Work is always endless for me, as someone who has both a day job while also serving as an editor for this site. I regularly use a low-end Dell laptop for most of my work. It gets the job done every night. The need for a device that is always reliable and flawless in performance is necessary for long days with editorial work. For the last month, I have been using the new HP Dragon G4 laptop.
The unit provided for review features an Intel i7-1365U CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512 gigabyte SSD. Suffice it to say, it is more than well-equipped to handle any and all work I needed to get done. Considering its high-end CPU and SSD allowed for lightning-quick boot-up times. It also boasts more than enough RAM to handle a multitude of tasks. With outstanding battery life and very quiet fans to keep it cool and never break my concentration, this laptop is nothing short of strong, fast and reliable.
A Sleek Design
The HP Dragonfly G4 is a very sleek and compactly designed laptop. For starters, its smaller design allows for smoother hand coordination with its keyboard. Both of my hands fit just right when typing anything. The keyboard also features some easy to reach and useful buttons such as simple volume and screen brightness adjustment keys. It also features a neat programmable key that I found a really niche but useful purpose for. As someone who transfers images regularly to specific folders for usage in articles, being able to press this key and go to the folder to clean it out for a new batch of images cut out a couple of steps in my routine.
There is also an airplane mode button for those who take trips regularly and want to keep working on projects mid-flight. Another useful button that allows me to instantly shut off the computer’s webcam. As someone who occasionally video calls, being able to shut off the camera when I get up to do something in the middle of a call cuts down on potentially awkward moments. I really loved the keyboard, as well as the rest of the design of the laptop.
One of the things I found major appreciation for was the frosted touchpad. It feels very nice and soft with a silver trim between it and the rest of the device. There are also silver-embedded logos for both the Dragonfly branding and the HP logo at the top of the device. Its form factor is compact as a 13.5″ screen laptop, making it very comfortable. With a lot of little touches that I could enjoy on an aesthetic level. The device is also very light weighing in at 2.2 lbs and has a sleek metallic feel to the chassis of the laptop.
Ports and the Screen
The HP Dragonfly G4 has a couple of ports along its sides. One for HDMI output, one USB-A, two USC-C ports, and a headphone jack. I am not a fan of the lack of normal USB-A ports due to most devices still relying on them. That includes the Poly Studio P5 Kit with a Voyager 4220 UC. Both of these items were provided for usage with the HP Dragonfly G4, and I had a hard time using them due to the lack of USB-A ports. The Voyager 4220 UC is wireless and relies on a USB-A adapter. As well having a USB-reliant charging stand, while the Poly Studio P5 also relies on a USB-A port. It feels like a pretty glaring sacrifice.
It made testing any of these devices for usage with the HP Dragonfly G4 difficult. If there were at least one more USB-A port built into the device I would not have to be juggling as much to do so. It is a slight inconvenience that can be alleviated by purchasing a multi-USB hub. But it is a separate purchase that feels like a resolution to an unnecessary issue. I do however love that the USB-C ports on both sides of the device can be used for comfortable positioning of the device’s power cord. As well as an easy way to charge my phone with its dedicated power cord if I needed to make calls long into the night from my desk.
All of this is combined with a very sturdy and honestly quite bright screen on the HP Dragonfly G4. It has 400 nits brightness with a crisp and clear 1080p resolution. It is also resistant to glare from sunlight when used outdoors. Making it perfect for those who travel a lot and need to do on-the-go work no matter the time of day. Retail models may also feature touch screen capabilities. This feature was not available for review, however. I only wish there were more USB-A ports given the ubiquity of the standard.
HP Dragonfly G4 Audio and Battery Life
The HP Dragonfly G4 features speakers with integrated Bang & Olufsen audio. When writing I like to play music or listen to podcasts in the background. The speakers always provided clean audio and the volume can be set pretty impressively loud. I found the loudness especially useful to drown out loud noises outdoors to help me concentrate. But in scenarios where my roommate was home, the device stayed quiet even with the fans going. Which was impressive considering the amount of browser tabs and folders I have to keep open.
The battery of the laptop is also no slouch. Considering it can stay on for up to twenty hours depending on the power optimization setting chosen. I used the “Balanced” setting throughout my entire time using the laptop. As someone who is off and on with editorial duty and writing articles. I was able to get five days of consecutive use after my work shifts between charges. The total hour usage amounted to over twenty-one hours. This allowed the device to feel very reliable and charging it back up only took a few hours.
The HP Dragonfly G4 also has a built-in 5MP webcam and quality microphone to hop on quick zoom calls with convenience. The microphone quality and video quality were excellent and even at the highest audio played through the speakers, created no echo for those who were speaking. I also noticed and appreciated the Wi-fi 6 compatibility of the device. It always kept a solid connection throughout my tests, which is great considering it lacks an ethernet port. I never had to worry about my Wi-Fi disconnecting and the battery on the device is very reliable.
Benchmark Results
The results from using PC Mark 10 for benchmarking yielded interesting results. As it landed in the low 3000s with the highest scores in:
- Essentials, especially involving Web Browsing and Video Conferencing.
- Productivity, with its highest score in Spreadsheets.
- Finally, Digital Content Creation landing with the highest score in Photo Editing.
Despite the low overall score, the scores for certain specific items in each category ranked exceptionally higher well into the 6000 range. It even scored fairly in writing which is not surprising in my experience using it for the work I need to do. Such as writing this review well into the night.
Closing Remarks on the HP Dragonfly G4
The HP Dragonfly G4 is a very sturdy and well-designed laptop. Its screen is very sturdy and bright while offering crisp visuals. With a frosted touch pad and compact design, housing very reliable technology and features like the programmable button that make the work I do very easy. Lifting up the screen wakes up the device in a flash, and its strong battery life makes it so that I can leave it unplugged and take it to more comfortable areas than my desk. While also offering a great built-in webcam, and microphone, to make on the fly video calls easy and the camera control button is great for specific scenarios.
However, I would have very much loved more standard USB ports in the device, and one of the key features of the device known as “Auto Camera” I found very difficult to assess with the kind of work I do. The ability to switch between cameras that are plugged into the laptop by moving in front of one or another is a great idea. But in my experience, it was not a very exciting feature. However, this feature does seem aimed at those who do presentations that require a lot of movement. This feature seems perfectly executed in that regard. But I could not find a lot of use for it in my testing.
Overall, the HP Dragonfly G4 is a very reliable high-end device. It has all of the storage, features, and speed one could ever need for office work. Make no mistake, this is a prestige laptop for a power business user. With its price tag set to $2,279 it is a device I can recommend to those who need an excellent all-in-one work laptop. It never failed to impress me, outside of just a few nitpicks. However, for the average person, the price is very steep and hard to justify. This is one of those devices where if cost is an issue, there are cheaper options. If you want the top of line business laptop, that is where this shines.
