HP ZBook Power G7 Review (Best value mobile workstation 2021)

A review of the HP ZBook Power G7 15.6" Best Value Mobile Workstation
HP have freshen their ZBook mobile workstation range with the new ZBook Power G7 that is the successor of the popular ZBook 15v we reviewed two years ago. The Power G7 is targeted at an affordable price point but offering much of what you will find in the more expensive, Fury G7. Have corners been cut?
0:00 Introduction
0:26 Design
1:36 Display
2:17 Connectivity
2:58 Keyboard & Touchpad
3:31 Audio & Webcam
4:12 Performance
6:22 Target Audience
6:42 Graphics
7:23 Gaming
7:46 Security
8:17 Battery Life
8:42 Top 3 Pros and Cons
8:46 Delicious Display
9:04 Incredible Value
9:24 Compact Dimensions
9:38 No Quadro RTX Options
9:56 One Thunderbolt 3 Port
10:07 Average Audio
10:22 Competition
10:44 Summary
11:53 Outro
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UK Review model: 1J3Y2EA £1,229 + VAT (£1,474.80p inc. VAT)
(i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4, 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, NVIDIA Quadro T1000 4GB GDDR6)
Alternative models:
1J3Q8EA#ABU £1,739 + VAT (£2,086.80p inc. VAT)
HP ZBook Power G7 15.6" 4K UHD Mobile Workstation with i9 & NVIDIA® Quadro® T1000 (4 GB Graphics)
Competition to the HP ZBook Power G7 Mobile Workstation laptop:
Dell Precision 5550
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3
Apple MacBook Pro 16 inch
MSI WF65 10TI

[@helenli2970]

Great review👍

[@fabrizioroscini]

Thanks, just what I was looking for, very informative and detailed review.

[@Dovecomputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@banlinch9339]

Thank you!! I am planning on replacing my laptop, mainly for product design. This is the first time for me to buy a mobile workstation, so I was very cautious about the options. A dealer offered a very cheap price for the old zbook 15v last year, but I think I will wait until the new zbook power g7 review to make my decision. Thank you for the review, I think this upgrade version will suit me better.

[@Dovecomputers]

Glad I could help!

[@roberttibbetts6743]

Excellent review. Packed with technical detail. The more descriptive information is concise, and relevant. No waffle! I want a laptop for general engineering work: PCB layout, circuit simulation, and basic level 3D CAD. I was wondering whether I could get away with just an i7 U core and no graphics card, or whether I needed to pay more for at least an H core, and possibly a graphics card. This review is swaying me towards the HP Power G7, which has both (and a v good display). One question: will an H core always generate more heat than a U core (I'm concerned about my lap getting hot!)

[@alexbastianon1846]

Thank you that was a great review

[@Dovecomputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@madcatter972]

Great review, thanks. I have the zbook 15v and it's the lower end one with 250 nits and a poor colour gamut. This laptop seems much better on several fronts, esp the display and the ability to go 180 degrees, also it's a better performer by the looks.

[@Dovecomputers]

Absolutely correct. The Power G7 screen is 1000 times better with the 400 nits FHD panel or the beautiful 600 nits 4K Dreamcolour model.

[@nabilasiregar9918]

Great review, would you recommend it for graphic design and digital illustration?

[@desaiajay123]

good review .

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. 👍

[@danielrushford4393]

I loved this review - was looking at getting another Zbook since I currently have the Zbook 15u G5, memory has been close to maxing out recently at 8GB. After watching this I have to check if I can add in another memory card lol! I'll definitely look at the competition that you listed in the video, thanks

[@Dovecomputers]

Glad you enjoyed it. 👍

[@sakadabara]

Hey, Daniel, how come you maxed out Zbook 15u G5 at 8G ??? Are you talking about RAM ?

[@abms9448]

The review I've been waiting for. Thanks a ton. Is the bottom panel plastic? Is that bad?

[@Dovecomputers]

Not an issue with the bottom cover. 👍

[@andysilvers9532]

I’ve removed the bottom panel. It’s definitely metal. :)

[@catalincatalin3945]

do you recommend zbook power g7 or dell precision 5520?

[@bards55]

Great Review. I am looking at purchasing this for a staff member who will use it for Creative Cloud type stuff as a digital media assistant. One question that you might be able to help with. If I connect this to a HP Dock G5 via usb-C which was up to 90w power delivery will that be enough to keep the batter topped up, or will they need to have the power supply connected as well?

