HP ZBook Power 15 G8 laptop review: A lot of high-end in an affordable workstation

As an affordable workstation, the HP ZBook Power 15 G8 brings updates for CPU and GPU in the current generation, with the maximum configuration offering an Intel Tiger Lake Core i9-11950H and Nvidia RTX A2000 . While in addition to a 4K display, vPRO CPUs are also available, unfortunately Xeon processors and with that also ECC RAM won’t be available this year. But the device still offers many characteristics of a high-end workstation.

For about 1600 Euros (~$1630), our configuration is equipped with Intel’s Core i7-11800H , Nvidia’s T600 as a professional GPU, and an FHD display. As direct competitors in the entry-level workstation segment, we have the Lenovo ThinkPad P15v G2 and Dell’s Precision 3551 . Our test will show whether the ZBook Power 15 G8 with its fairly powerful components also brings a good price-performance ratio.

The dark-gray aluminum case gives the ZBook Power 15 elegant looks and a quite remarkable robustness, which is also confirmed by its MIL STD-810H certification. The haptics including the matte surfaces also leave nothing to be desired. The device shows clean workmanship, and fingerprints are not a problem.

The lid can be opened with a single hand, and the large hinge going all the way across is extremely sturdy. On the other hand, the back of the lid can be easily pressed down with some single-point pressure, although this won’t lead to any image distortions. Positive points are the facts that the lid with its slim bezels can only be twisted minimally and that the maximum opening angle is ~180 degrees.

Overall, the workstation is lighter at 1. 97 kg (~4. 34 lb) and also more compact than the competitors.

However, as a premium workstation HP’s ZBook Studio 15 is again slimmer at 18 mm (~0. 7 in), and so is HP’s light compact workstation, the Firefly 15 , which also weighs only 1. 75 kg (~3.

96 lb). Even as an entry-level workstation, the ZBook 15 G8 delivers many important connections: There is Gbit LAN (even if it isn’t 2. 5 Gbps), there are a total of three USB-A 3.

1 Gen1 (5 Gbps) ports, while there is only a single Thunderbolt 4 connection, and it also offers DisplayPort 1. 4 and Power Delivery generally. We also appreciate seeing HDMI in version 2.

0. A SmartCard reader is optional, but there is always a Kensington Lock (nano). Together with the proprietary charging port, the whole package is rounded by a combo audio port.

However, we miss an SD card slot. In addition to Gbit LAN, Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + Bluetooth 5. 2 is also available in soldered-in form.

~1. 5 Gbps when sending and 1. 33 Gbps when receiving corresponds to the high Wi-Fi speed of the competitors.

While there is no WWAN slot, NFC is optionally available. The 720p webcam offers a SureShutter (cover), dual-array mics, and optional infrared for Windows Hello. However, the image quality is noisy.

HP doesn’t take half-measures in terms of security. On the side of hardware options, there is a SmartCard reader and an IR camera for Windows Hello. In addition, there is a mechanism for a security lock, a fingerprint reader, TPM 2.

0, and a camera shutter. On the software side, more security is provided by the HP System Safeguard against firmware attacks or sudden firmware errors, the HP Client Security Manager, HP Sure Click & Sure Sense against phishing and malware, and a “self healing” BIOS. A 150-Watt power supply (120 watts in the configurations without dGPU) is included.

The packaging is plastic free (i. e. , 10% only), most of it is cardboard (45% recycled) and paper cellulose.

Optionally, HP offers various USB-C/Thunderbolt docks, but only the HP TB Dock G2 with combo cable (about 200 Euros, ~$204) includes Power Delivery. After removing only five Philips screws, the case bottom can be easily removed using a plastic prying tool. In this way, you get access to 2x SO DIMMs and 2x M.

2-2280 slots, while the battery is also replaceable and the screwed-in cooling system can be maintained. The WLAN module is soldered in, and the keyboard is also fixed. There is no WWAN.

In the German language area, HP offers a standard warranty of 3 years, which can be expanded up to 5 years. It includes pickup & return service, and on-site service costs extra. This corresponds to HP’s policies for high-end business laptops.

While the keyboard has slightly smaller keys (15 × 15 mm, ~0. 6 x 0. 6 in) and distances, the lettering is larger.

