The HP Elite Dragonfly is easily the best laptop out there for traveling professionals and executives. It’s thin, light, powerful and is one of the most stylish laptops on the market.
Good
Impeccable design
Excellent battery life
That keyboard
LTE compatible
Bad
Pretty expensive
The base model of the Dragonfly costs $1,549 and has a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-8265U processor with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and Intel UHD 620 Graphics. The mid-tier model costs $1,849 and bumps you up to a Core i5-8365U CPU, 16GB of RAM, Intel VPro and a 1920 x1080, 1,000-nit display with HP SureView technology.
If you’re in the UK, you can still get up to a 1TB SSD and a 4K display, though that will run you £1,950. Australians max out with the same configuration as the UK, and that runs AU$4,210.
The Elite Dragonfly’s claim to fame is that it’s lighter than air specifically the 2.8-pound, 12 x 8.4 x 0.2~0.6-inch MacBook Air. And at 2.5 pounds, the 11.9 x 7.8 x 0.6-inch Dragonfly lives up to the lofty claims. It’s even lighter than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (3 pounds, 12 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches) and the Dell Latitude 7300 (3.1 pounds, 12.1 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches).
It’s tough to compare the Elite Dragonfly to other laptops, as few business convertibles today are this thin and light. You could get a ThinkPad X1 Yoga, which would provide a better typing experience, but the Elite Dragonfly just looks and feels so much more modern. You could also opt for a similarly specced Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 for around the same price, which offers a better screen with HDR support. But the Elite Dragonfly offers way more ports and, personally, I prefer HP’s design.
I’ve also been surprised by the Elite Dragonfly’s battery life. Though HP said the laptop is supposed to last up to 16.5 hours, it only clocked around 13 hours for me, which is worse than the XPS 13 2-in-1 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but more than the XPS 13 clamshell. That number is likely to be lower if you use a model with a brighter, sharper screen, and if you were browsing the web over an LTE connection.
At the end of the day, the Elite Dragonfly is a solid convertible that, despite its business branding, might appeal to mainstream laptop shoppers rather.
HP Elite Dragonfly:
CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.6GHz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM: 16GB LPDDR3 (2,133MHz)
Screen: 13.3-inch, FHD IPS BrightView WLED
Storage: 512GB PCIe SSD
Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A, HDMI, headset jack, External Nano SIM
Connectivity: Intel AX200; Wi-Fi 6; Bluetooth 5
Camera: Widescreen HD (720p) webcam
Weight: 2.2 pounds (0.99kg)
Size: 11.98 x 7.78 x 0.63 in (30.42 x 19.76 x 1.6cm; W x D x H)
