HP ZBOOK 15U G2 LAPTOP REVIEW

HP ZBOOK 15U G2 LAPTOP REVIEW

Tough but portable, HP's ZBook laptop will appeal to a professional audience. We review the HP ZBook 15u G2. 

Now that HP has migrated its mobile workstation laptops from EliteBook to ZBook, we find two distinct version of the 15-inch workhorse from which to choose.

The regular ZBook 15 G2 is closer to the original brick-built EliteBooks, around 40 mm thick and bending the scale needle close to 3 kg – although that’s still a trim and toned-up take on the classic bombproof mobile power laptop.

Coming in at a little over 2.0 kg and just under 25 mm thick, the new HP ZBook 15u is the more fashionable variation of ZBook. The added U in the name seems to point to Ultrabook, Intel’s much abused marketing name for a MacBook Air-style ultraportable running Windows.

The ZBook 15u appears to be in its second generation (G2) although since this is a brand new product we suspect the suffix was added so it wouldn’t look out of date next to the revised G2 version of the ZBook 15. While far from emulating the carry-anywhere sub-20 mm, sub-1.5 kg notebooks of today, it’s relatively compact form puts it alongside other thin and light workstation notebooks such as the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro and Dell Precision M3800.

HP ZBOOK 15U G2 REVIEW: BUILD AND DESIGN

The case of the ZBook 15u is almost entirely constructed from metal, a lightweight cast alloy for the main chassis, with metal top plate around the keyboard and lid back. The 15.6-inch widescreen display with matt anti-glare finish is available as either a budget TN or higher-grade IPS version, both at 1920 x 1080 resolution. There’s no option for a touchscreen display, arguably a wasteful frippery on a professional mobile workstation. 

On the left side is the exhaust outlet for the single internal cooling fan, a VGA D-Sub video port, two USB 3.0 and a slot for smart cards. Along the right we find a 3.5 mm headset jack, full-size DisplayPort 1.2, another two USB 3.0, gigabit ethernet (with sprung flag, to help fit into the slim edge), DC power inlet, and a proprietary docking slot. There’s no underside docking-station port as you’d find on most business laptop, but HP promises to supply an adaptor to fit this side port with two more digital video outputs. Missing from the port line-up is the Thunderbolt 2 port now found on the non-U ZBook 15 G2.

The entire case bottom is easily removable from one slide-release button, providing access to most of the upgradable components such as memory, storage and wireless connectivity.

Our sample had 16 GB of memory on two 8 GB SO-DIMM modules and a PCIe-attached M.2 SSD, 256 GB in size. You can add a 4G LTE module, access the 802.11ac mini-PCI card and change the 50 Wh battery from here too. Even with the solid-state drive fitted, there’s also space to add a 2.5-inch SATA drive.

For main processor duties, this model had a new Broadwell series 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-5600U, and unusually for a notebook billed as a professional workstation, this is a dual- rather than quad-core chip. This is the top specification, with an option on the 2.4 GHz version of the same chip (5500U)

HP explains that thermal issues prevented it from fitting a quad-core processor into this relatively thin case. In contrast, both Apple and Dell do use quad-core Intel Core i7 mobile processors in their counterparts, although the latter at least can suffers from cooling issues, requiring its fans to rev up to high speed to keep internal temperatures within limits.

For graphics processor there is a choice of just the integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500 from the Intel CPU, or this with an additional AMD FirePro M4170 dedicated GPU. Unlike the fat ZBook 15, there’s no Nvidia option here.

The AMD FirePro includes 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, and is designed to switch into action when required with AMD’s Enduro Technology, a rebrand of its Dynamic Switching Graphics (DSG) system.

At time of review, the only variants of the ZBook 15u G2 we could find offered from the HP UK website were without discrete AMD graphics, and up to 8 GB of system RAM only. With the lower 2.4 GHz processor, integrated graphics powering the IPS display, and 256 GB Z Turbo Drive (HP’s name for the PCIe-attached SanDisk SSD), the ZBook 15u G2 is priced at £1320 inc VAT.

HP ZBOOK 15U G2: SPECS

• 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080) 141 ppi IPS matt anti-glare (Samsung SDC5344)
• Windows 7 Professional
• 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-5600U (32. GHz Turbo) 2C, 4T
• AMD FirePro M4170 with 1 GB GDDR5 / Intel HD Graphics 5500
• 16 GB (2x 8 GB) 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
• 256 GB SSD (SanDisk SD6PP4M-256G-1006)
• gigabit ethernet
• 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO (Intel Wireless-AC 7265)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• optional 4G LTE module
• 4x USB 3.0
• 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x VGA D-Sub
• Kensington lock slot, HP FingerPrint sensor
• SDXC card slot, smart card reader
• stereo speakers
• 0.9 Mp webcam
• dual mics
• 3.5 mm headset jack
• US tiled, backlit, spill resistant keyboard
• 104 x 65 mm, 2x three buttons, trackpoint
• 50 Wh lithium battery
• 65 W mains charger with C5 inlet
• 375 x 253 x 24.5 mm
• 2045 g