K OLED)
The HP DragonFly G4 is aimed at business travellers or hybrid workers who want a lightweight, premium laptop with a decent battery life. With the G4, HP have dropped the ‘Elite’ from the name and upgraded the processors to Intel 13th Gen’s. Along with support for dual webcams and minor software tweaks. Does it offer enough to justify its corporate price tag?
00:00 Introduction
00:28 Design
01:21 Display
02:07 Connectivity
03:06 Keyboard & Touchpad
03:42 Audio & Webcam
04:00 Audio Samples
04:58 Performance
05:48 Benchmarking Results
06:41 CPU, Fans & Temps
07:57 Graphics
08:16 Gaming
08:28 Gaming Samples
09:39 Target Audience
09:49 Security
10:21 Battery Life
10:57 The Good, The Bad and the Really Bad
11:00 Dazzling Display
11:09 Stunning Speakers
11:22 Good Ports
11:30 Excellent Inputs
11:46 Good Battery Life
11:57 Build Quality?
12:07 USB Type-A
12:15 No AMD Option
12:31 Enterprise Expensive
12:54 Competition
13:37 Summary
14:49 Outro
*Gaming Sample average FPS
(Intel IRIS Xe)
Counter Strike 2 20 FPS low settings
Apex Legends 42 FPS medium settings
Red Dead Redemption 2 40 FPS low settings
GTA V 60 FPS high settings
Cyberpunk 2077 14 FPS low settings
Fortnite 57 FPS low settings
Palworld 35 FPS medium settings
If you wish to purchase or need support for this device (UK only), please contact us at www.dovecomputers.com. We are Microsoft / HP Partners.
Let us know what videos you would like to see from us!
Facebook: Facebook.com/dovecomputers
Twitter: @dovecomputers
Instagram: @dovecomputers
LinkedIn: Dove Computer Solutions Ltd
We own no rights or claim to the TV shows and games shown in this review.
MUSIC:: Tropic Fuse - French Fuse
UK Review model: UK SKU: 8A4B6EA £1,579.39 + VAT (£1,895.27p inc. VAT)
Alternative models:
8A492EA £1,399.99p + VAT (£1679.99p inc. VAT)
Intel i7-1355U, 16GB LPDDR5-6400, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, 13.5” 3K2K 3000x2000 OLED, Intel IRIS Xe, Windows 11 Pro.
8A493EA £1,799.99p + VAT (£2,159.99p inc. VAT)
Intel i7-1365U, 32GB LPDDR5-6400, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, 13.5” WUXGA+ 1920x1280 touchscreen, Intel IRIS Xe, Windows 11 Pro.
Competition::
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 4
Dell XPS 14
ASUS ZenBook S 13
Apple MacBook Air M2 (13”)
ASUS ExpertBook B3 (B3404)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 (14" Intel)
LG Gram 14”
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (13.5”)
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro
HUAWEI MateBook X Pro
Acer Swift Go 14
#HP #HPDragonFly #DragonFly

[@user-od6gi4lz8t]

In my company my standard is: HP Elitebook 840 or Zbook Power depending upon the work activity. Nice video as always ❤

[@YSoreil]

It took me a lot of self control to not buy this laptop when it became available. The design is gorgeous and a 3:2 screen is in my opinion preferable to 16:10 for most applications. I would up settling for a Thinkpad P14s Gen 4 AMD due to the value for money being much better but if money was no object this would be the type of laptop for me. As you mentioned in the video, this could have been a more appealing option with a 7840u for many users.

[@Dovecomputers]

Totally true what your said. I couldn't understand the online reviews saying it was the best thing since sliced bread. The i7-1355U hobbles performance leaving you with web-based work (which it does very well, love the dimensions, inputs, OLED panel) but once you check the price tag, its a no brainer to look elsewhere. Under £1K would be a good price for this device.

[@GoonerTechie]

Little point in getting this anymore, until its updated to G5. The new generation business-series is released with the new Intel Ultra CPU outperforming the Dragonfly by a mile for less money, or get the 1040 x360 with vastly better display as well if you chip in a tad more. For personal use, get the new Spectre x360.