It has a close resemblance to that of the ZBook Firefly and ZBook Fury , so the typing experience is just as crisp and the pressure point is clearly noticeable. The stroke of ~1. 5 mm (~0.

06 in) adds to the attractive overall impression. The keyboard is splash proof and its operation remains attractively quiet. It can only be pressed down very slightly by applying some pressure to a single spot.

It isn’t necessarily any worse than that of the ThinkPad P15v . The layout is very successful, but the keys that are smaller include the Enter, left Shift, vertical arrow keys, number block, and the top row. The power button is also integrated in the top row but pressing it accidentally won’t cause the laptop to go to sleep.

There is a two-step illumination, and its duration can be configured in the BIOS. The 11. 5 × 7 cm (~4.

5 x 2. 75 in) is extremely responsive and precise. The smooth glass surface offers very good sliding characteristics, and all the gestures are implemented flawlessly.

The integrated keys have a medium stroke and produce a powerful and loud feedback. Our configuration includes the same matte, 15. 6-inch, bright (400 nits), low-power FHD IPS panel (AUOA08B) in the 16:9 format as the predecessor.

It is also used in several HP Elite and ProBooks, as well as in the HP Envy x360 15 . The 4K option (3840 x 2160 pixels) should reduce the battery life noticeably and according to the data sheet only offers complete coverage of the sRGB color space, like the 4K panel in the ZBook Firefly G7 – so you will look in vain for Dreamcolor. The entry-level panel uses FHD IPS with only 250 nits of brightness and with optional touch.

At an average of 385 nits, the panel gets significantly brighter than that of the ThinkPad P15v and Precision 3551 . The DeltaE values (< 2) are also much more accurate. The contrast is a good 1574:1 and together with the black value of 0.

25 nits produces a saturated black. The slow response times are a disadvantage. There is no PWM flickering.

The sRGB color space is covered to 99%, but only ~71% of DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB are reproduced. With this, you can use the laptop for image and video processing at a semi-professional level. The ThinkPad P15v G2 does significantly worse (sRGB < 57%) here as well.

At a DeltaE of 4. 3, the largest deviation is in the blue color, even after the calibration. However, the RGB balance is good overall.

After the calibration, the contrast even increases to 2151:1, while the brightness is reduced by only 10 nits. As always, our ICC color profile is available for your free download next to the brightness distribution graphic above. The matte display surface together with the high brightness of 385 nits make the ZBook Power 15 suitable for outdoor operation.

However, you should still avoid direct sunlight. As typical for IPS displays, the viewing angle stability is at a very high level, never creating any problems, for example, if you want to watch videos together with several people. Our test unit offers an Intel Core i7-11800H (Tiger Lake, without vPRO) and the Nvidia T600 dGPU, together with the integrated Intel UHD Xe (32 EUs) .

This is completed by a 16-GB RAM module (DDR4-3200 @DDR4-2933) and a 512-GB PCIe4x4 SSD. Xeon CPUs and ECC RAM are not available this year. The maximum configuration includes Intel’s Core i9-11950H (vPRO), Nvidia’s RTX A2000 , two 32-GB RAM modules, and two 2-TB M.

2-2280 SSDs. More affordable models with an Intel Core i5 (hexa-core) and with or without Nvidia GPU are also available. HP controls the performance and fan behavior in the ZBook 15 G8 by using an AI called “Z Algorithms,” which operates using Intel’s Dynamic Tuning.

However, this doesn’t seem to be quite mature yet, since the performance is not constant. One time, our Cinebench R15 test loop achieves a constant 1,550 points in 25 runs, while another loop results in only ~1,100 points and a third in ~1,300 points. A BIOS update from v1.

01 to v1. 09 didn’t improve things but resulted in the contrary: The initially achieved 2,075 points (constant: 1,826) in CBR15 are not reproduceable at any point anymore, but the fans are now significantly less aggressive. Depending on the result, the constant consumption was 40 watts one time and 47 watts another time, or a maximum of 55 watts constantly.

