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HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 Review

Can a laptop really work as a convertible?

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hp zbook x360 5 1
hp zbook x360 5 1

HP has added an additional new model to its ZBook Studio series, which are premium-grade workstations. The thing about this new ZBook Studio is that it is also a convertible. Can the blend of a workstation and a convertible work out?

What makes this laptop so special is its Nvidia Quadro graphics card. This card is made from the premium chips from Nvidia and comes with special drivers, making the card very efficient in rendering, for example. This makes the card and therefore the laptop very attractive for people who often use computer-aided design or CAD. In addition, the battery is quite large, which should result in reasonable battery life. The laptop also has the latest Intel i7 processor with 6 cores, so you should be able to make a good return on that.

Of course, the design of the laptop is also important and generally something that HP seems to spend a lot of time on. Not only is the design important to the eye, but ergonomics is also important.

The top of the laptop is made of matt aluminium as we know it from a MacBook, among others. The pattern of the matte aluminium is very similar to that of the MacBook and therefore gives the laptop the same kind of appearance. The HP logo on top of the laptop is made of a slightly shiny brushed metal.

At the bottom of the laptop, we find two thick rubbery stripes that ensure that the laptop is slightly higher so that fans can draw in enough air. The bottom is also made of the same aluminium as the top. In addition, there are a lot of Torx screws to loosen the back and possibly replace parts. For example, there is still room for an SSD or the WiFi card can be replaced. You can, of course, consult the maintenance manual for this, and it also includes how to replace certain parts.

There are IDE ports on both sides of the laptop and a fan grill where hot air is blown out. On the left side of the laptop, we find 2 normal-size USB 3.0 ports, a sim card slot, a Kensington lock, the grill and then the on-off button. The on/off button fortunately has a light built in so you can see if the laptop is on or not. On the right side of the laptop, we find the charge port, 2 USB 3.1 (Gen 2 10GB / s) ports in USB-C format, an HDMI port, the grill, a 3.5mm jack for audio in and out and an SD card slot. The great thing about this SD card slot is that you can easily take out the holder by briefly pressing the line and then pulling it out.

The best part of the laptop is, of course, the inside, there are all input devices and of course the screen. The inside of the laptop is, just like the rest of the laptop, made of the hard matte aluminium. At the top is a whim for the speakers with a keyboard with black keys below. Below that you can again find the mouse that, unlike the mice of previous years, only seems to be a rectangle without extra buttons.

The mouse of the laptop is a precision trackpad that supports gestures. For example, you can swipe left or right to go to a parallel program. Of course, you can also use it to control music or to turn your sound up or down. The mousepad has a glass coating that makes it easy to slide your finger across the surface.

The touchscreen of the laptop works well and accurately, but you have to take it into account when you use a lot of touches that your screen gets dirty.

Where with a normal computer you can, of course, choose a screen yourself, with a laptop you are stuck to the screen what is in it. In this case, it is a touch IPS panel with a resolution of 1920×1080. Fortunately, the screen can be turned so that you can easily turn it into a TV on which you can watch series

The sound from the speakers sounds great in my opinion. The sound was recorded with a Rode NT USB studio microphone and can be heard below. There are different speakers in this laptop, both at the top and at the bottom. The treble is good just like the midtones, the bass is “fine”. All in all, it ensures that a rich sound comes out of the speakers, which does not sound tinny at all. So you can listen to great music without having to buy extra speakers.

The design of the laptop is very nice and quite sturdy. The keyboard has no flex and types fine because you have to put some force to press the keys, so you make fewer typing errors because of the better feedback. The mouse also works very well, it is large enough, has a smooth glass coating and supports gestures. The fingerprint scanner also works great although you sometimes have to put your finger on it twice. The webcam is satisfactory but is far from great.

The performance of the laptop is very good. The laptop with hexacore i7 8750H performs about twice as good as an i7 8550U with 4 cores, while it only has 2 scores more. Also, the graphics card is not inferior.