The G8 looks like a high-end Windows machine, and it ’ south easy to see where it fits in HP ’ s catalogue next to the dashing Spectre X360. This one borrows the glistening trim going around all of its edges, and its blend of aluminum and magnesium build materials looks and feels big. It has a liberally sized Windows Precision trackpad, and its keyboard is fair adenine delightful to type on as some of HP ’ s other recent models we ’ ve reviewed .
It ’ s a bare but gorgeous laptop, so far I wouldn ’ thymine commend this $ 4,727 shape of HP ’ s ZBook Studio G8 to most people. The monetary value is overkill if all that you want to do is game, and most people probably won ’ t need the robust suite of privacy and security features ( like an Absolute continuity module, TPM 2.0, Bitlocker encoding, HP Power On Authentication, and much more ) that are included to accommodate the enterprise crowd. There are some very good laptops out there suited for creators or gamers that we recommend .
But as an all-in-one entertainment, gambling, and enterprise device ( a alone combination, to be certain ), the ZBook Studio G8 is a polished, performant campaign that delivers brawny specs and many features.
Our review of
HP ZBook Studio G8
Verge Score
7.5
out of 10
Good Stuff
- 4K OLED is stunning
- Powerful specs that can handle 4K gaming
- Great keyboard and trackpad
Bad Stuff
- Very expensive
- Too few ports
- Battery life isn’t fantastic
Buy for $4,727.00 from HP
HP ’ s ZBook Studio G8 is a versatile laptop, but it invites comparisons to other gaming laptops in a few major ways, the most noticeable one being its backlit RGB keyboard with custom per-key backlighting. This is HP ’ s only business laptop to feature one, and it even has the company ’ randomness Omen Gaming Hub in the taskbar by default, where you can adjust the keyboard backlight settings and optimize performance for any games you have installed. You might get some strange looks if you work at a buttoned-up position, but it ’ south besides likely that it ’ ll just make your ThinkPad-toting colleagues jealous .
HP ZBook Studio G8 specs (as tested)
- Model: 4M9P1UT#ABA
- Windows 10 Pro
- Intel Core i9-11950H vPro at 2.60 GHz (boost clock at 5GHz)
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB VRAM, 85W max GPU power, 1230MHz boost clock)
- 32GB of RAM (soldered)
- 2TB of SSD storage (replaceable via one M.2 slot)
- 15.6-inch 3840 x 2160 4K OLED 60Hz touchscreen, 400 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3
- 720p HD IR Windows Hello camera
- Per-key RGB backlit keyboard
- Fingerprint reader
- Six-cell, 83Wh battery
- 13.93 x 9.24 x 0.69 inches (354 x 235 x 17.5 mm), 3.96lbs (1.79kg)
- Two Thunderbolt 4 USB4 Type-C (power, DP 1.4a), one USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, one 3.5 mm headphone / mic combo audio jack, one HDMI 2.1, one Mini DisplayPort
- Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, Bluetooth 5
- Tile integration
My reappraisal sample has Nvidia ’ s GeForce RTX 3070 graphics chip ( 85W utmost graphics ability, 1230MHz rise clock ), along with other herculean specs including the Intel Core i9-11950H vPro processor, 32GB of fast 3,200MHz DDR4 RAM ( soldered on, unfortunately ), and a 2TB NVMe SSD ( replaceable, but unfortunately just one M.2 slot ). other configurations utilize the RTX A-series graphics chips and are geared toward full-time creators, engineers, and for others with intensive tasks. But this one was made to be both your workstation and gaming rig. thus, of course, I got my game on with it .
Gaming is a joyous thing to do with the ZBook Studio G8, specially with this shape that has a 15.6-inch 4K OLED touch screen that ’ sulfur covered in Gorilla Glass 6. It looks so brainy that I about didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate mind it topping out at a 60Hz refresh rate. Enthusiast gamers who crave seeing their games playing at 100+ frames per second base won ’ metric ton experience that here, at least without plugging an external monitor in. There ’ sulfur an HDMI 2.1 interface, so you can output signal to 4K at fast review rates, if you have a compatible monitor and if you play games that can run well on this laptop. For those who actually want fast-moving graphics on the laptop ’ s sieve, HP makes a non-OLED sieve option that can go up to 4K IPS rather of OLED at a 120Hz review rate, but it naturally won ’ triiodothyronine look as juicy flush if it ’ sulfur running at a faster clip .
As is always the case, performance will vary depending on what games you like to play, but gaming at native 4K resolution in Destiny 2 yielded good results, running at around 45 frames per second on the highest graphic settings. Making a few tweaks to the shadow quality and to the anti-aliasing pushed it up to a steady 60 frames per irregular. Red Dead Redemption 2 presents more of a challenge for laptops, and the ZBook Studio G8 managed an average of 37 frames per second gear at 4K resolving power with extremist graphic settings turned on. not bad, and switching on the Nvidia DLSS have boosted it to a more playable 47 frames per second at 4K solution. Just a few pluck former, it felt great to be running this demanding bet on on a workstation at near 60 frames per second base. The G8 international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine as loudly during flower performance as some bet on laptops, but with some games the metallic section above the keyboard becomes about besides hot to touch. I didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate notice any choking in operation during gaming or differently.