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. The Power G7 will be perfect for Adobe CC. It needs at least 150W to power the laptop and GPU. Go for the HP Thunderbolt Dock 230W G2 that has the combined dual connectors for the power and Thunderbolt 3 USB-C. Of course with the HP Dock G5, you could still use the supplied power adapter alongside it to keep it powered. 👍

[@wowerman]

Great review. How can HP still do Power button next to delete key in 2021?I almost wanted to say "Instant buy" but.... Performance tests missed Ryzen 5 4600h which would still beat on multicore use applications being much cheaper. I can not understand why HP and Dell are not using as much AMD processors as ASUS does.

[@robertbheatcoker8638]

Great Review, I want to buy a laptop for CAD, Solidworks and in general for mechanical engineering softwares, that also include simulations. I know that a gaming laptop can meet the requirements I need, but I am highly concerned about the fan noises. Are the Z series or workstations in general quieter? , for instance, between ZBook Power G7 and let's say OMEN HP-17-cb1000ns, which one is quieter?, I am looking for a medium performance laptop, but quiet at the same time.

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. If you want better thermals and fan noise, a mobile workstation like the Power or Fury G7 is designed for this. When we had under heavy load, the fans on the Power G7 was still quiet. Of course, fans will come on if the CPU/GPU is taxed constantly. A trade off between performance and heat/noise. 👍

[@tonyslinko5361]

Hi, I have this laptop for few months now. One problem - cannot upgrade RAM to 64Gb 3200Mhz - laptop's BIOS does not allow it to start (beeping). I use Crucial's suggested chips - still do not work... I tested those chips on the older Zbook 15 - works, no problems. HP WhatApp team was trying to help asking me similar questions 10-15 times - no results at all (if not taking in account wasted time). I assume that HP blocks such upgrade on BIOS level (otherwise why those two chips work on the older zbook). Any suggestions?

[@melissajolly7013]

I'm trying to decide between this model and the Lenovo Yoga 9i 15 to use mainly for CAD work - have you reviewed the Lenovo too? Any thoughts?

[@Dovecomputers]

The Yoga 9i is a great laptop but limited by the soldered on 16GB memory. (*BTW the Lenovo ThinkPad P15v is the direct competition to the Power G7.) The HP ZBook Power G7 is upgradeable to 64GB and uses Quadro CAD certified drivers.

[@SagaBKSFolkearth]

Thanks for the review. Would you recommand it for music production ?

[@Dovecomputers]

Yes I would say it would be perfect for music production. We have used Adobe Audition and Audacity audio editing with no issues.

[@SagaBKSFolkearth]

@@Dovecomputers Thanks a lot for your fast answer and recommandation 👌 i'll stick for this one as cpu specs both single and multiple cores seems great for orchestral productions needs

[@hamid_moni]

Great review,thanks. What about lenovo p15 with t1000 ? Or better if i wait for lenovo p16 with amd?

[@Dovecomputers]

Looking to get my hands on a P15 and P1 for review. If you want value, the HP ZBook Power G7 is pretty good. 👍

[@hamid_moni]

@@Dovecomputers thanks a lot 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@albert7463]

Thanks for the review. Would you recommend Lenovo Legion5 amd or Zbook Power ?

[@abms9448]

Legion is a great value purely in terms of specs and would definitely be more suited for gaming. Power will be better for cad and other professional applications. Power is also much better built and comes with a 3 year warranty in most locations.

[@Dovecomputers]

Two different machines as AB M S stated. The Lenovo Legion 5P AMD CPU-H with RTX graphics is a gaming laptop I've been eyeing up for awhile but its been heavily delayed coming over to the UK. By the time it does, the Ryzen 5000 series laptops will have come out.

[@catalincatalin3945]

do you recommend zbook power g7 or dell precision 5520? Thx !

[@thevisi0naryy]

Good review. This is a tough sell at this price though with no dedicated gpu for the base model. Comet Lake igpu is not good. The one with the quadro is far too much.

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. For a mobile workstation, the T2000 model is good value.

[@michailtheofilatos]

Hi! I have a question regarding the keybord backlit function. I recently bought this laptop but pressing F12 doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[@Dovecomputers]

F12 is the HP programmable key. F9 is the backlit key.

[@ARISTOfilm]

Thanks a lot for this review - I was waiting for it, really! I am going to buy such a model and after a long search, your video has helped me to make a final choice.

[@Dovecomputers]

Glad I could help! I don't think you will be disappointed. 👍

[@ARISTOfilm]

@@Dovecomputers I've finally bought recently the laptop and like it. But I have an issue with the mic - the quality is really poor... Have you noticed such a problem with the mic? When I use a headset from a phone, the quality is good. Thanks in advance!

