HP ZBook Power G11 and G11 A Review

The HP ZBook Power G11 and G11 A are solid entry-level workstation laptops, we appreciate that there’s a choice of AMD and Intel processors.

HP’s ZBook Power G11 16-inch mobile workstation offers AMD and Intel CPUs and NVIDIA professional graphics.

HP ZBook Power G11/G11 A Specifications

The ZBook Power series is an entry-level workstation with a 16-inch screen. The G11 model features Intel “Meteor Lake” Core Ultra H-class processors, while the G11 A uses AMD Ryzen HS-class CPUs. Enterprise management features come from Intel vPro in the G11 and Ryzen Pro in the G11 A.

Graphics options start with integrated graphics and top out with the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation (8GB). Memory and storage top out at 64GB and 2TB, respectively. Overall, the specifications are not surprising.

HP ZBook Power G11/G11A Design and Features

The ZBook Power looks unassuming yet upscale, trimmed in silver. The stylized HP logo on the lid is the only real branding, with small lettering on the palm rest and below the screen. It’s a design that is appropriate in any environment.

The ZBook Power G11 undergoes MIL-STD-810H testing for survival in conditions much more extreme than the average office environment. The aluminum chassis seems high quality but flexes more than anticipated especially the lid. On the upside, the ZBook is eco-friendly, offering Energy Star and EPEAT labels and using recycled and recyclable packaging.

The ZBook’s measurements of 14.15 x 9.21 x 0.9 in and a starting weight of 4.5 pounds mean it isn’t quite as portable as the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 (13.95 x 9.49 x 0.67 inches, starting at 4.03 pounds), but the real-life difference is insignificant.

The keyboard feels satisfying despite limited key travel. The white backlighting is highly visible. The layout includes a full-size numeric keypad. The arrow keys are all half-height, with dedicated page-up and page-down keys next to them. A Copilot key replaces the right Ctrl key. Meanwhile, the touchpad is large enough relative to the 16-inch screen and has satisfying physical clicks.

Physical features on the left edge include the barrel-style AC power connector, two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, HDMI 2.1 video output, a 5Gbps USB Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Features on the right edge include a full-size SD card reader, a 5Gbps USB Type-A port, an Ethernet jack with a clamshell-style opening, and a Kensington-style lock slot. Wireless includes Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. WWAN connections are also available.

Biometric features include a fingerprint reader in the palm rest and an infrared webcam. The latter’s 5MP sensor looks sharper than the usual 1080p fare. It has a sliding privacy shutter. Speakers are a weakness for this laptop, with a tinny sound and little bass. One cool thing about this notebook design is it retains an Ethernet port, which uses a spring-loaded door to retain the slim profile.

The base 16-inch screen option has a productive 1920 x 1200 resolution but a disappointing 250-nit brightness and 45% NTSC gamut coverage rating, though touch is an option. The 400-nit, 100% sRGB screen is an upgrade but doesn’t offer touch, while the 1000-nit SureView screen (non-touch) has an integrated privacy filter. The 2560 x 1600 screen offers more detail, 400 nits of brightness, and 100% sRGB coverage, though it also lacks touch.

This laptop’s upgradeable components include its M.2 2280 Gen4 SSD slot and two DDR5-5600 SODIMM slots.

While the notebook is accessible through the bottom cover being removed, it was one of the most difficult panels we have removed in recent memory. It leverages many plastic clips and a sticky thermal pad in the center for the SSD, and it took about 15 minutes to get open with plastic spudgers. Getting this particular bottom cover off without causing damage may prove difficult for the average consumer.

HP ZBook Power G11 and G11 A Performance

We tested both the Intel and AMD versions of the ZBook Power G11. The G11 features a Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, while the G11A has the Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS. Both units have 64GB of RAM and the RTX 3000 Ada Generation graphics card. These are top-of-the-line configurations that retail for around $3,000, though that’s the single-unit price; enterprises will get different pricing. It’s about the going rate for laptops of this caliber.

For comparison, we are using the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7, which features a Core Ultra 7 165H, an RTX 3000 Ada Generation, and 32GB of RAM.

SPECworkstation 3

SPECworkstation3 specializes in benchmarks designed to test all key aspects of workstation performance. It uses over 30 workloads to test CPU, graphics, I/O, and memory bandwidth. The workloads fall into broader categories such as Media and Entertainment, Financial Services, Product Development, Energy, Life Sciences, and General Operations. We are going to list the broad-category results for each, as opposed to the individual workloads. The results are an average of all the individual workloads in each category.

The two ZBook Power workstations performed similarly, with the Intel G11 model slightly outperforming the ThinkPad, likely because it uses a Core Ultra 9 instead of a Core Ultra 7.

SPECviewperf 2020

Our next test is SPECviewperf 2020, the worldwide standard for measuring graphics performance of professional applications under the OpenGL and Direct X application programming interfaces. The viewsets (or benchmarks) represent graphics content and behavior from actual applications without having to install the applications themselves. The newest version of this benchmark went through major updates late last year, including new viewsets taken from traces of the latest versions of 3ds Max, Catia, Maya, and Solidworks applications. In addition, they added support within all viewsets for both 2K and 4K resolution displays.

The numbers here were similar between all three laptops, with no clear winner.

Luxmark

Another 3D benchmark we use is LuxMark, an OpenCL GPU benchmarking utility. These three laptops all performed similarly.

OctaneBench

Next, we look at OctaneBench, a benchmarking utility for OctaneRender, which is another 3D renderer with RTX support that is similar to V-Ray. Both ZBook workstations continued to perform closely, and both generally outperformed the ThinkPad.

Blackmagic RAW Speed Test

We have also started running Blackmagic’s RAW speed test, which tests video playback. The ZBook G11 outperformed its AMD counterpart in the CPU test, and both easily outpaced the ThinkPad.

7-Zip Compression

Our next test is the built-in memory benchmark in the popular 7-Zip utility. The decompression numbers are more indicative of overall performance in this test, and the AMD-powered G11 A performed much better than the G11. The ThinkPad took a back seat.

UL Procyon AI Inference

UL’s Procyon estimates a workstation’s performance for professional apps. We are only showing numbers for running this test on the GPU, where all three laptops performed similarly.

y-cruncher

y-cruncher is a multi-threaded and scalable program that can compute Pi and other mathematical constants to trillions of digits. Since its launch in 2009, it has become a popular benchmarking and stress-testing application for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts. The G11 A was clearly the strongest performer, followed by the G11 and then the ThinkPad.

Geekbench 6

Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures overall system performance. The Geekbench Browser allows you to compare any system to it. The G11 refused to run this test, but it proved much stronger than the ThinkPad, especially in the GPU test.

Cinebench R23

This benchmark uses all CPU cores and threads to generate an overall score. The G11 proved fastest while the G11A and the ThinkPad performed about the same.

Cinebench R24

We also started running the latest Cinebench test. The numbers show the G11 A performing the best, followed by the ThinkPad and the G11. The GPU numbers were heavily in favor of the G11 A.

Conclusion

HP’s ZBook Power G11 and G11 A are solid entry-level workstation laptops. We appreciate that there’s a choice of AMD and Intel processors. From a serviceability side of things, the ZBook Power G11 did give us some trouble opening it up, so keep that in mind if you want to do upgrades. It had a tight rear cover with many plastic clips that didn’t want to let go.

Our testing showed neither CPU was definitively better than the other, and GPU performance when equipped with the RTX 3000 Ada Generation GPU was about the same. The only real downside is less-than-stellar audio performance, but these are laptops, after all. We recommend the ZBook Power G11 and G11 A as entry-level workstation laptops.

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