With the described AI behavior, the real performance of the Intel Core i7-11800H in combination with the cooling capacity is hard to pin down. While all the CPU tests were performed with the old BIOS v1. 01 when the AI was still more benevolent, the ZBook Power 15 led the test field most of the times.

After the BIOS update, the performance falls barely above that of the ThinkPad P15v G2 on average. There doesn’t seem to be a short-term Turbo (PL2) anymore either. In addition, the fans start revving up very late (just before the completion of the first run) and run quieter than originally, whether this is due to the new BIOS or a power supply that doesn’t work right.

In battery operation, the performance is again reduced by about 25%. The performance in the workstation related applications was evaluated with the new BIOS (v1. 09).

Here, it places about 10% behind the ThinkPad P15v G2 with the Nvidia T1200 , while the HP Firefly with the Nvidia T500 is surpassed by about 45%. On the other hand, the ZBook Fury with RTX A5000 offers twice the performance most of the time. The RTX A2000 , which is the maximum you can select for the ZBook Power 15, should run about 50% faster.

Despite the single-channel RAM, the system runs absolutely free from any delays, even when working with multiple browser tabs while a 4K YouTube video also runs in the background. With the new BIOS, about 15% of the performance is lost, so that our test unit ends up last in the PCMark 10 benchmark. Particularly the Content Creation score has dropped by around 28%.

At only 537. 6 µs, the DPC latency of the ZBook Power 15 looks very good. However, the analysis still shows that the network driver causes some delays, so that video and audio processing in real-time will only work without using Intel’s AX201 Wi-Fi.

Reproducing a 4K YouTube video causes a load of 30% on the iGPU and 12% on CPU, but we still notice a few dropped frames. The Samsung PM9A1 offers space for 512 GB, of which about 418 GB remain available for the user in the state of delivery. Thanks to PCIe Gen4x4, the speeds including 4K values and access times look very good initially.

A second slot (PCIe Gen3x4) is also available, and both are certified up to 2 TB. However, when copying a larger program, for example, AS SSD shows very weak transfer rates of 115 MB/s instead of the 1074 MB/s of the ZBook Studio 15 G8 . Even the affordable Dell Precision 3511 manages significantly higher copy rates.

Our external 10-Gbps SSD also copies programs faster. The Nvidia T600 used here is the professional version of the GeForce GTX 1650 (non-Ti) with 4 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a 25-Watt TGP and boosts up to 1395 MHz. In many benchmarks, it remains ~15% behind the Nvidia T1200 of the ThinkPad P15v G2 and between 30 and 50% ahead of the Nvidia T500 in the ZBook Firefly 15 G8 .

In battery operation, you will lose about 20% of the graphics power, which will still allow you to work on GPU tasks in mobile operation. While gaming, the Nvidia T600 is able to maintain its full boost clock speed. At less than 60 °C (140 °F), it doesn’t get particularly hot.

In modern games, the performance is sufficient for medium details at Full-HD resolution. However, the ZBook is not designed for gaming. The system draws ~60 watts in this scenario overall, with the full 25 watts going to the GPU.

Although the ThinkPad P15v only provides 10 watts more for its dGPU, it consumes a total of 100 watts overall during gaming, while the Nvidia T1200 delivers only ~15% more frames per second. The ZBook Firefly 15 with the Nvidia T500 is 40% slower on average but still consumes the same 60 watts overall during gaming. In the hour-long The Witcher 3 test, we do not notice any performance drop.

The tester only has the measurements using the old BIOS, which still allowed for a significantly higher fan speed and resulted in a noise level of up to 51db(A) in the load scenario. However, with the v1. 09 BIOS, HP’s AI only allows a maximum fan speed of about 4300 upm, which could be an advantage in sensitive business environments, though.

With its two fans and three heat pipes, the cooling should be able to dissipate more heat than that of the ThinkPad P15v G2 whose 75 watts are successfully cooled by its single fan. However, with the limiting AI, the HP ZBook fans cool a maximum of 65 to 80 watts under combined load (CPU + GPU). The fan vents are at the bottom between the display and the case, drawing air from the bottom of the case, which makes using it on your lap less than optimal.

