Finding the right laptop for your creative & design success

HP makes some phenomenal ultraportable laptops, and top of the pile, is its business-focused ZBook range. Sitting atop that, is the HP ZBook Firefly G10A . This laptop is the most uncompromising in terms of performance, portability and reliability and is designed to suit the highest echelon of designers, creatives and CAD, CAM and BIM engineers, as well as being ideal for most workers, including managers and team leaders.

It’s a 14-inch laptop powered by one of AMD’s Ryzen™ 7040HS Series processors, and you can specify either a Ryzen™ 5 PRO 7640HS (six cores, 12 threads), a Ryzen™ 7 PRO 7840HS (eight cores, 16 threads), or a Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS (eight cores, 16 threads). It also integrates Radeon™ PRO graphics and AMD’s Ryzen™ AI Engine technology. This is all flanked by up to 64GB of fast, DDR5-5600 RAM and a generous 2TB of speedy NVMe storage.

All of the performance provided by the AMD Ryzen™ PRO processor is critical to professionals. Not only does the AMD Ryzen™ PRO HS processor serve up the power to crunch through demanding tasks quickly and easily, it’ll go longer thanks to impressive battery life optimisations. Your data security is paramount, and thanks to the Enterprise-class security and management features offered by AMD Ryzen™ PRO , you can get on with doing what’s important, while the device’s cloud-based remote management simplifies device management and ensures it operates in a protected environment.

That’s because AMD PRO delivers an expanded set of features that extend beyond the processor’s already impressive performance. An AMD PRO-powered device like the ZBook Firefly G10A provides multi-layered protection against security threats and the protection is expansive, operating at the hardware, OS and system level for unparalleled security. Device deployment is also greatly simplified, with AMD PRO providing control whether the device is being managed in a network or using endpoint management tools via the cloud.

It all provides for deployment without fuss, and simplified management regardless of the scale. HP has ensured that such power hasn’t affected portability which means that each ZBook Firefly G10A remains thin and light: it’s only 2cm thick and weighs just 1. 4KG (depending on specification).

The chassis is military-spec MIL-STD 810H certified, so you know it can survive life on the road and it also has a water-resistant keyboard so it can survive accidental spills, too. A long-lasting battery means you can work all day out of the office and, if you do need to charge, HP’s Fast Charge technology can recharge to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. On top of that, intelligent charging technology learns your work patterns and optimises the battery for power consumption, performance and longevity with all settings being customisable via HP’s Power Manager Dashboard.

There’s even HP’s innovative Battery Shield to protect against any physical failure or catastrophic puncturing! In a world of hybrid work, it’s good to know that the HP ZBook Firefly G10A has some of the best web-conferencing abilities on the market. At the centre is the UHD, five-megapixel webcam which has a wide, 88-degree field of view. Elevating it above its peers, however, is AI technology which includes HP Auto Frame to keep you centred in-frame and maximise your meeting equity.

It also sharpens your outline against any blurred (or artificial) background much better than the tools embedded within popular conference-call software. Meanwhile, the dual-microphone array features AMD’s AI Noise Suppression technology which provides next-gen noise cancellation in the noisiest environments. It’s available with 4G and 5G SIM options for internet-anywhere connectivity and it has the latest Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.

3 wireless connectivity built-in, too. It all amounts to the ZBook Firefly being one of the best portable products anywhere. There’s also copious wired connectivity courtesy of two fast USB-A 3.

2 Gen 1 ports, two USB-4 ports, HDMI 2. 0b and a 3. 5mm audio jack.

Professionals know that the data on the laptop is more valuable than the laptop itself, so users will be pleased by the significant number of inherent and optional Enterprise-grade security features available. At its core, HP’s Wolf Security is there to protect against both local and remote attacks. There’s also HP’s Sure Click and Sure Sense technology for malware and scammer protection, HP Secure Erase to prevent unauthorised data access, HP BIOSphere and Sure Start for protecting the BIOS and ensuring the laptop always starts, plus numerous other integrated management and security applications.

In addition, a configurable TPM-backed fingerprint reader provides secure log-on. Plus, there’s an optional Security Card slot. Good luck exfiltrating any data with that security complement! Interacting with the HP ZBook Firefly G10A is a dream.

The tactile, back-lit keyboard is HP’s full-sized, premium, ‘Quiet’ variant with robust DuraKeys while the glass-coated trackpad provides smooth and accurate operation in addition to multi-touch gesture support. Audio comes courtesy of the legendary Bang & Olufsen and it sounds unfathomably good for such a thin and light laptop. Of course, everyone has different display preferences, so it’s great to know that you can tailor your HP Firefly G10A notebook’s screen to suit your needs the best.

All options are bright (up to 500-nits), come with blue-light-filtering (and anti glare technology) and have a 16:10 aspect ratio to fit additional info on the screen for enhanced productivity. Resolutions range from Full HD to UHD (2,560 x 1,600). You can choose models with OLED screens (for maximum colour vibrancy, true-black and high-contrast performance) or touchscreen technology, or HP’s own DreamColor display which supports 100 per cent of the difficult DCI-P3 colour gamut (for designer-friendly colour accuracy) and pixel dimming (for enhanced contrast).

The latter also has a 120Hz refresh rate to render high-speed video and graphics buttery smooth. There’s even a variant with HP’s SureView Reflect screen technology which stops side-eye spying from people sitting next to you. And that’s not all.

HP’s laptops are made with an eye on sustainability, from raw material sourcing, to manufacturing, packaging and transport, all the way to end-of-life recycling. As such, choosing HP can help your organisation’s own sustainability figures. On top of all this, there’s HP’s vast, technological ecosystem which extends across multiple businesses from printing through unified communications to include a multitude of supporting peripherals.

Whether you want partner monitors or external keyboards or a mouse, there’s a treasure trove to choose from and compatibility is assured. It all boils down to the fact that whatever your professional requirements may be, HP’s ZBook Firefly G10A suits your needs. It’s dripping with features, highly secure and oozing performance but not at the expense of getting big, heavy and bloated.

To find out more, this TechRadar review includes includes comprehensive hands-on testing and explains well what this machine’s capabilities are. To buy yours today click here!.