Its got a safe, elegant design that screams work laptop.
Its one of the first laptops to sport one of the newAMD Ryzen AI processors.
Built on AMDs Zen 5 architecture, this chip is designed to deliver power and efficiency in equal measure.
©Adriano Contreras
Oh, and its got a heaping helping of AI spread throughout for good measure.
The chassis is made from matte silver-colored aluminum, and the lid is made from 80% recycled materials.
The dark gray backlit keyboard sits nestled between the large top-firing speaker grilles in more of that silver aluminum.
©Photo: Adriano Contreras/Gizmodo
The palm rest is long enough to accommodate most wrists comfortably.
The display is connected to the deck via a long hinge.
While the bezels along the sides of the display are thin, they could be thinner.
©Photo: Adriano Contreras/Gizmodo
That goes double for the top and bottom bezels.
However, the HP emblem on the bottom bezel is a nice touch.
Although the EliteBook X is most certainly dressed to impress, its also a tough little S.O.B.
©Photo: Adriano Contreras/Gizmodo
The notebook has undergone the gauntlet of toughness, passing 19 tests to earn its MIL-STD-810H certification.
That means the notebook can withstand shocks, extreme temperatures, drops from certain heights, and extreme altitudes.
Since the EliteBook X is a relatively slim notebook, theres not a lot of room for ports.
©Photo: Adriano Contreras/Gizmodo
Its a scooch lighter than theMacBook Pro 14 M4(3.4 pounds.
The processor is built on the companys Zen 5 architecture and has 12 cores and 24 threads.
The chips neural processing unit (NPU) uses AMDs XDNA 2 NPU architecture.
AMD claims the NPU offers up to 2x in power efficiency with AI workloads compared to last-gen chips.
And finally, theres the integrated AMD Radeon 890M Graphics.
AMDs RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture is designed to optimize graphics performance but with reduced power consumption.
So, all that jargon means this APU is designed to give you more power without sacrificing efficiency.
Even with all of that, I couldnt induce any lag.
I started editing videos in Adobe Premiere and photos in Photoshop with similar results.
The EliteBook X also held its own when I put it through the benchmark gauntlet.
During CPU-focused tests, the EliteBook X tended to dominate its PC compatriots.
That was more than enough to clear out the likes of the Zenbook S14 and XPS 14.
However, it couldnt conquer the MacBook Pro 14 (3.845, 15,105).
The EliteBook X took 3 minutes and 48 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p.
I wouldnt recommend playing Cyberpunk 2077 on the EliteBook X.
And despite biting the dust more times than I care to admit, the colorful rogue-lite played beautifully.
So you know the drill, its benchmarking time.
The XPS 14s 5,193 wasnt a shocker as it has a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU.
Actor Morris Chestnuts skin looked like burnished bronze in the Watson trailer.
Despite being an anti-glare panel, the EliteBook Xs 16:10 panel is pretty bright.
At least its bright enough for me to read and watch videos in direct sunlight.
HP acquired Poly, formerly known as Plantronics, a while ago, and it was a great decision.
The quad speakers and amplifiers are better than they have any right to be on a laptop this slim.
The pair of top and side-firing speakers created a full, powerful sound that easily filled my living room.
The 5-megapixel webcam captures images and video in 1920 x 1080p.
In my test shots, the shooter gave mixed results on the color.
I love how big the keycaps are on the EliteBooks keyboard.
The keys are also nicely spaced, with bright backlighting and firm feedback when typing.
I hit my usual 70 words per minute on the Monkeytype test.
The Fn row on the keyboard does double duty, as many of the keys have media functionality.
The F11 key can be programmed to a few features in the MyHP app.
The power button also serves dual purposes, functioning as a fingerprint reader for secure logins.
The touchpad is your standard.
Its large, responsive, and agile, with your usual cache of multiple gestures.
It can summarize your docs and emails as well as craft them.
So theres been a lot of talk about performance without sacrificing efficiency.
I definitely had to put that to the test.
But if you take the AI hoopla out of the equation, you still have a damned-good business laptop.
Its durable and has plenty of security features to keep your files nice and secure.
Its performance will satisfy even the most demanding mobile professionals.
Plus, it can last well over eight hours on a charge.
The HP EliteBook X G1a is the business laptop to beat this year.
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