[@jackblack8786]

THANK YOU for such a great review. I am currently upgrading my zbook 15 G4 and I think this is a great replacement. I see that HP is also offering other builds such as the OMEN with an option for the i9 processors but I have read warnings online about the fact that the chassis can't handle the full power (heat) of the i9 so thermal throttling kicks in and the performance results in the lower-end i7 processor actually performing better than the i9. When choosing a system, I understand that there is more to picking a processor than just looking at its speed specs. Do you know if the Zbook 15 G7 can handle the FULL power of the i7-10750H or does it also result in thermal throttling ?

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks for the comments. I tested the HP ZBook 15 G7 for over three months with no thermal issues. The larger dimensions and the fact it was designed to handle workstation level tasks adds to the reassurance. Check out my review on the ZBook 15 G7. 👍

[@jackblack8786]

@@Dovecomputers Thanks for the comment. You mentioned that you tested the HP ZBook 15 G7 but your video review and my concern is specific to the Zbook "Power" G7. Is there a difference ?

[@Dovecomputers]

Sorry my mistake, meant to say HP ZBook Fury G7 not 15 G7.

[@jackblack8786]

@@Dovecomputers Fury G7 or Power G7 ? The video review is for the Power G7 and the chassis are different on these builds.

[@Dovecomputers]

@@jackblack8786 Talking cross wired. 🤣 The Power G7 chassis has great thermals and thermal throttling is the same as it's a ZBook mobile workstation aka designed for this. This model I've had various GPU variants for months with no issues. The larger cousin, Fury G7 is designed for mission critical tasks. Really boils down to what you need it for too. Work related - ZBook, Gaming - Omen. Hope this helps.

[@patschik77]

Hello,perfect reviews of ZBooks...Your opinion please - HP ZBook Power G8 or Studio G8 (11th gen i7 or even i9,32gb,with quadro rtx a2000) or Dell XPS 17 (11th gen i7,32gb,with geforce rtx 3060) for architecture at home? (Autocad, Archicad, SketchUp, Twinmotion, Photoshop, Illustrator) - all of them looking very good...What are the thermal and battery life diferences on Zbooks - i7 vs i9, fullHD vs 4K? Thank you very much for your answer.

[@Dovecomputers]

If you want maximum upgrade or performance options, Power G8 or Fury G8. If you want a slim workstation, Studio G8 or XPS 17. 4K display will eat more battery life. I would argue the Power/Fury has better thermals than the Studio/XPS due to larger dimensions and thermals designed for demanding tasks. 👍

[@kavvinkaza4144]

How do i priorities the nvidia graphics card on the pc how do i activate it when gaming

[@kryzhanovskyioleksandr8943]

Hi. Help me please. I have hp zbook 15u 5g, but this laptop not have webcam. Can I install webcam on my laptop?

[@exoexon8096]

How to disable touch pad on G8 Its driving me crazy. Elitebook has double tap option.

[@huntnyc]

Wonderful review. Does anyone know if the hdmi port is wired through the integrated Intel graphics. It would help if I use this laptop for presentations and thanks.

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. HP use Hybrid Graphics in the operating system to dynamically switch graphics depending on usage. You can fix the GPU used, by going in the BIOS or there is certain control option under the NVIDIA Control Panel > Managed 3D settings. This allows you to fix the GPU per application/program used. Presentation usage, it wouldn't matter whether its the integrated Intel GPU or the dedicated NVIDIA GPU.

[@huntnyc]

@@Dovecomputers thanks. I am asking because the P1 Gen 3 hdmi is wired do dgpu only.

[@Sindig0]

I've really been enjoying checking out the new HP G7's on your channel - all the review but with no guff, great stuff. So, my question - I'm a designer, my company's got £2.5k ish to buy me a new laptop, it has to be HP (contracts), what do I go for?

[@Dovecomputers]

Thanks. HP ZBook Fury G7 100% Been using one for over two months on Adobe Creative Cloud Apps, near perfect. 👍

[@Sindig0]

@@Dovecomputers Great, thanks. Tempted by the Studio G7 with Dreamcolor, etc as it's lighter and I'm going to be carrying it around at some point (hopefully, lol) but limited upgrades down the line and no numeric keypad... Almost everything's out of stock right now though.

