The HP Elite Folio wraps vivid show choices, 4G/5G connectivity choices, and all-day battery life inside a light-weight, fashionable design. It clearly wins on mobility.
The two-in-1 laptop computer’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor has its caveats, although. Its efficiency nonetheless can’t compete with that of contemporary AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processors, and software program compatibility points persist. These limitations could also be powerful to tolerate contemplating the Elite Folio’s premium price ticket.
This overview is a part of our ongoing roundup of the most effective laptops. Go there for data on competing merchandise and the way we examined them.
HP Elite Folio fundamental options
HP’s Elite Folio is offered in both an 8GB RAM/16GB SSD mounted configuration on HP.com for $1,889Take away non-product hyperlink, or a configurable Elite Folio possibilityTake away non-product hyperlink that begins at $1,895.04. It’s price noting that whereas the primary possibility seems able to ship, deciding on the configurable possibility places the ship date at October 7—with a giant qualifier: “This platform has an prolonged construct time. Element availability, and therefore the ship date, could change.” A distinct configuration is $1,949.95 on AmazonTake away non-product hyperlink.
Mark Hachman / IDGHP’s Elite Folio, in its extra conventional desktop orientation.
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G
- Show: 13.3-inch (1920×1280) IPS contact, 400 nits rated
- Reminiscence: 8GB/16GB LPDDR4x-4266 (16GB as examined)
- Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (512GB as examined)
- Graphics: Adreno 690
- Ports: 2 USB-C 5Gbps (DisplayPort 1.4, USB PD)
- Safety: Home windows Whats up
- Digicam: 720p (user-facing, Home windows Whats up)
- Battery: 46Wh (rated); 47.6Wh (as examined)
- Wi-fi: 8021.11ac (2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5, Snapdragon X20 LTE Cat 16
- Working system: Home windows 10 Dwelling/Professional (Home windows 10 Dwelling as examined)
- Dimensions: 11.75 x 9.03 x 0.63 inches
- Weight: 2.93 kilos, 3.57 with charger
- Shade: Black
Whereas the Elite Folio appears to be like like a clamshell laptop computer, it’s nearer to a 2-in-1 Home windows pill. The keyboard doesn’t detach, because it does with Microsoft’s Floor Professional X or Floor Professional 7+. As an alternative, it might rotate flat right into a pill mode. A “hybrid” mode permits it to drag ahead, hiding the keyboard for streaming video and utilizing the display screen as a main interface. HP additionally features a pen, a further value with rival tablets.
The Elite Folio’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G is an Arm processor that mimics the personalized Arm chip used contained in the Floor Professional X and the Lenovo Flex 5G. These tablets, nevertheless, used a barely earlier model of the Snapdragon 8cx, the Gen 1.
Mark Hachman / IDG“Vegan leather-based” wraps the skin surfaces of the HP Elite Folio.
These Arm chips include trade-offs. Traditionally, they’ve run extra slowly than an Intel Core or AMD Ryzen chip, partially due to the necessity to emulate conventional x86 directions. That’s much less of a priority now, as extra purposes can both run on native Arm code, or by way of the online. Simply don’t anticipate to play video games on the Elite Folio—it’s an optimized Workplace or net looking machine before everything.
The Elite Folio could look quite a bit just like the 2019 Spectre Folio. There’s one main exterior distinction: Not like the Spectre Folio’s actual leather-based cladding, the Elite Folio is wrapped in “vegan leather-based,” which is only a fancy title for polyurethane. That materials conveys an opulent look whereas being animal-friendly. Inside, the keyboard deck returns to a extra conventional, plasticky floor.
Mark Hachman / IDGThis unofficial “presentation” mode orientation exhibits how the Elite Folio straddles the definition of a removable Home windows pill and a extra conventional design.
The low-power Snapdragon chip permits the Folio to run fully with out a fan. You possibly can clearly really feel the heat that the CPU places out on the backside of the display screen, although it by no means even approaches uncomfortable temperatures.