[@Burbanana]

Thanks for all these videos, I've been watching all of them. I've been looking for a good laptop for software development, something that's not too heavy but doesn't have to be ultra portable. Around max 2KG, with a somewhat high(er) performance chip. I want high quality keyboard, screen, battery life, build quality. Would be nice if speakers are high quality as well, but it is not required. I also want to be able to rely on the manufacturer if something goes wrong. Preferably 16 inch, but 16:10 displays on 14 inch are probably also good for programming. I probably also want to get 32GB of RAM at least, soldered or not. And since I don't really have a defined budget, as long as it's worth the price, preferably 2.5K or under. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. I'm not entirely sold on Core Ultra, and I certainly don't want an Intel 13/14th Gen Core i5/7 because they simply need too much power to perform. Core Ultra seems alright, but the iGPU is a question mark for me for whenever I do some light gaming on the side, because Arci s still relatively new. I don't want to remove it from my list though, because otherwise my only option would be AMD Ryzen 7040 / 8040 series. Regarding those AMD Ryzens, I am not sure if the likes of a 7840U are a bit too aggressive on the power limit for my use, since it sits around 28-30W. I'll be mainly using VSCode, server running in the background, browser tabs, VMs on a rare basis. And of course very light gaming on 1080p or 720p.

[@Dovecomputers]

Difficult one to answer, this is why I use two laptops! There isn't an one size fits all, (although MacBook Pro 16 users will argue otherwise.) On one hand if you want battery life but with power, the 7840U/680M (or the 7840S in the Yoga Slim 7) is almost perfect. For example, I can work on web based work on my Yoga Slim 7 for about 8/9 hours. On the other hand if you need (more) power, you will need a dedicated GPU. This is where I have a second (larger/heavier) workstation with a Intel H-series CPU and RTX 4070. The nearest models to your requirements, is the HP ZBook Studio or the ThinkPad P1 Gen6. At some stage, you'll have to get off the fence and decide what is more important, battery life/portability or pure performance? Or if you are like me, I had my cake and ate it! 😁

[@Dovecomputers]

Will be looking at getting my hands on some Intel Ultra 7 155H / 155U laptops to check out the performance/battery life and especially the Arc GPU performance against the AMD 780M.

[@Burbanana]

@@Dovecomputers haha, thanks for the response! I don't think I will ever need the dedicated GPU for my use case (im also fine with the 780M for light gaming), so in this case, could you pick one?

[@Burbanana]

@@Dovecomputers great!

[@Dovecomputers]

@@Burbanana No pressure! 🤣Look at the Lenovo ThinkPad P16s gen 2 AMD. Upgrade to the 86Wh battery for £20 (UK) I can get one from Lenovo UK on sale for £900 + taxes. 7840U, 32GB 1TB, 86Wh battery. 👍

[@akin242002]

When it has 32GB of RAM and the Intel i7 1365U CPU, it is a good business travel laptop. Visually a beautiful laptop. I'd still take the M2/M3 Air within the USA or X1 Carbon Gen 11/12 internationally instead. Either better battery life (M2 & M3 Air) or better WWAN access with the X1 Carbon Gen 11/12. The X1 Carbon is better for companies with a heavy Microsoft work environment.

[@nehaalkathuria]

I have a lot of excel work to do with heavy excel documents. Would this be an issue?

[@Dovecomputers]

No, this device would be ideal.

[@user-li6ns2lk3z]

lg gram 17 would be more ideal for excel. light and big screen

[@akin242002]

With 32GB of RAM, no major issue at all. However, a bigger screen would help looking at all aspects of an Excel spreadsheet.

[@user-od6gi4lz8t]

@@user-li6ns2lk3zthe LG Gram is not a business laptop 😅

[@user-li6ns2lk3z]

@@user-od6gi4lz8t lmao any laptop or pc are meant to use on businesses. corporate or any establishments even the smallest stores has laptops or pc. dont tell me a gaming spec laptop is the only device that could be used on business settings just because theyre powerful😆😆😆