[@Dovecomputers]

@@Sindig0 Good luck with finding anything available. 🤣 Most stock levels are looking at late February onwards to come back. A lot of backorders from early December are getting fulfilled now. Studio G7 is a very nice laptop. (Similar to why people buy the MacBook Pro 16") Yes the deciding factor will be portability (lighter than the Fury G7) and 32GB max. memory. If you want a swiss knife, the Fury G7 is for you. 👍

[@Sindig0]

@@Dovecomputers HP told me the 11th yesterday but who knows, really. Hopefully won't be too long - my 5 yr old Zbook is now showing its age... :)

[@sachinrane4716]

After knowing that qudro T1000 sits below geforce 1650 from you. Zbook Power G7 vs Spectre x360 1650ti, Which one is better for graphically intensive tasks???

[@Dovecomputers]

Both similar graphics card. That's just part of the overall performance needed for graphical work. CPU, memory, SSD and GPU all count. If its for daily work, ZBook Power G7 100%.

[@MrRyan07029]

"Hp zbook power g7" & "HP ZBOOK STUDIO G7" Under the same specifications, what is the biggest difference?? Is the B&O sound effect?? I can’t choose the two after watching for a long time

[@joedawoody]

Size and weight, I've had both and I would go with a studio

[@ilia1350]

Just got the next model up - zbook power G8. Comes with RTX A2000 GPU, the rest is pretty much the same. One "catch" - rather silly location of the power button next to the ''delete" - one fat-finger-trouble during typing and you're going to sleep. (though there is a setting for power button delay to avoid it).

[@Dovecomputers]

I thought the same with the delete key, looks like HP have this layout throughout their range now. You do get used to it as I use it a lot to delete video clips on PP. How do you find the ZB Power G8? Waiting to get my hands on this for review. 👍

[@user-jj5ri2fj7q]

Hi) I work in Photoshop, Illustrator. Video and audio editing. Something in 3D, sometimes I can relax playing games. I decided to take the HP ZBook Fury 17 G7 The nVidia Quadro T1000 is confused by the video card. Will she pull it all ??? If RTX - GTX then it is clear to me. What to do????

[@mona.e.p.97]

Try downloading new nvidia GPU driver, it helped me to solve the problem 🙏

[@DHGV]

Is it possible to use a dual 4k monitor setup through the thunderbolt 3 port with the right docking station? The bandwith for the thunderbolt port is 40Gb/s. In the specsheet it claims to have 10Gb/s for the displayport. That seems odd since a single 4k 60hz display would use about 18Gb/s. So, a brand new 2021 workstation would be unable to use a single 4k 60hz screen? Please could anybody clarify?

[@Dovecomputers]

Yes. If you connect to a Thunderbolt 3 docking station, it will use the 40Gbps throughput to connect two 4K 60Hz DisplayPort monitors. If you connect directly to a DisplayPort monitor instead, it will use the 10Gbps signalling rate. This will change soon as the HP ZBook Power G8 with Thunderbolt 4 is round the corner.

[@jetzevans7147]

Hi im choosing between the g7 and g9. What are your opinion in whats better for university?

[@Dovecomputers]

If you can get the G9 model, I would go for that. 12th Gen Intel CPU is really good and the new NVIDIA T600 GPU is useful.

[@jetzevans7147]

@@Dovecomputers thank you for the answer!!

[@kenixkheng5028]

May i know this HP Zbook Power G7 also have processor Intel Core i5 spec. ?

[@Dovecomputers]

Intel Core i5-10300H Processor and Intel Core i5-10400H Processor models are available.

[@anuragvr7773]

Which one you prefer Dell latitude or HP firefly g7

[@Dovecomputers]

Both are pretty good laptops. I would argue the Firefly has the better option of a 400 nits display panel compared to the Latitude's 250 nits display.

[@mostafa0qgmail917]

what is the best Create G7 , the Fury G7 and power G7

[@Dovecomputers]

Create G7 - RTX GPU options. Fury G7 - Greatest flexibility of options (CPU/GPU's) and upgrades. Power G7 - Value mobile workstation, sits below the Fury G7.

[@prithiviraj90]

My laptop lasts only for 2-3hrs battery Spec 10400h and p620. Also I found windows defender smart screen constantly running at 21% of cpu

[@albert7463]

The same problem here...

[@prithiviraj90]

@@albert7463 if you found some solution, please let me know

[@andysilvers9532]

I bought one. I love it but I wish it had an SD slot!

[@Dovecomputers]

I know. They saved that for the Fury G7.