The HP Elite Folio’s show is pleasant: shiny, with vivid colours that cowl 99 p.c of the SRGB coloration gamut, although solely 74 p.c of AdobeRGB and 75 p.c of sRGB, as measured by our colorimeter. You may not purchase a laptop computer to work exterior, however when you do, the Elite Folio’s prepared with two shiny show choices: a base mannequin with a most 400 nits of brightness, and a 1,000-nit higher-end possibility, which we didn’t overview. Turning up the show brightness will run down the built-in 46Wh battery extra shortly, in fact.
The Elite Folio consists of built-in 4G LTE capabilities, with a SIM slot within the pen cubby, which we’ll speak about under. HP tells us there shall be 5G choices sooner or later.
Mark Hachman / IDGA USB-C port lies on both aspect of the chassis.
Port choice is sparse—two USB-C (not Thunderbolt) connections, one on both aspect of the chassis. Connecting to a Thunderbolt dock enabled work on a single exterior 4K show, which glad our productiveness wants.
Typing expertise
HP provides among the most snug keyboards within the business—however not on the Elite Folio. Though its keys are virtually aggressively springy, the shallow (1.3mm) journey is greatest fitted to mild tappers fairly than forceful mashers. The format is pretty normal, with a slim row of operate keys on the high and cross-shaped cursor keys to the decrease proper. The F2 key solely lacks a secondary operate, a fairly uncommon omission.
Mark Hachman / IDGThe HP Elite Folio keyboard provides shallow, although spacious keys.
The Elite Folio trackpad, whereas not overly giant, boasts the shiny glass smoothness of a premium providing. Home windows classifies it as a Precision touchpad, which means that Microsoft and Home windows can handle its drivers, add gestures, and enhance it over time. It’s clickable virtually all the way in which to the highest.
HP’s Elite Folio features a 720p webcam, mounted on the high of the PC’s show bezel, which provides common graininess and coloration stability. You do have to wonder if, after over a yr working from house, HP at the least thought of a extra premium 1080p webcam possibility.
The Elite Folio provides a bit extra within the sliding webcam shutter. Run your finger or thumb over a tough ridge of plastic on the high of the display screen to opens and shut the shutter manually. Rival Lenovo provides this in its ThinkPads and does a barely higher job by visually indicating that the shutter is closed with a tiny, pink, opaque panel. HP makes use of a white dot with slashes by means of it, which is difficult to distinguish from the open shutter.
Mark Hachman / IDGThe sliding webcam shutter is a pleasant function, although it’s a bit troublesome to tell apart, at a distance, whether or not the webcam is open or closed.
The HP Elite Folio’s audio tasks from a pair of audio system mounted within the palm relaxation space and upward-facing audio system halfway up the keyboard, pumping out sufficient quantity to fill a quiet to barely noisy room. Tuned by Bang & Olufsen, the sound high quality competently fills the midrange and excessive finish, although the bass unsurprisingly lacks oomph. I couldn’t discover any audio controls apart from the Home windows defaults.
One of many showcase options of the Elite Folio is the two-button, 5.5-inch Wacom AES 2.0 pen, which nestles in a cubby very very like the one within the Microsoft Floor Professional X—one other Arm-powered machine. Microsoft’s Floor Professional X conceals the pen cubby, however the Elite Folio’s is uncovered, tempting you to make use of it.
Mark Hachman / IDGThe Elite Folio Pen has a barely recessed button on the finish, and a extra typical button halfway down.
Total we want the inking expertise within the Floor Professional X. The Floor Pen is a bit thicker and rounder, extra snug to carry than the flattish Elite Folio pen. The Floor Professional X’s kickstand additionally provides extra choices for reclining the pill. The HP pen’s finish button is a bit too discreet: As a result of it sits flush with the tip of the pen, it’s more durable to depress. (There’s one other button halfway down the shaft.) There’s noticeable lag when inking with the pen. HP’s personal configuration utility assigns each pen buttons optionally available capabilities.
On the plus aspect, the Folio’s pen provides built-in charging capabilities, which kick in when the pen is re-inserted in its cubby. Just like the Floor Professional X, the magnetized cubby will routinely rotate the pen longitudinally to align the pen’s charging contacts with the cubby’s personal. The pen’s cost lasted all day; it’s rated for 30 hours of use or ten days of standby, with a 30-minute recharge cycle. HP additionally makes use of the cubby to deal with the SIM tray.
How does the Elite Folio carry out? Discover out on the subsequent web page.