The capable spectacles in this ZBook Studio G8 let it fly through my everyday make tasks, which normally involve having over a twelve Microsoft Edge tabs open at once, with Slack and Spotify running in the background. occasionally, I ’ ll open Affinity Photo to crop photos, excessively. Most laptops with a good total of RAM don ’ thyroxine conflict being put through these paces, so I ran a 4K export test in Adobe Premiere Pro to give it more of a exercise. It didn ’ t transgress much of a sweat here either, sprinting to complete the export of a five-minute, 33-second video recording in four minutes, 14 seconds. It ’ mho worth keeping in mind that Premiere Pro can work in mysterious ways sometimes, with better specification not necessarily leading to faster export times. We ’ ve seen some less costly laptops perform just a well in this test as the ZBook Studio G8, if not better, though this is a thoroughly result .
Outside of performance, I ’ m glad with most of the plan choices that HP made for the ZBook Studio G8. Its keyboard is great, both in layout and the key feel, requiring identical little time and few errors for me to adjust. The same goes for its trackpad, which I mentioned ahead has Windows Precision drivers and is responsive, with a satisfy, haptic chatter. As for my wishlist for the next iteration, I wish the trackpad ’ south entire surface was easy to click, like Apple ’ s MacBook trackpad. The penetrate of the trackpad here offers an effortless pawl, while it gets a short bad about two-thirds of the way up toward its top. besides, the ZBook ’ randomness OLED screen is a treat to look at, but I hope HP employs a tall 3:2 aspect proportion here future time, like it does with the Spectre X360 batting order. last, there are a dearth of ports for a laptop of this size, and for one made to wear indeed many hats. It has fair one USB-A port in sum, along with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1, a Mini DisplayPort jack, a earphone jack, and a proprietary plug for its 200W office brick ( some models use a 150W brick ). The brick itself is compact, with a braided cable going to the laptop .
There ’ s a Windows Hello-ready webcam and a fingerprint scanner for signing in securely, though using either one is optional. The timbre of the 720p IR webcam international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate leading, but it gets the job done. ( If you care about video recording quality, though, possibly you ’ ll find something better in our USB webcam buy guidebook. ) The speakers are better than I expected for taking video calls with, or for listening to music, though you ’ ll get better operation out of equitable about any set of headphones .
This version of the ZBook Studio G8 comes with some other welcome extras. It ’ randomness one of a few HP models to ship with Tile functionality and it has the app pre-installed. You ’ ll be able to track its localization via the Tile mobile app, so farseeing as it still has barrage liveliness. If photography or shooting videos is a profession or a avocation, you ’ ll get dependable habit out of this laptop ’ s full-sized SD menu slot. It supports up to 985MB/s transportation speeds with the SD 7.0 specification .
AGREE TO CONTINUE: HP ZBOOK STUDIO G8
Every fresh device immediately requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It ’ s impossible for us to read and analyze every individual one of these agreements. But we started counting precisely how many times you have to hit “ agree ” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don ’ t read and decidedly can ’ thymine negotiate .
To start using the HP ZBook Studio G8, you ’ ll motivation to agree to the pursue :
- A request for your region and keyboard layout
- Windows 10 license agreement, making a PIN
You can besides say yes or no to the follow :
- Connect to Wi-Fi
- Sign in with a Microsoft account
- Whether you want to use Windows Hello
- Privacy settings (location, Find My Device, sharing diagnostic data, inking and typing, tailored experience, advertising ID)
- Allow Microsoft to collect personal information for Cortana, including location and location history, contacts, voice input, speech and handwriting patterns, typing history, search history, calendar details, content and communication history from Microsoft services, messages, and apps.
- Provide information to register the machine with HP
That ’ sulfur four mandate agreements and 11 optional agreements to use the ZBook Studio G8 .
Battery life in gaming laptop has increasingly become less of a joke and, at times, is actually impressive. The longevity of the ZBook Studio G8 can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate hang with laptops that have AMD ’ s latest Ryzen processors, but I wasn ’ thyroxine excessively let down by its roughly five-hour barrage life. Powering through roughly a half day of ferment international relations and security network ’ thymine bad, considering this model is a 4K display, but that won ’ metric ton cut it for some people who want a laptop that can survive all day. HP says that this laptop ’ s Thunderbolt 4 ports can be used to charge it, but they can ’ t pull enough ability to both run the machine and charge simultaneously. Though, it could charge the barrage while it ’ s sleeping or off, albeit slower than the livestock charger can.
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The HP ZBook Studio G8 is the best enterprise laptop trying to be a bet on laptop, which I recognize is an award that doesn ’ metric ton carry a lot of weight, since it ’ south very precisely HP in this niche space. Though, I think if HP iterated on this design and made it a more gaming-focused laptop on the software side, it would have unplayful potential to take on other chic-looking laptops with real bet on chops, like Razer ’ s Blade 15 or the MSI GS66 Stealth .
But for now, I suspect there aren ’ t many people who ’ ve been holding onto their cash, waiting for this exact kind of laptop to arrive. If you ’ re a unplayful game who ’ second looking for something authentic and great, you should get Asus ’ ROG Zephyrus G15 that costs closely $ 1,000 less. It doesn ’ t have a 4K organic light-emitting diode, but its spectacles are more poise for performance and cost efficiency. More games will run more smoothly with its screen ’ s lower WQHD resoluteness, and faster, besides, with its 165Hz review rate. The ZBook Studio G8 is excessively costly to recommend, but I ’ thousand however excited about the future of this batting order .
photography by Cameron Faulkner / The brink