HP EliteBook X G1a review

I took a first look at the HP EliteBook X G1a a few weeks ago, and without having a chance to test the laptop, found it to be a solid new addition to the field of best business laptops. It’s attractive, well-built, and generally looks and feels a lot like the kind of laptop business users are looking for.

Now that I’ve tested it, I’m happy to say that it lives up to my original billing. It’s very fast and offers up a host of commercial-friendly features. I tested it with its excellent OLED display option, but if you’re looking for the best battery life, you’ll want to select the IPS panel instead.

Specs and configuration

There are several configurations available for the EliteBook X G1a. If you visit HP’s web store, you’ll find several configuration that are on sale, such as my review configuration that is currently on sale for $2,599, down from a list price of $3,949. That configuration includes an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 chipset, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14.0-inch 2.8K OLED display. The base configuration is $2,099 list, with a Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14.0-inch FHD+ IPS panel.

However, these prices won’t be what a business will pay. Rather, prices will be most relevant when the laptop is purchased on a contract that will be a lot more attractive.

Design

There’s no doubt that HP knows how to make a solid laptop. The EliteBook X G1a feels incredibly robust, with zero bending, flexing, or twisting in the lid, keyboard deck, or chassis. That makes sense, because the laptop is aimed at a commercial market that demands reliability.

In terms of its aesthetic, the EliteBook X G1a is just about perfect — that is, if you’re a businessperson who wants a laptop that doesn’t stand out but still comes across as attractive. HP toned down some of the design flourishes you’ll find on its consumer lineup, like the most recent OmniBook machines, while still giving the EliteBook enough smooth lines and cohesiveness that you won’t feel like you’re carrying the usual business machine.

While the display bezels aren’t the smallest I’ve seen, the laptop is still reasonably sized in width and depth. It’s very thin at just 0.52 inches, not too far off from the insanely thin MacBook Air 15 that’s 0.45 inches, while it’s not terribly light 3.3 pounds. That’s heavy enough that the EliteBook X G1a has a dense feeling to it, which does make it a little less comfortably portable.

Keyboard and touchpad

HP has been making great keyboards for several years now, first in their Spectre lineup and now in their OmniBook and EliteBook machines. This one builds on that, with large keycaps, bold lettering, and plenty of key spacing. The switches are consistent across the entire keyboard and have a light, snappy feel. It’s one of the best I’ve used, right up their with my usual favorite, Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

The touchpad isn’t quite as good, as a mechanical version where I’m starting to see more haptic touchpads in premium laptops. It’s big enough and the button clicks are quiet and confident, but a haptic touchpad would have been welcome here. HP makes a great version that’s on some of its OmniBook laptops, and I would have liked to see it make it to the EliteBook.

Connectivity and webcam

There’s plenty of connectivity, with a nice selection of modern and legacy ports. That makes sense, given the laptop’s commercial focus, and that includes the fastest wireless connectivity. I’d like to see an SD card slot, which is becoming less and less common. I’m also surprised there’s no option for always-connected internet, which is available on some other commercial machines.

The webcam is HP’s high-resolution 5MP version, which provides a sharp, clear image that benefits from a host of AI-powered enhancements. The laptop is a Microsoft Copilot+ PC, and HP offers a number of conferencing benefits via the Poly Camera Pro software. There’s a Spotlight feature, excellent background blur and replace, filters, and auto framing. It’s all powered by a fast Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that provides fast and efficient on-device AI processing.

Performance

The EliteBook X G1a is available with one of several AMD Ryzen AI 7 and 9 chipsets, and I reviewed it with the highest-end Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. The PRO versions of the chipsets enables the kind of security and manageability that enterprises demand, and then there’s the option of the sheer power of the Ryzen AI 9 chipset. It’s a 12-core/24-thread chipset running at up to 5.1GHz and consuming a default of 28 watts configurable up to 54 watts.

It also offers faster on-device AI thanks to an NPU that runs at up to 55 tera operations per second (TOPS). That’s faster than any other chipset available today, and that means faster AI processing with the efficiency of the NPU compared to using the GPU.

HP is introducing its AI Companion software that enables a variety of AI features above and beyond what Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC initiative provides. AI Companion includes Analyze that lets you dig into files, along with a variety of other custom AI features. All of them run on-device, keeping things theoretically safer and more private and using the NPU to maintain efficiency.

HP also updated its SmartSense feature to use AI to better manage performance and fan speed. Now, there are just two options available — SmartSense and Best Performance — meaning that users won’t need to spend as much time managing the EliteBook X G1a’s performance, heat, and noise. We’ll have to wait until we can run benchmarks to determine how effective the new software is in managing things.

Finally, as a member of HP’s business lineup, the EliteBook X G1a has Wolf Security for enhanced security and privacy. It’s so locked down that there were extra hoops I had to run through in running some of our standard benchmarks.

The EliteBook X G1a was a strong performer for demanding productivity users, coming in at the top in our comparison group of thin and light laptops in multi-core processing speed. Some other chipsets, like Intel’s Lunar Lake and Apple’s M3 chipset, are faster in single-core performance. The AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics are the second fastest in this group, but the EliteBook X G1a doesn’t make for a strong gaming laptop or creative workstations.

Battery life

I reviewed the EliteBook X G1a with its high-resolution OLED display, which counters the reasonably sized 74.5 watt-hour battery. The AMD chipset isn’t particularly efficient, and I saw just 7.5 hours of video looping with the EliteBook and 1.5 hours of running the Cinebench R24 benchmark as a demanding test.

That’s not great, and in fact falls well short of laptops with more efficient chipsets like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X and Intel’s Lunar Lake. You’ll get much better battery life with the available FHD+ IPS display, and this configuration is for people who demand the best display quality. HP estimates battery life at greater than 17 hours with IPS, and that’s a reasonable expectation.

Display and audio

There are two display options with the EliteBook X G1a. I reviewed the 14.0-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED display that runs at up to 120Hz. It’s a gorgeous display with more than enough brightness, dynamic colors, and inky blacks. It also means you’ll take a hit on battery life. If that’s a concern, then you can opt for the FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS display instead. I love OLED and 2.8K is just sharp enough for me, so I would opt for this one if I were making the purchase.

According to my colorimeter, this is a very good OLED panel. It’s plenty bright at 404 nits, well above our 300-nit threshold that’s bright enough to use in anything but direct sunlight. Blacks are near-perfect, with a 28,280:1 contrast ratio. And colors are wide at 96% of AdobeRGB, 100% of sRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3, which phenomenal accuracy at a DeltaE of 0.59 (anything 1.0 or less in excellent for all uses).

Choose the OLED display, and you’ll be set for any kind of use. Choose the IPS option if you’re mainly doing productivity work and battery life is most important to you.

You’ll enjoy the four-speaker setup, with two upward-firing tweeter and two downward-firing woofers. Laptop audio has gotten a lot better lately, and the EliteBook X G1a produces plenty of volume, clear mids and highs, and more bass than usual. It’s up there with the best, including the Apple MacBook Air that also has a four-speaker configuration.

Exactly what businesses are looking for

The EliteBook X G1a success admirably at its objective of providing a laptop that will keep businesses happy. It offers a number of management and security features that large enterprises demand, along with a build quality that will hold up to the rigors of travel.

It’s also very fast and takes Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC AI initiative a step further with some nifty HP exclusives. If you want better battery life, you’ll want to opt for the more power-efficient display. But this is an easy laptop to recommend for all but budget-conscious consumers.