During regular surfing on the Internet, the fans remain quiet, but if you are used to working faster in the net, they turn on constantly and fairly noisily. At least there is no coil whine. With components that are similarly powerful, Lenovo’s ThinkPad P15v G2 is more subdued in all the scenarios, and HP’s own ZBook Fury also runs quieter.

On the other hand, the fans of Dell’s Precision 3551 really like to blow a lot. The only warmer spots are in the center above the keyboard as well as in the corresponding place at the case bottom, and that only during the stress test. However, since the fans don’t speed up as much, these warm spots are noticeable even during gaming or while rendering, and even in the center of the keyboard.

But they never become annoyingly hot. The CPU is able to benefit from the BIOS update only during the stress test. In the combined stress (Prime95 + FurMark), the CPU still runs at its basic clock speed (2.

3 GHz), while it only ran at 1. 7 GHz before. On the other hand, at 1080 MHz, the GPU clock speed drops by 150 MHz.

In the pure CPU stress, 2. 65 GHz are maintained at a power consumption of 50 watts and temperature of 92 °C (198 °F). Under pure graphics load, the GPU runs at ~1100 MHz, which is significantly below its boost speed of 1395 MHz.

However, the temperature remains at only 56 °C (133 °F), and we suspect another inconsistency of the AI. The sound from the upward pointing 2-Watt stereo speakers is fairly balanced, but they lack bass and don’t get particularly loud either. The HP Fury 15 houses a significantly more attractive sound system.

While it might be sufficient for office tasks, in order to enjoy multimedia, we recommend using the 3. 5-mm connection or Bluetooth for external audio peripherals. At an average of 6.

32 watts, the idle values of the ZBook Power 15 are as good as those from systems with a 15-Watt CPU. The ZBook Fury and ZBook Power consume almost three times as much. During standby, the ZBook Power only consumes 0.

95 watts, so that you won’t have to recharge it for almost four days when it is folded up. The 150-Watt power supply is also able to handle the load peaks of 110 watts without any trouble and recharge the ZBook up to 80% in about 1. 5 hours.

While web surfing at 150 nits, the ZBook lasts for a surprising 12:19 hours. The ThinkPad P15v remains significantly behind at only ~7. 5 hours, while Dell’s Precision 3551 is able to crack the 13-hour mark.

At more than 2 hours under load, the ZBook lasts fairly long, which is also due in parts to its throttling. At a price of around 1300 Euros (~$1324), the ZBook Power 15 G8 (Core i7, Nvidia T600, 8 GB / 256 GB) offers some clear price-performance advantages, while still keeping many characteristics of a high-end workstation. The strengths of the ZBook include the input devices, battery life, security features, upgradability, as well as a good workstation performance.

While our tested FHD display isn’t fully suited for product design and Adobe, it still offers good brightness and contrast values. The target group of this configuration mainly consists of students and professionals in the area of Autodesk SolidWorks, product development, architecture, construction, engineering, 2D design, and virtual reality creation. The disadvantages include the inconsistent performance development, but we are unable to confirm whether this is due to HP’s own AI.

In addition, you have to live without Xeon processors together with ECC RAM in this affordable workstation. It also lacks WWAN and an SD card reader and only offers a single Thunderbolt 4 port. And finally, the sound reproduction and webcam are fairly abysmal.

“The HP ZBook Power 15 G8 is a solid workstation for students, engineers, and (semi-)professionals without high-end demands. Unfortunately, the optional 4K panel doesn’t expand the target group to creative tasks at all, where a high color accuracy is required. Otherwise, all the other core aspects are at a high level.

” The ThinkPad P15v G2 offers a similar performance and input devices, also at a good price. However, it runs significantly quieter and offers an SD card reader and possibly the more color-accurate 4K display option. On the other hand, the ThinkPad doesn’t support charging via USB-C, and the battery life is significantly lower.

In addition, it is heavier and more bulky. Dell’s Precision 3551 is also an endurance champion that isn’t much worse than the ZBook Power, except in terms of the raw performance, as long as you equip it with the right display. However, its successor should offer a higher performance.

A configuration of the HP ZBook Power G8 mobile workstation with a Core i7-11850H, 32 GB of RAM, and 512 GB SSD is currently available for ~$2400 from Amazon . The HP online store also offers many configurable options. .