HP Dragonfly G4 review 2024: powerful performance

Since HP’s Elite Dragonfly G3 is already considered to be one of the best ultrabooks on the market, the company appears to have chosen the approach of “don’t fix what isn’t broken” while developing its most recent model, the Dragonfly G4. Despite this, HP decided to remove the word “Elite” from the name of the laptop for an unknown reason. The Dragonfly G4 moves up to Intel’s 13th Generation processors and includes some nifty new camera and software gimmicks that are geared for the business world.

Aside from that, the design and the hardware are exactly the same as they were on the G3. That is by no means a terrible thing, especially considering the fact that the Dragonfly is among the nicest ultraportables that can be purchased. However, our testing revealed that its performance was frequently inferior to that of its competitors (albeit it most likely sacrifices some speed in exchange for incredibly quiet fans). And although the battery life was still fairly impressive, it was not able to match the 14 hours that we witnessed on the G3 model from the previous generation.

HP Dragonfly G4 Specifications

HP has clearly taken a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” attitude with its current Dragonfly G4 model, given the Elite Dragonfly G3 is already one of the greatest ultrabooks on the market.

HP Dragonfly G4: Design

The Dragonfly G4, with its now-familiar “slate blue” body, is a great example of how a laptop should look. Under bright lights, the dark blue color stands out a bit, but sometimes it looks more gray than blue. The company still offers “natural silver” as an option for color, but a company representative told us that silver models will only be available through stores and orders from IT departments, not through HP’s site for consumers.

The magnesium and aluminum Dragonfly G4 is still pretty light at 2.2 pounds, but it still feels solid. The rounded corners that the company added to previous models make the laptop easy to hold and move. The 3:2 display with a resolution of 1920 x 1280 gives you more vertical space for work than the 16:9 screens that have been popular for more than a decade. However, the taller aspect ratio is another feature that was passed over from the G3 model.

HP Dragonfly G4: Ports

The HP Dragonfly G4 offers a pleasing combination of vintage ports and more recent ones. A nano SIM card slot, a Thunderbolt 4 port, and an HDMI 2.1 port may all be found on the left side of the device. Another Thunderbolt 4 connector, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a drop-jaw USB Type-A port, and a Kensington lock slot are all located on the right side of the device.

HP Dragonfly G4: Audio

The Dragonfly G4 features four speakers, two of which are top-firing and two of which are bottom-firing and tuned by Bang & Olufsen. The song “Mojabi Ghost” by Tainy and Bad Bunny started playing as I opened the Hot Hits USA playlist on Spotify.

On the G4’s stereo, the futuristic-sounding tune sounded big and rich thanks to the groovy synthesizers. The beats were powerful and pulsating, but they never competed with Bad Bunny’s chill flow. Finally, the laptop’s speakers are loud enough that a small party could be held with it if the user so desired.

HP Dragonfly G4: Graphics and gaming

In terms of the graphics performance, the Dragonfly G4 received a score of 25 frames per second (fps) when playing Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm at a resolution of 1080p and with the settings set to medium. Even though the frame rate is lower than the typical 50 fps for a high-end laptop, you are still able to participate in the game. A further advantageous feature of the Dragonfly G4 is its display. It comes with either a 13.5-inch OLED screen or a 13.5-inch IPS Full HD+ screen. The IPS screen has a resolution of 1920 by 1280, and the OLED screen has a resolution of 3000 by 2000. Both panels are quite bright, and the colors they display are true to life.

HP Dragonfly G4: Performance

Raptor Lake chipsets, which are from Intel’s 13th generation, are included with the Dragonfly G4 motherboard. Although HP has not disclosed which variants of CPUs will be included into the product just yet, the architecture will be much upgraded. It also has Intel Integrated Graphics, so you can do some light creative work on apps like Canva if you want to. This feature is included. Graphically demanding activities such as triple-A gaming or professional creative work will be beyond its capabilities.

The capacity may be expanded up to a maximum of 2 terabytes using an M.2 PCle SSD, which is more than sufficient for office and productivity-related work. Memory can be set with as much as 32 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM, which, when used, should result in accelerated load-up times and enhanced responsiveness.

Final Words

The Dragonfly G4 looks like a high-end device for getting work done. We don’t know how much it will cost, so we can’t say if the features will justify the price. If it’s priced like its predecessor, the £1606.80 Elite Dragonfly G3, it could be on the pricey side for a work laptop.

The keyboard felt great to write on, and the large number of ports and support for HDMI and Thunderbolt 4 will make it more useful as a productivity tool. For example, users can connect it to an external monitor using HDMI or Thunderbolt 4.

HP Dragonfly G4 review: The good and The bad

Even if the matte finish shows a lot of fingerprints, the Dragonfly G4 is a really appealing laptop. This is despite the fact that the finish is matte.

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