[@abms9448]

I know. It seems like the compromises were deliberate so that they could sell the studio and fury at a higher price. Btw i saw your unboxing video @andy. Do post more

[@madcatter972]

@@abms9448 I noticed the lack of SD too. I have the predecessor Zbook 15v and it has a full size SD card reader, but in almost all other ways this is better. Re your comment about the Studio - I note the Studio and Create don't have ethernet ports, whereas this one does. I think all business laptops and workstations should have an ethernet port and card reader, and also a 1080p webcam so a degree of professionalism can be maintained, but that's a different rant. :p

[@ARISTOfilm]

Hi Andy, I've bought one recently as well. I like the laptop, but I have an issue with the mic - the quality is really poor... Do you have any problem with the mic? When I use a headset from a phone, the quality is good. Thanks in advance!

[@abms9448]

@@ARISTOfilm Hey I also recently bought one. The mic seems to be fine in my unit. Nowhere comparable to a Mac, but works fine. Although the webcam is pathetic.

[@rallyfoto]

I have a HP Zbook Pawer G7 for two weeks now. Unfortunately I have a big problem with it. When I'm conecting the laptop to a external monitor and turning the extended screen on with moving an aplication window from the laptop to a monitor some aplications don't work correctly. The icons and text are illegible. Those issues are happening in aplications like MS.Paint or Outlook. I am contacted HP service and they told me to update bios services or reinstall OS, but none of this things helped. The service is still trying how to solve this problem.

[@Dovecomputers]

Are you connecting the monitor via HDMI? Tried a different monitor or cable?

[@rallyfoto]

@@Dovecomputers I tried different monitors (Eizo, Samsung, Iiyama) and different HDMI cables. Nothing helped. I plugged in my old Dell laptop and everything is ok. I suspect drivers or a factory fault

[@Dovecomputers]

@@rallyfoto Sounds like a hardware fault on the HDMI output. If you had a USB-C monitor, you could test it with that output. *Just tested the HDMI with two ZBook Power G7's here at the office and it works perfectly on the external monitor, both 1080P and 4K ones.

[@rallyfoto]

@@Dovecomputers thank you for the hint. I'll send it to HP tech support

[@rallyfoto]

@@Dovecomputers one more thing, and on which Windows scaling parameters was the test done? I had 125% on the laptop (recommended) and 100% on the monitor (also recommended). Then this problem appeared. When I set 100% scaling on the laptop and 100% on the monitor, everything is fine.

[@procoding_ninja]

Last time I was able to customize " US Keyboard " on Dell site just for Inspiron here in UK , but HP do not provide such customization. Looked into customization. Disappointed.

[@Dovecomputers]

Agree, strange as HP USA allows customisation for their ZBook range, but not in the UK.

[@zmurphy4657]

This is my work laptop they just upgraded me to

[@androgamers6386]

Last week I bought one but I was not very happy, so 2days ago I bought one more, I'm still unhappy

[@juliozanenga4257]

The firma where I work provide us one of this to process heavy buildings CAD, 32GB RAM and i7 vPRO 10th GEN, it´s an insane machine.

[@Dovecomputers]

Love it, the Power G7 is a top value mobile workstation, buck for buck. We'll sold plenty off the back of this.

[@timfrombavaria]

I am honestly disappointed with the build quality. There are several places on the case that start to crack when pressed only slightly (upper right edge of the screen, right palm rest). In addition, the touchpad feels strange when pressed, as if it is not mounted properly. I had expected much more for a 2000€ laptop.

[@grandlaksh6266]

Haii sir ,myself HAREESH from India ,I wish to purchase an HP laptop ,i does not have any idea regarding laptop,I need a multitasking laptop,which is also must useful for my IELTS online study purpose,along with my business purpose,speed,performance,battery lasting,from HP which model is preferably ???

[@Dovecomputers]

Can't go wrong with the HP ZBook Power G7, IMO.

[@andext9639]

Dell Precision 17 or XPS 17 are more powerful and only slightly more expensive. It is better to buy a premium Dell Workstation than a budget Hp Workstation.

[@nageshk1985]

Fan is too loud and crazy Heating. Could have been better interms of Cooling System. Frustrated after Buying this Laptop. Dont waste your money

[@wadewade8521]

Where’s the f ‘ing power button on this ?

[@samirhvac2331]

its a copy of thinkpad p15

[@RaviGupta-hk3iz]

Oh shoot me. That is the horrible laptop i have ever seen from HP. My company bought 6 of them and none of the staff wants it. They are happy to either work on 9 yrs old tower or HP Elitebook 840 G3, both of them have HDD

[@Dovecomputers]

What are the reasons for not using the ZBook Power G7? Just interested to know.